Week 4 - Topic 1: Digital Learning

Taking the time to watch New Learners of the 21st Century wasn't so hard this time around. The video was somewhat enjoyable even though it was an hour long. The first part was about a school which focused heavily on using technology in the learning environment. My initial thoughts are that the school is awesome. I would love to work there or even just learn there for a day. They use games and other forms of media to challenge the students. It isn't always fun and games however as they state that they assess the students during every phase of creation and makes perfect sense. I don't really agree with projects that just get graded on because of its final product, just seems like a waste. I like the philosophy behind video games in this video because they state:

"A game is nothing more then a problem space... all video games are a set of problems you must solve in order to win", try telling that to my parents when I was younger. It's easy to over look the educational side of something like video games. The other thing I like about this school is they are wireless and provide laptops but take the laptops away when it isn't the appropriate time for the students to be using them. This show that the school has figure out a balance of technology and learning which is hard to find in most learning environments. I also enjoy the take on addiction and how it is really a double standard nowadays especially in education. The next part of the video was about a program called Digital Youth Network.

I don't have much to say about this part. It's like an after school program which gives students the place and resources needed in order to explore learn and use technology. Its a well serving program that helps students express themselves and take better hold of their own digital world and digital citizenship. If school provide the means for students to accomplish the same things then a program like this wouldn't need to be created in the first place. Its a sign people should take to heart. The next part was about the Smithsonian Institute.

It relates back to the first part where they are using technology to create something like a game to get the attention and imagination of the younger crowds. Museums aren't always entertaining, but in recent years they have started doing more cool things using technology and digital media to spice things up. I don't really have much else to say this is where the video started to lose my interest. The next part was about location learning and using GPS to help out. I took a class at Plymouth which did something similar, it was only for a week but we had to travel around Plymouth to find certain location and information. Great for small towns but that is about it, I didn't particularly like that idea. The last part was about the Science Leadership Academy.

This last part brought my attention back a little bit. They had some good ideas for projects like the changing of history one and it was kind of a change of pace because it was more high school focused then the first program so it gave more complex idea and examples to keep in mind. Well I think my brain is fried from trying to recall all I could about the video so I don't have much else to say.

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