“The Olden Days”
To me, this looks like a typical classroom from way back when. The teacher is in the front rambling away. Students are all seated in desks with material out to take notes. My, how things have changed..
“My School Days”
I went to a small Catholic school from grade 1 to grade 8. We had very little funding (most money came from student tuition), so that was a barrier to innovation that public school students were getting. It was a huge deal when each classroom got 2 computers. By the time I got into the ‘upper grades’ (5-8), most students had computers at home, but some did not. It was up to us whether we wanted to type our papers or handwrite them. When I was in high school, I saw my first Smart Board. The more advanced level maths required us to have TI-89 calculators, which had way more features than I knew how to use. Once I graduated high school, it was almost necessary for any person enrolled in college to have a laptop. My college professors used PowerPoint almost on a daily basis, and required internet access searches for success in the classroom. I took one online class before beginning hygiene, and the instructor used a lockdown browser for our final. It made the computer completely lock so that you could not navigate away from the exam until you were finished, even in new tabs. As I have mentioned before, two classes used clickers to engage students.
“An Innovative Classroom”
In the text, there is an example of a patient comparing his pain to the Titanic (Innovative Teaching Strategies, pg. 42). Nursing students did not understand the connection, but they discovered more about the analogy on their own. This allowed them to relate to the situation a little more. The point of this is that students need to be active learners to be successful, not only through school but throughout their career.
I am a big fan of having a ‘flipped classroom’ environment for students of all ages. This focuses on the instructor being more of a guide, providing a push in the direction of student discovery, and students teaching themselves the objectives of the day. At younger ages, the flipped classroom allows for students to learn at their own pace, and interact with peers, learning to work together. In older classrooms, this gives the opportunity for students to form and discuss their own opinions, and take responsibility for their own success.
In my classroom, I picture each student with their iPads that contain their text books, online materials, and notes, all for easy access during class. I also see myself using clickers often for the times that I do have presentations to share. This keeps students engaged.
I think it is important for innovations to be present in a classroom. Students are growing up with technology and they are going to be good at using it. I asked a 4 year old patient what she got for Christmas and she said an iPhone. I could not believe it. FOUR. She is not going to remember a life before having all the answers at her fingertips. Teachers need to use this to their advantage, and could use it to encourage research and self discovery.
P.S. Does anyone remember this guy?
I cannot imagine giving a four year old an I-phone! It’s insane how well and how natural technology seems to come to them. I saw some friends over the weekend and her 2 year old daughter took her smartphone and started taking selfies. It was the funniest thing. I think it’s great that you want to focus on the a technological classroom and embrace all that there is to be. I think we all have a challenge as we continue on with our education dreams and keeping up with all of the new programs that are coming out. Shortly, we are going to be the veterans to all the technology changes.
Lauren, we really are living in the information age, aren’t we? The students that we encounter in our careers will be the most tech savvy generations yet, and I agree that it will be key to harness this advancement to have an effective and stimulating classroom. I touched on this in my blog post as well, but teachers really should be using research to their advantage! Just as the students have so much information at their fingertips, so do we! If we seek out and use this information, we can create classrooms that truly meet the needs of our students.
Lauren I enjoyed all of your pictures that helped to enhance your discussion of innovation. And yes I remember the little paper clip guy! LOL! I am a fan of the flipped classroom design and we will be discussing this a little later in the semester. You are lucky as you’ve had a lot of technology growing up and it comes more naturally to you. Some people (older faculty) did not and the learning curve is larger to incorporate new technologies. Innovation for me involves technology also, but purposefully and I don’t think innovation always has to involve technology.
I agree with Rachel that I love your images! They’re fun and functional. I like how by doing these blog posts we are becoming better at presenting information in interesting ways whether with images or in structure.
You bring up some points I didn’t even think of regarding how we grew up with innovation. I had a TI89 calculator too and remember how expensive it was to buy so my mom would be annoyed with me if I lost it over the summer. I also remember playing that snake game secretly in class! I’ve had online classes that had that lockdown program for exams too and for others we were required to go to a supervised testing lab. There are some things that seem so commonplace to me I don’t even know it as innovative. In my daughters 2nd grade class they have 4 computers, 2 iPads and a smart board. She will never know that it’s not the norm.
I also like how you bring up blended or flipped classes. In Elementary school my first class was a blend of grades 1-3 and it was Montessori based so very nontraditional. When I went to public school I was in a 3-4th grade class. My teacher said that was good for me because I was ahead in some areas and behind in others.
I’d really like to learn more about the “clickers” you mentioned. I’ve heard about them but don’t really understand how they function at all.
Chrissy
Great post!! I like the idea of a flipped classroom, I’ve never actually heard of it before so I learned something new. The idea of 4 year old with a cell phone is crazy, let alone an iphone. I see 4-7 olds come in my practice all the time with iphones or ipads and it amazes me. I didn’t get my first cell phone until I was in 8th grade and I just got an ipad last year at the age of 25. My husband and I always debate that our daughter won’t be one of those children having a cell phone at a young age but at only 16months she already knows how to get on my cell phone and scroll up and down and left and right. Times have changed from when I was a kid, I can only imagine how they will change by the time my daughter is older.
well post
innovative teaching is one of the best topics and I’ll also make a video on this but I want to use video editing software to make it more professional so my brother asked me to search for filmora 11 review as it comes at very reasonable price and also provide all features with them and I’ll purchase this.