Some interesting ideas here that echo some of what we’ve been talking about:
Innovate: Backwards into the Future: Seven Principles for Educating the Ne(x)t Generation
Using examples drawn from an upper-level English course at the University of Auckland, Helen Sword and Michele Leggott outline seven key strategies for developing in today’s students the skills, aptitudes, and abilities needed to meet the challenges of the future without losing sight of the past. By relinquishing intellectual authority, recasting students as active producers of knowledge, promoting collaborative relationships, cultivating multiple intelligences, fostering critical creativity, encouraging resilience, and constructing assignments that look both forward to the future and back to the past, teachers in higher education can help their students equip themselves to carry the past with them into a complex, constantly evolving future.
October 20th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
This entry was worth creating an account to read. I feel very strongly about some of the issues raised in this article, particularly the part concerning a teacher relinquishing authority in the classroom. I realize that many teachers find this intmidating, but I think it’s far more intimidating to pretend to have all the answers… when none of us do! In addition, I find discussion of ‘creativity’ fascinating. It’s turned up in the new ISTE standards, and Freidman disciples view it as what can separate us from global competitors. As for now, I’m not sure what I think about the multiple intelligence issue. Both sides are very articulate, and make impressive arguments…