Netbooks for All: Life Lesson
Background: A netbook is a small computer which can access the internet through either a wireless or wired port. They are efficient and simple and designed to use the Web 2.0 tools online rather than installed software.
Teaching and learning in 2010 and beyond requires all of us to rethink what and how we work. What worked in the mid 80s cannot properly lead us to success for 2020. As numerous organizations describe, a 21st Century education must involve:
* Problem solving
* Synthesizing across content areas
* Interpersonal communication
* Search strategies
* Information credibility
* Dealing with information overload
* How to write for an online, rather than print, environment
* Computerized presentation skills
* Workspace ergonomics
* Basic debugging
* Basic understanding of usability concepts
* Reflection
* Cross-cultural communication
* Authentic Learning
Clearly paper and pencil, workbooks, and textbooks will not disappear completely...but just like the slide projector and 35mm films of our past, new more engaging technologies are part of our lives.
This grant proposal's hope is to provide each of the 25 students in my class with a individual netbook. These netbooks will be used to build a community that interacts in person as well as through a variety of online technologies. Using tools such as the GlobalClassroom (www.globalclassroom.us) interface, Intel Tools (http://www.intel.com/education/tools/index.htm) , Shodor Online Mathematics (http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/activities/), and many more; students will be able to learn together and independently. Student's education can be differentiated appropriately by customizing the online tools. Students with limited English can access tools to help decode the English language and become part of our class.
As described in George Lukas's magazine "Edutopia", the 21st Century learner is more engaged and involved in their education. The tools of the 21st Century learner will change into something we probably cannot even imagine now. The skills required by employers in 20 years are skills we do not even know we need.
Please feel free to contact me directly regarding this grant proposal. In addition, please check out Edutopia Online for some exciting stories about learning in the 21st Century.
http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-educators
