Using Technology to Help Students Educate Themselves

Technology has come a long way and we now have tools that was not even a dream when i was in school. Just like technology it is time for education to leap forward. Schools are still using the same technology they have been using since the beginning. If we are going to prepare our children for the future we need to embrace new technology to move them forward.

I recently accepted a challenge to work with some young people using some up to date technology, and I am finding that children can figure out anything if given the time. All they need is a challenge, and some subtle nudging. Of course we still have to help them adjust some behaviors, but the reality is that after they learn to read and can do basic math they can pretty much pick up on other skills. The technology that is in the world can be used to help them discover that the world is bigger than their neighborhood.

In my search for tools I had the pleasure of running into Khan Academy, the concept of SOLE (a Self Organizing Learning Environment , and TED-ed. Through TED-ed I ran into the technology to flip videos. Flipping a video gives you the ability to use YouTube to teach a lesson, and to get measurable results. You simply take a video, and add questions to stimulate thought and get a discussion going.

The most powerful part about flipping videos is that you can assign your students to flip a video. Now this can be used to get the student to reflect on the videos that they spend a lot of time viewing. When you give them a tool like this you challenge them to be a little more critical about what they view. You can help them look at their own world more deeply and understand that everything teaches us something.

Here is a video that I flipped I hope you enjoy and please leave some comments, and hopefully you will experiment with this and other tech...

Checkout my flipped video

Nuff said

Peace & 1hunidyears