News | SDSU | Viewpoints: Waiting for Superman

News | SDSU | Viewpoints: Waiting for Superman

Although I generally like Joseph Johnson's point in this video, I really wish he would have taken the time to watch the movie before writhing it off as hype. There are some very strong parallels between the research he is doing and many of the conclusions the film reaches. I may be going out on a limb here, but schoohs of education can be as much the root of the problem as they can be the cure. They can hold fast to antiquainted methods far longer than necessary actually slowing the advancment of their profession. Not that they're alone, I've seen this in architecture as well. Firms will invest a great deal of time and money in "perfecting" their process, only to find that it has become stale.

Denver School of Science and Technology

Web Discovery: The American Architectural Foundation's video profile of the Denver School of Science and Technology. As an architect, my opinion of the building is as the kids see it, cool. However if you can get past the building and see what's going on inside, to me, that's what is really cool. Kids with laptops and lots of open spaces to casually congregate. Teachers drop traditional private space in a classroom for a collaborative planning room. Just look at how the teachers engage the students almost as a team. Good stuff and worth 17 minutes of your time.

Schools Designed for Learning: The Denver School of Science and Technology (Video: Long Version - 17:11)

Ewan McIntosh: The Seven Spaces of Technology in School Environments

The Seven Spaces of Technology in School Environments from Ewan McIntosh on Vimeo.

I met Ewan at the CEFPI conference in San Jose.  He's a really bright guy that brings a new perspective on how we can look at learning spaces through the eyes of social media.  Check out his video above, but also go to the vimeo page for more info and don't miss edu.blogs.com

Geroge Lucas weighs in on what's right with education

Beyond Superman: A Guest Blog by George Lucas Edutopia

I've always been a George Lucas fan.  I grew up watching Star Wars and Indiana Jones and playing video games based on those movies.  But I'm really impressed with how he calls us back from being a nationwide lynch mob.  Check out what George has to say above...and don't miss the videos at the end of his article.

In fact there really are some great things happening in schools.  Maybe the viability of our assessments and what kids really need to thrive in the future is where we should really focus our attention.

My Signature Project for EDL 621: Designing Schools to Support Diverse Learning Styles Needs

This is my signature project for EDL621.  The project was centered around turning my wife's classroom into a more engaging place for students to learn French.  The approach is to allow the students to take advantage of their preferred learning styles as much as possible.  Use the "more" button to view fullscreen.



Executive Summary

direct link to presentation on Prezi.com

A Vision of K-12 Students Today

This is a really compelling video on what we should consider with the future of learning.