Students taking responsibility for their own learning. Fact or Fiction?

"Free Agent Learner"

Fact. 
  

In the Speak Up 2009 National Findings by Project Tomorrow, students voiced their vision for learning in the 21st century. Based on the information gathered by the findings, students in the 21st century are now referred to as "Free Agent Learners" (Project Tomorrow, 2009). 

And what does this mean for the leaner?  

According to the Speak Up report, students in the 21st century have the ability to seek out infinite resources, tools, and outside experts to create "a personalized learning experience" (Project Tomorrow, 2009).  As with all technological advances there are positive aspects (i.e. students having information readily accessible to supplement their learning) and areas for concern (i.e. deceptive websites, misinformation, and an over-load of information). I encourage you to watch the following video clip on Information Literacy. And if you have already seen it, watch it again, you will learn something new.

  

e-literate video 

What did you learn from the video?  


Information. Information. e-nformation?  Yes! There is a lot of information. And it is accessible by ALL. My blog post created a new iota of information. As Mrs. Campo has advised in the Education 422 course at Cal State University San Marcos, and reiterated by the Speak Up report, teachers in the 21st century are not the sole proprietors of information, nor do teachers have "an exclusive monopoly on knowledge, content or even education process".  

What now?

Mrs. Campo suggests that teachers need to be the organizers of all the information, as we can not know everything, but we can take the information and organize it in a way that makes sense to the learner - this is no easy task, and as a student about to apply to the College of Education, I am already challenged to pull information from different sources, to analyze the validity and creditability of it, and begin learning how to effectively organize information.

Further, according to the International Society for Technology in Education, one of the National Education Technology Standards and Performance Indicators for Students is having research and information fluency (ISTE, 2008). How can students be expected to develop fluency in navigating through the endless supply of information if we as teachers do not gain information literacy for ourselves?


Use these tools to help you navigate the information web (they are teacher approved!): 

• http://www.thinkfinity.org/
• http://literacynetwork.verizon.org/TLN/
• http://edsitement.neh.gov/
• http://historyexplorer.americanhistory.si.edu/

References: 

International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). The ISTE National Educational Technology Standards and Performance Indicators for Teachers. US & Canada. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForStudents/2007Standards/NETS_for_Students_2007_Standards.pdf

Project Tomorrow (2010). Creating our Future: Students Speak Up about their Vision for 21st Century Learning). Retrieved from http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/pdfs/SU09NationalFindingsStudents&Parents.pdf