10 Ways Technology Supports 21st Century Learners in Being Self Directed

Life in the 21st century provides a whole-new world of opportunities for self-directed, passion-driven, personalized learning.  Educators who are ready to move on from teaching the way they were taught, and administrators who will let them, can begin supporting students using tools and strategies available to the 21st century learner. 

1. Personal Learning Networks
   Perhaps the core of passion driven, self-directed learning is the development of personal learning networks which can be developed through blogs, social networks like Facebook, Ning, or Group.ly, Twitter, and discussion boards.  Read 5 Things You Can Do to Begin Developing Your Personal Learning Network, The PLN Matures. The Progression of the 21st Century Personal Learning Network and 5 Ways to Build Your 1.0 and 2.0 Personal Learning Network to learn how to get started.
2. Tweet to Connect with Experts
   If you have an interest, Twitter is the place to connect with others who share that interest.  Simply do a search on Twitter for the topic and you’ll be connected to a many others interested in the same topic. Follow them. Reply to them. Use the search term in your Tweets and others interested in that topic will see your Tweet.  Students can even have their own newspapers created instantly about their topic of interest using a service called Paper.li.   
3. Skype an Expert
   You can make your classroom a global communication center for free with Skype by connecting with anyone around the world about topics of interests.  These experts may be people you have conversations with or perhaps they are people you learn from.  Author, blogevangelist, teacher, thought leader and father, Will Richarson uses Skype to supplement his children’s learning. Paul Bogush, an 8th grade social studies teacher not only supports his students in doing this, they take it up a notch with a program they produce called Lunchtime Leaders.  Students interview leaders from around the world on their opinions about what they should do to be prepared for the future. Paul and his students do most of their interviews using Skype and they turn the interviews into Podcast. You can listen to their podcasts at http://lunchtimeleaders.podbean.com.  where students choose to interview experts in topics they are interested in and then turn their interview into a podcast.  
4. Free Online Educational Resources
   Learn about whatever you want with free online education resources (OER).  The purpose of this coordinated movement is to move toward a common goal of providing quality courses for learning for free. “At the heart of the movement toward Open Educational Resources is the simple and powerful idea that the world’s knowledge is a public good and that technology in general, and the Worldwide Web in particular, provide an extraordinary opportunity for everyone to share, use, and re-use knowledge.” – The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Many of these resources do not require a teacher for students to learn.  
5. Online Learning
   When given the choice, students often say they LOVE learning online and not just because it lets them sleep in.  They find that they are exposed to many more possible courses in alignment with areas of interest and moving at their own pace without distractions of classmates enables them to learn more effectively.  Many public schools, universities, and colleges are starting to jump on board and companies like Zulama.com are popping up which offer High-interest online courses students can’t find at their high school. Access to unique subjects they’re passionate about makes Zulama a place teenagers want to go to learn. With Zulama, students connect, teachers simplify, parents stay involved, and schools get ahead.
6. Authentic Publishing In the 21st century, irrelevant hand-it-in teaching should be a thing of the past.  If a student’s work has no authentic audience beyond the teacher, it shouldn’t be assigned.  A student who is self-motivated to do something, counts, btw.  A teacher directing him/her to do it does not.  Most 21st century kids love to share with real audiences and are doing it outside school already.  Inside school, work should not sit lifeless on a computer, or even just the school website.  Support students in finding real audiences for their work in their Global Community.  If you’re not sure how find out by reading, “21st Century Educators Don’t Say, “Hand It In.” They say, “Publish It!”
7. Use YouTube and iTunes to Learn Anything It’s rather outrageous that many schools still block one of the most powerful tools for learning available for students today. YouTube.  While iTunes is a powerful option for learners on the go, YouTube adds the visual element, making learning even more powerful and FREE!  With YouTube Education and iTunes University, more and more colleges, universities, and their professors are sharing content for free.  While some schools are paying for pre-packaged online learning options, they’re really all already out there for free.  Empower teachers and/or students to design their own learning and learn about whatever they want with these free resources.  Not only are these good resources to go to learn from others, they’re also a smart place to ask for help like this student did who needed help with his bowdrill set.  
8. Passion (or talent) Profiles
   When we start collecting profiles of students passions, talents, interests, abilities and learning styles, suddenly students and teachers have an awareness that they may never have considered previously. A passion (or talent) profile is not only value for teachers and student self-awareness, it is also a helpful tool for students to connect with others who might share a passion.  These students could connect on a topic of interest, collaborate, and share ideas.  These profiles can be purchased using a company like Renzulli learning or they can be made for free with Google Forms and Spreadsheets.  Either way, it’s much easier to differentiate instruction when teachers and students can quickly and easily see where they stand and sort by interest, learning style, talents, or abilities.  
9. Develop Authentic Learning Portfolios
   When done write ePortfolios can be a powerful tool that not only helps remind students of all their accomplishments, but it also enables them to share these with the world.  In the 21st century, creating an ePortfolio is free and easy.  Student simply select a container (blog, wiki, website, Google site), decide how they’d like to organize it, and then post their work.  I strongly advise against using any paid for portfolio site.  It is important that students have ownership of their own work and that it can travel with them wherever they are.  When it comes to ePortfolios, Helen Barrett is the go-to person.  To learn more, visit her blog http://blog.helenbarrett.org where she shares fantastic ideas.  
10. Empower Students to Assess and Learn Themselves
    The days of teacher as gatekeeper of the answer key or teacher edition are gone!  Educators need to stop hiding and start sharing information with students including enabling them to learn how to assess themselves.  If a student wants to know their reading level, show them how with resources like those you can find here.  If a student creates a video, honor the built in authentic assessment like number of views and comments and the child’s ability to find audience.  Show him/her how to share with appropriate audiences and get feedback for improvement.  If a student wants to know how well they might do on a test let them find a test prep review site where they can take practice tests and see how they’ve done.  Empower students to develop their own learning plans and assessments so they can learn and assess independently.  After all, they are the ones who own the learning.  

In our globally connected world, it is no longer acceptable for teachers to teach the way they were taught nor is it okay for administrators to allow it.  It is also no longer acceptable for administrators to take the easy way out and require connected kids to learn in a disconnected environment where they are banned from accessing sites or bringing to school the tools and technologies they love and need to succeed in the world.  In the 21st century, if we truly care about student success we will lift the bans, unblock the filters and connect our students to the world so they can learn effectively. 

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Choice!

by Jeff Branzburg

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Passion (Not Drugs) As Treatment for ADD/ADHD

I’m having a respectful debate with Stephen Glassner on Twitter and over on his blog about the belief I share with Sir Ken Robinson that rather than anesthetizing students labeled with ADD/ADHD instead, we should consider "Fixing Boring Schools, Not Kids Who Are Bored." In my post on the topic I share how both I and 20-something multi-millionaire, Aaron Iba were both labeled as hyperactive/problem children (this was before ADHD had become a widely available condition to have). Yes, we both had issues listening to teachers drone on about things we could care less about, and sitting still all day and listening to 12 years of classes I never signed up for was maddening. Would drugs that dulled mine or his very active brains made this more tolerable? Sure. BUT THAT’S NOT THE ANSWER!

You hear that students with ADHD can’t focus. I say really? If there’s something they’re very passionate about, I’ve seen such individuals focus with laser precision for hours. For Aaron Iba it was computer games. His psychological eval said this was a huge problem. He focused on the games like nothing else mattered. That passion later made him the happy, successful passionate multi-millionaire, living in Australia that he is today. Their advice was to take away such “distractions.”

So, yes, while I acknowledge and agree that drugging kids helps them get through the unnecessary drudgery of school, I contend there is a better solution. The solution is making schools relevant, connected and interesting. As I recently shared in my post "The War on Kids. Zero Tolerance" for many, schools feel like a prison. In fact in the movie when shown photos of prisons and schools it often is impossible to tell the difference with prisons looking more appealing in many cases. While these drugs are helping students survive their days, there's evidence it is damaging their brains. If ADD or ADHD was an available condition when I was in school, I certainly would have been drugged which would have made my brain more dull and my teacher's lives much easier. Same with Aaron Iba and I have no doubt people like Einstein would also have been drugged.

In his post Mr. Glassner complains that while folks like Sir Ken Robinson share the frustration over the failure of schools, there are few answers...just problems shared. So, now I’ll move from the problem to some solutions.

First, purchase the book "The Element - How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything." Angela Maiers has also written a book on the topic of Passion Driven learning. I suggest you purchase that too. I might also recommend following the Twitter Tag #passiondriven

If you're wondering what a passion driven school looks like read
You Can Get a Dalton Education at a NYC Public School
and Immunization for an Uninteresting Curriculum Found at the iSchool and Hey Teacher! Leave Us Kids Alone!!!- There’s A School for That! and Lessons Learned at The Science Leadership Academy.

If you want to know important elements of passion based learning read Preparing Students for Success by Helping Them Discover and Develop Their Passions. If you’re wondering what it looks like when a student is driven by passion read Profile of a Passion-Driven Student.

My prescription for those with ADHD is simple.  Forget the drugs and empower students to pursue and develop their passions...either at their school, at home, or at a school that honors this type of learning.  Only after giving that a try, should meds be considered as treatment.

-----------------------------
Newly added information:
I coincidentally, just found this piece of information about freedom/democracy schooling.

 

My child has been diagnosed with "ADD/ADHD" ; what about him or her?

Experience at democratic free schools indicates that this is not a problem. They find that when children are allowed to expend their excess energy through play, they can then focus. According to John Holt in Learning All the Time, research by specialists in learning disabilities links so-called "perceptual handicaps" with stress. Such research has shown that when students with supposedly severe learning disabilities were placed in a relatively stress-free situation, their disabilities soon vanished. Millions of children in the United States are on prescription medication, sometimes called the "school drug", to control their behavior and promote learning. Democratic free schools have found that there is no longer a perceived need for these drugs when children are not coerced into learning, and when the need to be responsible for their behavior comes from within. The democratic process in particular promotes development of this internalized sense of responsibility for one's own behavior through honest, direct interaction with a community of friends and peers.

 

More newly added information

When I read this doctor's thoughts on ADD/ADHD, I felt as though I had almost plagiarized his words though I had never read them.   

 

Excerpts From periodical Touch the Future, originally published by Dr. Thomas Armstrong.

 

When parents hear me say that attention deficit disorder is a myth, they sometimes become very upset. They think I'm saying that their kids aren't jumpy, distractible, forgetful, impulsive, or disorganized. That's not what I'm saying at all! It's quite obvious to me that our nation's children have probably never been so hyperactive. 

The question is, what accounts for this? Is it a medical disorder called ADD (or ADHD as it's sometimes called)? 

I think not. I think instead that what we've learned to call ADD is instead a number of things all jumbled up together under this simplistic label. Kids can be hyperactive for any number of reasons: because they're anxious or depressed, because they're allergic to milk, because they're bored with school, because they have a different kind of mind and aren't being challenged, because they're overstimulated from television and video games.

I could go on. The point is that the ADD label makes it too easy to ignore what might be going on beneath the surface of things.

 

Studies suggest that many children hate taking Ritalin, yet you don't see this reported anywhere in the ADD literature. For kids who have that wide-focus attention span (e.g. paying attention to lots of different things rather than one single stimulus}, Ritalin can close them down to a fine point of attention, which is great for doing a math page, but can hamper more divergent forms of thinking associated with creativity. 

 

I'm very concerned that the literature on ADD has so much to say about what these kids can't do, and virtually nothing about what they can do. In my own informal research, I've seen countless examples of kids labeled ADD who are musicians, dancers, athletes, leaders, and creative in many other ways. Why don't we see these kids as basically healthy and creative individuals who may not function as well in certain kinds of environments (for example, the worksheet wasteland of many classrooms), but do great when given a chance to learn in their own way. Many kids labeled ADD in fact do great when they're fixing an automobile, or doing experiments in their nature lab, or performing in a theater piece. Many kids with behavior difficulties grow up to become great individuals. People like Thomas Edison, Winston Churchill, Sara Bernhardt, Louie Armstrong, and Albert Einstein. Why don't we start using models of growth to describe our highly energetic kids and throw this ADD disease label in the trash basket where it belongs?

 

In Rid of Him Chris Mercogliano co-director of the Albany Free School explains

My purpose will be to describe an approach to working with the kinds of kids who would otherwise be controlled by medication in conventional school environments that eliminates the need for any drugs whatsoever. It is not a new approach, but one which has been tested by time in the little school where I have taught for over twenty-five years known simply as the Free School.

Download Dr. Fred Baughman's free report here: ADHD fraud and the chemical holocaust against a generation of children.

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Let Passion Drive Instruction with this Collection of Resources

If you believe passion driven / passion based instruction is a necessary component of educating innovatively, this collection of articles from my blog and elsewhere will get you started on your journey.

Article	Description
Profile of a Passion-Driven Student	Read about passion-driven learning from the view of student Armond McFadden
When passion drives instruction no child is left behind	A look into the traditional, passionless model of school.
Preparing Students for Success by Helping Them Discover and Develop Their Passions	Outlines some important elements of passion-based learning.
Differentiating Instruction is NOT Hard if We Tap into Student’s Passions!	Explains how when we shift the focus to the student passion, differentiation just happens.
When students own the learning and One Great Way to Differentiate Instruction	These pieces show an on the ground view of what happened when innovative educators Keith Ferrell and Deven Black relinquished control and allowed students to take the reigns and learn in their own ways using the tools they choose.
Change the World - A Class that Should be Added to the Core Curriculum	101 Ways to Change the World for a variety of audiences and purposes through several books available for free.
Stop and Listen to the Children	Anecdotes that provide insight into how adults can better listen to student’s hits about what drives them.
Promote Student Passions with Pencasting!	Hear elementary student Giorgiano’s ideas for using smart pens to promote passions.
Innovative Data Driven Assessment and Differentiated Instruction Video	Features a great video that gets viewers thinking about what they stand for and what they are passionate about.
You Can Get a Dalton Education at a NYC Public School	Passion rules the roost at this school where every student knows their talents.
Engaging Students with Passion-Based Learning - Pt 1 Ideas for Engaging Students in Passion-Based Learning - Pt 2	Part 1 outlines ideas to support students in finding areas of passion, connecting them with others who share these interests, and develop strategies to learn more about their topic of interest. Part 2 outlines ideas for communicating, connecting, and creating as it relates to personal passion. Note: This was originally posted on ISTE Connects which no longer exists. For the full piece visit this link for part 1 and this link for part 2.

Passion Driven Conversation Series
Angela Maiers rounded up educators driven by passion to contribute to this series. You can read all the posts here.

Articles
Passion Based Learning by Will Richardson
Passion Based Learning by Erin Murphy
Passion Based Learning by Konrad Glogowski
Passion Based Learning Article on CNET interview with John Seely Brown
Passion-Based Learning - Digital Literacy 2010 by Patrick Woessner

The Book
The Passion-Driven Classroom: A Framework for Teaching and Learning - Angela Maiers and Amy Sandvold

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Profile of a Passion-Driven Student

Editor’s Note: This is the third in a series of posts on passion-driven instruction. You may also want to read When passion drives instruction no child is left behind and Preparing Students for Success by Helping Them Discover and Develop Their Passions

While today’s data driven educational system is hard at work churning out numbers that make testing companies profitable, are easily quantifiable for politicians, and make for a nice, neat system on which to rate teachers and students, in the end, our children are often left behind with a degree in hand and no idea where to go next. In my article When passion drives instruction no child is left behind I share stories of four such students who were driven and motivated, but all they learned in school was how to do school well rather than what they might want to do in life. When grades and data are the main drivers of instruction, students learn how to get good grades. When passion drives instruction students learn to find, follow, and develop their passions. This in turn helps them discover what it is they truly want to do with their lives and empowers them with the skills to pursue their passions, whatever they may be.

Passion-Driven Classrooms that follow models such as Schoolwide Enrichment or the framework outlined in Angela Maiers new book on the topic, begin Preparing Students for Success by Helping Them Discover and Develop Their Passions right from the start. Seeing this through the eyes of a student provides valuable insight to best understand what this looks like.

Characteristics of A Passion-Driven Student
Passion driven students might have talent profiles, develop personal learning networks through face-to-face connections and through social media, study in areas of deep personal interest, create and publish for authentic audiences, and they know what they want to do with their lives. In short, they’ve been encouraged to discover and unleash their passions. To follow is a profile of a real student who was encouraged to follow his passion at a school emphasizing student talents.

Armond McFadden Profile
Armond attended The Island School as an elementary student. Like all students at his school, he was expected to find and explore his passions. For Armond this was easy. Like many young boys he had a love of buses and trains. At The Island School they paid attention to this and encouraged young Armond to learn more about transportation. As Armond came to discover, you can learn almost anything through your passion. His love of buses and trains inspired him to learn more about the history, science, engineering, math, and physics of these vehicles. At school, all his teachers knew Armond’s talents, passions, and abilities, even when there was a substitute, because like all students in the school he had a talent profile that explained exactly what his interests, talents, abilities, and preferred learning styles were. This profile could be updated anytime.

Talent Profiles
Students love having talent profiles (see samples here) because it allows their teachers to see them as individuals and together the student and teacher can customize instruction that is just right for each student. For instance, one of Armond’s preferred product styles is video, so unlike traditional education where everyone reads the same book and hands in the same report, Armond’s teachers honor his interest and product style and empower him to read about the transportation system and make videos with the help of Lou Lahana, the school Techbrarian. Just like the students, all teachers have identified talents, passions, and interests, and the teachers and students are aware of the expertise in the school. This is how Armond came to work closely with Mr. Lahana who is the resident expert in film making (among other topics).

Personal Learning Network Development
As Armond progressed through school he met others both inside and outside of school who shared his passion. This motivated him to become a solid writer, and film maker, and learn about mechanics, physics, science, and engineering. Starting in elementary school he began building his personal learning network (PLN) with others he could learn with and from. Some of those in his PLN were other students in his school. Another was his brother who helped spark his passion for buses. Armond also built a network outside of school. For example he had frequent visits to the New York City Transit Museum where he made fast friends with the docents and lost himself in the archives of primary documents, exhibits, and exploration of the New York City Transit History.

Personal Learning Network Growth Through Social Media
As Armond moved into middle school, he began using the power of social media to further build his personal learning network and develop his passion. Armond was the author of his own blog called The Ultimate Transpace and the creator of the Metro Transit Video series. He also began a photography collection of buses. He shared his work and ideas with a number of authentic audiences that enabled him to further grow his PLN by engaging in discussions, posting videos and photos on Bus Talk and on TransitStuff. He also developed a relationship with Trevor Logan, the founder of TTMG, a web-based group dedicated to providing transportation enthusiasts with online media entertainment and content surveying as one of the most frequented sites for transportation hobbyists.

These are all activities he pursues independently with the support and encouragement of his school. Armond explains that at The Island School they honored his talent and because creating AND using technology is his preferred learning style they ensure he has opportunities to use computers where he can build his personal learning network, create his videos, and learn more about his area of interest. He explains that:

learning this way is really fun and never gets boring.

In stark contrast to most students who are mainly grade and data-driven (read about grade-driven students with untapped talents here), as a middle school student Armond could clearly articulate his goals for high school.

“I want to work hard in high school to become a person who makes/creates the buses. An engineer. My talent and passion for buses has made me love school because I can come to school, get on the computer research buses, and find out how they work. I can also mix them into every class to learn more like reading and writing about buses. In science I study alternative fuel buses and how they work and what kind of fuel they use and what is the best option.”

In middle school Armond explains that the engines in some of the new buses aren’t really reliable and shares,

“In the future, one of my goals is to find a way to make buses better and more reliable.”

Today, Armond still loves buses, and is pursuing his passion outside of school as well as at Chelsea Vocational High School. To hear from Armond as a middle school student watch this video.

Armond from Lou Lahana on Vimeo.


If you’d like to hear from other passion-driven middle school students watch these videos and leave a comment!

Philip: Talented animator and web designer
Philip created his mom’s website. He didn’t think he’d be able to do such a good job but is proud to say the final product, The Chunky Monkey website turned out better than he would have ever expected.
-I made a cartoon that I know other people are going to want to watch and that feels really good.

Talent Profile: Phil from Lou Lahana on Vimeo.

Sabrina: Talented journalist
Sabrina has been contacted by a kids magazine and a local education news outlet who discovered her blog and have asked her to submit stories.
-I feel like I have the power to take on anything. It feels like what I’m saying matters. People actually care about what I have to say.

Talent Profile: Sabrina from Lou Lahana on Vimeo.

Eddie: Talented filmmaker
Eddie is filming and editing videos for Rosie’s Theater Kids. After I go to high school I will go to college to learn to produce movies for theater.
-Hopefully the knowledge that the community gets from watching my video will inspire them to treat our school better.

Talent Profile: Eddie from Lou Lahana on Vimeo.

Overview of a Passion-Driven School
Here is an overview of a school that fosters passion-driven students.

Talent Development at the Island School from Lou Lahana on Vimeo.

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