A Vision of K-12 Students Today

bjnesbitt's Vision of K-12 Students today (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A-ZVCjfWf8) got my attention. For one, I thought it was ironic that, aside from the opening images, the text of the video was done using white boards only. Most of the text was man made print, yet the point made is that students are 21st Century learners. I appreciated the irony. I also felt some frustration as the ideals of bjnesbitt's vision seem so far away in public schools today. Maybe that was his point for using the white boards.

Seeing the concept of 21st Century learners sort of jarred me as I have been so used to thinking of the 20th Century that I haven't quite shifted into thinking that it is a Century in the history books. And I'm embarassed to admit that I still don't know what a podcast is or what they are used for; that will be something I have to explore in a later blog.

I also appreciated the fact that the material is referenced at the end; it is just not thrown out as fact. Too often we see things or hear things in popular media that is not referenced and it is accepted as fact. It also reminded me of a Youtube video that I thought was very powerful that I first saw thanks to my friends at http://www.edcentre.ca/ called ShiftHappens. It is a longer video (7+minutes) but the music is good! It can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhnWKg9B2-8. It also paints a picture of a world undergoing rapid change; well worth watching. Come to think of it, I should use it with a career ed class I teach.



I have attached this picture to remind those of us who came out of the 20th century just how far we've come. This picture is of my sister checking out my dad's new word processor - errrr - electric typewriter (just so the kids know what it was called). Incidentally, the typewriter was new and the year was 1980 (the year I graduated from High School). My how the world has changed!