'The depth of our curriculum in social computing is unparalleled. Rather than a single course as you might find in other programs, we offer a range of in-depth courses in the technologies and applications that are driving the Web 2.0 revolution', says a professor at the university of michigan. I find this pretty impresive because it sounds like students are getting more of a variety, in depth, and getting their money's worth of an education.
The fact that this idea has occurred in one college already reminds me of Friedman's chapters when he discusses that we will be preparing our students for jobs that don't exist yet. Who would have thought of colleges narrowing in on classes in social computing? My point exactly. Frightening enough, the future is already becoming the past.
One of Will's blog posts that I found most intriguing had to do with a school that plans to reinvent itself within the next five years. Some of the ideas are:
- Teachers that have freedom to learn and feel supported and not fearful.
- Students that have more freedom to learn and are drivers of their own learning.
- One with more opportunities for global learning.
- One where the desks aren’t in rows.
I am sure to many of you this all sounds familiar because it to me as well. We are already experiencing desks in circles in our English classes now, in 307 alone we are gaining the opportunity of global learning, and we often discuss that teachers are learners as well in the classroom. We can't be afraid to make a mistake in fron of our students and we have to allow them to take over control.
4 comments:
This is a really great post Kristen. It is very interesting to hear the addition of social computing as a major at the University of Michigan. I especially like that this is happening at a prestigious college, and they are trying to promote social networks, like we are doing in 307. This is not merely a liberal arts college, but a major institutions.
I agree Kris w/Phil. This is a good post.
The present IS already the past in the flat world.
Any time anyone mentions something about either motivating students through authentic authorship or teachers relinquishing control of their classrooms- I'm all ears.
These two ideas are almost no-brainers, yet why are they so "innovative?" Educators are finally beginning to think outside the box (as they say...)
I agree- the major does sound pretty impressive- but is it really necessary? What could a person possibly do with this major besides work for a site such as facebook, blogger, or myspace and work with either marketing or designing the site?
What do you think?
For some reason, I interpreted Will's post as a negative reaction to the new class offered at the University of Michigan. Am I totally off here? I thought Will mentioned that he thought it was silly to have students learning about technology and how to apply it in a closed, classroom environment (I got this info from the comments he posted below his original post). Is my head somewhere else?
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