Passion Quotient (PQ) & Curiosity Quotient (CQ)

During the last week of CEP812, we were asked to read the article It’s P.Q. and C.Q. as Much as I.Q. by Thomas L. Friedman.  Throughout the article, Friedman discusses the need for people to continue utilizing technology to invent and/or reinvent future jobs while focusing on our individual passions and curiosities in order for survival.  In education, we as teachers must utilize the technological tools available not to replace teaching but to continue educating with passion and curiosity in the 21st century classroom.  It is up to each individual educator to keep up with their own teaching skills in order to keep up with an ever changing education system. When teachers are aware of their own passion and their own curiosity, they can then incorporate new ways to allow students to find theirs.

Below is an infographic created to:

1. Represent how I bring Passion and Curiosity to my work as an educator
2. Show how I use technologies to instill passion and curiosity in my students.

(Click to enlarge)

I have had the pleasure of taking CEP810, CEP811, and CEP812 to inspire my own curiosity of incorporating technology into my passion of teaching.

Photo References:

Emlavieriscull, E. Equipment for Electronic Music Class (2012). Retrieved August 19, 2015: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ElectroComp_EML-200,_etc,_Equipment_for_Electronic_Music_Class.jpg#/media/File:ElectroComp_EML-200,_etc,_Equipment_for_Electronic_Music_Class.jpg

Royan, J. Students Practicing (2007). Retrieved August 19, 2015 from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AMunich_-_Music_students_rehearsing_-_5713.jpg

Woodleywonderworks. Music Classroom (2013). Retrieved August 19, 2015 from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/wwworks/8509359758

Infographic Quote:

Friedman, T. (2013). It’s P.Q. and C.Q. as Much as I.Q. New York Times. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/30/opinion/friedman-its-pq-and-cq-as-much-as-iq.html?_r=0

Wicked Problem: How to Keep Formal Education Relevant

Throughout CEP812, I have been working with three other colleagues in a think tank. Within this think tank, we have been focusing our attention on How to keep Formal Education Relevant.  With education constantly changing and technology playing such a pivotal role in 21st century education, this problem not only proved to be quite wicked for our think tank, but proves to be a problem for all educators and policy makers.

Prior to coming up with a possible solution, each member of the think tank created an infographic to illustrate their reasons of why formal education is becoming becoming harder to keep relevant.

Here you will see the infographic I brought to the table:

Once the infographics were completed, each member brought their findings to the think tank.  Through critical thinking, collaboration and discussion, we wrote the following paper which was intended for policy makers that included a possible solution on how to keep formal education relevant:

Infographic References:

Gee, J. P. (2013). The anti-education era: Creating smarter students through digital learning. [Itunes] Retrieved from https://itunes.apple.com/ca/book/the-anti-education-era/id569888330?mt=11

Olson, J. S. (2014), Transitions From Formal Education to the Workplace. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 2014: 73–82. doi: 10.1002/ace.20106

Week 5: InfoDiet

This week in CEP812, we were asked to take a look at the ways we gather information, also known as an informational diet.  Using Twitter, I briefly looked at the pages and the people I currently follow.  Without a doubt, I follow these people and these pages because there is a connected interest that is shared.  These pages, in which I follow, may include education, music, or social interests that I am interested in.  The reason I continue to follow people or pages and like images, quotes or links is because it continues to connect with me.

Throughout the week I was urged to look at three new sources that were different than what I normally read and follow.  These sources included: @edudemic, @educationnext and @mhhighered.  These sources together provided information on educational technology, educational reform and connecting educators and students.

Although I had a choice in which new areas I chose to follow this week, I was able to learn and read about information in which I normally wouldn’t bother to read.  To no surprise, each source provided information that would challenge my personal view, while allowing me to see an alternative view point.  These sources also provided a window of opportunity in which I tend to ignore.

As technology continues to be the main source for people to gather their information and learn, it is very easy for people to only enhance the information they already have.  If people are not careful, they will create a tunnel vision of  knowledge when they have opportunities to take control of their own learning.  Formal education continues to provide opportunities for collaboration and pushes students to challenge their own thinking.

People do not have to agree with everything they read nor should they however it is important to challenge ourselves.  By challenging ourselves, we are able to find new ideas and information that we currently didn’t know that might change our original thoughts and ideas, or we are able to provide concrete examples that support our original thoughts and practice.

We cannot change the way we educate until we understand what is available to us.  If we as educators do not look beyond what we already know or believe, we won’t see the possibilities which could lie ahead.  Social media, like Twitter, allows us to stay on top of new inventions, ways of teaching, ways of incorporating classroom technology  and thousands of other areas that could educate not only in the classroom but outside of the classroom.  It is up to us as educators to not only teach our students to think outside of their comfort zone, but also for us, as educators, to think outside of our comfort zone.

In the 21st century of education, educators have the opportunity to have their students collaborate in a participatory culture in which other generations would have never been able to have.  Technology allows us to learn, and share knowledge with others all over the world while expanding our very own bubble of information.  Because technology has become so easy to use and provides information that we want to know or already know through its filters, it doesn’t always provide new information that challenges us.  Technology can be useful in many ways, but it is up to us as humans to control it, not for technology to control us.

Creative Commons Photo References:

Information Monitor (2014). Retrieved from: https://pixabay.com/get/ef2c7962cbfe924085ae/1439144745/monitor-862116_1280.jpg?direct

Social Media (2015). Retrieved from: https://pixabay.com/get/69bd4021fbddd335dc0c/1439144394/social-media-550767_1280.png?direct

Tunnel (2010). Retrieved from: https://pixabay.com/get/e274aab5a3d4902e7391/1439143888/books-21849_1280.jpg?direct

CEP812 Week 3 & 4 – Survey Results are in!

During weeks 3 & 4 I have created a survey and analyzed the data regarding my colleague’s use of technology in the classroom as well as the teacher’s knowledge and ease of incorporating technology into their lessons while finding out how they would like to learn about new technologies.  Because the district is so small, I included all teachers within the district.  With 29% of the teachers responding, surprisingly enough, the results were similar across the entire district.

The 7 question survey can be found here

The analysis and results can be found here

Complexities of Keeping Formal Education Relevant

This week in CEP812 we were asked to continue working on our wicked problem project.  In order to work on finding a solution on how to keep formal education relevant, we must first find some of the problems.  I have created an infographic that lists a few of the main problems with Formal Education.

http://www.easel.ly/index/embedFrame/easel/2255250

Infographic References:

Gee, J. P. (2013). The anti-education era: Creating smarter students through digital learning. [Itunes] Retrieved from https://itunes.apple.com/ca/book/the-anti-education-era/id569888330?mt=11

Olson, J. S. (2014), Transitions From Formal Education to the Workplace. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 2014: 73–82. doi: 10.1002/ace.20106