Response 9: PLE and CMS

This week we had a reading and a video presentation.  Both resources were about personalizing education to meet each student’s individuality.  I found both the video and the reading useful and entertaining. 

While reading the article I focused on specifically the section on Course Management Systems and PLE’s.  The reason I decided to focus on these two areas is because our school is striving to incorporate both in our curriculum. The article explains Course Management System’s as a course where the “instructor manages online, face-to-face, or blended, by uploading and presenting course content”.  It is also defined as web based courses used for discussions, announcements, and posts of various kinds.  Our school is trying to incorporate Course Management Systems through Moodle. I have not had a tremendous amount of experience with Moodle but have heard from other teachers how successful it can be for their students.  It is a way to distribute materials, post assignments and reach students through a technological avenue.  In our school as well as the present generation of learners, many students are familiar with technology therefore making Moodle an accessible tool.  My question would be, what if a student does not have internet at their house?  What if a student doesn’t know how to use technology very well?  Can you hold students accountable for assignments solely posted on Moodle or another course management system?  I think this ties into my next topic discussed in the article, Personal Learning Experience (PLE’s).

PLE’s or otherwise known as Personalized Learning Experiences offer students an opportunity to be in charge of their education.  It takes an idea of what a student may want to do in the future, and provide credit in the high school curriculum.  By developing a PLE, the learner has control of his or her own learning at their own pace.  Our school is embracing the idea of PLE’s and have created teaching jobs around the opportunity.  Two years, our school ran a pilot PLE program with a list of 5 courses to choose from.  As the word got out, more and more students wanted to take part in a PLE program.  Not only were students researching current PLE programs, they were also developing their own based on their interest.  Currently, we have provided the students with two full time teachers to help oversee the PLE programs.  Students seem to enjoy the convenience as well as the interest. 

The second topic I would like to discuss is Sir Ken Robinson’s discussion.  The discussion was extremely entertaining and very intriguing.  He brought up many points that made me wonder about my current teaching.  Sir Ken Robinson started his discussion with a question, how many people have ever lived? He stated that almost 10% of total people ever lived are living now making our generation the biggest to inhibit the earth.  With that said “most people have no idea what they are capable of”.  Why you might ask?  Sir Ken Robinson poses my questions leading towards education as the main source.  Conforming.  He discussed how education should be education of the heart and not necessarily of the tests.  In his eyes, education is becoming like a fast food model.  An assembly line of the same products made the same way.  He challenges that every class should be built on diversity and not conformity.  For example, he states how most people today fear the plague of ADHD.  Today 900 students are falsely accused of ADHD solely because they cannot sit still through a lecture.  However, when asked if the same student can sit engulfed in their area of interest (guitar practice) most parents would say they can sit there for hours.  Ultimately, Sir Ken Robinson’s message is to provide personalize education for all and not standardize education.  Lastly, he ended his talk with a quote from Anais Nin, “The pain of remaining tight in a bud was greater than the pain it took to blossom“.  His speech made me look at my classroom deeper.  Do I require my students to confirm to a certain standard? In most cases I unfortunately have to say yes especially when it comes to behavior.  I believe there are correct ways a student should behave in public and in school. Sure our school has discussed getting a standing section in my classroom as well as bean bag chairs because “all students listen differently.”  Just recently our school purchased chairs with wheels on the bottom of them.  The idea was to make the students more comfortable and easier for each student to get into groups and move around.  Although the idea is a beneficial one, myself as well as many other teachers have seen a negative impact on our students.  Not only do students roll around in their seats but it is distracting to other students in the class.  When it comes to developing and creating various projects portraying the same idea I stress the importance of independence.  When it comes to behavior in the classroom I guess I am a little “old school”.