What kinds of learning activities, assessments, tools, strategies, assignments, and collaborations can we as teachers provide that will be most helpful to the changing cognitive domain?

True to form, today’s learning environment should incorporate technology and allow it to bolster educational experiences. We still need educators to make this happen properly, whether in person or across the globe, but technology has become pivotal.  I also think that education needs to question the purpose behind homework and assessment.  If the face of learning is changing and incorporating a higher level of collaboration and exploration, shouldn’t homework and assessment look somewhat different too?

I am about to do a seminar session for our teachers during faculty week where we explore the origins of grading and examine the relevance and impact of assessment formats. It is always eye-opening to think about these facets of education. They often are neglected despite their monumental impact on the daily lives of our students. We need to be more aware of the 24-hour cycle of adolescents. 

This question almost requires a list of resources to successfully address its need of types of learning tools, but looking to the left that is exactly what is posted on this blog – teacher resources chalked full of ideas. Start clicking those hyperlinks. I will say that it is easy to get caught up in new ideas and lose track of your content. After you’ve discovered a great new way to tackle one of your units, stop, take a deep breath and ask yourself “what is the point?” Bassett writes in his 2004 article about educational trends in technology and does a good job of depicting how much there is to navigate through.  While everyone is promoting technology, technology, it’s good to remember balance.

While my vision of the tech-onomy is primarily driven by technology (which it should be), I think it’s important to recognize the cognitive skills behind innovations.

Comprehension and memory involve discovery, asking and researching.

Evaluating requires judgment, choices, comparison.

Application and structure create experimentation, generation and record.

Bassett, Patrick. (2004). When technology works for schools. Independent School, 63(4)