There is no doubt in my mind that Open Education is one of the most promising movements within the field of education. Sharing, collaborating and mentoring are part of the teaching profession. Dean Shareski on his video Sharing: The Moral Imperative, reminds us that sharing is the foundation of education, just like we do in class with our students and colleagues. The playground is just got "a little bigger". Since the beginning of the OLTD program one of my major concerns has been that most of the research in regards to institutionalized or open online learning concentrates on post-secondary education. I find it a bit frustrating as the needs of my students are very different from adult learners. The more I think about this it becomes more evident to me that while the world keeps moving faster and faster the K-12 sector moves at a much slower pace. The interesting part is that it is within the K-12 sector that we have the opportunity to generate greater change. We should be preparing the digital citizens of tomorrow, right??? George Siemens' spoke about the goals of education during a Tedx Talk on March of 2010: "Education is not to serve the corporate spectrum …when we think about education we need systems that permit optimal capacity for connections … Teaching is a far better value to society than is often given credit for; the development of next generation, the development of mindsets and attitudes, the changing of individual lives… that is the intent, the goal and the focus of education." It seems that the BC Education Plan is not aligned to Siemens' ideas when the Ministry of Education identifies the most important challenge of the BC Education Public system: "The economies of industrialized countries are also in the midst of dramatic change. More than ever, the economic imperative is to ensure young people entering the workforce have the lifelong skills and competencies that employers are increasingly looking for: creative thinking, problem solving, initiative, curiosity, and the ability to lead and work well in groups." Although the plan acknowledges the role of information technology in today's world it is listed as the last bullet point when the documents talks moving from Principles to Practice. The document recognizes communication and digital literacy as one of the relevant competencies that BC students should master. Is this enough? I don’t believe so. Wikipedia defines Hidden Curriculum as something that is learned without being the explicit intent of the lesson. Isn't that what teachers need to do to teach many important things? When I teach my students to conjugate regular verbs in Spanish I am also teaching them to identify patterns. Lately, some aspects of my hidden curriculum connects with digital literacy and citizenship, open educational resources and using the internet for more than posting selfies or Google. In any society teachers hold an incredible power to shape the future of a community, a nation and the world. It is our responsibility to master the digital literacy skills that our students need to learn, to connect with other professionals to develop professionally and try to catch up with a world that moves faster every day. Those of us who already jump on the wagon, have a responsibility to help our colleagues develop their skills by sharing what we know to the best of our ability, mentoring and opening our "virtual filling cabinet" to anyone who wants to learn. I am sure we will have resistance but we will also find those who decide to jump in with you with open minds. |
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