The video, 3 Steps for 21st Century Learning, reminded me of what I had done in college in the 70s and of the team building focus (ROPES) that was part of my first job in the late 70s. It seems that this idea of collaboration is not new; rather, the group is just larger.
Re: Successful Student Thinking in the Digital Age: Yes, I do this "lateral thinking" at times. I feel different when I do it. I feel quite focused and excited while I am in the middle of it, but I don't remember much of is as time goes on. With "vertical thinking," I can also be focused, and sometimes be excited, but I remember it better--partly because I have schema developed within which to place ideas. So, even though "lateral thinking" may allow me to be more inventive, its value is blunted by my difficulty in remembering where I found information, and one exciting idea often pushes a previous one out.
What about the slow readers or the non-readers? There is a lot of text coming our way when we move through the information in these videos. Much of it is chunks of text backed by music. When I experience it, I am reminded of being in a speed-reading class. I allow it to flow over me, and, because I am a good reader, much of it seeps in as it flows by. But, what if I were not a good reader?
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Jeanne,
ReplyDeleteI like the videos very much because I am able to stop them and go back and review part or all of them, and because they're short, it is nothing to review them over and over. Each time I view them, I understand something new. I find them to be creative in their presentation and full of ideas and facts and figures. They're short, to the point, and clear. I enjoy the music, the graphics, and especially the succinctly presented information.
So, I guess my response would be, if you were not a good reader, you would just have to learn to stop and restart the video in order to have more time to let the information sink in. I consider myself a good reader, but I do that anyway because of the quantity of information.
Anyway, I hope the videos stimulated some new thoughts for all of you and that they opened the floor to sharing and discussing those thoughts as colleagues. I hope that the discussions will continue after the class ends, and that we will continue to support each other in sharing and trying out new ideas and new techologies in our teaching.
The vertical/lateral thinking sounds very much like the left brain/right brain distinction. Two minds are better than one! And there is a time and place for reliance on each but the best is to be able to shuttle back and forth as needed.
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