21st Century Learning & FCS Process Standards

In the past few weeks, I asked FCS teachers in our Missouri e-mail discussion list to let me know if they were engaging in any of the following activities:

· Personal, Professional, or Classroom Blogs
· Course or Learning Management System - such as Moodle or Blackboard
· Social Networks - such as LinkedIn, Ning, Facebook, and Twitter – for professional use
· Online or virtual simulation tools
· Collaboration tools - such as wikis or using Google products such as docs, calendar
· Social Bookmarks – such as Delicious and Diigo
· Digital Media – using tools such as Animoto, Voice Thread, Flickr, and other digital storytelling methods
· Audio or Video Podcasts – either creating them or how you use them in instruction
· Instant Response Polling Systems – “clickers” or other polling sites/services

I am still receiving responses from teachers, and soon will write a newsletter article highlighting some of the work FCS teachers are doing in these areas. But one theme has emerged and is "whoa - what is all of this? How far 'behind' am I?"

Many of these ideas were introduced to me in the summer of 2008. At that point I too realized how much I had missed and could I even try to catch up? Since that time, I've been trying to learn as much as possible (to the point where my head hurts). This blog is one way for me to share that information with family and consumer sciences teachers in Missouri and beyond.

Today (1/8/09) I finally got around to listening to a podcast posted by Wesley Fryer on his blog that I think helps explain the concepts of 21st Century Learning; how educators can engage students with digital technologies; and how using process is essential to learning and solving problems. The examples given might be in mathematics, but I think you will see that engaging students in understanding thinking as a process and its application to perennial practical problems fits into the curriculum work the FCS staff at Missouri DESE has been doing for quite some time. Process Standards are also a part of the National Standards for Family and Consumer Sciences.

Here is the description of the podcast that - This podcast features a recording of the January 2, 2009, live morning radio show interview in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on CJOB68 with Darren Kuropatwa, minus the news and advertisement breaks. The conversation focused on Darren’s utilization of scribe posts by his Calculus and Pre-Calculus students at Daniel McIntyre Academy in Winnipeg, the imporance of numeracy as well as literacy, and the power of online learning communities to support as well as motivate students inside and outside the classroom. Darren was joined in this series of interviews by Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, Dean Shareski, and Wesley Fryer, who along with Darren are co-conveners of the free and global K-12 Online Conference. K12Online is an online conference for teachers, by teachers, amplifying the possibilities for using digital technologies as well as online learning communities to support engaged learning. Mark Rabena, one of Darren’s former students also joined in our discussions.

The podcast is about 1 hour and 46 minutes. After listening, let me know what you think. What do you think about the topics discussed in the podcast? How do they/will they/should they fit into family and consumer sciences classrooms? Are the family and consumer sciences teachers in your area using digital/technology tools to work on process or on product?