This week we watched the film “Most Likely to Succeed”. The film highlights the school High Tech High where students engage in inquiry project -based learning, using a student-centred approach. This style of teaching emphasizes critical thinking, creativity, communication and problem-solving. In our breakout rooms we discussed some of the pros and cons of this pedagogy style. Some pros are that the public showcase encouraged accountability and made students feel genuinely proud of their work, showing intrinsic motivation. The community focus and the way the students combined subject areas seemed more accurate to how learning and work happen outside of school. With less emphasis on grades students may be less afraid of failure and more willing to take risks. Inquiry and project-based learning can also lead to better retention that traditional tests, especially when learning is connected to topics the students were actually interested in. Some of the cons we discussed were logistical challenges the school may face when integrating subjects together. What do student’s daily schedules look like if not separated into subject blocks? How is assessment managed without traditional grading? The film showed that many students were still very focused on grades and did not value inquiry-based learning. During our discussion, Willem mentioned the idea that transformation in education should follow a “top-down” approach, where universities adapt to become inquiry-based, and eventually secondary schools follow this transformation. I believe this would help address the issue of students being more focused on grades than learning, as many were mainly concerned that inquiry-based secondary education would hinder their acceptance into universities.
Another topic we discussed today was privacy and safety when using educational technology. Privacy is an important consideration as a teacher using technology because we need to make sure our student’s data is not being used for marketing purposes or profit. This especially is a concern when using services that are hosted outside of Canada. If I understood correctly, when accessing tools outside of Canada you need to receive approval from the district. Parents and students also need to provide informed consent, and be provided with alternative options if they prefer not to use the tool. The ed-tech coordinator for the district you are working in should be able to help you determine which services are okay to use with your class. Sebastian also provided a helpful link to a list of approved digital services from school district #61. I have provided the link below.