Student Choices in Learning

There are many things changing in education. One of the main things is the choice that students get to make. They finally have a choice in their own education, at least in a classroom where the teacher has embrace this time of learning environment. 

So, you may ask "Why should we give students a choice in what they learn?"  I mean it's been working great for years telling them what they have to learn right?

We can no longer look things the way we used to. The world is changing and as educators we must too! Students have so many things that take their attention now and they have ways of learning that do not include a teacher, whiteboard, and textbook. They get bored with that; therefore, we have to change something. Giving students a choice is the way to change that. They will still have to learn standards but they will be able to learn the standard in a way the want to such as using technology instead of paper and pencil. They can also change what they learn as long as they do achieve the standard. 

We've talked about ways they can change what they learn but why let that happen? It's simple! We let students have a choice because we want them to be actively engaged. Most of all we want them to actually learn! If we give students the choice then we know that they will learn something and they will be actively engaged. Once they have made the choice they are then motivated to learn and it is more meaningful to them. 

Let's take a minute to stop and think about how we are teaching our students now. Is that how you would want to learn? Do you remember anything from the way the learned in school and do you want your children learning the same way? 

             Vs. 

Collaboration

When it comes to taking online classes and campus classes, there are a number of differences as well as similarities. Group projects work similar in both situations. Let's compare:

        In - Class/Wiki Editing 

• The work is done as a team.
• Each students is supposed to have a certain thing they work on more. (Their specific topic.)

   There are more similarities but those are the main ones coming to my mind. However, there are differences too. Let's contrast:

         In - Class

• Students are physically seeing each other while doing their project. 
• The students are in the same physical place at the same time. 
• Students are working on the project at the same time. 

       Wiki Editing

• Students are at different locations when they are working on the project. 
• The teacher can see how much work each student puts into the project without having to ask the students. (It will be accurate.)
• Students do not have to work on the project at the same time. 

In both ways of group work, we are striving for collaboration and not just cooperation. With cooperation, students are working to assist each other and while that is what collaboration is to a extent, collaboration goes a little deeper. In collaboration, each individual has a say so in what is going on it the project. Students are taught at an early at (hopefully) to cooperate with others. They learn that they must work with other people and they need to be cooperative. Something that needs to change is that students need to be taught to collaborate instead of just cooperate. In this changing world, students need to learn how to speak up and share their ideas and adults need to learn to listen. 

One way to help teach students how to collaborate is to change the way teachers teach. We have to get rid of the traditional way where students are just passive learners. Teachers need to embrace the differences and ideas of their students. They need to let their students have a say so in some of the things that they learn. Granted I know that there are standards that need to be met. However, they can still be met and the students can give their opinions on what they want to learn about. A teacher just needs to be skilled enough to teach to the students interests while reaching those standards.