Throughout the summer tech. integration camps that I have offered this year, I have allowed the students some free time to play around with what I had just taught them as well as given them some free time each week to "show me" something new. Naturally as you would expect, Internet free games, music, TV on the Internet and of course social networking has been the options of choice for the kids in my camps.
During the last week of camp, filming and editing our movie didn't always require all of the students at one time, so there were times when the students had free time at their computers. I have learned more about Club Penguin then I ever really cared to, but I have to admit I have learned a few things from the kids. From an entrepreneur's standpoint, I could easily open up an Internet cafe for kids called Club Penguin and make millions. These students would have spent all 4.5 hours of each day's camp playing these games and interacting on screen, as well as in person within the room with their classmates.
At first, this made me nervous knowing that too much of anything is not good, and I certainly did not want to create some video zombies either. It was funny though to watch the students interact with one another, combine efforts in virtual worlds by playing games, and even discussing moral issues with online environments and working to promote good netiquette while playing games within Club Penguin's social network. It took me a couple of days of observation to realize that they were really wrapped up in 21st century skills. They were collaborating, working face-to-face and virtually solving problems, and creating new games within the online space.
By the time these students enter the work force, we can only predict what their jobs will entail, but I have a feeling that many of the things that they learned during these free periods of time will prove to be very beneficial for becoming life long learners and problem solvers within the 21st century. Had this been a regular school lesson session, I doubt that many teachers, including myself, would have given them this much free time in order to observe this behavior. It makes me realize that we are too programmed sometimes when it comes to creating lessons for the computer lab.
Often I witness teachers in the computer lab that instruct students on basic skills within a program to ultimately present a research topic in a meaningful way. However, in most cases many of the presentations end up looking very similar, if not identical, due to the fact that in order to get through the lessons in the allotted time, teachers are forced to share a single step and then have students follow this step exactly on their own machines. Initial and basic skills probably have to be taught this way, or in a similar way through tutorials, videos or walk throughs, but does this really promote 21st century skills and problem solving strategies?
The answer, in my opinion, is not exactly. Open ended, service learning and project based learning with multimedia offer much more for the student, and require higher order thinking skills. These types of projects take up a lot of time, and require lots of planning which is probably why they are often ignored or skipped, but in my mind would be well worth the time and experience. If teachers have not experienced this before it can be very overwhelming, but I would urge you to at least try one of these projects with your class. It may seem to take way too long, and chances are the first time around will take an eternity, but I guarantee the outcomes will be well worth the time and efforts.
If you don't believe me, just give your students some "sandbox" time in the computer lab for your first class trip to the lab the next time and just quietly observe the students' behaviors and interests. It could be the most influential experience in getting to really know your students right off the bat. It certainly will tell you more then test scores within the cum folder.
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