A Teacher in a Flat World
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I remember reading Thomas Friedman’s book called The World is Flat years ago and thinking that our children are really going to grow up in a different world. His premise was that the world was now flat because of the Internet and that any one in any country could do a job, if that job could be done with a computer. Which if you are a student in school, you could be in a lot of trouble.
With that said, I didn’t really think about this Flat World idea until this past week…
You see, I woke up Tuesday morning with the heavy thought hanging over me that I needed to write a new script for my LEGO animation group that was starting in a few weeks. Although I like writing scripts, I just have too many things on my plate right now to deal with it. So then the thought came to me that I should outsource it.
That’s right, I wanted to outsource my script writing to someone else in this Flat World. So I went to oDesk.com, created an account and posted the job at about 10 PM Tuesday night. (it took less than 15 minutes to do all of this). I woke up Wednesday morning and I had14 applicants that wanted the job that I posted. Honestly, about two-thirds of the applicants were highly qualified for this job. We’re talking experience screenwriters who specialized in writing for children. The hourly rate ranged from $3 to $35 (Bangladesh to United States respectively).
I picked someone from the Philippines and hired them to do the job. By the time I got home after school I had a beautifully written screenplay in my inbox and the total cost to me was $7.70
Suddenly, I started to panic for my two children. You see, I have a senior and a sophomore in high school right now, what does this mean to them? How do they compete? The Flat World has just hit home and I contributed to it!
The answer is 21st Century Skills. I have been beating this drum for years and now I see these skills are more important than ever. My children, your children, our students need to develop 21st Century Skills, because if they are doing something that can be done cheaper in another county — it will be. 21st Century Skills cannot be outsourced.
- Brad Flickinger, Tech Teacher, Bethke Elementary
New Podcast: With Tech, Failure is Always an Option
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I just uploaded a new episode of Elementary Tech Teacher’s Journal.
Episode Number 47 for the week of October 24, 2011
With Tech, Failure is Always an Option
Show Notes
It seems that with every tech idea I get and try to incorporate into my school, it fails the first few times.
http://www.bradflickinger.com/Brad_Flickinger/Podcast/Podcast.html
This week’s episode is sponsored by Atomic Learning.
Collaborating with a Global Community
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So a few weeks ago I blogged about the new Spotlight feature on Atomic Learning, one of which was a spotlight on Collaborating with a Global Community. After reviewing the information I got excited about applying this to my classroom.
One of the first things I did was to request that Skype not be blocked for our school. After a little negotiation with IT, it was decided that it could be unblocked for my teacher account.
I then went to Walmart and got a webcam for my teacher PC. I kind of splurged and got a really nice one for about $60.
The next thing I needed was someone for my students to Skype with, so I went on Twitter and sent out my request to the Twitter-sphere and within minutes I had a 4th grade classroom in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, for my kids to work with.
The teacher and I collaborated on a few ideas and we came up with a great project based on some common teaching standards. And before we knew it our kids were using video chat to work on projects together.
- Brad Flickinger, tech teacher, Bethke Elementary School
Read MoreNew Podcast: Things about my principal.
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I just uploaded a new episode of Elementary Tech Teacher’s Journal.
Episode Number 46 for the week of October 17, 2011
A tribute to my principal
Show Notes
I work for an amazing principal, so with this being boss’s day, I wanted to take a few minutes to talk about my principal and what she does to make our school what it is.
http://www.bradflickinger.com/Brad_Flickinger/Podcast/Podcast.html
This week’s episode is sponsored by Atomic Learning.
1 to 1 iPads as part of Project REAL
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This morning as I was waiting for my students to get ready for school I decided to watch the video below about how Little Falls Community Schools in Little Falls, MN has started a program called Project REAL to get 1:1 iPads into the hands of their students in grades 5 through 12. Fast forward to 13 minutes in the video to see Dan Meyer, CEO and President of Atomic Learning help kick-off the event. “Technology has opened the world to me,” said Dan. “We know that technology will be everywhere around you and open up your world to all types of opportunities.”
Dan continues to talk about the difference between consuming information and contributing information, and challenged the students to be patient with their teachers as they learn together as digital “pioneers.”
I have always known Dan to be a generous guy (just ask my son about “The Chocolate Cake Incident”) but I believe the work that is being done in Little Falls with Project REAL and Atomic Learning will set the stage for other district to follow in the years ahead. You can download the eBook about it here.
This is a great video to watch for anyone thinking about going 1 to 1 with iPads in their school.
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