Just a bit of bragging about this article that features my co-prof in the School of Education’s Teaching with Technology course and several of our students, who participated in ongoing online simulations about the Arab-Israeli Conflict with area high school students. Check it out!
Today is the Michigan Association for Media in Education’s Winter Leadership Conference, which we hosted here at the University of Michigan School of Information.
It’s been a great day … full of online resources and strategies, celebration of successful librarians, stress relief, door prizes (!!), practical strategies for book challenges, and me doing a session on instructional strategies that can help us nudge student learning deeper. (Ah, Nudging!)
We’re wrapping up the day with Jeff Stanzler and Maurita Holland’s Michigan Matters project, which is a cool online, text-based module system that encourages kids to read content and engage in conversation with a character in the story. Behind the scenes, a UM student mentor responds to their thoughts in the role of a character.
I’m really fond of Michigan Matters because it gives teachers the chance to get students engaged in doing close digital reading (you can’t skim the content, or you won’t understand the story, unlike online research) and in online communication. Best of all, once the teacher registers his/her class with Michigan Matters, the mentor takes on the bulk of the feedback responsibility. Not only does this mean that kids can have a rich digital experience, but it doesn’t require an enormous teacher workload. The modules are pre-made, but the conversations are spontaneous. It manages to be a package that … amazingly … is not prescriptive.
It’s a reform movement that doesn’t require a huge time investment … and because it doesn’t, it’s more likely to stick.
You can learn more about UM’s simulations projects here and take a sample tour. If you’re a Michigan teacher or school librarian and would like to have your kids involved, Jeff and Maurita would be happy to consider you for next year, as the term at UM is nearing its close.
PS – Speaking of Nudging, I submitted the last column for the 2009-2010 season today. It’s a terrific column, expanded from one page to THREE, and full of great ideas for nudging Science Fair along. Which only means one thing … time to think about Nudging for next year! We’re looking for your ideas … learn more and submit here! The whole year’s topics are standing by, awaiting your perspective.
