Leon Metz Southwest Chronicle Edu©Dual Language Leon Metz Bilingüe Without Borders | Page 9

A natural consequence of digital
and social media,
transparency is the
opposite of closed,
traditional schooling, where the walls
of the classroom
are tick and the
local teachers and
policies govern,
judge, and process
everything.

Spaces and places
matter. What are
they learning, and
why? Add to that,
where are they taking that knowledge
to use?
Place-Based Education complements
digital platforms
that tend towards
globalization. While
it is tempting for
learners to constantly connect
with exotic ideas
in equally exotic
locations, authentic
learning experiences allow learners to
self-direct personal
change in pursuit of
social change–and
that starts small,
at home and surrounding intimate
communities.

Self-Directed
Learning is almost
certainly at the
core of the future
of learning. To not
allow learners to
“play” with information, platforms, and
ideas is to ignore
the access, tools,
and patterns of 21st
century life.
physical is “out” and
digital is “in,” but that
the sheer scale and accessibility of digital resources, connections,
and spaces are overwhelming; if in no other place other than the
mindscape of the student, when it comes to
reading, writing, communicating,
saving,
creating, and sharing,
digital is everything!

BAYLOR UNIVERSITY PINTEREST-EDU.

Their Pinterest account markets the school to students, but in a
different way than most. Instead of just focusing on campus life,
there’s also a board dedicated to academics. Students can visit
the board and learn more about academic projects at the school,
research, professors, even a bit more about what the school’s
libraries have to offer. It’s not only a great resource for prospective students, but also for those who already attend the school.

YALE UNIVERSITY AND ITS PINTEREST OF TREASURES.

While it only has a few pins so far, the educational board “The Treasures of Yale” is an amazing
way to help connect students with the impressive collections of arts, sciences, and humanities
artifacts the school owns. Students can learn all about the items from the videos, get a chance to
see some of the faculty at the school, and may even get inspired to head out to a campus
museum to learn even when they’re not in class.
PIN US ON PINTEREST Travel The Pass ©

ASK YOURSELF

How can
sketch notes
assist in my class?

sketch |skeCH| noun

“Human beings young and old love a
good story. The video game industry,
billion dollar marketing campaigns,
Hollywood, even sports teams and
musical artists all live and die by
their ability to relay a story we can
connect with–and that matters in the
academic world as well.
The water cycle has a story to tell
that is exceptionally hard to document
in an outline form–and impossible to
do so engagingly or enthusiastically.
Same with Faulkner’s use of
Symbolism, the causes and effects of
war, the need for education to evolve,
or the merits of Freakonomics.
Sketch notes, done well, can tell a
story. Which means they can be
curated and, more importantly,
shared. And in the era of tablet PCs,
smartphones, and instagram, this
means everything. It may not seem
natural for a student to share their
sketchnotes on vine or deviantart, but
why not? If it’s important and elegant
and worth sharing, they’ll share it.”

noun

– Teach Thought©2013
The Southwest Chronicle Edu© Since 2008

BILINGUAL WITHOUT BORDERS

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