Reflections

Before starting AC 230 I had heard that it was about how to use media in the classroom .From the first day I knew it was going to be different. The relaxed nature of the classroom environment and the professor’s informal way of teaching made me less apprehensive. I came into the class with very little, if any, computer skills. The assignments were interesting and as the course progressed then I started to see the bigger picture. I think we were being taught to become responsible for our own learning, that all the answers were there for us to discover and that we needed to change the way we think about education on the whole and digital education in particular.

The course allowed me to see for the first time the idea of “open education” and its possibilities. Names like Jim Groom, Gardner Campbell, Clay Shirky and Anya Kamenetz suddenly became familiar as I was required to read the ideas these modern thinkers expressed. I learnt about the possibilities of “flexbooks” and how they could transform what happens in classrooms. Very soon I realized that this was not the class I thought I signed up for. There were still assignments to cater for K12 students but there was more emphasis on the philosophy behind the digital revolution that we are experiencing. I also learned stuff like certain aspects of Photoshop to create a GIF animation, how to create and embed videos on Youtube, and setting up my own blog . I was also able to interact with educational bloggers and listen to cutting-edge lecturers in their respective fields.

Although the entire course was interesting and informative, one feature stood out for me and that was the fact that I knew I would learn something new every day. I especially liked the Technology Entertainment and Design (TED) lectures but I was most intrigued by the idea of “open education”. I can’t think of anything at the moment that I did not like about the course, however, it would’ve been better if we had more time to do more examples of what we were being taught. I know learning is an ongoing experience and I will time to improve on what I have learnt.

Neeru Khosla on the topic of FLEXBOOKS- TEdxNYED

Neeru Khosla describes all the advantages of flexbooks over textbooks.These are found here  A flexbook is a digital textbook that can be modified and adapted to serve whatever students and teachers need- it is a flexible textbook. It is an idea that is long overdue but now we have the technology to make it possible.Think about how grateful all those students will be, not having to carry around those heavy backpacks!

The CK-12 Foundation,founded in 2006,and funded by Neeru Khosla and her husband, has the ambitious goal of providing K-12 students access to high quality educational content ,for them to interact with by using a web-based format. These digital textbooks can be customized to suit different learning styles, languages, abilities and even locations.I like this idea since these materials can be updated and new ideas can be infused as they become available,  they meet state curriculum guidelines and best of all they are FREE.Here is a link of how a flexbook can be modifiedhttp://youtu.be/ibnWdQXuBPQ