Nocking the Arrow

" What if...? " and " Why? " are inquiry sparks that ignite my curiosity. This week, during our freshmen iPad orientation, I presented the students with the following challenge; "What if your only graduation requirement was to make a significant learning contribution to our school, what would your project be, what tools and resources would you need?" After giving a confused look that said, "really"? The students shared some of their ideas following small group discussions. Creating a coding club, leading a green campus effort, running technology workshops for area seniors, decorating the hallways with photography, their responses were varied and ambitious. Then, we discussed tools and resources that would be needed to turn their concepts into reality. The conversation revealed the common theme of students needing something to connect them to information and experts. That conversation pattern provided the perfect transition towards our next

"...renewable assignments result in meaningful, valuable artifacts that enable future meaningful, valuable work." - David Wiley My personalized learning routine involves skimming through a few dozen blog posts first thing in the morning. I slammed on the brakes, and adjusted my reading glasses when I came across David Wiley's discussion of disposable versus renewable assignments in higher education. What do these terms mean, what are the differences, and why should educators care about the fate of their assignments? According to Dr. Wiley, disposable assignments are those that end up in a garbage can shortly after the instructor has graded it. This signals the learning, if there was any, has now ended. An assignment at the bottom of a garbage can adds no additional value to the world. My friend Shawn McCusker dislikes the thought of student work ending up in piles. He says, " If we want to increase the importance and validity of student work we need to extend i