The most effective way to engage students in learning is to create an authentic audience , giving them a sense that someone else (besides teachers and parents) cares about their work. - Levy, S. (2008) How many times have you heard students ask, " why do we have to learn this? " Instead of preparing students for "the real world", stage their learning in "the real world". As Will Richardson reminds us, " standardized curriculum is merely a best guess of how to prepare students for their future ". Providing students with genuine learning to be shared with authentic audiences prepares them to be contributors today, and in the future. An authentic audience has been shown to increase student empowerment while expanding the time and space parameters of the traditional classroom. Students become motivated to work harder and learn more deeply when they know their learning has purpose and meaning to other learners. “ Representation of knowledge ...
Ruminations about lifelong learning.