Digital Natives

This is a group project.

This project worth 100 points.

It worth 10% of your final grade.

At the end of the project, you will be able to:

define the characteristics of 21st Century Learning.
define the characteristics of digital natives.
discuss methods of engaging digital natives' learning.
create an animated video.

Project assignments:

video script
an animated video (100 points)

Part I: What is 21st Century Learning?

21st Century Learning is a term that has been used in education for probably too many times. What exactly is 21st Century Learning? What are the key characteristics of 21st Century Learning? We are going to explore those questions first as a start of the Digital Natives Project.

What makes 21st Century Learning different than 20th Century Learning?

Watch the video and think about your learning experiences. What kinds of 21st Century Learning and 20th Century Learning have you experienced? List all examples you can think of and we will discuss them in groups.

Framework for 21st Century Learning

Framework for 21st Century Learning was developed with input from teachers, education experts, and business leaders to define and illustrate the skills and knowledge students need to succeed in work, life and citizenship, as well as the support systems necessary for 21st century learning outcomes. It has been used by thousands of educators and hundreds of schools in the U.S. and abroad to put 21st century skills at the center of learning.

- Created by Partnership for 21st Century Skills

21st Century Student Learning Outcomes

1. Content Knowledge

Mastery of fundamental subjects is essential for students in the 21st century. Disciplines include:

English, reading, or language arts
World languages
Arts
Mathematics
Economics
Science
Geography
History
Government and Civics

In addition to these subjects, we believe schools must move beyond a focus on basic competency to promoting understanding of academic content at much higher levels by weaving 21st century interdisciplinary themes into curriculum, including:

2. Learning and innovation skills

3. Information, Media and Technology Skills:

Part II: Who are 21st Century Learners?

We learned about subjects and skills that are needed to teach for 21st Century Learning. Now let's think about who will be the learners? What kinds of characteristics that 21st Century Learners would have? What do they like? How do they best learn? Let's keep exploring the generation that was born as Digital Natives.

Who are digital natives?

Marc Prensky coined the term, digital native in his work Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants published in 2001. According to him, digital natives are who born into the digital world and grow up immersed in digital technologies. Are you a digital native?

Meet a digital native

Clementine is a 20 month old French baby. The video shows her first time experience with an iPad.

What digital natives want?

Digital natives not only are good with digital technology but also have unique characteristics.

Let's learn about other characteristics of digital natives by reading this article, Who are the digital natives? And what do they want?

How can we teach digital natives?

Education, as Marc Prensky states, is the single largest problem facing the digital world as our Digital Immigrant instructors are struggling to teach a population that speaks an entirely new language. Therefore it is critical to understand their needs and learning styles and customize instructions to them.

Watch the video and brainstorm how you can best teach them. List all of your ideas and we will discuss them in groups.

Part III: Time to work on the project

Now we've learned concepts of 21st Century Learning and understand characteristics of 21st Century Learners - the digital natives, it is the time for us to contribute to the community. You will work in groups to create an animated video via PowToon. The video needs to teach your audience a concept or a skill that fits in the range of 21st Century Student Learning Outcomes. You will share your video on a YouTube playlist, so K-12 educators could use your video in their classrooms.

An example of using PowToon to explain a concept.

Brainstorm video ideas and create a Google Doc for your video script

Brainstorm what you want to make a video about with your group members and write your script using Google Docs.

Section 9:05-9:55. Submit your Google Doc link here or the sheet below.

Digital Natives-Video Script#1

Section 10:10-11:00, submit your Google Doc link here or the sheet below.

Digital Natives-Video Script#2

Complete your video script

In the Google Doc, include your video title and your names. Your video script will NOT be graded. It helps you and your group members to form the structure for your video and also helps me to catch up your progress and ideas.

Answering following questions will help you write your script:

What subject you're interested in teaching?
What concepts/ skills are important to that subject?
What are the best way to explain/ introduce the concept/ skill to digital natives? Keep in mind of the characteristics of digital natives.

Here is a script writing template for your reference.

Movie Script Template

Create an animated video

Once you finalized your video idea, create an account on PowToon. Explore the website and learn how to create animated videos on the website. I recommend you to go through the tutorial guide provided by the website. You can share your PowToon with your group members, check out this page.

When you completed the video, export your video to YouTube.

You will need a Google account to publish videos on YouTube. Below is the how-to page.

Make sure your video doesn't use any of the premium components, otherwise you won't be able to export your video for free.

After you published your YouTube video to the public, add your YouTube video to the playlist here.

This is a public playlist for K-12 educators to collect teaching materials. (Remember to sign in your Google account when you're doing this.)

Also, create a new page on your Google Site and name it Digital Natives. Add your script and video to the page.

You can search online for more details or check the page here.

Grading

Your video will be graded based on the rubric below. The full grade for this project is 100 points and it worth 10% of your final grade. Keep in mind, your group members will evaluate your contribution at the end of the project. This will count as part of your participation grade.

Copy of Digital Natives Rubric

If you have a question regarding how to use PowToon, use the page below to find answers.

Google Sites

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