Module #1 - The Introduction

Welcome to your RWLD.  

The RWLD is a resource page that includes an assortment of Readings, Watchings, Listenings, and Doings. This multimedia approach is designed to improve the learning experience in multiple ways:

• Z-Generation students (ages 9 - 23) think best using multiple forms of input. The RWLD approach provides a variety of forms of information.
  
• Even older learners enjoy differing ways to absorb information. RWLDs address differentiated learning needs as well.

Your assignments will be found in the eLearning website.  They may be mentioned in the RWLD, but the real instructions are on each of the assignment sheets.

Toss the Textbook!

About 9 years ago, I decided that textbooks were enough for our students. Our students are in the Multimedia Generation. These Millennials spend most of their waking hours Reading, Watching, Listening to, and Doing multimedia. This means that their brains are wired to acquire and assimilate information through multiple forms of media but most of our teachers still use paper textbooks.

The challenge was how to provide recent and relevant materials for my classes.  I needed a system that was easy to create, easy to use and easy to update. I wanted a tool that would allow me to release pages of resources on predetermined days. Did I mention, that I wanted it to be easy?

Blogger was my answer. It was simple . . . It was free . . . and I knew how to use it.  It would also provide an easy RSS feed for students to capture their assignment Certainly, there are other more sophisticated blogs and website design tools, but Blogger made the job that much easier.

I realized that there are basically 4 types of activities in learning.  These activities include Reading, Watching, Listening and Doing. What I needed to do was to create a tool that would allow for students to access all of these types of resources.

. . . and so the RWLD was born . . .

Consider how this might work with your future teaching and working. How could you use an RWLD (or similar system) to provide your students with a resource center for learning, exploring, and creating ideas? Review this Toss Your Textbooks page along with the sample RWLDs used in various classes and three resource pages at the bottom of the document.

Generate some innovative ideas of how you could/would use RWLDs in your present and future lives. Based upon the results of your Learning Survey and your knowledge of how you like to learn, generate ideas for what the optimal RWLD would include for you. This will be the basis for our in-class discussion for next Tuesday.

photo:flickr.com/GypsyFae