Authenticity.
If it's one thing today's learners value, it's authenticity; they want to feel part of something meaningful that has the potential to change (as opposed to just reading & regurgitating facts). That being said, the increasing prevalence of technology in today's classroom provides students with more opportunities than ever to have a voice and a choice on pursuing something meaningful to them. By providing this, students learn to create their own authentic learning opportunities.
Elsik High School's innovation plan consists of shedding light to the school's coding program and opportunities that could potentially open up to them by pursuing coding. While there are indeed practical benefits to learning coding, students need to be presented with opportunities to apply those skills. For instance, during our coding camp in 2019, we gathered students together into groups to discuss issues they've noticed around campus that they feel need to be addressed. Next, we asked them how they could use coding to address these issues in the form of a mobile application. Lastly, they were asked to develop a prototype of their application. The result was a remarkable level of engagement among all participants, with students actively participating at all levels of the activity.
Perhaps the biggest obstacle with this approach is sourcing accurate information about issues students genuinely care about. Staying true to the push for authenticity, I feel that it's imperative to let students lead the discussion with their peers about how coding could genuinely be used to enhance their lives. While the first year will be a learning experience with few direct examples from their peers, future groups will have actual examples of students using these skills to identify and address issues that they feel strongly about.
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