My Vision of the 21st Century Classroom!

I chose to do my final project on "My Vision of the 21st Century Classroom". I found this topic very relevant to me at this time in my teaching journey as it is all encompassing of many different topics that I'd like to pursue more of in the future. This final project gave me a general overview of some of the key components of the 21st Century Classroom. I touched on 11 Main Components of the Classroom:

• Digital Tools in the 21st Century Classroom 
• Why technology is an essential part of the 21st Century Classroom
• Ways that Ipads support learning in the 21st Century Classroom
• The Physical Layout of the 21st Century Classroom
• Furniture in the 21st Century Classroom
• Environmentally Sustainable Design in the 21st Century Classroom
• The role of the Teacher in the 21st Century Classroom
• Using the "Flipped" Model of Teaching in the 21st Century Classroom
• How is student learning demonstrated in the 21st Century Classroom
• Students sharing learning through Social Media in the 21st Century Classroom
• How is learning assessed in the 21st Century Classroom

What I discovered as I was researching this topic is that this is an enormous topic to discuss in detail, and I could have done an entire project about any 1 of the 11 components. I particularly found Web 2.0 tools a huge topic in itself. As a result, I just touched on some of the key apps that I found to be most helpful by showing a graphic overview of some of the most popular ipad apps used in classrooms. I would have liked to have gone into more detail discussing technology, but again, this is such a huge topic.

Likewise, "Flipping" the classroom, or "Project-based Learning" are also large topics which I barely skimmed the surface of. 

The nice thing about doing a general overview is that it allowed me to see the "big" picture of the pedagogy that is guiding teaching in the 21st century, and better understand some of the popular phrases, and digital tools. 

As I reflect on what I have learnt over the course I feel I now have a much better understanding of many of the web2.0 tools that are commonly mentioned than I did before I embarked on this learning journey. 

Blogging is not unfamiliar territory anymore, as is embedding videos, and sharing on social networks.

Going forward in my professional learning journey, I see myself continuing to develop my personal learning network, continuing to explore the many educational apps available on Ipads, and in general just continue learning about how other teachers are using digital tools to engage students in their learning. It is an exciting time to be a educator!

The21st centuryclassroom from dibhardman