Who Owns the Learning? Preparing Students for Success in the Digital Age

November, Alan. Who Owns the Learning? Preparing Students for Success in the Digital Age. 2012. 96p. ISBN 978-1-935542-57-5. Available at PROF 371.39 NOV on the library shelves.

In this thought-provoking book, November argues that school has short-changed students under the current model. The learning belongs to students, and not to teachers, and November presents the Digital Learning Farm, a model that shifts educational control towards students, empowering them to make decisions and to guide their own learning. The Digital Learning Farm model allows students to develop and own their learning through the use of four different roles: the tutorial designer, the scribe, the researcher, and the global communicator.

In essence, the tutorial designer creates movies that explain a problem to others, be that a math question, or a how to video. These are then posted to the web so that everyone can benefit from what is being taught. The scribe records the notes and events that happen in the classroom. Every day, a different student takes notes. These notes are reviewed by the teacher and the class and are posted on a blog or wiki so they can be accessed by everyone in the class. The researcher investigates questions that arise during class by finding answers and resources online. Finally, the global communicator reaches out to other people online who can help with the topics or subjects at hand.

These four roles really tie together the transformational 6 that Alan November mentions in a recent article entitled Walk Through for Innovation: Six Questions for Transformed Learning. In this article, he states that if your lesson or assessment answers no to all of these questions, then technology has not been successfully integrated in your classroom and you are doing a disservice to your students. This book, while preceding these questions, does a great job of demonstrating how all of them can be addressed by adopting the Digital Learning Farm model. Ultimately, students must own their learning to be really successful, and educators and even students should demand access to an education model similar to what November proposes to enhance both their interest in school and their desire to better perform as students.