Technology in Learning - Right Before Your Very Eyes

This week I spent some time in our nation's capital.  While in awe of all there is to see there and the significance of it all, I witnessed the utilization of technology to enhance learning in several different places!  I have to preface this by admitting my amateur mistake.  I left home without my cell phone.  While I had intended to "unplug", I had not really intended to unplug that much!  I was amazed at how lost I felt at first, but, then slowly got used to the disconnected feeling.  I guess I have not officially lost my tech challenged status.

Back to my experience.  The first stop on our itinerary was the American History Museum.  Guess what one of the first things we saw was, well, after I noticed the mouse that we used in 1986, which looked like a box with a little clicker on it.  Very funny!  Oh and C3PO, could not miss him!  We ran into a group of kids all armed with digital cameras snapping photos while on a scavenger hunt in the Smithsonian.  How cool is that? 

So, it's cool on a number of different levels, right?  Let's admit it, living close enough to take a field trip to the Smithsonian is a top level experience.  Just seeing the exhibits is enough to take your breath away.  But, being able to utilize technology to enhance the learning experience is way up there.  I was reminded of my museum experience in 6th grade.  We went, we looked, we came home, we wrote a report about it.  Yawn.  These kids went, recorded what was important to them, in the way that was important to them, probably went back to class and used Animoto to create a video about what they say and what it meant  to them. I bet they even set it to music and maybe added some audio. 

I saw this over and over again throughout our visit.  Weeks ago I viewed a youtube video in which teachers were commenting on utilizing technology in the classroom.  One teacher mentioned that the students of today and tomorrow are so adept at finding content within their own world that there is little need for textbooks or formal education and curriculum.  Her point was that the outside world in which we live our daily lives is chock full of exactly what we need to learn.  Why put it all in a textbook, why not go out there and grab it!  It's certainly there for the taking.  And, maybe we don't have to have physical access to the Smithsonian to do it.  We just need to think creatively about our surroundings and think of different ways to incorporate it into the design of our learning experience.