Authentic Learning

Awwww man! I overlooked this reading for Week 2! Got ahead of myself with posts on the week 3 readings. Be back on this one soon. Authentic Learning- Eureka!! Anyone remember The Oregon Trail software or was it a game? Anyway, this is one thought that came to mind while trying to remember any sort of "Authentic Learning" I may have been exposed to during my earlier educational years. Maybe I was exposed to it from my little sister's education, she is 16 years behind me. Perhaps I'm off on a tangent. I can recall several authentic learning experiences taking place across the hall from my office in the high school forensics lab. The instructor incorportated crime scenes, evidence, witnesses, expert testimonials, blood spatter, broken glass, finger prints, chain of evidence, and even a lab on stages of decay. No one will forget that smell or the destruction that maggots can do.
I do believe Authentic Learning is critical. It links learning to the future and provides relevance. Real life experiences, decision making and consequences are excellent learning opportunities. The way we teach needs to change. There are so many educational opportunities to incorporate technology and "real world" experiences. We need to take advantage. Lectures and notes have their use, but not as the sole source of curriculum delivery. I hope to have some time to visit the links in this article- they look very interesting- and well worth passing on. I agree with the bulleted items on how to make authenic learning effective- the lessons won't carry themselves- they are dependent on the mindset of educators. Then there are the eight essential factors that must be present for the success of an authentic learning environment. I think our educators need to be offered re-educational opportunities. They need more exposure, more practice and more time. Administrators also need to be aware of other methods of curriculum delivery. I guess this is what the "just" of the reading is stating. It's up to higher ed. to make sure these thing are taking place in preparing our future educators.