STEMx and Metaliteracy

Photo credit : http://www.hiec.on.ca/ccustem/

        STEM  is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics .The United States is lacking behind in STEM education of its citizens, therefore in January 21, 2006 United States president George W. Bush propose that the federal government should increase funding for STEM education. It has also been noted that STEM based careers are some of the best paying careers. This last mooc talk is about metaliteracy and STEM+  brought to us by Anthony Maddox (USC Rossier ) , Betty Hurley - Dasgupta (SUNY Empire state college , New York), Holly Ludgate  (New Media consortium), Samantha Adams Becker (New media consortium).
         HP catalyst academy was discussed in this mooc talk , it is a professional learning network for STEMx , it encourages collaboration. The HP catalyst academy recognize the gap in quality of STEM teachers in the United States and that the current models of teacher professional development  cannot keep pace with the demand. Anthony Maddox  course, Thinking like an Engineer : Teaching and learning Pre-College Engineering, deals with   Engineering design which focus on problem solving , designs, design features and context in which there are different types of problems such as ,closed problems and open- ended problems. He also identified different designs that teachers can make use of such as Creating multimedia portfolios , Lesson, Unit or Program plans . He also talked about the next generation science which should include science and engineering practices and K-12 engineering standards, inquiry based learning , Project - based learning . The week 2 of his course will deal with STEM interconnectedness and week 3 will deal with the Engineering habits of mind , which involves  Values , Attitudes and Thinking skills. Week 4 will consist of design review and more engineering Habits of mind - this includes Systems of thinking, Communication and Ethics.
         Samantha Becker talked about the use of social media for learning. She talked about  how teachers choose to use Blackboards and Google+ to teach and how she chose to use Facebook because it allows them to humanize the teaching experience Facebook  allows the use of videos and also makes teaching fun. She also talked about how student are told to post their assignments on discussion forums , which allows for a peer review of these assignments and also learn from each other ,thus students are made  producers of knowledge. She talked about the future of E-learning ,  they found out that the best schools are not including the skills of the future in their curriculum, such skills include critical thinking skills , problem solving skills collaboration across the networks, agility and adaptability , initiative and entrepreneurialism , effective oral and written communication skills .
        STEMx  and Metaliteracy share a connection , metaliteracy promotes critical thinking , and production of information which will be made open after lots of peer review .Digital learners for the 21st century need skills for critical thinking, communication , innovation and collaboration, STEMx wants to make sure that teachers encourage students to think critically , utilize open online resources , collaborate online and also produce information.