“The Tuned Out book and its website are fabulous resources, showing you how to realize an invigorated, student-focused classroom that takes full advantage of today’s digital technologies. Teachers and students need to be creative, flexible and collaborative learners, and Hume explains how to make this happen.”
Don Tapscott, author of 14 books, most recently (with Anthony D. Williams) Macrowikinomics: Rebooting Business and the World. Twitter: @dtapscott. www.dontapscott.com
“It seems like every day, a new report or set of standards challenges teachers to "engage" our students in meaningful academic work. With Tuned Out, Karen Hume demonstrates practical ways for educators to do just that. Hume summarizes the latest research on motivation, offers authentic classroom examples, and encourages us to be creative, collaborative thinkers. With questions and activities throughout the text, as well as connections to online conversations and resources, Tuned Out invites readers to both rethink what it means to teach and learn in a digital age and, more importantly, put those ideas into action.”
Troy Hicks, author of The Digital Writing Workshop. Website: http://hickstro.org. Twitter @hickstro
“Karen Hume has compiled a valuable resource for teachers. As teachers, we know that engaged students learn better. Sometimes we call this intuition, but really this is our professional training and experience that has tuned into improving learning for all our students.Student engagement and assessment for learning are the commonality between all teachers, no matter what the subject or grade level. Whether teachers are already using technology to engage their students or not, there is a point of entry for all teachers. Learning through modeling is a great way to teach. In this way, Karen Hume is a masterful teacher. Each section of the book is full of ways for teachers to further their engagement in the book. Tuned Out by Karen Hume is more than simply a printed book. It is designed so that the reader has a parallel experience with the online website. The website is a virtual staff room for teachers to both gather and share ideas. I would encourage readers to join the online professional learning community. The book has joined my personal library as a valuable asset to be kept near-at-hand.”
James McConville, District Staff Development Coordinator, Coquitlam, BC
“As I read through Karen Hume's book, I was reluctant that I would find the value in what it was discussing, as we are so connected in our world to information now. As a school administrator though, I found the way Karen organized the material, would definitely benefit not only teaching practices, but also defining the vision for our schools. When thinking about the "5 C's" that she shares, there is not one that is not essential to what we NEED to do for our students to prepare them for the journey of their lives. Karen not only celebrates the teacher as a leader, but also as a learner, side by side with our students. The information shared, tied in with powerful quotes that help clarify the vision, is a great read for educators that want to make a difference in the lives of their students."
George Couros, System Principal, Parkland SD, Alberta. Founder of The Principal of Change.
“Karen Hume’s book Tuned Out: Engaging the 21st Century Learner is directed at both the teacher and the student in the learning relationship. Accessibly written, its snippets of conversations, poetry, artifacts from classrooms and reviews of theoretical wisdom appeal to the reader’s aesthetic sensibilities; a clever ploy to reawaken teachers’ creative spirit dampened in a climate intensely focused on accountability as measurement. The text holds great potential to reorient the reader away from the pervasive discourses that seek to monitor and control activities in schools toward those that recall and reconnect the passion for learning that we have all experienced in our lives. Noting that motivation is tied to the intellectual engagement that we all crave, Hume has crafted a text that could easily serve to guide discussion at staff meetings in ways that remind teachers and administrators that learning communities grow, self-directed from the interests and strengths of their members. Tuned Out students and teachers are ‘at risk’ of failing and, as I have said elsewhere, call for ‘risk taking’ teachers and administrators to stand up for learning in the face of institutional practices that reduce teaching to discourses of management, measurement and mediocrity . If we want to create engaging spaces for our students, we must ensure that we engage the creative intellect of our teachers. Tuned Out seeks, through its design, its example, and its related activities to ‘tune in’ its teachers so that they may in turn, re-engage with their students.”
Kathy Hibbert, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, The University of Western Ontario
“Tuned Out is an essential addition to every teacher's and administrator’s library. It won’t just sit on the shelf. This book is practical - is tied closely to current learning theories – and has depth and breadth. This resource reflects its intent in its design. It engages. It is not passive. In some ways, the ‘medium is the message’ as McLuhan would say. It is not simply a book – but provides a valuable online environment designed to engage the reader both as a consumer of information and also as a constructor and contributor of knowledge to the community.
I am extremely impressed with the theoretical stance of Tuned Out. Karen draws on major philosophies and significant educators – past and present - Seymour Papert, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Grant Wiggins, Lev Vygotsky – to name a few. Brilliant. Current. Forward thinking.”
Peter Skillen, Manager, Professional Development for Social Media,
YMCA of Greater Toronto K-12 Educator since 1970.
Website: www.peterskillen.org. Twitter: @peterskillen
“In Karen’s expert way, she challenges the reader to be an active, engaged participant in their professional learning as she guides them through this text. Asking them to question, think, predict and extend their reading beyond the book to a blog and a website that fits with the kinds of learning teachers are doing today. She challenges teachers to learn individually, but to also become part of a larger learning community, exactly what we are hoping for our 21st century learners.”
Brenda Sherry, Technology Coach, Upper Grand DSB, website: www.brendasherry.com.