Clarence summarizes the points in Henry Jenkins’ latest white paper and adds more fuel to the conversation in terms of moving away from teaching content simply to regurgitate it and moving toward teaching content in the context of developing skills for learning, and I think they are worth repeating here:
- Play— the capacity to experiment with one’s surroundings as a form of problem-solving
- Performance— the ability to adopt alternative identities for the purpose of improvisation and discovery
- Simulation— the ability to interpret and construct dynamic models of real-world processes
- Appropriation— the ability to meaningfully sample and remix media content
- Multitasking— the ability to scan one’s environment and shift focus as needed to salient details.
- Distributed Cognition— the ability to interact meaningfully with tools that expand mental capacities
- Collective Intelligence— the ability to pool knowledge and compare notes with others toward a common goal
- Judgment— the ability to evaluate the reliability and credibility of different information sources
- Transmedia Navigation— the ability to follow the flow of stories and information across multiple modalities
- Networking— the ability to search for,synthesize,and disseminate information
- Negotiation— the ability to travel across diverse
communities,discerning and respecting multiple perspectives,and
grasping and following alternative norms.
There’s a healthy mix of Pink, Siemens, Robinson and others in there. (And I would again highly recommend Jenkins’ book Convergence Culture for even more on these ideas.) It’s amazing, isn’t it, how little of this is being done in most schools? Appropriation? (Plagiarism!) Collective Intelligence? (Plagiarism!) Networking? (Plagiarism!) I look at this list through the lens of my own kids’ school experience and seriously wonder…are my kids at risk?
I agree less, however, with the idea that “Jenkins tells us, we need to look beyond our kids having access to tools (blogs, wikis, etc.) and we need to learn how to use them effectively in our classrooms to support their learning.” Yes, I need to seriously roll up my sleeves and, like Clarence, get deeply engaged in the pedagogy. And this is another example of the conversation shifting to a larger scope beyond technology. But I feel like I also need to petition whoever will listen that it’s a moral imperative at this point to get every kid connected. If Libya is on the verge depending on how the $100 laptop initiative plays out, why aren’t we? (Don’t answer that…)
technorati tags:education, learning, curriculum, weblogg-ed
I suppose Will it is a question of personal ICT and making sure that as teachers we embrace what the children do in the everyday. Our curriculum (UK) seems so far removed from what they are actually doing in their lives that it is erring on the bizarre! When will children ever personally choose to use a branching database – but they have mobile phones. 4 out of 5 boys in my class I chatted to the other day had phones better than mine. They know how to download music, shoot photos and videos, send messages store contacts (isn’t that last one an example of a database!??) I just think it is about time schools reflected the world of the learner and delivered a curriculum that is flexible enough to cope with change.
I agree with Tom Barrett that the operative word is reflect, but here’s the question–what school in their right mind is going to let us truly reflect the world of our learner. Text messaging, myspace, facebook, Wow, SecondLife. Any school here that is contemplating that would indeed be fulfilling a “final fantasy”.
In my case the mirror I held up to my three sections of freshman composition reflected back not a single user of RSS feeds. Aggregators anyone? Not one thumbs up. As my students say, “WTF”
Barrett is right though. That’s where we need to be. He reminded me of a student last week who wanted me to show a short YouTube video. She was encouraged to do so by my attempts to open class with something fun.
So I did. When the video (a heartrending music video about a father teaming up with his paralyzed son to participate in a triathalon) was over there weren’t many dry eyes in the house. WTF. She was reflecting back to me with a tool I had introduced into the class. Maybe that is the kind of reflection Tom is promoting. I think that this might be what Will is talking about that rings so sympathetically within me right now–teach who you are, tech warts and all.
Terry you say in your comment, “what school in their right mind is going to let us truly reflect the world of our learner.” This is the ultimate hurdle for educators to get over.
But I feel very much a part of the “school”, I am not fighting against it and the children I teach should have people fighting their corner.
I suggested that the school curriculum should reflect the common experiences they have at home. If it were to truly mirror what they do beyond school there would be many gaps. We have the ability as teachers to provide a broad curriculum that prepares children for a life of ever changing technology. Because that is what it will be. And currently the curriculum prepares them for a world technology stuck in the 90’s.
Technology changes.
The curriculum does not.
Nobody is disputing the impact mobile phone technology has had on the world of communication. So for example should this be one element of a “Communication” strand within our curriculum; also including MSN, Skype, emailing etc.
Teaching with these frustrations is difficult.
I won’t answer the question but I will say it is very frustrating
I am seeing this on a first hand basis. Laptops in the hands of students does not produce the results expected unless there is a shift in the pedagogy of the school. It doesn’t just happen with the arrival of the technology. To say, “But I feel like I also need to petition whoever will listen that it’s a moral imperative at this point to get every kid connected. If Libya is on the verge depending on how the $100 laptop initiative plays out, why aren’t we? (Don’t answer that…)” isn’t fiscally or intellectually sound. To equate that to a moral imperative, well, I guess I am a little to Vulcan in my thoughts.
There has to be:
vision
leadership
goals
Without those, just getting kids connected will perpetuate the throwing money at the problem but not addressing it, a la the last 50 years of public education.
ARGHHH… “too Vulcan” not “to Vulcan.”
D’oh!