I had the great pleasure of listening to Jonathan Zittrain the two years that I attended I-Law at Harvard (an event that unfortunately is no longer being held.) Going back and reading this post from four years ago just now reminds me just how far all of this has come and, more dishearteningly, how little has really changed. (i.e. “And right now, while kids by and large have the technology skills to create, they have very few models for appropriate uses for that creation.” Oy.) I will always remember those two sessions as among the most amazing and interesting learning days of my life, hugely validating and compelling on all sorts of levels.
No doubt, it’s one of the reasons I still perk up when Lawrence Lessig or Yochai Benkler or the rest publish books or articles or interviews. And so when I saw that Zittrain was publishing a book, I pre-ordered from Amazon and got it this week. While I’m only a few pages in to it, the point is clear: we are at a critical point in the evolution of the net, one where we are faced with some not so great scenarios of abuse and control that are going to require some level headed thinking and action to navigate. Here is the thesis:
In the arc from the Apple II to the iPhone, we learn something important about where the Internet has been, and something more important about where it is going. The PC revolution was launched with PCs that invited innovation by others. So too with the Internet. Both wer generative: they were designed to accept any contribution that followed a basic set of rules (either coded for a particular operating system, or respecting the protocols of the Internet.) Both overwhelmed their respective proprietary, non-generative competitors, such as the makers of stand-alone word processors and proprietary online services like CompuServe and AOL. But the future unfolding right now is very different from this past. The future is not one of generative PCs attached to a generative network. It is instead one of the sterile appliances tethered to a network of control (3).
I’m not sure yet how much this parallels the lock down vs. open up choice that schools are facing right now, but I have a feeling the conversations will parallel in many ways. (There is only one page referenced in the index to schools.) More as I dig through. And, just a off the top thought, but if anyone wants to do a book club, let me know.
Significant developments in recent years have yet to significantly effect ‘traditional’ education… largely because school districts attempt to exercise control via ‘rules’.
A few unharnessed developments that come to mind:
1] the fact that appliances are ‘untethered’ yet instantly connected;
2] the fact that handheld devices are ‘ubiquitous’…
I thought the ACU iphone project had some interesting protocols in place in regard to “control.” I watched the student comments version of the “Connected” video and the they were talking about the iphone’s txt and phone capabilities being turned off once the professor took attendance for the class (using the iphone). The professor basically had control of the student’s iphones for the time they were in class…he could send/receive files, take polls, give quizzes, etc. They were working on a way to allow emergency messages through if a student was in class. There were also some interesting ideas regarding “creation.” For example, instead of the professor giving students papers/websites, the student’s built essentially their own wiki of resources that could then be evaluated.
Will– over the past months I’ve become more and more distressed at how many people seem to just assume that all kinds of great future innovation is going to transform society and schools without (or despite) their input and as if they have no control at all. It’s the worst kind of technological determinism. It would be sad, but not at all unrealistic, to look back at these exciting years as a time where amazing change was possible– even probable– but eventually never really happened.
In spite of all the doom-sayers, everything always works out in the end. Even though students aren’t getting incredible technology lessons in the school system, they’re learning outside the classroom.
And, when these digital natives become the teachers, all will be well. Sit back, relax, and take a deep breathe. Everything is gonna be alright!
I’m not a doom-sayer, but the status quo has a lot of inertia. There is a big difference between something happening and things staying essentially the same– and waiting for the current crop of young students to become teachers and somehow transform the system seems a bit optimistic. Look at all the potential with better pedagogy and technology that has already been passed by on the part of *this* generation. I don’t think that bodes well for the idea of waiting and letting it happen.
Further, though, what makes you think it always works out in the end. Do you think that our educational system is currently in a state of things having “worked out.” I’d say we are in an educational crisis.
Though the topic of technology in education continues to rise to the top of the conversation, sadly it is usually in terms of hardware integration into the classroom or instructor use of technology. Rarely does the conversation focus on the creation, delivery, and assessment of compelling learning experiences that are aided by technolgoy and facilitated by teachers who are specially trained to meet the needs of a 21st century classroom.
Today’s youth do not need more technology in their learning environments (e.g. sterile gadgets). They need to develop the 21st century skills (e.g. critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork, communication, leadership, technology literacy, etc) so they can integrate these tools into their own learning experiences.
And the resources to accomplish this transitition may not come from within education but from outside groups like the
Partnership for 21st Century Skills or companies like Giant Campus.
Will – why don’t you set up a FB group for the book. Maybe a theme:
‘What is surprising about the pace of technological innovation is not so much its ‘deterministic’ character but the extent to which users shape its use’
constructivists always despair at the instructionist control which is regularly exerted after a successful widespread innovation adoption.
that’s why these people are known as reactionaries…it’s politics! and as such will constantly oscillate across the mean…
as educators we ‘know’ this… we have always known this!
hence the nonsense of standardised testing…50% will always be below average
just maintain the energy for as long as you can, ask the hard question, challenge the status quo..the next generation is watching and learning
only 30% of the population are constructivist (- can’t recall the source-just google it!)
it seems the same proportion are early adopters 26~28% in many surveys
curiously the same ratio are mac users….
no correlation at all in these numbers
however, back at the classroom level….the same 30% of teachers try new things..innovate…are restless
the other 60%plus are part of the status quo( the problem)
though be careful about describing crisis, as conservatives are worried about declining values and the lack of respect for tradition
eg..do as you were told!
funny…not many i know ever did as they were ‘told’.. only responded to requests to think and act acordingly
extend this precise argument to any other area of human activity and there are corollaries…climate change for one
just remember…there are reasons why there are no longer any dinosaurs around….
though that extinction took several million years..so slow they probably didn’t notice
our decline is a little quicker, though is generational as well
see what changes in another 2G..or the more things change..the more they are the same
talking with my grandparents, they ‘complained bitterly’ of the control over their activities, by the adults of the time (early 1900s) they were the first to use pencils instead of charcoal and slates….
you have to laugh..the arguments are exactly the same transported to the new(er) technologies
unless something gives with the politics..then we are destined to repeat the actions(mistakes!) of the past.
our brains are still wired the same, we still need the same support and stimulus our forbears did, just the means has been adjusted a bit…