For me, the main point here is that the technology (Google Docs) is not doing something "new", but rather just making it easier and more convenient to do something "old". If you saw the movie "The Freedom Writers", the teacher there did essentially the same thing as this one, but using old-school notebooks and pens, not "newfangled" internet tools. So my question is: is there something inherently different here, or just traditional communication and teaching methods making use of updated technology? How would the entries from this clip compare with the more open-ended entries in the film mentioned above? Does putting pen to paper cause a different, more deliberative type of cognition that filling out an on-line form?
[For those interested in the many applications of this question, see http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us-stupid/306868/]
The latest post in "The Innovative Educator" (http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.co.il/2013/02/an-unscholarly-professor-comes-out.html#more) is not about technology in education, but highlights a different issue: To what degree are we open to hearing suggestions and criticisms from outsiders who, although they might not have the technical and pedagogical training that we have (or will have), may have insights that we can gain from. This connects to the general issue of the democratization of knowledge. I find myself struggling with this when, after I read a news article, I scroll through the comments. Other than the obvious nonsense, there are often comments that can "make you go hmmm", and counter-comments that also sound right. Credentials are a good starting point for evaluating legitimacy, but sometimes it is specifically the non-credentialed outsider who can see things from a different perspective and achieve insight not available to those on the inside.
In the blog "Leaning With 'e'es" (wonderful title!) http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.co.il/2013/02/learning-is-changing.html, Steve discusses the issue mentioned above regarding the changes that technology is causing or our modalities of learning and thinking. Now, I know that tech is here to stay, and that we cannot get "off the train", but it is striking to me how we are now embarking on an irreversible, uncontrolled experiment, with no controls, no direction and no way out. I was approaching a friend on the sidewalk last week. A guy I wanted to touch base with, to connect to. I saw him from about 40 feet away (13 meters for some of you), but we did not have the eye contact needed to start the interaction, because (as I am sure you can guess), his eyes were on his phone from the time I saw him until he passed me. Not to be alarmist, but there is something in simple, interpersonal interactions that we are losing (very rapidly), and we do not know what the consequences of this will be. So, as a future educator, the question is to what degree do I embrace tech in order to help connect with the students, and to what degree do I try to keep the classroom as an oasis of face to face human interaction? No answers, just questions.
Thank you for putting on the video about the science teacher creating a change for her students. This was very inspiring. And way to go by putting on the additional link on how we can use this format. Way to go Yehoshua, keep it up.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Yehoshua that one of our greatest challenges as teachers (especially for those of us who aren't 19 and didn't grow up quite as enmeshed in the world of technology) is to figure out how to balance between embracing technology, which seems to be here to stay, and making our classroom a human place, where real people interact with each other in real time. For me as a teacher this hasn't yet been a practical challenge since our school is thus far not hooked up with the technological grid. But, as I watched them moving the computers into the new computer lab last week, I knew that the time for technology had arrived. And, while I claim to hate technology - I love email, especially as a tool for communicating with my students. High school girls are generally quite apprehensive about bothering a teacher at home with questions that may seem petty, but my students all know that they can email me with any questions, at any time, and I will get back to them relatively promptly, but on my own time, so they will never be interrupting my personal and family life with their queries.
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