Thoughts on Clay Shirky's Here Comes Everybody, Ch.6

"Collective Action and Institutional Challenges"

This chapter looks at the speed with which resistance and confrontation to the sexual abuse committed by Roman Catholic priests in the Boston diocese manifested, organized, and became international. Shirky points out that organizers were able to do this because the cost of spreading information, as well as the cost of assembling like-minded people had fallen dramatically by 2002, to the extent that geographical boundaries no longer represented a significant barrier.

I guess sometimes we assume that all of the students present in a classroom represent a "like-mind" even though we know that each student wears multiple identities. We also know that different students bring different attitudes to school in regards to learning, particular subjects, the school itself, and even towards the nature of work expected from them by their teachers, parents, and peers. It is really difficult to consider a group of 30-40 students, brought together by geography and a timetable, to represent a "like-mind," even though much of current pedagogy appeals to teachers to develop such consensus as a precursor to inquiry activities, and related teamwork.

Shirky's comment that the Roman Catholic Church in Boston had forbidden lay organizations (that is groups of Catholics not necessarily led by priests) from organizing across parish lines resonated with my as school boundaries are always hot button topics. As Shirky said, organizations like the Church, and from my perspective schools, were developed at a time when geography represented a significant barrier to organizing institutions. Students could only walk or ride a bus so far. In the United States, policies regarding busing have become tied up in the ongoing conflicts about integration, segregation, and freedom of movement.

However, even putting aside the question of boundaries for physical school attendance, why must students be limited to work only with students and teachers co-present with them in a particular classroom, at a particular time, in a particular place? Surely different web 2.0 tools could allow students to collaborate with other students taking the same subject but at different times within the same school, or even the same district? Most online Learning Management Systems give teachers and students the ability to notify and message each other as they log into the system; couldn't students access any teacher teaching a particular subject matter for help? Most schools in my district have a dedicated tutorial period where different teachers rotate through fielding questions from students in particular subject areas (ie. each chemistry teachr shows up once a week to offer assistance for all chemistry courses). Why not extend this online? Would opening up the system to allow for collaboration across schools really be that difficult?

Discussion on Technology in Science Classroom

Technology Issues

Equity – homes, classrooms, schools, district, teachers, students do not have access to the same technologies at the same time.

Uses – can technology help create a wider range of choice for students, helping to increase their interest and ownership over their work?
- become more environmentally friendly by setting up a distribution list for homework, handouts, and notices, (use BCC function to safeguard email addresses)
- ipods, cameras, can be used to record group discussion and work during Science inquiry to aid with assessment
- e-portfolios allow for students to maintain record of work as they travel across grade levels
- video-conferencing, skype, podcasts, video-podcasts
o these can help students access an authentic audience for their work
 authentic audiences can help motivate students to take ownership
o also help to access outside experts
- virtual dissections
- calculators for graphing and statistics
- Read & Write Gold, Dragon Speak for help with reading and writing
- E-text books can allow for customization and increased interactivity
- Twitter can be a good tool to encourage classroom “talk” both inside and outside of the classroom, as students can ask questions of the teacher and their peers
o Still need to help students feel comfortable raising their hands and asking questions in a face to face context
- Having technology at our fingertips may be taking away from some of the inquiry (ie. Deductive reasoning, problem-solving, critical thinking) skills as answers are expected “immediately”.
o Requires an understanding of online digital literacy
- Bert Church School is experimenting with the use of iTouch

Some students, teachers, parents are overwhelmed by technology.

Just because students are connected doesn’t mean there are learning – we need to use technology to support them in learning.

Teacher tech-phobia is not a credible excuse for avoiding technology

It’s important to use technology where it makes sense to enhance learning

Not every student wants to be a Digital Native

What role can digital games be used to support learning and development of interpersonal skills?
- game-based learning meet children in a forum/learning situation they’re familiar with


To what extent does technology favour active or passive learning?

Needs:
- IT Departments need a better understanding of student needs, teachers need a better understanding of network security issues.
- Better understanding of effective uses of technology, technology not always necessary
- How do we move beyond the novelty of technology towards more effective uses?
- Establishment of provincial definitions of 21st Century Students and funding to insure it is matched across the province
- Establishment of an online science clearinghouse to help track new resources for the upcoming science curriculum

The Song Remains The Same

(or, The Medium Is Still the Message)

The linked video was passed to us earlier today via Twitter, from MyLearningSpace. It is the type of thing that usually crops up in Education and Technology sessions, pointing to the discrepancy between teaching styles and learning styles in the digital age, we recommend viewing it - but if you are familiar with Prensky's Digital Natives vs. Digital Immigrants, then you are already thinking along the right path.

However, what captured our attention in this video was the opening scene of an empty university lecture hall, with rows upon rows of seats, along with a caption mentioning how are 21st century students are sitting in 19th century institutions. It instantly reminded us of economic theories talking about how changes in modes of productions can bring about changes in social relations. Shouldn't changes in the storage, production, and transfer of knowledge bring about changes in educational relations?

Many writers on educational issues have discussed how the image of the lone authoritative speaker in front of the classroom suggests that the speaker has knowledge and the students do not. What this also supposes however, is that knowledge or information is scarce. It is the speakers' prior acquisition and mastery of information that grants him or her a privileged position. The explosion in information storage, production, and transfer that started with the printing press, radio, telephone, and computer has made information shockingly abundant. Many educational techniques centre around mastery of information retrieval, a skill that as practiced in the 19th century is no longer relevant. Instead, information retrieval for the 21st century needs to focus more on analyzing and judging value or worth.

Students intuitively understand something is wrong with the educational equation when they ask the perennial question "Why Do We Need To Learn This?" The question is likely to be directed not so much as the content, but the task - "Why do I need to learn how to remember this?" since the possession of a textbook, let alone web-enabled cellphone with online search capabilities makes memorization redundant. Instead, students are looking for a way to engage with the content, to explore its uses and relevance.

Many of the educational reform theories that we encounter deal with enhancing our current teaching technique - how to ask better questions, craft better activities, or assess better. What we need though, is not to refine our technique, but to develop a better one that honours a reality in which students have already mastered simple data retrieval.

Being SMART

We are currently spending the day in downtown Calgary at the SMART offices, home to the makers of interactive whiteboards, a rapidly growing classroom technology, as SMART hosts a delegation of teachers from the Netherlands who have partnered up with teachers from the Calgary Catholic School District.

The teachers have spent the last few days visiting schools and sharing thoughts and practices surrounding innovative uses of SMART technologies in the classroom.

Check back soon for some more in-depth information.