Final Project Reflection and Kim's Keynote Address

In class, we had the great joy of listening to Kim Cofino's keynote address for K12 Online Conference, Going Global: Culture Shock, Convergence, and the Future of Education.

It was an extremely interesting and well-presented address. It described very well the experience of culture shock and the open-minded, independent nature of many Third Culture Kids (TCKs). Finally, it suggested that the life-changing experiences of TCKs could now be available from anywhere through the collaborative potential of the internet.

I completely agree with Kim's description and assessment of the experience of coming to live in a new culture. Like Kim, I have lived in two cultures other than my own, and my impression of all three has been influenced by the sum of my experiences. But Kim's presentation also made me wonder what exactly would have to be done to make a "virtual" culture shock (one that would draw discomfort into tolerance and appreciation to paraphrase (poorly) the speech) effective.

Part of the magic of moving to a new culture is the immersion and the inability to fully escape from the new way of doing things. In the Dominican Republic, showing up 3 hours late is on time - we remember the story of one woman who arrived to a party at the time printed on the invitation only to find her hostess in the shower! When you do something that you've always assumed is "the way it's done", something you've never questioned, and it goes wildly different than expected, the temptation is to look at those around you for confirmation - "That's crazy, right?" But in your host culture, you find everyone is looking at you and thinking (or saying), "That crazy gringa / farang!"

Is this really doable in an online setting? We can be exposed to many other cultures, we can encounter differences. But what humbles us, and changes us, and hopefully, happily makes us more thoughtful, open people, is the sudden sense of being on the outside, the one who's got it wrong, who's not acting 'normal', who's struggling to communicate in broken and accented phrases. My fear is that in a school setting it will be difficult to emulate a "culture shock" experience given that in that key moment, when a student looks around for reactions, he or she will be surrounded still by his or her own culture and the disconnect will be too easily dismissed. Added to that, the sense immersion, of fully living and being in a new culture and place, would be difficult to recreate during "school hours" or even outside of them.

This is not to say that I think it can't be done! On the contrary, I think the possibilities are many, and the goal incredibly important and worthwhile. It is instead that I want to be fully aware of the challenges and aware of the depth of planning and purpose that must be achieved if the experience is to be a success.

Therefore, in my final project, I tried to think of a unit that would take my students (mostly quite comfortable navigating different cultures) beyond their normal experiences and challenge them in a way that might bring about the deep reflection and thought that increases compassion and empathy. I chose the unit on genetics. My hope is that by exploring a specific genetic difference or disease, becoming familiar with the details and complexities of its causes and consequences, and finally collaborating with people for whom it is a daily reality, the students will see themselves and others in a new way. Perhaps, for some, that new perspective will be meaningful and memorable in a way that will take them further toward the goal of being caring global citizens.

Laptops in the classroom

This week's prompt is, "What are ways you manage the use of laptops in your classroom and what additional best practice ways might you add?"

Laptop (and sometimes desktop) management has been a tricky issue for me, and I know that at times my students have gotten away with all manner of distraction when they were purportedly working for class.

I use laptops for various purposes in biology class. They are used for collecting and analyzing data using data-logging tools and probes. Students rarely get off task during a lab situation. Their time is simply too limited and they won't have access to the data-logging equipment outside of school, so they have a high motivation to finish within the allotted time. Many students are also naturally engaged by the hands-on aspect of experimentation. Of course, I walk through the room to check on student progress, but although they may need assistance they will not be distracted by facebook and so on during a lab.

When the students are working on tutorials or simulations, the temptation to browse other sites is greater. First of all, on numerous occasions the simultaneous loading by 20 students of the same interactive activity has caused slowness either from the school's connection or the server for the site hosting the activity. In either case, the hourglass or spinning wheel will quickly bring many students to open another site. Further, there is less intensity associated with tutorials and simulations - they will almost always be available to the student outside of class (the exception being those that require a log-in and password / paid subscription). In this case, I find that an important management tool is the physical arrangement of the computers. I try to circulate frequently to check on their work and look for extra tabs or minimized screens. I also try to have the students seated in a way that allows me to see most or all screens at a glance.

A third situation that involves laptop use is when a student brings a personal laptop to class for the purposed of note-taking and following along with presentations. At this point, the student must bear much of the burden for appropriate use. Aside from interrupting the class by asking the student to "freeze" or put their "hands up" (as sometimes suggested), it is difficult for me to know what their screen looks like. So far the problem has been small enough that this is almost never necessary. While students may be distracted, they are also able to use the computers in very useful ways. Some annotate powerpoints as we go through them, creating a rich and useful document. Recently we were discussing the benefits and drawbacks of immunizations and one student remembered hearing "something about a cheerleader." Within moments, another student (with a laptop) had accessed the story and was able to provide an excellent example that enlivened and enriched class discussion. (Parenthetically, this story is highly complex and intriguing as is the response to it. Many blogs erroneously state that she had taken the H1N1 shot, when in fact it was for the seasonal flu.) This type of unobtrusive and directed laptop use in the goal, but often I have found it necessary to ask students to keep their screens down (or part way down0 during discussion. It's a hard enough skill to really listen to what someone else is saying without the added distraction of the internet!

One best practice I would like to add is the use of software that monitors active windows for where the student has been throughout class. If this was checked even sometimes, it would be enough for students to change how they consider their screens - from private to public.

Overall, laptops are a tool that should be used when appropriate and put away when not needed.

Cyberpolarization and the dangers of getting what you want

For some time now, I have been troubled by a trend toward rudeness, rash and immediate judgement, and general closed-mindedness that I frequently encounter online. Thanks to the an article in the New Yorker, I am able to put a name to one of these trends: cyberpolarization.

The article itself focuses on the "birther consipracy" (which suggests, against the weight of evidence, that President Obama was born outside the US and is therefore ineligible for his office) and a book by Cass R. Sunstein called "On Rumors: How Falsehoods Spread, Why We Believe Them, What Can Be Done."

It speaks to something I found disquieting in class. Over and over, I hear people talking about how they don't visit standard news outlets anymore. They have "customized" their news to show them only what they want to hear. Their RSS feeds are from the sources that resonate best with them, on twitter they follow those people with their interests and views, etc.

As the article / Sunstein point out, "The most striking power provided by emerging technologies... is the growing power of consumers to 'filter' what they see." In the context of technology in education, this is perhaps not too sinister. The "personal learning networks" that are established are healthy, focused and professional. (Or are they completely off the hook here? I have no idea how many people in class actively seek out opposing or contrasting views on the role of technology in education.)

But the people I interact with in CoETaIL are educated and intellectual. Their 'filters' are (one hopes) to make sure that news and advancements in their niche do not go unnoticed. But what about the average person or the teenager? What happens when they can avoid the news even more easily than they can access it? Or access slanted, even deliberately untrue, news items with a particular ideological or political bent? The answer seems clear: an increasing entrenchment of views, a closed-mindedness and narrowness of vision, and a tendency to dismiss not only arguments from the other side, but entire person behind the argument. Many people love commentary and are more likely to click through to stories with a personal or emotional resonance. But, as the article points out, who is going to take the time to investigate and counter every slur against Sarah Palin or Nancy Pelosi, when one or the other is considered "the enemy". The continual reinforcement of one's own views leads to intolerance - in direct contrast to the tolerance and appreciation we would hope to see born of this global online community.

I don't have answers for this dilemma. I am still early in the process of thinking it all out. But it seems clear that the answer cannot be to try to force people into exposing themselves to a range of viewpoints. They have the ability to do what they want, and that will not change. As educators then, and more vitally important than ever, we must educate our students in compassion, empathy, and the value of respectful disagreement, civilized debate, and free (but fair) speech.

Who knows what they're learning?

This week's prompt is, "How can teachers and schools ensure that their students are learning what they need when it comes to Technology and Information Literacy?"

There is a fascinating shift that has occurred in the realm of education. There was a time, and not that long ago, when the specific skills one needed for a career (not attitudes or mindsets, but things like how to use a slide rule and when to use a certain formula) were likely to remain unchanged (or change only slowly) throughout one's professional life. Under this system, it made sense to have teachers teach what and how they were taught, including at the high school level.

But competence in your field is no longer assured by having been up-to-date and competent when one graduated 10 or 15 years ago. Certainly, much basic content will be the same, but even the basics of what content should be learned has changed. While a major area of study for biology at the high school level once involved memorization of long lists of taxonomic classification, this has been much reduced and simplified to exemplify the range of diversity of life. The details are now so easily accessible, so simple to look up, that their memorization is a waste of time that could be spent learning more involved theories and concepts. This does not even cover the changes in methods and techniques in research. Much that was unthinkable a generation ago, especially in terms of DNA technology, is now within the grasp of a graduate student. Such sea-changes are to be found in other fields as well.

These changes now happen many times within a single educators career, and it seems unlikely that (if civilization survives its unprecedented pace) that changes will happen any slower for quite some time. So, what can we do to make sure that are students are learning what they need to know, especially in the field of IT?

The answer is simply that, alone, we cannot. The only way to stay current post- information revolution, is to be in constant contact and collaboration with a wide array of colleagues and "experts" in various education, subject-specific, and IT niches. There is simply too much to know and it changes too fast to go it alone as an educator.

Below, I include this video of a flock of starlings because it makes me think of some of these ideas. Alone, these birds could not conceive these shapes and patterns even though each is a part of it. Their sensitivity and response to each other does not seem limiting so much as creative and liberating.

How do we get 21st century learners?

This week’s essential question is, “Whose job is it to teach the NETs and AASL standards to students?”

Reading the technology standards from ISTE’s National Educational Technology Standards for students and AASL’s Standards for the 21st Century Learner was very interesting. Although they approach the standards from different angles, with ISTE focusing on specific types of technological experiences and skills by developmental level and AASL centering on overall skills and dispositions of the ideal learner, they both emphasize the importance of developing judgment in students. This applies to the content of their work as well as their use of technology, in selecting tools and using them ethically.

Many of the ideals promoted by these documents are in no way limited to technology, and it is certainly our job as educators to provide these types of experiences and instruction. Young people (at least, those with a privileged background such as attend our school) are working with information technology from very early ages. They know many ways to approach innovations in technology, but this does not guarantee the development of good judgement, or even competence in skills. Even in the exploration of the simple capacities of IT, students may only consistently develop proficiency in those areas that interest them. They know endless details of Warcraft and iPhone applications, but using a subscript for a chemical formula in Word can stump them.

As we have said repeatedly, it is not the programs themselves that we need to teach. These will evolve and be replaced continually. Rather, it is the exposure to engaging and challenging experiences that will encourage them to explore and take the fullest use of the powerful tools available.

Finally, we must consider the educator's role in developing judgement. This may be the greatest single ability we try to foster, and it is a very broad one. Judgement includes a scientific disposition, such as distinguishing reliable sources from those that are flawed or biased. It includes a social dimension, such as when to listen and when to participate, when to share and when to show caution and restraint. Finally, it includes an ethical side. Students have increasing power - to make their opinions known, to reach a large audience, to use all the technological tools at their disposal to create, collaborate, and communicate. Yet this increased power can cause as much devastation (as in cases of online bullying, etc) as it can be used as a positive, creative force.

Therefore, our job in creating 21st century learners is, yes, to show them the myriad possibilities provided by IT, but also and even more importantly, to guide them as they practice and begin to develop sound judgement.