Successes...And A Lingering Question

     This has been an interesting week in our educational technology class.  I have enjoyed observing how quickly my classmates' weblogs have evolved, and appreciate people sharing what they have learned about adding multimedia content to their blogs. (See Anna's great post on 5/21/2013 about embedding a VoiceThread in a blog post.) On the same day Evelyn posted a really thought-provoking piece on a rural North Carolina school that she encountered on a recent trip.  It is part of a national network of schools whose parent organization advocates on-line and project-based learning.  Although at this stage of my training I feel that web-based learning should be used judiciously (I sincerely hope the students do not spend the majority of their day in front of a computer screen), I was intrigued that the project Evelyn discovered helped the students explore and honor their region's past.  As for my own project--this blog--I added links to three blogs by adding the blog list gadget to my site's layout, and I started tagging my posts.  
      Two thoughts came to mind during this week's presentations about twenty-first century technology "openers" for transforming education:
 
 1) Monitoring outcomes is essential in evaluating the efficacy of any educational program or tool.
My impression is that there is a lot of talk about availability of online information, but little mention of learning outcomes resulting from the application of this information.  Since accountability is becoming a substantial component of "traditional" educational programs, I am wondering what standards are in place for assessing both individual students and entire programs involved in on-line learning.  After a bit of searching, I came up with two reports (both out of Colorado) that may offer somewhat different perspectives on recent developments in K-12 online learning:

• Keeping Pace 2012 (from Evergreen Educational Group)
• Online K-12 Schooling in the U.S. (National Education Policy Center)

2) Context is important.
I am a big believer in context.  (The irony is not lost on me that I am writing this blog under the name of my home town, not my own name.  It is because this is an apprenticeship, and I do not claim any expertise on these matters.) Whenever I read a non-fiction book, or an article or report online, I do my best to determine "where the author is coming from".  Imagine my surprise when Ivan Illich was cited as having influenced the author of the aforementioned "openers".  This would be the same Dr. Illich who wrote a book on the limits of modern medicine, a book I ordered and read while in Vienna long ago. (I was thinking of going into biomedical research.)  In a nutshell: Dr. Illich was an intriguing person, a polyglot, an itinerant, an advocate for the disadvantaged, and most definitely someone who thought outside the box.  In a great online tribute he is described as "a genie who could not be kept in any bottle. Like Goethe’s Mephistopheles, he was a 'spirit who ever negates'".  This negation included not just the medical establishment, but also schools.  Certainly a title like Deschooling Society sends a pretty clear message (although I checked the book out of the library to get the full story).  My question, though, is what am I to make of this text (and its "offshoots") as a pre-service teacher, and as a product of--and a believer in--public schools?
   

Embedding A Slide Show: Trial 1

       After viewing a fellow student's entry for another assignment (Thanks, Diane!), I thought I would try embedding a short slide show in this post.  I am a more verbal than visual learner, so incorporating pictures and visuals that supplement or enhance a text is not second nature to me.  Not wanting to battle software in this exercise, I searched the Internet and quickly found Cincopa for designing and embedding simple slide shows.  Basic access allows you to select the presentation format, and then upload your pictures from a variety of sources. The site then produces a gallery which you can then embed in posts on Blogger, WordPress, and other Content Management System (CMS) sites.  In this case, I just had to copy and paste the HTML code for my completed gallery onto this post and then preview the results.  Amazingly, it worked the first time.  That's one way to keep the novices coming back....

       As you can see, the format is very basic. I chose not to include a menu that would describe the photos, and I could not control how quickly the pictures change.  Sometimes the images are a bit slow to load.  (Sorry about the quality of the two images that were taken before digital cameras were widely available.) In addition, I have little experience storing content in "the cloud", which is where my pictures are now residing.  Invariably that raises security and privacy issues if a teacher is considering using this type of application with students.  At the moment I am so focused on mastering basic technical issues that I do not immediately consider applicability/suitability for the classroom.   As I become more familiar with multimedia, I will be better able to evaluate all the options....

Twenty-first Century Skills

     One of the advantages of exploring a website like www.p21.org is that the browser (human) can find innumerable resources for helping students and teachers adapt to twenty-first century learning.  Among the first links I discovered while looking through the interdisciplinary theme of “global awareness” was a partnership at a nearby university that is promoting K-12 international education in North Carolina. A heat map on the site provides demographic information on the international presence (residents and companies) in each of the state’s counties.  Thus, in a matter of minutes I learned about global initiatives in the state, as well as facts that might be useful in a civics class.  I continued to find much that I agreed with as I explored the other themes, learning and innovation skills (creativity/innovation, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration), information technology and media skills, and life and career skills enumerated on the site.  The section on creativity had some of the most wide-ranging resources, while the critical thinking section included links to some impressive science lessons at Learn NC.  As a group, these 21^st-century student outcomes are standards that I (a pre-service teacher) will have to digest gradually and then adapt to my specific teaching situation and student population.  “The proof of the pudding is in the eating,” goes the saying. 

     It was precisely while I was thinking about how I could incorporate these guidelines into the classroom that some questions arose.  The interdisciplinary themes are important—the aforementioned global awareness, as well as financial/economic, civic, health, and environmental literacies—and yet there seemed to be an emphasis on teaching personal responsibility, with little attention to critically analyzing systems (healthcare, educational, environmental).  How would a teacher prioritize these important themes, or resolve potential “conflicts of interest” among these desired outcomes? (For example, a global initiative that is perceived as competition for a local economy, or a solution to an environmental problem that is considered burdensome to business.) By encouraging students to think creatively, teachers can support using a variety of learning styles (a positive); yet I wonder if the sheer volume (“glut”) of possibilities actually may stifle creativity.  In addition, must creativity necessarily be “maximized” and “implemented”?

     While I am a firm believer in critical thinking, I wonder to what extent I can encourage students to entertain alternative points of view—particularly on “sensitive” topics like politics and socioeconomic class—without myself becoming a lightning rod for criticism.  Communication and collaboration are more important than ever; here is just one example of what a goal-oriented online community recently accomplished.  However, I wonder if the links offered in the IT skills section of the site would truly encourage critical evaluation of the media that pervade our lives.  Shouldn't this article be part of the discussion as well?  Although I did not grow up in the digital era, I have benefitted incalculably from now having much greater access to information.  Nonetheless, I find it a challenge to filter and evaluate some of what I read; I wonder how challenging it will be to help students do the same.

     Although I agree with the necessity of the various life and career skills mentioned, I found that section depressingly utilitarian.  "Respect" and "responsibility" are important, but so are "empathy", "generosity", and "curiosity"--as ends in themselves.

Richard Feynman - Ode To A Flower from Fraser Davidson on Vimeo.