Learning through Technology

Will Richardson posted a response to the Dopa ruling that I felt a need to respond to.

I hear what you are saying but in this I am optimistic for one very important reason. I am a parent. It is under my control how to teach my children. After reading several posts from bloggers I admire and getting heated and bothered by this, I decided to start a blog for my son and do what you have suggested which is to teach him the correct way to use technology.

After loading the blog software on my server and demonstrating this to my son, he was ready to begin. Together we talked about being safe online and not to give out personal information EVER! When I was helping him with his about page, I suggested providing an email that would drop into my account but he looked at me and said, “Dad, I don’t want to give out that information.”

After the blog was setup, his first response was to tell all his friends so they could comment on his posts. My next step is to setup an aggregator for him and help him find other children who are posting. This is not a giant step but a measurable one.

Yes, I will contact my Senator and yes I will help others understand the reprecussions of this decision but most importantly, I will make a difference in those I can influence immediately. I will help my children safely grow into the world that surrounds them. If our government cannot see what is happen or thinks they can control the WWW then let that be their downfall for soon none of them will be in office because technology will have overcome them.

Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, a fellow blogger, posted a good perspective that we all need to be reminded of: stay grounded in reality, stay focused and make the difference you can make. You are making incredible strides helping others like me experience a whole new way of educating. Keep opening our eyes until the majority tells congress what they can do with their silly, stupid bills around election time!

(Update: This post has been receiving a lot of spam so I have turned comments off. Sorry if this affects real bloggers and if you want to post, please send it to me through email and I will attach it to the posting.)

I recently read a post from the Building Learning Communities 2006 on the “Myth of the Digital Native” that made me think about the true differences between the generations. The short story is what should we be teaching this current generation? Should we focus on teaching technology or should we focus on teaching basic life skills? My understanding from the blogs I have read would be that neither focus will prepare the “digital natives” entirely.

I have blogged before about my experience with a native and how disconcerting it was for me to admit not being one but this post seemed to hit me at a different level. It was so much the ability of the learner but the focus of the teacher. Being the father of a 10 year old, I understand how current students might not challenge themselves or use the technology they are so adept at. (See the comments of the post) I must admit that I am not in the public classroom on a daily basis so I cannot attest to what is happening in our schools but in the outside world these students do not seem to have the drive to get there on their own. Now let me quickly point out that I am for kids being kids and not forcing them to grow up so fast but one of the writers talked about their child running to the “cheat codes” for video games instead of trying to figure it out for themselves.

I see this happening but does it indicate what these students will do when they enter the job market? Does it indicate how a teacher should teach these children and what emphasis on technology should be? There are certainly some ideas that can be taken away from this observation but we cannot make a blanket statement. For one, this generation is smart and very talented. They don’t act like “traditional” students because they are not traditional students. They have newer, better and faster equipment to go with their new way of thinking. They problem solve in a very different manner and arrive at some unique conclusions. Yes, they make mistakes along the way but as teachers isn’t our job to help them learn as much from their mistakes as their successes?

The most intersting point made in the comments was the differences between the generations:

“Digital Immigrants, other than geeks, tend to use tech as primarily the means to an end.  This kind of thinking leads to a dead-end use of technology — when the landscape shifts, the DI’s have to re-tool.

Digital Natives constantly evolve.  They have lived their entire lives in a state of flux.  They have no expectation of anything else, (including careers) unless the DI’s program them in that direction.”–comment by landrews

In my way of thinking, we need to understand this point and refocus the reason we are teaching our subjects. What are we trying to accomplish? Are we trying to give the student future success because they can do “this” well now or are we encouraging the ability to adapt our knowledge to become their knowledge from which they gain the ability to move freely in a different society? Yes there are some basics but is that all there is that we can provide? Is there only one right answer for this generation or are there several?

I look forward to how they will shape the world! There is much more to discuss and this by no means is my final word but it is a start for my discussion.

Eide Neurolearning posted an interesting study on boys processing speeds that K-12 teachers and parents need to consider. This has great implications and impact on the way in which most school districts are designed. Are we designed to fail? Say it isn’t so.

This is an initial post in recreating a blog that I started here. As I have been reading several blogs in my Bloglines account, I realized that I was not happy with my current setup and that my hosting company, Superb, offered a free blogging tool. This tool allows me to make easy blog entries and should help me post more frequently. We shall see, but for the time being, let’s start blogging!