The Horizon report is situated in our current time. A tie to Collins and Halverson's article is the need to consider the fundamental shift in the dynamics of teaching and learning - otherwise labeled as rethinking. What's most interesting here is that 5 years have past between the two works, and an emphasis on rethinking is still present. Where I'm going here is the thought: Because technology moves so quickly, will we always be in a state of "rethinking" teaching and learning? Will we ever (again?) be satisfied with the teaching and learning dynamics that are we are presented with? Should we ever be?
There's an aspect to the emergence of technology - particularly the Internet - that I think is brilliantly addressed in the "Digital Life" article. Paul Babbitt's assessment of how people will want a more structured and regulated internet down the road is very interesting. Right now, we are in an era of open: open resources, open courses, and more. This has been a benefit of the freedoms granted within the online space. Personally, I enjoy the freedom to integrate digital media and such from around the world into my lessons in creative ways.
However, if the openness of the Internet ever gets to a point where the general public really feels at risk of some sort, regulations may be welcome and actually demanded in some cases. If this happens, I wonder what effect that would have on us rethinking teaching and learning at that time. Would the pedagogical creativity that is currently being granted in some schools be looked down upon? Would we finally reach a point where we're satisfied with where we are in the realm of teaching and learning? Would rethinking turn into retreating? I guess we will see.
Marcus, I agree with the question of whether or not we will always be rethinking the way we teach and communicate. The influx of technology has, so far, changed how I do what I do. It has not, however, changed what I do. I use screen capture recordings on my SMARTBoard to make videos that I post on Google Drive for my students to watch when they need to review a topic. That is a reasonably high tech addition to my classroom, but it is not a fundamental change to my process. I am always asking how I can improve my practice, and technology is one aspect of that. So I hope that we never stop rethinking. I just hope that we think carefully.
ReplyDeleteI was not aware of the time differences between the articles and I am glad that you brought that to my attention.
Marcus-- I am particularly interested in the dissolution of borders and boundaries that is brought about by the internet. I'm curious how that will affect education. Although the collective mindset is shifting away from common knowledge and toward differentiated learning, we still function within the paradigm of everyone being held to a predetermined standard. How will those standards and expectations change the more our students become exposed to ideas and institutions from outside the country? As borderlines become more fluid, will our ideas about what is "the right thing to learn" change too?
ReplyDeleteMarcus, I'd like to talk about the idea of rethinking. I predict that we will always be in a state of rethinking teaching and learning (and this is after I made fun of people making predictions based on technology) because, for quite a while, people will be in different stages of their personal interaction with technology. Boyd talks about today's youth being "digital natives" and ultimately dismisses the idea, but only allows for two categories, natives and immigrants. Within a generation or two, we will have a generational cohort that either adapted to new technology (like you and me), a group that developed surrounded by technology but with varying degrees of interaction, and generations after those that may or may not be born knowing how to use iOS 14 (or whatever). Future generations will no doubt be more steeped in daily use of technology. But there will certainly be disparities based on income and availability. Likely, we are quite a ways away from the "omnibus app" idea from Gardner and Davis. In order to meet the demands of a digitally diverse group of citizens in the coming years, I just bet we will be rethinking for quite some time. As we should - to answer your question.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of Internet regulations is something that comes up frequently in my home and I wonder how it would effect students. Every time a crime is reported and the Internet is the tool which was used to facilitate the crime or whenever an intentionally inflammatory post makes the news, I side, slightly with the idea of regulations. I, especially, want regulations or some type of censorship used to capture child predators.
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I also feel that the benefits of everything being "out there" is invaluably beneficial and I don't want to venture on to the slipperly slopes of control that could undermine the Freedom of speech and creativity. What we are able to research and form communities around, yields life-saving support, education and new inquiries as well as plans, for some.
I also consider, as Alli noted, what differentiated knowledge will do to common knowledge, with the growing Internet and yet the socioeconomic or sociocultural differences that impact Internet access. Should certain knowledge trump others, if so how will we come to and maintain these decisions with so much exposure to anything? Do we need (certain) common knowledge in order to build and work, collectively or individually?
I loved reading your post Marcus! Yes...you bring up a valid point. Technology is a moving target, and it seems like just as we figure out something, it already 'so yesterday'. :) As the readings for this week together show, change is rapid and we have our theses about what tomorrow will be/ should be. We might move from rethinking to retreating or finding a balance between those two points. Who knows?
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting that you framed the readings based on time. It makes me wonder if all of our technology research will be somewhat out of date given the speed of change.
ReplyDeleteStructure or restriction of the future Internet could be a reflection of how we try to manage it in our school settings currently. The notion of control, or loss of control, is unsettling with the dissolution of boundaries. We "forbid" Wikipedia as a source, yet students still seek it out for information.
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