Louise Snidal

Friday 22 June 2012

Digital Classroom & Social Media Exploration

Saturday 2 June 2012

Our Evolving Education System

I have just completed Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology by Allan Collins and Richard Halverson (2009) and it put things into perspective for me around the issue of technology in the schools. I have had many thoughts, questions and opinions around this topic but have not been able to organize my thoughts around it until this book. This book does a nice job in describing the debate between the “technology enthusiasts” and the “technology skeptics”, it provides the historical background of the revolution in education where we have moved from an apprenticeship-based system to a school-based system and are now entering into an era of lifelong learning.

The first era is the Apprenticeship Era which occurred before the 19^th century. Here, parents decided what their children would learn. Boys were trained by their father or close relative and the girls were taught by the mothers. Each parent would decide what they felt was necessary for the children to learn. Most learning happened through observation, imitation and guided practice and children followed in their parents footsteps of learning practical skills to make a living.

The second era is the Public Schooling Era that was brought on by the Industrial Revolution. This began at the turn of the 19^th century. During this era educating children transferred from family to state. With so many immigrants that came to the country and the widespread of uneducated children had people like Horace Mann promoting that all children should be in school and receive the same education so they could be contributing members of society. One of the goals of this era was to have social cohesiveness; hence the public school system was born. This model of for the education system worked for many years and now is being challenged because of current research on multiple intelligences as well as the advent of the Digital Revolution.

The third era is the Lifelong Learning Era that we are embarking on now. The shift of education is switching back to the parents for the younger children and to the individual from middle school all the way to adulthood where these individuals can customize their education based on their needs, abilities and interest. Students no longer are willing to except what educators deem as a good education but rather want to steer their own ship as 21^st century learners. With the Internet at everyone’s fingertips, the world and all its knowledge is accessible to everyone. No longer is memorizing facts applicable or practical. Learning how to learn, being able to find useful resources, problem solving and different forms of communication seems to be the important skills that will assist the 21^st century learner.

Although I agree that a change needs to happen in our school setting, I do not know how that change is to occur. I have many questions on how are we going to be able to change this blanket type education model that we are following now to cater to the needs of our 21^st century learner? How are we going to be able to provide an equitable education to all students when the cost of digital equipment is more than a public school system can afford? I am in favor of students having a choice in what they learn and but I question if students have enough information to make an informed decision of what their education would look like?

I can just imagine what would happen in my classroom if this choice was given. Let’s say for instance that I had access to all types of digital devices and gaming software and told my students at the beginning of the year that they would have to decide what they wanted to learn and also could decide how they were going to learn and I sat back and simply facilitated, I am sorry to say that I don’t think a lot of academic learning would occur. I don’t believe that my students would be able to use the digital devices as learning tools, but rather would see them as entertainment and a distraction from schooling.

I believe that teachers need not be experts in the school but should take on the role as the facilitator. I do also believe that it is our responsibility to guide our students into this digital age with their eyes wide open to both the positive and negative side of technology as well as the ethical and responsible use of it.

There is no question that we have entered another revolution in the education system and in my opinion it is about time. We need to change with the times. However, I do not believe that to be successful in this lifelong learning era, that we need to abandon everything we have learnt from the preceding eras as there was much wisdom that emerged from them.

Monday 28 May 2012

The Social Implications of Technology

The second area that I would like to explore is the social implications of technology with our Digital Natives. Authors, Sherry Turkle (Alone Together), Gary Small (iBrain), John Palfrey & Urs Gasser (Digital Born) all agree that indeed there are social implications for our hyperconnected Digital Natives. The three areas that concern me the most are: loss of face-to-face communication and social skills, cyberbullying and the loss of privacy.

Turkle, Small, Palfrey and Gasser all agree that our hyperconnected Digital Natives have the potential to be socially awkward and not possess ability to read facial expressions and subtle gesture. Much miscommunication can occur amongst our Digital Natives. Small sums it up when he states: “Imagine how the continued slipping of social skills might affect and an international summit meeting ten years from now when a misread facial cue or a misunderstood gesture could make the difference between escalating military conflict or peace” (p.2). Our students are tomorrow’s leaders so this is a real possibility. This ties in with Turkles’ idea of the human elements (body language, facial expression and intonation etc.) that separates humans from the robots. So, my question is, if our Digital Natives are continually hyperconnected, how long will it take for them to resemble robots more than humans. I know this sounds far fetched, but if we do not intervene and educate our Digital Natives now on the importance of face-to-face communication and socialization, how far is this notion really?

Cyberbullying is growing problem amongst our Digital Natives. I have witnessed this type of bullying occurring in young grade three students and the idea of this escalating as these students grow older if they are not stopped and educated is alarming. The above authors agree that the anonymity the Internet provides a person enables them to behave in ways that they may not necessarily do if they were face-to-face with that person. Our young Digital Natives whose frontal lobes (decision making, empathy etc.) of their brain are not yet fully developed may not necessary understand the implication of their behaviour and that it is bullying. Some may say that young brains should not be overloaded with technology. I believe that abstaining from technology is not realistic and instead we should educate our young Digital Natives on the ethics and responsibilities of the Internet user.

Today’s students may not understand what the essence of privacy as many of them are growing up in the most public domain…the Internet. They don’t know understand the ramifications of posting their personal information on the Net until it may be too late such as when they are trying to find a job. The above mentioned authors including Don Tapscott author of Grown Up Digital (2009) are in agreement that much needed educating needs to happen for our Digital Natives. They need to be exposed to what real privacy is. They need to be educated on how to maintain their privacy and finally, they need to know that privacy is a right and one they should strive for. In our digital world the emphasis is on sharing everything from files, music, pictures, minute to minute happenings, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Our Natives don’t have to be continually connected or in Turkles’ words “always on” and they certainly do not have to share intimate details of their life. They need to be taught that it is ok to keep personal information to themselves and that they have a right to their privacy.

I have also read Don Tapscott author of Grown Up Digital (2009) and he has a very different view of the functionality of our Digital Natives and to sum it up, feels we should embrace the digital way of life and learn from our Natives as they by far are the most intelligent generation yet. I am not in agreement with him. I like Turkle believe that our digital world is in its infancy stage and we as a society need to learn to moderate our digital use and learn to use and respect technology for being a tool. Turkle, Small, Palfrey and Gasser all agree that both the Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants can learn from each other. The Digital Native can teach the Digital Immigrants how to be tech-savvy and the Digital Immigrants can teach the Digital Natives face-to-face communication and social skills and lengthening attention spans. To me, this is a win-win relationship.

As a friend said to me a couple of months ago. “We should go into the digital world as it’s an exciting world, but we should do it with caution and not forget all that we have learnt from our past in history.” This to me is wisdom.

Friday 25 May 2012

The Physiological Impact of Technology

I just finished reading iBrain by Dr. Gary Small and I want to discuss further the neurological impact of technology on our youth. We all know that the youth dominate in the digital world in using the Internet and other digital devices, but what is happening to the brain during this time. The advancement of technology is inevitable and it would be naïve to think that we could ever go back to a pre-digital world and many of us would not want to. In my last post I discussed how Turkle said that we are in the infancy of the digital age and that we don’t yet understand the future implications of technology. Neuroscientist Dr. Gary Small supplies some hard evidence on the physiological impact of technology on the human brain and some of the findings are frightening to me.

The first thing that really caught my attention was on page 5 where Small discusses that it took over a millennia for the human brain to evolve to the point that it is at now, yet with the onset of technology evolutionary brain changes are occurring over mere decades.

As in my previous post on Hyperconnectedness, Small is able to provide evidence that our brains cannot function efficiently with too much information. Referring to research studies of the past that revealed that being exposed to just an hour a day of computer exposure was causing our brain to be overstimulated, he begs the question “…what happens when we spend more time? What about the brains of young people, whose neural circuitry is even more malleable and plastic? What happens to their brains when they spend their average eight hours daily with their high-tech toys and devices (p.17).”

It is a known fact that most of our youth use their devices in excess, so I am wondering if in schools we should be focusing on teaching safe use of technology rather than inundating students with more technology in the schools. I am not suggesting that technology be banned from schools, but rather balance the amount of technology used both during and after schools. I do think that this could work as “Thinking Green” has recently taken off in schools recently. Students are taking what they learn in schools about being environmentally friendly and applying it in their personal lives. Likewise, this could also be the same with Safe use of Technology.

Both Turkle and Small agree that there are benefits of our new digital world from the convenience that we gain, to altering our neural networks that sharpens some cognitive abilities such as quicker response to visual stimuli and improving attention span to name a few. The point I believe they are making is that technology being used as a tool is a great benefit, but the overuse of it can a detriment to humanity.

Technology can become an addiction and as addictions goes, it impacts all areas of a person’s life. We are already seeing the impact Hyperconnectedness have on our youth. More children are obese than they ever have been before. Our youth would rather be connected to a digital device than play outside, or be a part of nature. Small points out that if children are exposed to technology at an early age when their brains are still so sensitive and malleable, then it can have a lasting effect on their neural pathways that can lead to addiction, short attention spans, anxiety, depression, lack of social skills and much more. Is this what we want for our youth? My answer is no and the more I read in on this topic, the more convinced I am that we as a society need to do something before this becomes something we can’t contain.

Sprenger, Turke and Small all want parents and educators to realise that we don’t have to give in to the frenzy that technology brings about, but with proper education in the area, our youth can live in balance with technology. I don’t think the education world should take issue lightly, but rather look to those who have research in the area and let them guide us through this Digital world.

Saturday 12 May 2012

Hyperconnectedness & its Physiological Impact

After reading Alone Together by Sherry Turkle, I have many questions that I am seeking answers to. My first wondering is if our young generation is so caught up in the digital world and are constantly connected, is it a good idea to have them constantly connected in the classroom also? What are the physiological, social and emotional, and finally the educational impact on the students? It is these categories that I am attempting to find research on. This post will discuss technology and the physiological impact on our digital natives.

In Marilee Sprenger’s journal article entitled “Focusing the Digital Brain” (2009) states that we need to be aware of the problems that the digital brain poses and the demands of the 21^st century on our student learners’. She further states: “We adults’ must help all students assimilate technology into their lives in a way that will enhance—not eclipse—skills like sustained thinking and connecting to fellow humans”. This comment really hits home with me. I believe that this is the fine line that l am trying to understand. Sprenger brings up the point of multitasking and how it cannot be done effectively as the brain is able to only do one thing at a time. The connectedness that our students are craving and the work that is required of them uses the same part of the brain and their solution is to multitask and neither job is done thoroughly. She continues on and states that this hyperconnectedness causes stress and the release of adrenaline and cortisol which affects a person’s immune system; cognitive functioning and can cause depression in the digital natives. This thought was also echoed in Turkes’ Alone Together book.

In chapter 3 of Gary Small’s book iBrain entitled “Addicted to Technology”,’ points out that the same part of the brain that is triggered when a person is using drugs, alcohol or any other addictive substances, is the same part of the brain that has people craving their digital devices and the high they get from using it. Students’ constant need to be connected is developing new neural pathways in the brain strengthening the right side of the brain that deals with creativity and weakening other parts of the brain that is not being used as often such as the left brain which deals with functions such as logic, critical thinking and language.

Lynn Helding’s 2011 journal article: “Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants: Teaching and Learning in the Digital Age” examines the cognitive function of the digital native and the “shattering of attention spans”. She also makes known the definition of a new coined term of “learned attention deficit disorder” which simply is heavy use of technology is causing ADD or ADHD in people who do not have a predisposition for it. This ties in with Smalls’ notion of addiction of technology and needing the information more often and faster.

This makes me nervous as an educator. If studies are indicating that overuse of technology is detrimental to our digital natives, it only seems logical that we should be spending more time in schools teaching students on the proper use of technology and the proper amount of time spent on it, yet none of this is happening. Turkle states that it’s too early to know the full effect of the impact that technology will have on us as it is in its infancy stage, however, she continues to say that we have a vast amount of information on child development, brain research and social behaviour and we should use that information to guide us through our new digital world. I like her way of thinking. We don’t need to wait years to see what will happen, we need to pace ourselves now and aim for balance.

Wednesday 2 May 2012

Connected Kids

I finished Turkles’ book “Alone Together” and there are many parts to it that I do not want to believe. I do not want to believe that children crave robotic toys, much less connect with them as their “children” that they must care for. I do not want to believe that adults would crave the same from sociable robots because they do not have that confidence to find human companionship. I for certain do not want to believe that we have become a race where we would leave our elderly in the care of robots so we are free from the responsibility. I agree with Turkle when she states “I understand the virtues of partnerships with a robot in war, space and medicine. I understand that robots are useful in dangerous working conditions. But why are we so keen on ‘caring’? To me, it seems transgressive, a ‘forbidden experiment.’

All that I have discussed is not what bothers me the most. What bothers me the most is the simulated and networked life that our children are growing up in and probably feel that it is “real life.” Turkles’ chapter titles in the second part of her book say it all. In our present digital world, our children are Always On. They are constantly on Facebook, tweeting and messaging each other often. Turkle recorded that the communication between teenagers could be as high as 8 – 10, 000 texts a month! With this many texts, one will definitely be Growing Up Tethered. With demands of that many texts teens and the “high” they get from receiving these texts has them cutting off one person to talk to the next. Communication has turned from something that should be natural to one that is demanding and often causing anxiety in our teens. For this reason, teens feel that there is No Need To Call. The teens that participated in Turkles’ study discussed their anxiety when having to make a call or receive a call. They would rather have digital written communication where they had time to think about what they wanted to say or how they wanted to appear.

I am wondering what kind of adults these teens are going to grow up to be. Though these teens are seeking privacy from their parents, tend to post personal aspects of their life on the internet and don’t realize that have placed it on the most public domain. If they do realize how public the internet is, then they feel that it’s just a part of life to “stalk” someone on Facebook or have pictures of themselves posted on the Net without their permission. Often, cyberbullying is happening because of the anonymity of the Net.

These teens are growing up not knowing what it means to have a meaningful conversation to completion. They do not understand the true meaning of privacy and finally they need to learn to filter what they put on the Net with the understanding that they may be doing harm to themselves or someone else. My hope is to find more research on these issues and explore it further. Stay Tuned!

Sunday 22 April 2012

What Role does Technology play with our Digital Natives?

I have begun to read Sherry Turkles' "Alone Together" and although I have had some discussions about robots, humans and their relationships, I am wondering about the pros and cons of robots as sociable companions? I do not think that we as a society are ready to take on this evolution. In the first part of this book, Sherry Turkle discusses that even though she is the researcher of robots, she can't help herself from craving the attention on a robot when she encounters one. I wonder if she as an intelligent adult is not able to separate machine from human though it may be for simply short seconds; then how are we asking children to differentiate between digital toys and and real living things. I was shocked at the length that children would go to keep their Furby's alive (not remove the batteries). I was even more surprised to see how parents played into their demands.

Turkle describes the captivation that people have towards anything that interacts as with them; she describes it as the human part of us that we can't deny. Although we know the human limitations of robots, we try to fill in the blanks by responding to the robot where it is unable to. She calls this the Eliza Effect. We take the robotic behaviours and ascribe it human qualities. Humans are social animals and crave social interactions. Although Turkle is aware of this, she can't help but wonder if we are asking too much from robots and not demanding enough from our human counterparts? I am wondering the same.

As an educator, I am trying to understand what role digital devices are playing in the cognitive and social development of children? I do understand that digital devices are here to stay and I am not promoting that we should do away with them, however, I do want to investigate the impact of these devices on our Digital Natives. Although I have only read the first section of Turkles' book that deals with robotics and have yet to get to social implications of technology on our young children and young adults, I can't help but feel that others may also feel that we are embracing the use of devices too quickly and without caution. It is through further research into journals articles as well as completing Turkles' "Alone Together" book this week that I hope to have a better understanding to the answers that I am seeking.

Here's to digging in deep!