Utilising Hyper Connectivity

If you watched Mark Pesce's presentation mentioned in the previous post, you may be wondering how to capitalise on the hyper connectivity that students now take for granted. This video clip from Abilene Christian University in Texas may stimulate some ideas.

http://www.acu.edu/technology/mobilelearning/researchers/video/index.html

While this video clip is set in a university context, there are ideas here that could be adapted for high schools. Perhaps we can't yet give iPhones to all out students but we might be able to provide more information for students on our websites so that students can access it online. This would be especially relevant for schools considering the introduction of 1 to 1 laptop programs.

Do we communicate with students or parents by SMS and/or MSN? Do we even communicate by email? Do we provide our contact details to students? I have found that my students appreciate the opportunity to email me questions and drafts of assignments rather than trying to do this at school, where everybody is busy most of the time. I like it better too, not only because I am busy at school but because it is easier for me to email the answers or comments back than to find the student at school.

Brabazon (2002) commented on the impatience of some students in a tertiary online setting who expected instant email responses and became unhappy when she was not available after hours to respond to their questions. My students are younger and perhaps they are more patient. I told them when I am typically available for questions and they seem happy with that. I have not had students abusing this privilege or sending me unpleasant messages.

Brabazon, T. (2002) Digital Hemlock: Internet Education and the Poisoning or Education. UNSW Press.

Reflection on Teaching 21st Century Kids

"... all significant human development - psychological, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual - comes through reflection. That is, our highest faculty as a human person is our mind. The mind is where we discern, reflect, choose, and finally decide to act. These factors determine whether we grow, regress, or remain stagnant. In the mind, particularly through the act of refection, we determine how we will respond to life, to others, and to the wisdom and grade that God provides."
Teresa Tomeo (2007), Noise, West Chester, Pn: Ascension Press. p25.

In a post grad study program a few years ago, I had to write reflections as assignments and I somehow gained the impression to me that once I had finished studying such writing was no longer important. When I first came across blogs, I didn't feel inclined to join in because I am not prone to thinking out loud and I certainly didn't think that there would be too may people wanting to hear my 10c worth on any given topic.

What made the connection for me was a combination of the value of reflection as described by Teresa Tomeo and the value of sharing ideas with colleagues. As a result I have decided to become a blogger at least for now while I have a little spare time.

The World is Flat

I had heard numerous references to Thomas Friedman's book in podcasts over the last few years and last week I noticed in iTunesU, that MIT has posted a lecture by Friedman. It is an eye-opener. You can access the lecture at http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/266/.

I was rather surprised when a 15 year old student of mine was unable to identify South America on a world map, and it seems that today's students know very little about the rest of the world, except perhaps the US lifestyle portrayed by the media. Friedman tells us that these students will face employment competition from people in China and India.

Friedman proposes that students need to learn to work collaboratively. That's not new but doing a collaborative project with students from the other side of the world will be a new idea to many. Global collaboration is not just a novel concept but preparation for their future.

Those Wacky Kids

I didn't get to attend one of the Digital Education Revolution conferences held earlier this year, but it's nice to have the free option of watching a keynote presentation from the comfort of your own home. Mark Pesce's presentation, Those Wacky Kids answered some important questions for me. He describes the hyper connected world they live in outside of the classroom, but in most cases they have to leave that behind when they come through our doors.

Pesce noted that the school's hidden agenda in the 20th century was about “timeliness and orderliness.” He proposes that in the 21st century it must “focus and how to control their hyper connectivity for their best benefit.”

These two snippets from Pesce really made me think.
“Kids can multitask – but you can’t learn calculus while you are multitasking”
“The transmission of certain intellectual traditions require that students cultivate focus in the face of enormous demands on their attention. This has got to become a core element of what the school is going to teach them and what their home life is going to teach them and they cannot do that simply by denying the hyper-connectivity … you have to accept that the hyper connectivity is there and you have to be able to incorporate it so you can harness it rather than just simply avoiding it.”

Pesce's keynote is a "must see" for teachers. http://www.viddler.com/explore/mpesce/videos/14/. The recording quality is excellent too and you get to see his Powerpoint slides. If your Internet access is slow, you may prefer the text version from http://blog.futurestreetconsulting.com/?p=56 .