Digital Immigrants vs Apps for Brains

A few quick thoughts in response to our online course. 

I feel that we have many different positions and view points relating to technology. Reading other posts I've noticed that a substantial number of the learners are what Michael Harris might call "Digital Immigrants" or people born before 1985 (which of course makes sense as many people born after 1985 (Mark Prensky had earlier said 1980) would not be in a MEd class.) This is the last generation that will remember our society without internet connectivity. That is quite an interesting position to be in! I myself am one in a transitory generation, I remember the beginnings of the internet and that horrible sound... but it's always been there. I watched Seinfeld and I know what an answering machine is. 

Reading a post by D today, I thought about the three, possibly four groups of people currently alive (grouped according to their birth relative to the current technological revolution) I've adjusted Marc Prensky's 2001 article to better suit my (somewhat limited and biassed) understanding of the situation:

0) Digital Hermits: People of my grandparents age ... but more stubborn or plain just happy without all this hullabaloo. My own personal grandparents are immigrating constantly into the technological era. They have always had a computer and now have a digital photo frame ... it has been a disaster in some parts but the computer itself has always gone relatively well with the help of my aunts and uncles. 

1) Digital Immigrants: People like my parents, many of my coworkers, my bosses, Jerry Seinfeld, D, the presidents and PMs the world over, and possibly our professor though he seems to have completely immigrated from my understanding of the situation... Hi Doug!  

2) Digital Native generation 1: People like me who remember the birth of this technology and were born to older Digital Immigrants. 

3) Digital Native generation 2: People like my students who were born online with highspeed internet and often have fairly technologically competent parents. 

What kind of kindergarten doesn't have Wi-Fi ... 

Click here for a short discussion of digital natives vs digital immigrants. Do you agree? 

In communication with D: 

I somewhat envy your first trip through university. Not because I think it was easy or more peaceful or anything like that, but because I have no idea what that would be like!

My high school experience was relatively low tech... our teachers wheeled around tvs with integrated VCRs, we read from paper books with cracked corners and missing pages, we did have a computer lab but the mouses had balls in them instead of lasers... But by the time I left high school, everybody had cellphones (not fancy ones but a good solid brick of a Nokia that could make calls and text on a black and white screen) and was constantly connected. I have no idea what it was like to sign up for courses on paper, to try to rendez-vous with somebody without the backup of a cellphone, to check my balance and pay bills on the phone or GASP in person! 

I sometimes wonder what my work life, my classroom, my house, my life and my navigation skills would be without technology. I like to think that I have prepared my classroom for everything up to an including the zombie apocalypse; I have white boards and markers and the students work standing up and in direct face to face communication with each other the majority of the time, but I still do have days when I rent the laptops from the library and we geek out on TedTV. 

Your entry gave me pause... as a child of the technological transition I already have a hard time imagining a world without internet or power. I wonder, if people like my parents, you, and all the other functional adults born before me could adapt to this technology, how would my students and the new generation born with apps for brains adjust to a tech-free world. 

Waiting for the zombie apocalypse, 

Amanda

Digitize this classroom

As an educator in the 21st century, I find that I am constantly being introduced to new and appealing EdTech to use in the classroom. Not a day goes by without a colleague mentioning new applications for graphing functions or how they have expanded the use of their GoogleClassroom to insure student accountability. I often struggle with the increasing demand for technology in the classroom, not because of a lack of technological competancy, but because it raises many important questions as I came to realize at a  presentation by Andrew Campbell at the STAO conference in November of last year.

What problems could possibly arise from the use of EdTech? Most teachers see EdTech as an overwhelmingly positive thing, allowing our students to be interconnected and to explore the world around them at the click of a mouse. Furthermore, gamification and badge systems have been shown to largely increase student performance and motivation.  Well…

“In the stampede to "digitize the classroom" responsible educators need to pause and consider the negative impacts of EdTech. In this provocative session I'll examine five things "21st Century Educators" should be thinking about: Student data privacy, Corporate Influence, Equity, Professionalism and Infrastructure.”

Reading the STAO program on the plane ride over, I was very intrigued by this description. Whether it was because I enjoy challenging my opinions or because some dark corner of me has become more and more concerned and disenchanted by the digitization of my classroom, I have no idea, but I did know that I had to go to quell this inner frustration.

The 5 concerns discussed by Campbell rang very true for me and highlighted many issues that had been grating at my colleagues for years. 

Student data privacy 

Corporate Influence 

Equity 

Professionalism 

Infrastructure

These are all very important considerations for achieving innovation in classroom technology without undermining the ethics of our educational system. Please do take time to go read his points on his education blog available HERE. Of course, many might feel internal push back in reading the negatives of our much beloved technological revolution, but try to think of all the GAFE Summits as the Pros and this article as some of the Cons. It may just add some balance to the argument. 

Other less urgent concerns that remained unaddressed that day come to mind regarding the implementation of new EdTech:

Is it something I will use consistently or will this just be another username and password to forget?

Is it easy to use? For the teacher? for the student? for the parent?   

Is it necessary?

Is it improving our ability to teach or just replacing other tools?

Is it increasing student autonomy, motivation, achievement, etc?

These are the questions that I ask myself when looking at emerging technologies related to my classroom, and that is what I’m choosing to explore here. I hope you’ll join me in exploring these new technologies. Feel free to provide feedback and anecdotes.