Changing technology, changing views

I have been wrestling with the reflection question for the past couple of days. What are the implications for teaching and learning? The report from the MacArthur Foundation, "Living and Learning with New Media," does a great job of summarizing the situation in many schools. Schools are generally conservative when it comes to change because teachers and parents are loathe to change. Many in our profession (and parents also) view social networking and gaming as time-consuming vices. Young people see them as part of their culture and identity. The establishment sees them as subversive to learning.

But... maybe we need to see them as motivation to learn! The report suggests that educators need to embrace exploration and experimentation with new technology. Recognize the values that teachers and parents have been teaching students are alive and well and being applied within the interactions children are having online.

The final paragraph of the report was powerful:

"Rather than thinking of public education as the burden that schools must shoulder on their own, what would it mean to think of public education as a responsibility of a more distributed network of people and institutions? And rather than assuming that education is primarily about preparing for jobs and careers, what would it mean to think of education as a process of guiding kids' participation in public life more generally, a public life that includes social, recreational and civic engagement?"

Sounds wonderful. But what does it look like? I've never considered myself to be the most imaginative. I am good at modifying and adapting others ideas to use for my own students. I started looking for ideas and came across the 'Flat Classroom Conference.'

Here a I found several videos with ideas that students had generated, then communicated in eye-catching multimedia presentations.

Suddenly, trying to embrace this new view doesn't seem so impossible. It will take a lot of help from our tech staff and probably for some tech savvy students, and the support from administration. (And maybe some understanding and trust from some parents?!) But it seems possible!