K12 Schools Must Fill Need For Digital Media Skills
There is a new urgency to teach digital media literacy as a study finds students are taking online information for granted
The EduCOMM 2007 conference, held June 19-21 in Anaheim, Calif., provided outstanding opportunities for educators from school districts and higher education institutions across the world to come together to share best practices and learn more about what the digital future holds for students and educators. While the presentations in the K12 education strand were diverse, several common themes emerged.
EDUCOMM '07 SESSIONSClick Here To Watch
Alan Kay: The Importance of Authentic Inquiry
Alan Kay, the first day's keynote speaker and a personal computing visionary, related a variety of memorable anecdotes and demonstrated ways students can use the graphical, object-oriented programming environment Squeak to learn scientific as well as mathematical concepts. One of my favorite quotations from Kay's presentation was, "The best way to predict the future is to invent it," although Kay observed that most people instead choose to follow the opposite reasoning: "The best way to predict the future is to prevent it." This is affirmed by the fear laden, reactionary responses we see in many communities to new media tools and digital technologies.
Kay's opening statements about government graphs depicting rising student scores on standardized tests, and his inability as a professional mathematician and scientist to understand what those scores actually mean in terms of student learning, were poignant. He compared much of the work being done in schools to "playing air guitar" instead of playing a real guitar. He related how students in many schools are merely being subjected to "science appreciation courses" instead of real science courses, which require students to conduct experiments and gather data in the real world. It is impossible to learn science well by merely reading about it; rather, students must do science in order to develop the concepts, skills and, most importantly, the viewpoint of a scientific thinker. Kay demonstrated how even young children can learn sophisticated concepts, often with "one repetition" because of the computational power and flexibility of the computer.
Kay's keynote ended with a surprise: He pulled a prototype of the OLPC (One Laptop per Child) computing device from under the podium. The laptop was running the same software as the PC used in his keynote. Kay said that the creation, sale and availability of the OLPC devices in the developing world is a significant chapter in an ongoing effort spanning several decades and including many individuals. The influence of Seymour Papert on Kay and several other presenters at EduComm was abundantly clear. As Papert challenges readers in books including The Children's Machine: Rethinking School in the Age of the Computer, many adults need to raise their expectations of what students can learn, understand, and do in both formal and informal educational settings. Kay's keynote address underscored this point, as he challenged listeners to take an active role in shaping a transformed educational environment for students in the 21st century.
Bruce Dixon: The Power and Pitfalls of 1:1 Laptop Learning
Bruce Dixon, founder and president of the nonprofit organization Anytime Anywhere Learning Foundation (AALF) has helped to plan and implement 1:1 learning projects around the world. He has a wealth of expertise to share with school leaders and teachers involved in or contemplating a laptop initiative.
It is amazing to see the broad range of perspectives in the marketplace of educational ideas relating to 1:1 computing. While many leaders and educators, including Dixon, see laptop learning as a way to fundamentally transform and improve the predominant instructional pedagogy of schools, classrooms and teachers, a significant number of individuals and organizations seem bent on using laptops to merely make the traditional educational process more digitally efficient. Dixon's presentation included not only excellent points on specific aspects to consider when planning and designing laptop learning projects, but also reasons for considering one in the first place.
One of the most innovative and helpful portions of Dixon's message involved the funding plan for laptop projects. Dixon and AALF emphasize a shared-cost model, in which parents, the school, and a school-related private foundation all contribute to the cost of the laptops and associated software, hardware and warranties. A shared-cost model is much more likely to be sustainable over the long term for families as well as schools. Laptop learning is still an anomaly or a pipe dream for many students and teachers around the world, but it is the future.
