Okay, the first problem I typically have when discussing blogging with teachers is to help them let go of the term itself. We are talking about journal writing folks. We are not talking about sonnet writing or essays. There are no hard and fast rules. This is what makes the form so powerful. Like Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram and other outlets of online expression, blogging allows the individual to adapt the medium to fit the message. Children, those inventors of language and masters of playtime, should be great at this provided that an adult does not tell them otherwise.
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If you go back and study the SAMR model that I tend to talk about from time to time and you have been using the internet from around the time of the announcement of the world wide web (April, 1993), you may be aware that the world wide web spent its infancy being largely used as a substitute for aging forms of physical media rather than as an augmenter or modifier of industries. You may also understand this process to be part of the natural evolution of new technologies. Indeed, it seemed radical enough for many of us that we could now access news, find information and shop from our computers. We did not know we needed anything more. In fact, we were so content with substituting computer access for physical access that a huge bubble of over-valuation was created around computers and the web in general that continued to build throughout the 1990s. It seemed to many of us at the time that cheap websites would eventually replace all those expensive physical or “brick and mortar” shops (as we had started calling them) even though precious little augmentation and virtually no redefinition was occurring. To use another trendy term, there was, as of yet, no value added by hanging out a shingle. In fact, it would take the collapse of the “dot com” bubble to finally drive a stake through the heart of the idea that the web should be treated as just another software platform or delivery medium.
Prior to the crash there had been growing whispers that the web could be far more powerful if viewed as a service rather than a platform. In hindsight, this idea makes perfect sense as people outside of the computer industry never really understood or had any hope of leveraging the web as a platform (setting up and managing web servers and databases etc.) and were not comfortable interacting with the web at that level. I’m embarrassed to admit that I was one of those geeks who was comfortable setting up and managing web servers and databases and, therefore, lacked the motivation to reimagine the web. However, there were plenty of geeks with both the technical chops and the required imagination to reimagine the web and soon companies like Google began to thrive even as the aftermath of the crash cleared the deadwood. As these service providers grew many of us stuck in the old school mindset continued to scoff at the term “web 2.0” as a meaningless buzzword. I’m still not convinced it was necessary to rebrand the web but there is no denying that the web of today is very different from the web of twenty years ago and education has both benefited and driven as much of that change as any other area. In the early days of the world wide web an adventurous teacher might book time in a computer lab so that students could visit a museum’s website and see pictures of artifacts and read about exhibits. All in all the experience would be passive and, while far less expensive than a real field trip, would likely be universally judged to be an inferior experience when compared with a real field trip. Today a forward-thinking teacher might have his classes use Photosphere and augmented reality software to collaborate on 3 dimensional mind-maps which could be explored with Google Cardboard while linking pictures of the artist to concepts, historical events, other pictures, or, well, pretty much anything they can imagine. The experience will be fully interactive and provide a level of understanding that a field trip alone would not be able to reproduce. This interactivity gives students the opportunity to bring their context to the content. Of course, as technology evolves at a faster and faster rate it should not be surprising that skill sets may strain to keep pace. Students must be taught to develop deeper and far more diverse skill sets with an emphasis on the creation of new knowledge. Once a technology outstrips the skills of its masters (that’s us folks) it is likely to either become dangerous or irrelevant. Digital literacy is an obvious and important piece of the puzzle as well. There is more information freely available on the web today than has ever been available in the history of mankind and yet, in general, we are no better informed. If anything, the increased prevalence of phishing scams and conspiracy theories on the web would seem to indicate that we are becoming less and less intelligent. This glaring gullibility, in my opinion, is due to an attitude that grew out of those early days I spoke of earlier when the web was still viewed as an application. Back then there was an assumption that if someone took the time to set up a web server and create a website, then surely the content on that site was, to some degree, vetted and peer reviewed. However, for the last decade or more, anyone has been able to set up a website for free in only a few minutes with absolutely no technical ability. These folks can then say anything they want with no editor to fact check them. (Yes, I am aware that I am proving that point even as I type this.) There is nothing wrong with this level of democratic access to a potentially powerful platform. In fact, part of the charm of the web for me will always be its slightly lawless, wild west nature. And I am highly suspect of any governing body that seeks to “police” the web. Like software and knowledge, the web is far more powerful as an open architecture. However, this openness does put the onus on the user to use common sense when walking certain streets at night. I frequently ask people, who ask for my consultation, why they would believe an email, pop-up or Facebook post promising some great reward when that same message delivered by a stranger at their front door or even over the telephone would be met with great skepticism. It is precisely this simple variation of “stranger danger” that we need to engender in students as part of any digital literacy curriculum. The medium may have changed but human nature has not. Those who would deceive and manipulate will continue to do so regardless of the medium. In conclusion, as sometimes happens, I have already gone on for far too long for a blog entry so I will give the reader a chance to grab a bite or fresh cup of coffee and provide another post on specific uses of a classic web 2.0 tool: blogging. "Web 2.0 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." 2011. 26 Jan. 2016 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0> Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. (3rd ed.). Thousand Oak, California: Corwin. |
AuthorHi, Archives
November 2016
Categories |
- Introduction
- Video Reflection
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Standards
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Standard 2
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- Standard 2.1 Content Standards & Student Technology Standards
- Standard 2.2 Research-Based Learner-Centered Strategies
- Standard 2.3 Authentic Learning
- Standard 2.4 Higher Order Thinking Skills
- Standard 2.5 Differentiation
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Standard 3
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- Standard 3.1 Classroom Management & Collaborative Learning
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