I started my search at Edutopia.org, the companion website to the magazine of the same name funded by the George Lucas Education Foundation. (Side note: Edutopia is free to educators and is worth every penny!) Perhaps not surprising considering the title and the source of its funding, Edutopia had much to offer tech-wise. In the end I narrowed my choices by going with my gut interest and my interest in brevity (the article's; clearly not my own), finally choosing, "Media Smarts: From Consumers to Critics and Creators" by Ken Ellis, which is a short article accompanied by an eight-minute film.
Ellis's piece is essentially a brief overview of the shift from the traditional "pencil-and-paper-bound" classroom, to a more modern classroom which integrates the technologies that our students are already plugged into and that will be the drivers of the future economy and workplace. Though it was written in 2005, the article still seemed relevant because, perhaps surprisingly, despite the numerous foundations pushing this agenda and the obvious relevance it has to the lives of our students in some very real ways, the larger educational machine has been monumentally slow to act.
Ellis makes two points that I find worth repeating here:
1) He notes that our students spend six hours and twenty-one minutes a day plugged into some type of media each day (eight and a half hours if we include multi-tasking), compared with less than 50 minutes a day on homework. Even if we throw in the six hours students are at school (How much of that time is real, interactive, non-media-based instruction though?), media is killing us in terms of hours, and this was in 2005!
2) While we teach students to read critically, we rarely teach them to digest other media critically. In fact, most of the media students encounter daily (TV, mp3s, YouTube, etc.) requires only passive observance.
With these two things in mind, Ellis advocates for teaching media literacy in a more real and comprehensive way. George Lucas, quoted in the article and film, even suggests (heresy of heresies) replacing "English" class with "Communication" class.
I'm not sure I agree with Lucas, but I do agree with Ellis. And his article provides many links to curriculum and like-minded educational foundations.
I apologize for the rambling, meta-cognitive nature of my post.
Work Cited
Ellis, Ken. "Media Smarts: From Consumers to Critics and Creators." Edutopia. 13 July 2005. The George Lucas Education Foundation. 5 December 2005. <http://www.edutopia.org/media-literacy-skills>.
(At least no one's stolen purple.)
I appreciate the nature of your post, Mauro.
I remember a colleague's long-ago frustrated criticism of another colleague's tech fervor (and I quote loosely): "S/He just finds all this stuff and flings it at us, insisting it's cool, without ever learning or analyzing it him/herself! S/He doesn't filter! According to him/her, EVERYthing's great!"
I admit that I can fall prey to this indiscriminate enthusiasm, too, and it most frequently tempts me when I'm gathering information. How much easier it is to link than to summarize and synthesize! I have to resist the urge to do more than create a chain of links. (Get it? Chain? Link? Okay, I'm sorry.) I know that many of the students with whom I work do it, and I don't really mind as long as doing so creates a cohesive, multi-dimensional whole. I do mind when doing so simply creates a net in which to gather and perpetuate bad information.
Hey! I was in a good mood until I read Mauro's and Leslie's posts! I might have to go watch YouTube. :( Tracy
Well, one good thing about students and technology is that they can produce it, which helps their critical thinking. Communication can't replace English, but we need to acknowledge that there are new ways to present and share information.
--Harriet
Hey! I thought I was purple! Just because I'm really, really late, I shouldn't lose my color. Just teasing Tracy. And thanks Mauro for doing all the self-denigrating--now I do not feel the need since you have given me such a good excuse of "solid reasons." HA! That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!
One of my concerns that is more of a side note to the article is TIME. Is it fair to 14-17-year-olds that they go to school for seven hours and then go home to three to four hours of homework? I personally am tired when I get home and do want to work any more. I rarely do--unless I have papers to edit and return the next day, I generally wait until the weekend and then devote hours of grading time. I know that my stus who have AP Civics/Econ/US History spend hours reading and outlining and doing whatever it is she asks them to do. I know they are staying up until midnight or early hours in morning to do it. Maybe not every night, but most nights.
My problem is not with them being "plugged in" to pleasurable things, like music, YouTube, or whatever. Other than teachers, who takes hours of homework home with them? How is doing all that homework preparing them for the real world? Even in college one can spread out classes and homework so it's manageable.
Sorry, I know I went off the tech theme into a rant. I think our stus are actually good critical readers and consumers. They are submersed in technology all the time and I think that leads to evaluating and recognizing quality. Vicki
At the risk of sounding like the curmudgeon I'm becoming, I have to say that immersion in technology may lead to greater ease in using it, the way immersion in a foreign language leads to greater ease in using it, but for critical thinking to become a habit of mind, it needs to be carefully taught. I don't see such a huge difference in teaching students to use technology to present their ideas the same way we teach them to use writing: with audience and purpose in mind. I'm more concerned about instructors using technology and concluding, with no supporting evidence, that students learn more, better, faster. However, I'm not saying it can't be done. As Mauro pointed out, I would very much like to see evidence of technological instruction making great strides in not only students' learning, but also in students' motivation to learn because students are obviously motivated to use technology. I agree with Harriet that communication can't replace English, but I do think somehow the schools will have to find ways of and time for teaching students to use and understand different technologies.
OK, this is my response to Vicki's discussion of homework, so if you're not interested, stop now.
I couldn't agree more about homework being a time consumer. It became a bugaboo to me by the time my oldest son had reached 6th grade. He didn't even mind doing it that much, but there was always the issue of time. I was working, so trying to spend quality time or even any time with my sons in the evening when they had homework to do was frustrating. It also became a point of contention at times. "Boys, clear the table, please." "I can't (in unison); I have homework to do." Or it might go like this: "Do your homework." "We don't have any" (again in unison). I used to be amazed when they would risk telling me they didn't have homework because they almost always did have it. But they risked lying because sometimes, they really, really didn't want to do it. And a lot of their homework seemed like busy work, even to me. I've heard the arguments for homework: it gives students opportunities to practice what they've learned, etc. But my argument is the same as Vicki's (I think). Students have already had a long day. They need time to interact with their families. They need to do chores, learn manners (write a thank you note to Aunt Spoilem for the gift she sent), etc. If they're still required to do what they've spent the greater part of the day doing, when do they have time for other activities? And please spare me the answer that they have time for other activities on the weekends. I didn't raise a couple of droids who live for the weekends.
One of my concerns that is more of a side note to the article is TIME. Is it fair to 14-17-year-olds that they go to school for seven hours and then go home to three to four hours of homework? I personally am tired when I get home and do want to work any more. I rarely do--unless I have papers to edit and return the next day, I generally wait until the weekend and then devote hours of grading time. I know that my stus who have AP Civics/Econ/US History spend hours reading and outlining and doing whatever it is she asks them to do. I know they are staying up until midnight or early hours in morning to do it. Maybe not every night, but most nights.
My problem is not with them being "plugged in" to pleasurable things, like music, YouTube, or whatever. Other than teachers, who takes hours of homework home with them? How is doing all that homework preparing them for the real world? Even in college one can spread out classes and homework so it's manageable.
Sorry, I know I went off the tech theme into a rant. I think our stus are actually good critical readers and consumers. They are submersed in technology all the time and I think that leads to evaluating and recognizing quality. Vicki
At the risk of sounding like the curmudgeon I'm becoming, I have to say that immersion in technology may lead to greater ease in using it, the way immersion in a foreign language leads to greater ease in using it, but for critical thinking to become a habit of mind, it needs to be carefully taught. I don't see such a huge difference in teaching students to use technology to present their ideas the same way we teach them to use writing: with audience and purpose in mind. I'm more concerned about instructors using technology and concluding, with no supporting evidence, that students learn more, better, faster. However, I'm not saying it can't be done. As Mauro pointed out, I would very much like to see evidence of technological instruction making great strides in not only students' learning, but also in students' motivation to learn because students are obviously motivated to use technology. I agree with Harriet that communication can't replace English, but I do think somehow the schools will have to find ways of and time for teaching students to use and understand different technologies.
OK, this is my response to Vicki's discussion of homework, so if you're not interested, stop now.
I couldn't agree more about homework being a time consumer. It became a bugaboo to me by the time my oldest son had reached 6th grade. He didn't even mind doing it that much, but there was always the issue of time. I was working, so trying to spend quality time or even any time with my sons in the evening when they had homework to do was frustrating. It also became a point of contention at times. "Boys, clear the table, please." "I can't (in unison); I have homework to do." Or it might go like this: "Do your homework." "We don't have any" (again in unison). I used to be amazed when they would risk telling me they didn't have homework because they almost always did have it. But they risked lying because sometimes, they really, really didn't want to do it. And a lot of their homework seemed like busy work, even to me. I've heard the arguments for homework: it gives students opportunities to practice what they've learned, etc. But my argument is the same as Vicki's (I think). Students have already had a long day. They need time to interact with their families. They need to do chores, learn manners (write a thank you note to Aunt Spoilem for the gift she sent), etc. If they're still required to do what they've spent the greater part of the day doing, when do they have time for other activities? And please spare me the answer that they have time for other activities on the weekends. I didn't raise a couple of droids who live for the weekends.
