CALL Essentials introduces some definitions for CALL, optimal conditions and standards for language learning and teaching, and offers some guidelines for using educational technology. In this text I was struck by one comment describing negative reactions to new technology in the classroom. Egbert (2005) writes that in history, “books, for example, were thought to damage memory” (p. 4). Wow. No matter the technology that comes into the classroom, it seems there will always be dissenters who hold firm to traditional (and not necessarily perspicacious) beliefs. Look at the calculator for example. Some educators worried that people would get lazy and not effectively learn the skills to solve math problems with pencil and paper. Now we view calculators as just another tool to be used in the classroom and even take it for granted that we should be able to use them.
On the internet, nowadays it’s so easy and fast to look up the names of capital cities or river names with the click of a button. Traditionalists might argue that the internet is degrading from the memories and stores of knowledge that most people should have. I say, why not use the tools that are available to us? The internet is adding to classroom efficiency and making room for other learning. What do you all think? Will the internet make us lazy or less knowledgeable? How has the idea of knowledge shifted with the advent of the internet?
Integrating the National Educational Technology Standards
These standards require that students will be able to perform these tasks upon leaving school: use a computer and peripherals, practice responsible use of technology, use electronic resources appropriately, design, develop, and publish products, gather information, and collaborate with others. I find that all of these tasks are laudable, though I’d like to add one more to the list: the ability to critically assess the authenticity, ownership, and validity of a web source. Students need to realize that anybody can open up a webpage and basically write down whatever they would like. Not only do students need to be able to gather information online, but they also need to be able to discern whether that information is good or bad. How can teachers help students develop these critical assessment skills?
Speaking of the internet, this medium provides just another opportunity for Multimodal Communication to be used by our students. Multimodal communication "makes it feasible for large numbers of learners without specialized training to produce and share their work” (Warschauer, p. 31). I find this kind of communication a great way for students to not only be able to share and ‘publish’ their work, but also to receive feedback and validation on their work. At my academy in Seoul, students have participated in UCC (user created content) contests sponsored by the school. Student videos were posted online, voted and commented on by other students, teachers, parents, and staff. Many students had a lot of fun creating this kind of content and I feel that it was an all-around great learning experience for them. Have you ever had students use video for publishing their work in your classrooms? How did it go?
Finally, I think that blogs could be a good way for students to share diaries or other schoolwork with their teachers and other students. One limitation is that this type of content might be limited to matters that are not too personal. One issue with blogs that I worry about, especially with young users, is the sometimes scathing or abusive comments that people might leave. Generally, comments are positive, especially if you’ve trained your class on how to respond supportively and politely, but if the pages are made public, there could be other readers outside of the class that might not be so supportive. Should teachers protect our students from this kind of action, or should we allow it because they’ll run into it sooner or later and need to learn to deal with it? Thanks for reading and I look forward to reading your comments!
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Hi Paul: I'd like to respond to two of your points.
ReplyDelete1. I think that with the calculator you brought out an excellent example of something that was supposedly going to cause all sorts of trouble and where we can see that those pessimistic predictions have not come to pass. I think that the basic problem is that people fear change and that new technologies are almost always met with resistance. As you go on to say, why not make use of the internet and all its potential as the powerful tool that it is? If we're afraid that it will damage memory (like books!) or otherwise degrade our mental abilities, can't we get past that and look at the positive effect of how much time we're saving for other things and the new skills that we're acquiring?
2. Your concern about how to prepare students for the negative comments they might receive on blog posts definitely hit home with me. There is no question of how unkind people can be when cloaked by the anonymity of a username. It seems to me that we would do them a service by preparing them for the possibility and then helping them deal with it constructively if it does occur. I think it would be much better for a kid to have to face criticism (unfair or otherwise) or negativity online for the first time with a supportive adult by their side. It would be a great chance to model the appropriate response rather than just letting them handle it on their own.
Hi Paul,
ReplyDeleteI've posted my response for you. I do it twice (same comment), but now I still do not see my comment in your blog :( Did you happen to read it?
Retno
This is the third time I type this same comment :( Hopefully this will be successfully posted.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that "No matter the technology comes into the classroom, it seems there will always be dissenters who hold firm to traditional beliefs. There always be technology enthusiasts and skeptics. However, I learned that technology skeptics do not always based their arguments on the notion that technology will never influence learning. The arguments are also connected to political issue like that said by Paulo Freire, a Brazilian educator. He said that the introduction of more sophisticated technology into the educational field would work in favor of those who have and against those who have not.
As for your concern of whether we should prepare students for the negative comments that they might receive on blogs, I definitely agree with Catherine. It is indeed a good idea to let students face any possible criticism and help them to be able to appropriately respond to the negative ones. The world is changing and I think teachers and schools need to help students to adapt to the changing world they are entering.
Retno
Thanks for your comments Catherine and Retno! Catherine I agree that we should model to our students what a curtious comment should look like in a blog post response. If they disagree with an idea, there are ways to criticize objectively and politely without getting nasty.
ReplyDeleteRetno, thanks for bringing up the political side of the argument about with or not to use new technologies. That's not a topic that I have considered very much, but nonetheless it exists. The use of technologies will obviously benefit those who can afford those technologies. What do you think about the 'one laptop per child' initiative?
Paul and Retno, the political issues of the "haves" and "have-nots" remind me of the primary and secondary discourse of James Paul Gee. He distinguishes primary discourse of family and secondary discourse of school or workplace. If one's primary discourse matches with the secondary discourse, then he or she would naturally "acquire" the benefit from their primary discourse when they "learn" the secondary discourse--compare the students who already acquire technology in their family are likely to learn the technology in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI think one of our jobs is to close the gap between the primary discourse and the second discourse, in terms of technology based teaching/learning.