Tech Ed-dy

Recently I signed my grade 8 technology class to be a Sounding Board for the Flat Classroom Project Wikis on Uploading, Workflow Software and Wireless Connectivity.  We were assigned the task of reading through these three wikis and providing feedback on: Content (clarity, quantity); Communication (between the students as collaborators) and Wiki Presentation (design, use of graphics, layout).

I have a class of 15 students so I assigned 5 students to each wiki.  I wanted them to assess the wiki individually before they decided on what their group feedback would be, so I used our school`s Google Apps account and it worked really well.

First I shared the assignment with them as a viewable Google Document.  This way I could include the links they would follow to get to all the wiki pages.  Then I had them start a new document of their own with the headings:

List 3 things that are very good about this wiki project.
List 2 suggestions for improving the wiki page.
List 1 piece of new knowledge our group has obtained thanks to this wiki page.

They filled in their individual documents while looking through their assigned wiki page and then shared their answers with the rest of their team using the share feature in Google Docs.

Next they created a new team document with the same headings as their individual one but shared between all members of the team.  They then read through each other`s answers and cut and pasted the ones they thought were the best ones into the shared group document.  I showed them how to use comments and they edited their final document as a team using comments and the chat feature in Google Apps.

For the final piece I put each of their team responses up on the screen at the front of the class and we did the final edits as a class.  I was then able to turn their work into a webpage and put the link on the Sounding Board wikis.

The process was really smooth.  It provided me with both individual and group work I could assess (although this wasn`t for marks) and they managed to produce some really great work in a short period of time.

My recent experiences in the Digiteen Ning and a new incident involving my students starting a Digiteen Group that made fun of Canadian Stereotypes has gotten me thinking about Stephen Heppell’s idea that the ‘nearly now‘ of online spaces has interesting educational implications.

In this post I’m hoping to refine some ideas about what are the key ingredients necessary to turn a ‘nearly now’ space into an educational space.  These reflections are all based on the Digiteen Ning platform:

1. It is a public space.  To interact with the students on the space you need to be a member but anybody can see what is going on in this space.  In my interactions with students in the Ning and with my own students this has been a really important catalyst for real conversation because it really holds the students accountable for their own actions.
2. There is network of teachers monitoring what is happening in the Ning and taking the time to have face to face discussions with the students to help them put their online experiences into perspective, and plan their next steps.
3. There are a number of ways to interact and have a conversation.  In particular the ability to have forums or discussion threads on different topics seems to me to have a lot of potential for two reasons: 1) each discussion is focussed by the question quiding the topic; 2) it is a fairly immediate form of communication but there is no need for an immediate response which is less threatening and invites more thoughtful responses.

A couple other thoughts about the ‘nearly now’ that I came across recently in the Jenkins White Paper

Gee (2004) calls the kind of informal learning cultures that emerge from these ‘nearly now’ spaces ‘Affinity spaces’ and wonders why people learn more, participate more actively and engage more deeply with these spaces than with their textbooks.  Is it because it is new?

People can participate in various ways according to their skills and interests, because they depend on peer-to-peer teaching with each participant constantly motivated to acquire new knowledge or refine their existing skills, and because they allow each participant to feel like an expert while tapping the expertise of others.

I am particularly intrigued by the second notion of each participant having some of the knowledge and being motivated to share their knowledge while at the same time gaining knowledge from peers.  It’s like a big online jigsaw activity!

This week I am participating in a Knowschools course on Blogging in the Classroom.  It has been a stretch for me to try and actively participate in this course as well a keep on top of the mountain of other things that usually take up my day, but it has been worth it.

Our latest assignment has been to watch and reflect on an amazing video called Blogging in Their Own Words.

I’m not sure what go into me but I felt compelled to take notes and try to sort out the underlying messages coming from these students.  I used a table in google docs to try and organise my notes and was pleasantly surprised to see some common themes emerge.  In general the students in this video seemed to be saying that they found blogging to be a valuable classroom tool because:

• Blogs allowed everyone in the class to participate in the discussion, not just the vocal few.
• Blogs provided a written record of the class discussion that they could refer back to.
• Blogs were transparent and allowed you to see what other people were thinking.  I included a number of comments about how blogs facilitated the creation of a learning community in this category as I figured their transparent nature might play a role in this.
• Blogs allowed students to feel ownership over their learning because they are able to teach themselves and learn from each other.
• Blogs take the conversation outside the classroom which ‘leaves a bigger imprint’ on their brains.
• Blogs allow for a deeper level of discussion as they have more time to formulate their thoughts.

Wow.  What a powerful argument for blogging in the classroom.

There have been a bunch of thoughts swirling around in my head over the past week that I really have to write down so that I can move on to other things.  My experiences as a teacher involved in the Digiteen Project this year have gotten me thinking alot about how to engage teenagers in meaningful discussion about how they interact online.  While I had these thoughts swirling around in my brain I listened to an interesting and maybe somewhat related podcasts.

The story was about my.barackobama.com or myBO.  I might get my facts a little mixed up but the gist of the story was about an incident this summer when a large group of Obama’s supporters disagreed with the way he voted on a particular issue to do with Phone Service providers and Phone Tapping.  They formed a group on myBO in opposition to his vote on this issue.  What I think was amazing is that Obama had three of his advisors go on the social network and they spent 3 hours taking questions from this group and explaining why he voted the way he did.

What I think is significant about this from the perspective of using social networks in education is the way dissenting opinions were engaged, not shut down.  Often as a teacher I find that my first reaction when faced with a situation that I am uncomfortable with or that I think might be troublesome is to use my teacher ‘power’ to shut down the situation, thus making it difficult for much learning to take place.  There is certainly a time and place where this type of response is appropriate, but I am becoming more and more convinced that the way to help our students learn the skills they need to safely and competently navigate online social realtionships is to be willing to engage them in dialogue.  Even if it is difficult.