Clay Shirky: How cellphones, Twitter, Facebook can make history. Clay Shirky: How cognitive surplus will change the world. Best Practices in a Twitter-enhanced High School Classroom. Yesterday concluded our live blogging sessions of Twitter-enhanced classrooms. I hope the folks who caught parts of the feed started to get a feel for what at least the virtual part of this sort of classroom experience looks like. I hope soon to do a series of live broadcasts over Ustream; more on this later. A few weeks ago I was speaking with a tech coordinator at a big public high school in Baltimore County. I was shocked (real shock / no irony) to learn that his students aren't even allowed to use EMAIL at school. He's forced to circumvent this by allowing SMS and texting via surreptitious cell phones.
This is madness. And it's yet another reason I'm so proud of the administration of John Carroll -- the schoolhouse I call home -- for being not only reasonable but actually excited about bringing Web 2.0 and social and participatory media into the classroom. At least I hope so. But it's not just a matter of running the feed. Activities 1. 2. 3. Regarding Security Environment Conclusion. Understanding Digital Children - Ian Jukes. One element of my professional reading at the moment is reading through Ian Jukes “Understanding digital children (DK's) Teaching & Learning in the New Digital Landscape”. Ian looks at the difference between digital kids and teachers and the impact that this has on teaching and learning. At one point Ian summarises the differences between Native Learners (screenagers) and Teachers. We know that experience, like using a computer, will change the structure of our brain, This is a concept called Nueroplasticity.
We also know that, the more intense the experience, the more profound the change. Our students, who often have a greater exposure to technology, are likely to be more nuerologically adapted, but adults can as easily be "Digital Natives". Media Exposure Mark Prensky - in his papers digital natives and Digital immigrants, highlighted the exposure our students have to different forms of media. Increasingly, the readings and research are converging towards the same point. How to Create Nonreaders. Fall 2010 -- vol. 100, no. 1 How to Create Nonreaders Reflections on Motivation, Learning, and Sharing Power By Alfie Kohn Autonomy-supportive teachers seek a student’s initiative … whereas controlling teachers seek a student’s compliance. -- J.
Not that you asked, but my favorite Spanish proverb, attributed to the poet Juan Ramón Jiménez, can be translated as follows: “If they give you lined paper, write the other way.” In fact, it’s not really possible to motivate anyone, except perhaps yourself. What a teacher can do – all a teacher can do – is work with students to create a classroom culture, a climate, a curriculum that will nourish and sustain the fundamental inclinations that everyone starts out with: to make sense of oneself and the world, to become increasingly competent at tasks that are regarded as consequential, to connect with (and express oneself to) other people. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Mea culpa. When parents ask, “What did you do in school today?” 1. 2. 3. 4. 1. 2. Welcome to the Age of Engagement | Age of Engagement. Revolutions in communication technology and digital media have transformed almost every sector of society, altering the way we express ideas, participate in public debates, connect with others, entertain ourselves, and define our identities.
As we struggle to keep up with these changes, differing stories have emerged about the implications of the digital age and our place in this revolution as citizens and consumers. One one hand, cyber-optimists such as Clay Shirky have heralded the unprecedented opportunity for the public to up-end political power, organize to solve problems, express themselves through independently produced media, and gain control over the decisions of corporations.
On the other hand, cyber-pessimists such as Nicholas Carr worry that the many choices of the digital age distract us from public affairs and personal relationships, eroding our ability to engage with big ideas, altering even the way we think and process information. How are political campaigns changing?