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Books were the predomimant tools for learning in my education — not comic books Photo by cobalt123 |
I have a short trip today. It’s a quick flight down to Atlanta on Delta Airlines and then a rental car over to Athens for a Georgia School Superintendents Association conference. Apparently, about thirty Georgia superintendents have been on a vision quest, to find meaning in the wilderness that is the 21st century. Their shaman guides have included Michael Horn, Tony Wagner, Marc Prensky, and Hall Davidson. My job is to bring it full circle — back to the basics.
They’ve learned about the disrupting conditions that plague today’s classrooms, a model for the skills that students need to be graduating with, how our students learn differently because of the information experiences they have grown up with, and the compelling technologies that define their/our world. The question I enter with is, “What does it mean to be literate today?”
It’s an old but constant theme for me and one that came up several times during conversations I had last week in Atlanta for Technology & Learning Magazine’s TechForum. The evening before, David Jakes (the event’s keynote speaker) and I were interviewed before a camera — which is still a terrifying experience for me — the camera part. We were talking about technology, and I was feeling my allergic reaction to the continual mention of the “T” word. “It’s the information that we need to be talking about,” I’m sure that I said. Continuing, “Information has changed, in what it looks like, what we look at to view it, where we go to find it, how we find it, what we can do with it, and how we communicate it.” Then it came to me that preparing our children for their future with a little tool time, is be like…
In a prevailingly print and publish information environment,
Having only read a bunch of comic books.
I know that my children graduated only a few years ago having only read comic books.
I continue to hear educators say that their schools have no plans to go 1:1. Principals tell them that they will not allow personal information devices in the hands of their students because of the distractions it would cause in their instruction. There reamains, for many, a vast chasm between the world that we are preparing our children for, and where we are preparing them.
I recall also reminding the audience that for years many of use have said that, “Technology is being used well, when the technology becomes invisible.”
Hmm…think “toondoo” will be offended by this? 😉
Hi, I am a student at University of South Alabama and I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class. I agree with you in the respect that it is about the information being taught. The way technology is booming and will continue to do so, it is hard to teach without mentioning these things. There will come a time in the near future that students will have to be technology literate before they graduate. The world around us is changing and therefore; teachers must adapt to the change. Your information really got me to thinking about some things. Thanks for sharing.
Right on, David. It’s important to keep the conversation going about just what schools are doing to prepare students for the world in which they now live and will be participating in. I’ve been thinking quite a bit about this since we talked when you were at KMS. I wrote about my last effort at closing the “chasm” in my last blog post….
http://stevefulton.blogspot.com/2010/10/teaching-digital-learners-to-learn.html
My wife is a teaching assistant and shudders at some of the things she sees at schools. Here in the UK children are getting better pass grades each year but it seems like the papers are being ‘dumbed’ down.
Great post — we know, as far as students’ home lives are concerned, that the diffusion of technology is uneven and is influenced by income. Schools provide the best (and sometimes only) opportunity for many students to develop digital literacy skills.
Kevin Hart
http://www.edvoices.com
I grew up reading comic books and I think I turned out okay , but not as knowledgable as I could have been with out them I really don’t know. I’m sure comic books gave me insight into the world of makebelieve and really gave me insight into the human psychology. And the eternal battle between good and evil everyone faces within them selves and out. I just would like to point out that the most educated person dosnt allways mean the most responsible or prepared for the real world as anyone else. Not that education it self is not a valuable asset in itself. A good read I believe is in any book that can get people pointing int the right direction as far as being a productive individual. Look at the movie industry they are just eating the idea of comic movies because that’s what sells. In my honest opinion all the teachers of the world are my super hero’s.
I think the root of the problem is that there are two different/dissimilar forms of education: academic and functional. You are either learning just what is necessary to proceed versus you are learning to say you learned it and ‘impress’. The future generations are starting to see that diverge and are electing for the functional education. For this reason, there are lot’s less professionals in the workplaces and, as an example, less Ph.D’s. The trend will not stop in the near future . . .
In order to increase engagement from students in classwork; we need to appreciate their approach and work on their level. They work from a mindset of learning what is necessary to accomplish the immediate goal. This is why you get the question so often from that generation, “How is this going to help me?” I feel that, if the teachers focus on what they need and showing them how to find answers; we all will have planted seeds into a fruitful future.
…can we end this age-old battle of the wits??
Marty Nickison
http://collegesuccessshow.com