Weekly Tech Tips: Equity Issues in Technology & Education Panel Discussion

It has been nearly a month since my last Weekly Tech Tip post. For the majority of that time our school was on break but in that time there has been a flood of valuable resources to share. Between what is going on in the Middle East, what is going on in Wisconsin, and the Symposium I hosted at Hamline last week I have a lot of resources to pass along this week, far more than usual.

Also, instead of my typical Weekly Tech Tip format, and since processing this video has eaten up my computer resources all week, I am sharing the video of our panel discussion at Hamline University from last week on Equity Issues in Technology & Education. Enjoy.

Weekly Tech Tip:

Panel Discussion on Equity Issues in Technology and Education from Carl Anderson on Vimeo.

related links:

• Equity Issues: Technology & Education Symposium Website
  
• Choosing Not to Create Change by Ira Socol on SpeEdChange (post in response to his experience on our panel)
  

RT @anderscj: @sabier @irasocol @ELLBillofRights @scraigwatkins http://tinyurl.com/69cr338 Equity poem I wrot… (cont) http://deck.ly/~CgkPBless than a minute ago via TweetDeckRuslana Westerlund
EllBillofRights

Video Festival:

• The Daily Show - The Biggest Newser
  Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

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Link Stew:

• The Legislature is poised to pass alternative licensing plan. (StarTribune)
• What the Luddites Really Fought Against (Smithsonian.com)
• Alan November's Education-Related Twitter #Hashtag List
• Teaching and Assessing Philosophical Issues of Technology in an 8th Grade Science Classroom (by @JerridKruse)
• A Conversation with John Holt (1980)
• Michigan orders DPS to make huge cuts (The Detroit News)
• 2011 Horizon Report
• Ruling: Fired D.C. teachers must be offered jobs, back wages (Washington Examiner)
• Finding Nemo and spelling ‘humongous’: A look at Somerville school ‘data walls’ (Somerville Voices)
  
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Blog Carnival:

• Who Elected Bill Gates? by Gary Stager on Huffington Post
• Whiteboards—A Modest Proposal by Gary Stager on Tech&Learning
• The imagination tech purchasing plan by Ira Socol on SpeEdChange
  
• A List Of Education And Related Data Resources by Matthew Di Carlo on Shanker Blog
• Cybrary Man's Educational Web Sites: Augmented Reality
• Teacher (educational) Development – An Invitation by Willy C. Cardoso on Authentic Teaching
• Why America's teachers are enraged By Diane Ravitch on CNN
  
• How Bill Gates' Favorite Teacher Wants to Disrupt Education BY Gregory Ferenstein on FastCompany
• What’s Love Got to Do With It? Is Test Driven Educational Reform Driving the Joy in Learning from the Nation’s Classrooms. Dr Mark Naison With A Brooklyn Accent
• Passion-Based Learning by Ira Socol on SpeEdChange
• “Online Learning” Isn’t “Learning Online” by Will Richardson on Weblogg-Ed
• Crazy Days by Will Richardson on Weblogg-Ed
• Making the case for Facebook in Education by Jen Hegna on Grin and BEAR "I.T."
  

Retweetable Tweets:

Every time I hear the word Rebel I think of Admiral Akbar. Somewhat ironic name. #libya #iran #egypt #yemen #bahrain #starwars #itsatrapless than a minute ago via Twitter for iPhoneAndy Carvin
acarvin

#Edchat if schools r preparing learners 4 future society what's the purpose of testing & memorisation?less than a minute ago via EchofonMichael Shepherd
Smichael920

Do we teachers emphasize traditional colleges/universities too much to the deficit of trade schools? Are we creating social classes? #edchatless than a minute ago via TweetDeckWilliam Chamberlain
wmchamberlain

I have yet to see any real agreement as to what the goal of education should be. #Edchatless than a minute ago via TweetDeckTom Whitby
tomwhitby

Proctoring standardized tests can't be much different from working airport securityless than a minute ago via ÜberSocialJason Christiansen
jasonchri

Beware of @m_rhee, who attributes way too much in education to test scores. Not a real reformer.less than a minute ago via webMKW
rugcernie

We are happy with the international community response so far, but he answer is no, the #Libyans don't want any military intervention.less than a minute ago via webLibyan
Tripolitanian

#flatclass2011 Take-aways from yesterday 4. Conferences should be about taking action, not taking notes.less than a minute ago via TweetDeckDavid Truss
datruss

Just told our testing coordinator that I wish all of it were trashed and we could get her a much more rewarding job. :)less than a minute ago via TweetDeckedtechsteve
edtechsteve

Me too! Fired up! RT @e_austin: Thank You, Governor Walker, for helping me get my teachers fired up to fight for our rights.less than a minute ago via TweetDeckTyler LIvingston
livingteacher

"Micro-computers have been in classrooms for 30 years. We have made little progress with their use in school." -@garystager #fbless than a minute ago via NambuTim Gwynn
tgwynn

for @acarvin, a RT is a source, an interview, a quote. For us, it is insight, first-person accounts previously unimaginable, unavailable.less than a minute ago via webAnneRaquelTrubek
araqueltrubek

RT @warrenellis: Gadaffi's speech seems to boil down to "Everyone is on drugs except me. Also I am Batman."less than a minute ago via TweetDecksava
savasavasava

Twitter told me there was an earthquake in NZ. Facebook told me all my sister-in-laws family were OK. Different networks both valuable.less than a minute ago via TweetDeckDermot Casey
dermotcasey

So facebook is a critical component in fueling a revolution but schools don't think it's appropriate to be used or taught in schools. Huh?less than a minute ago via TweetDeckDean Shareski
shareski

@pammoran @aleaness real research begins -as Postman knew- when teachers stop asking questions they know the answers toless than a minute ago via ÜberTwitterIra Socol
irasocol

Beiser: Schools were told they could buy art and music teachers. No one did at elementary schools. That means the end of music education.less than a minute ago via TweetDeckEmily Alpert
emilyschoolsyou

@garystager courts have basically told school administrators, "do what you think is best..." & increasingly, that's not what's best for kidsless than a minute ago via TweetDeckJonathan Becker
jonbecker

Equity Issues in Technology and Education - February 24th Event Announcement

I am real excited about an event I have been coordinating on February 24th at Hamline University. As part of both my role at EMID 6067 and my role at Hamline University and through the grant funding that brought me to EMID this year we are hosting a day-long symposium on equity issues in technology and education. We are also partnering with the Office of Equity and Integration to provide free admission and pay for a sub for teachers in our 10 member districts:

• Forest Lake Area Schools (ISD #831)
• Inver Grove Heights Community Schools (ISD #199)
• Roseville Area Schools (ISD #623)
• St. Paul Public Schools (ISD #625)
• South St. Paul Public Schools (SSD #006)
• South Washington County Schools (ISD #833)
• Spring Lake Park (ISD #16)
• Stillwater Area Schools (ISD #834)
• West St. Paul-Mendota Heights-Eagan School District (ISD #197)
• White Bear Lake Area Schools (ISD #624)

The event is also open to anyone else who would like to attend for a fee of $75. (Click here to register.) Space is limited to 150 people.

We will also be streaming our morning sessions and at least one of our afternoon sessions online using Elluminate. Anyone can attend for free online and we will do our best to make sure any questions for our panelists posted online are addressed at the event. (Click here to attend online).

S. Craig Watkins will be keynoting the event in the morning followed by a panel discussion featuring Ira Socol, Cassie Scharber, and Daniel Sellers. The afternoon will be filled with two sections of break-out sessions, one preset and the other attendee driven. For one of these sessions we will even have a third grade class come and hold class at our event. We often hear that students should be involved with teacher professional development but it rarely gets done. We are going to give it a try.

For more information about the event visit our official event website:


Free website - Powered By Wix.com

Twitter Book Club: S. Craig Watkins (2009) The Young & The Digital - Chapter 9

Twitlonger: "Throughout the course of one of the longest presidential campaigns in American history, young via kwout

This final chapter of Watkins book is about how social media shaped the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election. I didn't find anything particularly new here but Watkins does a convincing job of using youth engagement with political and civic engagement, leveraged through the use of social media, to disprove that youth involvement in MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, their mobile devices, and even games leads to nothing more than detachment. The Obama campaign was clear proof of that. Going online and interacting with our online communities is not an escape from our "real-world" lives, it is an augmentation of it.

This concludes my Twitter Book Club reading of S. Craig Watkins' The Young & The Digital: What the Migration to Social Networking Sites, Games, and Anytime, Anywhere Media Means for Our Future. Tomorrow I will start reading and tweeting Ivan Illich's Deschooling Society.

Twitter Book Club: S. Craig Watkins (2009) The Young & The Digital - Chapter 8

Twitter / anderscj: "By 2007 a decisive majori ... via kwout

Twitlonger: "When principals and teachers initially moved against mobile phones, an unexpected voice of pro via kwout

Twitter / anderscj: "For many parents the use ... via kwout

My experience with cellphones certainly supports this statement. I have heard 5th graders tell me that they keep a cellphone hidden in their desk so their parents can send them text messages at school. I have heard this sentiment echoed at school board meetings when board members (who were also parents) urged the school to look into ways to let students use their cellphones for classwork. It was also one of the big drives behind our iTeachMobile project last year.

Twitlonger: "Over the first twelve days of the plan, the New York City Department of Education reported cap via kwout

Amazing!

Twitlonger: "For this particular teacher, discovering technology's impact in the classroom--through video, via kwout

I know I have heard this from teachers I have worked with. I definitely don't think this is an uncommon experience. I have also heard similar sentiments echoed by veteran teachers who decide to take the plunge into online teaching.

Twitlonger: "Sure, anytime, anywhere technologies can bring fast entertainment into the classroom in ways t via kwout

The examples Watkins provides of effective use of technology in the classroom is shallow at best and mostly low-impact, such as showing YouTube videos in class and sharing the links with students and parents so they can review them at home. But, this book is not about technology integration in the classroom, it is an ethnographic study of young people's behaviors and how digital tools have influenced them. If you are looking for ideas for integrating technology effectively in the classroom this book provides few, but, if you are looking for a deeper understanding of young people I highly recommend this book.

Twitlonger: "Asking young people to disconnect even momentary from the vast swirl of content and comrades t via kwout

Twitter Book Club: S. Craig Watkins (2009) The Young & The Digital - Chapter 7

Twitter / anderscj: "In the digital media age, ... via kwout

Twitlonger: "There is growing speculation in the medical community that young multitaskers may be condition via kwout

Twitter Book Club: S. Craig Watkins (2009) The Young & The Digital - Chapter 6

This chapter of Watkins' book explores the issue of Internet addiction. He doesn't ever come to any consensus and that is intentional, he goes to great length to illustrate just exactly how the jury is still out on whether it is an actual psychological condition. Most of the chapter is a lit review on the subject but there are some anecdotal pieces from his own research that inform the topic. Most of the noteworthy stuff didn't fit nicely into a tweet, even a Tweetlonger except for this one:

"In October 2002 South Korea's Internet dilemma made international headlines after Kim (cont) http://tl.gd/2uqmtuless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
anderscj

The other interesting factoid that he brings up, and I never knew before, was that the first incarnation of the concept of Internet Addiction as a potential condition started more as a joke than anything serious. Evidentally a psychiatrist took an article on Gambling Addiction and replaced the word Gambling with Internet and wallah! Now we have a new condition. People, including researchers and doctors, started to look seriously at the idea that this could possibly exist and now here we are. However, there are plenty of cases like the one mentioned in the above tweet that point to the fact that whether it is an actual condition or not it does pose a very real problem for some people.

Watkins spends much of the chapter exploring the concept of Internet Addiction as viewed through the habits of gamers who invest heavily in online role playing games like Everquest and World of Warcraft. He notes that it is not unusual for someone who plays these games to devote more than the equivalent of a 40 hour work week to their game play. However, Watkins notes, this is not always a problem and there may be people for whom plugging in and spending considerable time in the "other world" is the best of all options, it really depends on the situation of the user.

This got me thinking this morning about my time online and more specifically, my time engaged in my personal learning network, which prompted me to ask this question this morning on Twitter:

PLN: Are we a guild?less than a minute ago via mobile webanderscj
anderscj

@anderscj Yes, PLNs could be considered a type of guildless than a minute ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®David Ligon
EdTechLeader

@anderscj Guild makes me think of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkCNJRfSZBUless than a minute ago via webRuss Goerend
russgoerend

@russgoerend that was where i started in coming to the questionless than a minute ago via mobile webanderscj
anderscj

@anderscj I get to be Leroy.less than a minute ago via webRuss Goerend
russgoerend

There seems to be a lot of similarities between my involvement with people in my PLN and the involvement that people heavily invested in WoW have with their "guilds." For one, I rarely disconnect from my PLN, while I am at work it is "always on" and I check for updates and often contribute comments, posts, and share links well into the evenings. WoW players have been known to spend obscene numbers of hours devoted to their game play. My PLN is social, I interact with real people in virtual space. WoW players play socially within guilds, interacting with real people in virtual space. Watkins describes the majority of the relationships people in WoW guilds as "weak ties" and notes that they often change guilds and pursue quests with other groups. This is exactly the type of relationship I have with the majority of the people in my PLN. The difference is that our "guild," much like the guilds that existed long ago, exists for the pursuit of something that we at least perceive as more real and less virtual.

@anderscj If you consider loose association of craftsmenship a guild. And you consider teaching a craft .less than a minute ago via TweetDeckSheryl NussbaumBeach
snbeach

@snbeach but not everyone in my pln considers themselves a teacherless than a minute ago via mobile webanderscj
anderscj

@anderscj Isn't a guild an association of craftsmen?less than a minute ago via TweetDeckSheryl NussbaumBeach
snbeach

@snbeach perhaps learning is a craft.less than a minute ago via Twitterrificanderscj
anderscj

@anderscj hmm that is interesting. and our art is our ideas?less than a minute ago via webSheryl NussbaumBeach
snbeach

Perhaps I too suffer from Internet Addiction.

Twitter Book Club: S. Craig Watkins (2009) The Young & The Digital - Chapter 5

Twitter / anderscj: "It is easy to forget ... via kwout

Twitter / anderscj: "The selling of the W ... via kwout

Twitter / anderscj: "Visualize a kid play ... via kwout

Twitter / anderscj: "Bloggers fashion a distin ... via kwout

Twitter / anderscj: "Becoming someone else in ... via kwout

Watkins spends a considerable amount of time in this chapter discussing virtual worlds like Second Life and MMORPGS like World of Warcraft. He says that while Facebook or Myspace users are not likely to consider their time online as engagement in a "third space" that users of virtual worlds are. He also goes to great length to describe how WoW users will spend considerable time logged on playing the game while SL users rarely stick around. This is evident in how vacant SL appears. While I completely agree with this and have noticed this in my own research on virtual worlds I think this is a little misleading about the potential user-created virtual worlds like SL or Active Worlds have for education. Educators reading this book ought to read it with the understanding that this is more about social observation than it is about educational application. WoW is highly immersive because of the elements in the game that are designed to engage users while with virtual worlds like SL the user has to bring their own reason for engagement. Teachers using virtual worlds in their classroom can and should provide these rules for engagement for their students.

Twitter Book Club: S. Craig Watkins (2009) The Young & The Digital - Chapter 4

I believe Watkins is addressing what Henry Jenkins coined as the "Production Gap." Basically, a gap or difference between how rich and poor, white and black or Latino, privileged and underprivileged interact with the read/write/web. Watkins does a great job of arguing that we carry our racial and class biases to online social networks and thus this gap is very real.

I never really thought of Facebook in this light before. Is Facebook the equivalent of an online gated community? Have it's users really classified MySpace as the digital "Ghetto." It would appear so. Now that Facebook is open to anyone, will there be another wave of social network migration for the uber-elite? Has this already happened?

Tweets quoted via kwout