Filling the Production Gap

PBS FRONTLINE's digital_nation is full of great clips and sound bytes. Addressed in that film by many of people interviewed as what Arne Duncan refers to as the "Opportunity Gap." This opportunity gap sounds very similar to what many of us are calling the "Production Gap." I have taken the important clips related to that topic from that documentary, added clips from a keynote speech by Alan November, interviews with Seymore Papert, and clips from old public domain ephemeral films from the Internet Archive. Combined, I feel it both explains and makes the case very well for addressing the production gap as a social justice issue.

Filling the Production Gap from Carl Anderson on Vimeo.

View this clip on Blip.tv
View the abridged version on YouTube


While school filtration policies play an important role in sustaining the production gap because they limit our ability to engage students in tools and with information as content producers they are not the only issue. What is more important are practices of pedagogy and I think the video makes this clear. So, how do we fill the production gap? Here are four simple prescriptive steps:

1. Open access to read/write web resources (stop blocking blogs, wikis, podcasts, social networking, and vodcasting sites like YouTube)
2. Create a learner-centered learning environment (tailor learning experiences to individual student interests, needs, and abilities)
3. Engage all students as content producers.
4. Provide all students with a thorough and honest digital literacy education so they understand the levity of what they post online and are able to manipulate the web to meet their academic and entrepreneurial needs.

What are your thoughts? Is the problem laid out here valid? What are the consequences of not addressing the production gap, especially for economically disadvantaged students? Would you change or add any steps to this list? Let me know.

Highlights and reflections from FRONTLINE's Digital Nation

This is by far my favorite clip from PBS's FRONTLINE Digital Nation:



I completely agree with Henry Jenkins on this point. The best way to deal with the "dangers" of the internet is by talking with students honestly, not by putting computers in classrooms, wiring them, then disabling their use.

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This clip makes me respect our Secretary of Education a little bit more:



It is refreshing to hear this message come from the top.

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Of all the clips in this program, this one probably bothers me the most.



I wonder if assistant principal Dan Ackerman realizes how creepy he looks spying on kids through their laptop webcams or how their acceptable use policy still reinforces the production gap in their school even though they have made tremendous gains using technology to help students learn.

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Another great clip by Arne Duncan:



He says opportunity gap, I say production gap. Either way, I agree, "Schools need to be places of opportunity."

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Regarless of how I feel about Prensky's notion of Digital Native/Immigrant I really like what he says about the type of learning activities students want and need to be engage in in this clip:



The second half of this clip where he says, "Schools are no longer the centers of education," is especially of interest and worthy of global conversation.

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This teacher describes a fantastic application of social networking in the classroom:

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In this clip James Paul Gee delivers what is probably the best explanation of school internet filtration policies and the fears people have that drive them that I have ever heard:

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Finally, Henry Jenkins on learning strategies needed in the age of information overload:

Weekly Tech Tip: The 21st Century Teacher as Sorcerer

Rather than give you a self-produced tech tip video this week I would like to turn your attention to a keynote address by Clay Burell from this fall's Learning Technologies Conference in Australia. I think this is a must-see for all educators. In his keynote, Clay takes us on a four year journey from self-described technology illiterate to internationally known edublogger. Clay has come to be know in the edublogosphere for both his deeply insightful reflective writing on teaching, policy, learning, and schools as well as his mastery of the social web and it's impact on his students (both in and out of his classroom). Enjoy!

Weekly Tech Tip:

Part 1---------Part 2

(This presentation requires Microsoft Silverlight. Click here to install.)

Link Stew:

• Learning Technologies Conference 2009 - Free Conference Session Recordings, enjoy the openness!
• FRONTLINE digital_nation
• Voicethread4Education - Wiki to find other classrooms to collaborate with on Voicethread projects
• 6 Best Sites to Share Files on Twitter
• Dragon Dictation for iPhone & iPod Touch - Free app that types what you speak
• Storykit - Free iPod app that lets you edit classic children's books and publish your own versions or write and publish your own book from scratch.
• Acrobat.com - Free iPod version of Adobe Acrobat. Create and edit PDF files from your iPod Touch or iPhone.
• SimpleMind Express - Free mind mapping iPod app
  

COPPA Law & the Production Gap #edchat

How do you reconcile the provisions in the COPPA law and the Production Gap? Given these two seemingly polar issues what are our responsibilities as educators?

• Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998
• The Digital Production Gap: The Digital Divide and Web 2.0 Collide
• Technology Educators Decry New Digital Divide

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