I have been a Tom Friedman fan for many years. I like his take on so many things and his capacity to blend ideas together in ways that make sense to me.
Friedman presented in Minneapolis this morning and I was able to attend. I am not certain if the presentation was part of a book tour or not, but the focus was on his most recent offering – Thank you for being late. I had read about half of the book so I pretty knew what was coming. He speaks as well as he writes.
Grandma and Porter exploring iteration at the Apple genius bar.
We are in the midst of the “Hour of Code”. Schools have made this a popular annual event pointing to the vocational opportunities for programmers and to the potential benefits of “computational thinking”. Both outcomes have potential benefits to learners.
Here is the issue. All of the attention and energy associated with the “Hour of Code” seems to dissipate quickly without much actually having been accomplished. Those adults who find this cause justified need to look beyond “the hour” to invest time and resources into real change. My concern is that ed tech folks find satisfaction at this level and do little to move this cause forward. There is too much focus on elementary school experiences and not enough on resource commitments in the upper grades.
Creative Commons licenses allow creators to offer their work for use under various conditions. For educators, CC-licensed content can be very helpful.
PicasaWeb (discontinued Google service) and Flickr allow photographers to assign CC licenses to their content. Other photo services also allow this opportunity.
(Flickr license assignment options)
I have been unable to locate how to do this in the newer Google Photos service. I cannot be certain I am fully aware of what Photos allows, but it seems to me Google has discontinued this way of offer your photos for use. I hope I am wrong, but if not this change is disappointing.
An interesting reality of social media is that users end up locked into systems with obvious limitations. Users feel they must accept these limitations because that is where other users are. This is such a strange position to be in for those who see technology as a remedy for outdated systems.
I have written on multiple occasions about the limitations of Twitter as a tool for educator chats. I have even attempted to come up with suggestions for how chat groups might improve the benefits of engaging in chats on Twitter.
One important limitation of Twitter discussions I so no way to modify is the very limited comments users can generate. Imagine a face to face discussion in which individuals were forced to state their positions and offer explanations in 140 characters or less. [The first two sentences of this paragraph contain 261 characters] Why not look for a tool more appropriate to a more meaningful discussion?
Here is a recommendation. Most edchats involve a small number of participants. I would suggest for a given session the group try a different “microblog” and see if they think the interaction is more useful. My recommendation would be Mastodon. The open source Mastodon project makes use of a tool that looks very much like Tweetdeck.
The 500 character limit offers far greater flexibility of expression. Educators – be risk takers when the risk offers advantages over what you are doing now.
The recent question of whether students should have homework typically concerns whether students should have to learn/study outside of school hours. If you are a student with no Internet access at home, your homework may be stressful for a very different reason. This NYTimes story considers the inequity in home access to the Internet and how this inequity relates to education expectations.
When does Internet access become an assumed opportunity in the way access to effective high-speed roads were considered an assumption so many decades ago. Sometimes the common good must be a responsibility of the government.
The divide is driving action at the federal level. Members of the Federal Communications Commission are expected to vote next month on repurposing a roughly $2 billion-a-year phone subsidy program, known as Lifeline, to include subsidies for broadband services in low-income homes.
Posted inUncategorized|Taggedaccess, equity|Comments Off on Home Internet access should be part of the homework discussion
I have avoided using Facebook to engage others on substantive issues. I have changed my mind in reaction to comments made by me son. He accurately noted that we are unlikely to change people with whom we disagree unless we are willing to engage them. So, I am giving it a try.
What I will not do.
I will not respond to posts that are not focused on content generated by the individual offering the post. Speak for yourself. It is good practice for other areas of your life.
My approach.
My professional work includes a focus on the benefit of argumentation. This word may not mean much to most people but it might be useful to compare the process to formal debate. A formal debate process should not be confused with the shouting contests that tend to characterize televised political debates. Popularized uses of formal terms can be a problem.
Performance during a formalized debate can be evaluated. Trained evaluators have specific things to look for in determining the winner. Argumentation as exemplified in a debate involves – a) taking a clearly communicated position, b) offering clearly communicated reasons for taking this position, and c) offering evidence in support of the positions taken. As a form of interaction, the quality of a debate also includes the capacity to be able to clearly recognize the reasons and evidence in an opponent and to offer reasons and evidence to refute these positions.
These are challenging skills that are slow to develop naturally, but are now highly valued because of the widely varying quality of the content most of us consume. This is one reason for the increasing emphasis on the development of critical thinking as an educational goal. Very few under the age of 20 have been educated to develop such skills despite the content we all consume.
If this sounds elitist or academic or some other characteristic used to put down the approach valued by educators I don’t know what to say. This approach is at the core of science. This approach is logical and careful and is intended as a way to evaluate competing positions in a way that reduces bias. It is difficult to engage with others unable or unwilling to admit the possibility of bias. I can say without bias that failing to admit to the possibility of bias is a serious problem.
So, if you offer a comment on Facebook, I may respond to you. If you object, unfriend me. Hold me to the approach I have described above. I will hold you to the same standards.
Posted inUncategorized|Comments Off on Engaging folks on Facebook
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