Mega Bites and Messages

The end of the School year is a good time to look back-and chart a course for where we are going. I remember the dot com time- Yep I am indeed in my 40’s and have been in on the revolutions since the days when I was thin. We envisioned a world of web technologies that integrated commerce, media, and business in general. If you all want a grin check out the ATT ads from the 90’s here. They really did manage to get most of it right. Like so many others when the bubble crashed I lost more than my retirement fund-I lostpart of that optimism of what might be possible. All the vurtual reality stuff-where was it going?

Meanwhile schools that tended to lag behind the curve were just beginning to discover uses for computers in education. Computers became the darling of creative writing -no more endless erasing and rewriting-and God bless the internet that managed to clear shelves of old outdate encyclopedias. For a long while the computer was a workstation-a kind of electronic workbook on steroids. There were of course some notable exception in the MECC software, software Sunburst developed. I I loved my Mac and my son loved it! It helped me organize, and get things done better and faster. I hung on it it even after Steve Jobs deserted me. I finally gave up when I just could n’t buy the software I need for it. Along came the Dell Dude. They had great tech support (remember those days?) I became a Windows person. This time has been referred to by Steve O’Hear as the Read/Write Web. As he said, “Like the web itself, the early promise of e-learning – that of empowerment – had not been fully realized.” It was not our vision that limited us-it was the cost! The hardware-oh and the all so expensive software. There were many great resources avialable-but most of us couldn’t handle the cost and so-It was Appleworks and MS Office…for way too long. I like to refer to this time as the era of the electronic workbook- They were companies that made a small fortune in perscription learning. A few of hung in there with simulations and our favorite Powerpoint.

Meanwhile our Mac kids grew up-Steven Jobs came back-Palm caught our attention and then the Ipod-the little box that could do so much., captured our attention with a song. Super Powered cell phones, notebook computers, fire wire, and wireless and the line between them all began to blur. Cameras on phones, Palms on phones, phones on the computer and mashing of it all together. The very best part- our Mac kids in their late 20’s creating a new way of looking at the WWW. Instead of the three R’s it is all about the 3 W’s for communication. Wiki’s , Wonderful Blogs, and “We- made “social networks.

Teachers are starting to explore the potential of the computer as a set of learning tools. We are taking the kids favorite past times and making them work hiorses in the field of education. The combination of browser based tools, publishing and saving documents to outside servers, and being able to publish and share information is an exciting resource that engage students. They have grown up in a world where digital technology has always been a part of their lives, where communication was never 2 cans with string in between but rather walkie-talkies, cordless phones and cells. They traded in hours in front of the TV for hours using the keyboard in social networks . They do something and then they write and tell their frienda all about it. Wow authentic writing!

The tools of blogs, media-sharing services and other social software – which were not designed for education can be adopted in the educational process. Let’s use those super cell phones to graph out a problem-Text message to collaborate on assignments.( Even though it would take all the fun out of text messaging with the mosquito buzz ring-) It seems a shame to let such an expensie resource sit in a locker, or hide in a pocket.

We are so much more that the 80’90’s “dotcom era” where we were supposed to be eager consumers. What actually arrived was the collaborative web- with everything good and bad that happens when gathering any large group of people together. Designing anything in Web 2.0 requires new thinking. We are actually talking about “learning spaces” instead of “classrooms.” If learning can occur in places other than the classroom or lab ,then it’s time we took a long and hard look at traditional teaching formulas and formats. If “Text” are symbols that represent meaning. Letter–>words–>sentences–>paragraphs. If we are talking about symbols that represent meaning… then isn’t an animated movie using stick figures text? They are symbols-they represent ideas-and often make it easier to write the story.

Communicating information is the “Stuff” of Web 2.0. Students are no longer just the receivers of education-they are adding their voice to the chorus of learning. They add to the discussion every day on My Space and Facebook. . As educators we need to help them use those resources with privacy and ethic’s in mind . Can we help them partcipate in their learning both on and off the computer. Where does that leave our role??? Are we still the expert imparting wisdom? Or are we the choir directors helping them sing the song in tune with the music? If we do it well it will be a beautiful noise.

Ahh the possibilities.