The App Generation

The App Generation

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Recently, I read the book titled The App Generation, by Howard Gardner and Katie Davis.  I learned that new technologies impact students, and people in general, in 3 distinct areas:  identity, intimacy, and imagination.  With respect to identity formation, “...apps can short circuit identity formation, pushing you into being someone else’s avatar.”  Often times, kids may go into college with an unrealistic plan, as if they have their lives all mapped out in a super-app.  Also, these days, narcissism is at an all time high with 30-40% of ordinary conversations being self-focused and 80% of social media posts being self-focused.  Not to mention, many people’s posts these days are glamorized, not reflecting their true identity, which causes others to think differently about themselves.  Regarding intimacy, “...apps can facilitate superficialties, and discourage face to face confrontations and interactions…”  In 1985, the average number of discussion partners reported by Americans was 2.94 and by 2004 this number had dropped to 2.08!  “The number of people reporting that they talk to no one about matters they consider important to them rose from 10% in 1985 to 25% in 2004.”  Unfortunately, recent polls have also shown an increase in the amount of cyberbullying and racist/sexist language on the internet…  Finally, with respect to imagination, “apps can make you lazy, discourage the development of new skills, and limit you to mimicry…”  Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking have shown drastic changes over the years, with large drops in scores of elaboration, fluency, originality, and creative strengths.  Certain writing studies have also shown decreases in originality and creativity.  Yes, new technologies can enhance students’ abilities to demonstrate strong skills but we as educators have to teach students to utilize these tools to work through elements of the PICKLE via the ABCS and AeCTS.  We have to teach students to respect these new technologies, while using appropriate features of SSCCS and NetSmart/Information Diet qualities.  I have noticed that the students that I work with often become comfortable with taking the easy way out and they want to know what it takes to “get an A.”  They are less interested in being creative or demonstrating unique ways of thinking, almost as if they’re lazy.  The books we’ve read lately have supported this observation and the fact that the app generation of students live their lives within the structure of apps themselves.  I have been teaching students to think outside the box while using these apps that they love to create content that is original and well thought out.  These students need to be pushed to use technology efficiently, but they also need to be taught how to use technology to generate ideas effectively.  There have been many instances where students have had a tremendously difficult time coming up with unique project ideas and they always get stuck on the same old products that they’re used to creating.  I want to slowly but steadily change the thinking process that students are used to using and I want them to understand how to use the amazing resources out there such as InfoBits, Scratch, iMovie, or Scholastic Go (just to name a few) for a wider array of project ideas that align with the PICKLE.  I plan on teaching students to use these resources for authentic projects creation. 

Being NetSmart

NetSmart

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This week, we read the book Net Smart – How to Thrive Online, by Howard Rheingold.  It really taught me a lot about mindful use of digital media.  I learned that there are 5 important digital skills that the author presents as being important when it comes to assisting one’s ability to practice mindful use of digital media.  They are attention, participation, collaboration, network smarts, and the critical consumption of information.  I learned that to prevent the internet and social media from controlling your life, you have to practice mindfulness.  In today’s day in age, there is so much information online and it can be super overwhelming.  It can be helpful to work on your ability to filter information and use metacognition.  Why?  Because sometimes you have to think about your thinking, take a step back, and ask yourself what your goals really are.  Is the source of information benefitting me in any way?  Is it just rubbish?  Participating online is important, as it enables people to interact with tools, but is it giving you a sense of being?  Is the participation enabling productivity?  Rheingold believes that it’s important to be “an active citizen rather than simply a passive consumer” but you have to know your purpose.  Through collaboration online, more can be accomplished and people can often learn from one another.  Teamwork makes the dream work, but ineffective collaboration or a lack of understandability between the group and their common or shared goal can be disastrous.  I know from completing the “pro” and “con” activity that the 5 important digital skills that Rheingold mentions can be both powerful tools, but detrimental consequences as well (depending on how they’re applied).  Network awareness is extremely vital, especially with all of the social networks nowadays.  Enabling connections amongst wider ranges of people can be powerful and “diverse networks are collectively smarter and provide a richer variety of resources to participating nodes.”  Again, however, you have to be smart about who you’re networking with or how you’re spending your time online (depending on the information you’re consuming or sharing).  With a tool like collaborative Google docs, your attention is geared towards the changes or additions people are making to the document.  The participation aspect is related to the sharing of the document and, obviously, the collaboration involvement includes people coming together to actively edit the work.  With regard to network awareness, it can help virtual teams bridge the distance while critical consumption of the information provided can be aided by the fact that Google docs tracks who made changes.  All in all, there are clearly going to be negative traits to the online tools, digital media, etc… that you’re faced with each and every day, but you have to have net smarts to be able to handle the plethora of online activity that you may be involved with.  I want to continually improve my ability to be smarter and more efficient online because I want the time I spend online to be spend productively.  I don’t want to get caught up in the whirlwind of distractions, fabricated information, or inefficiencies that are in fact present on the internet.  I also want to teach students to be net smart, to use common sense strategies online, and to practice mindfulness and metacognition.  In the end, it can help keep you sane when it comes to the insane amount of material in the world wide web! 

Information Ethics and Copyright

Information Ethics and Copyright

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This week, I learned a lot about Copyright Clarity.  It was pretty eye-opening to read about how fair use supports digital learning!  I was surprised by some of the facts mentioned in the book, because it changed the way I was used to thinking about things.  In a way, I was left feeling energized because of the concept of fair use and how it applies to us as educators.  Often times, teachers feel hindered by copyright laws (or their interpretation of them) and it can prevent amazing things from happening within the classroom.  As mentioned in the book, teachers are scared by the specifics of the charts and graphs notifying what you can and can’t do, but, in the end, it matters if/how you or your students transformed the content in a fair-use manner.  The U.S. Constitution says that the purpose of copyright is to promote the spread of knowledge and innovation and Renee Hobbs points out that, “At the heart of copyright law, the doctrine of fair use states that people have a right to use copyrighted materials freely without payment or permission, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.”  As long as students are creating new material out of old material, that’s what counts.  That is what promotes critical thinking in a new age of digital innovation.

These concepts mean a lot, in my opinion.  Teachers need to understand the true meaning of fair use and what it means to them.  We need to develop a different mindset and “instead of hiding our students’ work, we need to open the classroom door.” (Renee Hobbs)  There are so many resources out there, and reasoning and judgement have to come into play.  You sometimes have to ask the question, “Does the specific use of copyrighted works benefit society more than it hurts the copyright holder?” (Renee Hobbs)  Teachers, along with students, need to clarify the meaning of fair use to today’s day in age so that meaningful learning experiences can take place in the classroom.  If you discourage your students from using certain multimedia materials when they could possibly be used in transformative ways, “the full potential of 21^st century literacy is diminished.” (Renee Hobbs)  Creative work should not be limited to closed audiences if it is altered creatively though innovation.

Copyright Clarity impacts my occupation because I want to be able to communicate an accurate message to students and teachers.  Because I am an IFT (Instructional Facilitator, Technology), there are boatloads of resources online that students and teachers will be faced with now and in the future and I want them to be able to realize the true meaning of fair use and transformativeness.  I want to be able to promote critical thinking, creative expression, and the spread of knowledge in my school building.  We can improve the quality of teaching and learning if we better understand the fair use policy. 

Sorting and Judging Information

Sorting and Judging Information

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When designing for information using, I learned that we have to consider the following question:  How can we take information and use it for SSCCS (search, sort, create, communicate, synthesis)?  We have to teach students how to be good users of information, how to be good commenters, and how to take information and turn it into knowledge.  It's important to consider where the information came from and what it's doing to us.  As educators, we want to communicate a strong message to our students, and we must not get sucked into information overload.  It may get to the point (if it hasn't already), where it dominates our lives and it puts us in a bubble where the only information we consume is information that affirms what we already know.  I learned that we need to grab our information from as close to the source as possible and not always consume what "tastes the best".  


In class, we were asked to create a wearable technology that shares what kids need to know to be good users of information.  I now know from reading the book, The Information Diet, and listening to other groups' presentations, what these skills should look like in the real world.  Since there's so much information out there, it's important to be able to understand the benefit of narrowing down your searches or filtering through the fake stuff.  Students also need to understand how to synthesize and create/communicate their own perspective while also remaining active, managing their time/friendships, or eliminating unnecessary sources of information.  We can always improve upon our information using, and, since the internet/social media is not going away any time soon, we must learn to adjust the way we take in information so it does not control our lives.  


Moving forward, I want to teach my students how to manage their time on the computer/internet so they can complete assignments or projects without feeling overwhelmed by the plethora of sources of information out there.  I want to teach them how to search, sort, create, communicate, and synthesize while maintaining a healthy lifestyle.  Our county does a good job of narrowing down some of these resources into the LCPS Go app, but even then it can be overwhelming to students.  I want to teach students how and when to use this information for their own thinking.  Students can then use the tools to create their own source of content and it will be more meaningful to them than staring aimlessly at info that won't stimulate any cognitive growth or improvement.   

Students As Designers Principle

Students As Designers Principle

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The students as designers principle is significant because it gives students the chance to develop their own creative spirit of design.  As the teacher, it's important to help students understand the thinking/design process and to be able to take a content and express it in a specific format.  As the article ("The Creative Spirit of Design") mentioned, "Everything depends on the situation, and the skills available." Based on what we had learned so far in class, and Dr. Norton's end goal in the lesson design, it was best for her to put us in a situation where we had to design a video to share out and advertise the DOODLES program.  Not only was it an authentic activity, but it gave us a chance to build upon our background knowledge, it allowed us to construct our own, specific plan together, and then share it out with the public.  I learned that for this to take place, the teacher has to scaffold students' ability to design.  The tools presented to us, along with the modeling of the thinking skills, were necessary elements of the scaffolding process because we had to be given the opportunity to work collaboratively outside of class. The discussion board fit the goal of getting us to brainstorm our own, meaningful creation.


Prior to starting the activity, Dr. Norton played a video which taught the basics of the video creation process and the video techniques that we needed to consider.  If you're creating a lesson design, you have to evaluate the specific positive and negative affordances, and, for this specific activity, it was best to use the video (vs. a lecture) to get these points across.  Another part of the article that got my attention is that the creative spirit of design is supposed to highlight three characteristics---imagination, creation-oriented, and inter-disciplinary action.  I can now relate these characteristics to the students as designers principle because we experienced all 3 of these as we went through the design process of creating our own video.  We collaborated together to creatively use our own imaginations to design something meaningful, but that we hadn't experienced in class before.  This forced us to be innovative. 


I will continue to put students in positions to be designers so that they can develop their own creative spirit of design.  Whether they're designing their own blog, video, or solution to a STEM activity, I want students to build upon the elements of the PICKLE.  I also want them to "meaningfully shape their understanding of problems and opportunities", as Jason McDonald stated.  Lately, I have been meeting with groups of students (gr. 3-5) and I have been providing specific ed. tech tools that will give them the opportunity to design their own video as well.  Of course, I teach them the basic software skills, but then I ask that they use their background knowledge to create and share their own video that teaches and solves a real-world problem.  Their video is supposed to incorporate specific skills they're learning in class but they're not restricted to any one skill.  I'm looking forward to seeing what they come up with!

Technology: Part 2 - Topic 5

Technology: Part 2 - Topic 5

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This week, I learned that it's very important to utilize affordance analysis as an educator, especially during the early stages of your lesson design process.  I learned that you have to consider the features of the tool(s) you're using, along with your ultimate goal(s).  Ultimately, if there's a fit between the features of the tool(s) that you're thinking about using and your end goal(s), that's a good thing!  A positive affordance means that the features support and fit your goal(s), whereas a negative affordance means that the features aren't consistent with your goal(s).  Therefore, it's not a good fit.  I also learned that you have to ask yourself a couple important questions as you analyze the affordances:  First, how might that tool lead to you reaching your design goal(s)?  Second, how can I use these tools to fit my goal(s)?  I thought Dr. Norton's example involving the chair really helped me understand this notion.  Basically, certain chairs have certain features that fit better with certain goals.  One type of chair may be more effective for one person than it would be for another, especially if that person has a bad hip.  

Knowing this, I now know how this relates to technology because Google docs is great for some things but not so great for others.  If your goal was to teach students how to use publication tools for collaborative purposes, then this would be a positive affordance because the features of Google docs support and fit this end goal.  As a teacher, I have to carefully consider the benefits and weaknesses of a given tool so that I can choose the best tool for my lesson design goal.  In class, we completed an affordance analysis organizer for two different types of technology-based tools and I know that, in the end, one was far better than the other in terms of the pros outweighing the cons.  If your goal was to teach students to creatively use technology in a flexible fashion (especially for coding), the Ozbots would be far more effective than the Osmos.  Also, when matching the learning goals and tools on the chart activity, I found that although multiple tools may seem to fit a given goal, there's usually going to be one that stands out.  If you consider the affordances carefully, and you weigh the pros and cons, there will typically be one type of tool that will best allow your students to get the most out of the lesson design activity. 

This applies to me because I facilitate the use of technology throughout my school building.  It's important that I understand the tools that I'm dealing with because I want to be able to suggest options that will fit the goals of all the teachers in my building.  I also want to do this as I am designing projects for the enrichment groups that I meet with each week because certain lesson designs will require certain tools.  Looking at the big picture, I want students to experience a variety of technology tools, but I want them to experience the tools in the right situations so they get the most out of the lessons.  There's no sense in having students use technology if it's not going to be meaningful for them.     

  

Technology: Part 1 - Topic 5

Technology: Part 1 - Topic 5

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After reading The Victorian Internet and watching "The Day the Universe Changed", I learned that new technology results in new problems to solve.  There is always a huge enthusiasm for it to FIX problems of the world, but it also CREATES new problems.  This is, of course, based on whatever the new technology may be.  I learned that in The Victorian Internet, the invention of the telegraph led to a rise in issues such as an overload of communication, a dramatic rise in global drama, and an increase in wartime/military strategical implications.  Never before had society ever experienced a problem with telecommunication lines being overcrowded with messages or battle plans being altered by conversations spanning multiple countries, but times change.  Technology may expand your level and range of communication and cooperation, but it also shrinks the world, sometimes resulting in tension and arguments.  Finally, I learned that human nature is human nature, regardless of the technology that is present.  People abused the new form of technology in the past, and they'll continue, unfortunately, to abuse it in the future.  


I know that just as symbolic tools have cognitive consequences, ALL new technology has consequences as well and it's our job as teachers and facilitators to learn to regulate and manage these tools in our classrooms.  New technology can increase the abstractness of the world.  Because it can take us further and further away from direct experiences, I now know that it's extremely important for us to teach students how to relate and apply technology to these concepts and direct experiences.  The example of cash vs. credit really stuck with me.  On another note, going back to the point of "human nature is human nature (regardless of technology)--the way it plays out does" (hacking, identity theft, negative online activity, etc...), I know now, even more than ever, that teaching ethical decision making should be a top level priority.  When it comes to using new technology in the classroom, we have stress the importance of the question, how can we choose and use wisely?

In class this week, we were asked to create an infographic to drive home an important point for educators to consider when it comes to using technology in their classrooms.  Emily and I related the purpose of our infographic to a problem that audiences across the world are attempting to highlight--Common Sense Media.  With all of the problems that technology presents in today's day in age, I want to teach students the importance of using technology for POSITIVE reasons.  There are so many fantastic uses for technology, but, unfortunately, some students can't see past the negative consequences such as cyberbulling, plagiarism, or hacking.  According to a recent survey, which we included in our infographic, close to 40% of the younger generation polled thought the internet was scary.  I want to teach students in my school the importance of Common Sense Media and I will continue to do that when I push into a classroom for a lesson or when I am working with a small group of students in the library for an enrichment project.  The conversation can't stop.  It has to be an ongoing process.  I have had the chance to teach about 10 Common Sense Media lessons this year, and each lesson has focused on a different element of the curriculum.  Technology is a powerful tool, but "with great power, comes great responsibility."  I want to make this message extremely clear to the students at my school.