Wednesday, February 6, 2013
"World Without Walls"- Will Richardson
Respond to the class blog after you read Will Richardson's "World Without Walls: Learning Well with Others." React to Richardson's vision of education in a "collaborative age." What are some of the challenges that students and teachers are facing given the transformative agency of learning networks and technology?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Today students have ability to learn whatever they want, whenever they want to, and from whomever they want and the weirdest part of this is they don’t even have to be “in school”. Is this new world rendering the linear, age-grouped, teacher-guided curriculum less and less relevant? Perhaps.
ReplyDeleteContent and information are everywhere, not just in paper textbooks. Welcome to the collaboration age! Students online can view lessons on a particular topic from a variety of teachers from around the country. They could also visit these lessons from colleges. They don’t have to simply rely on just one source. They could visit multiple sites, look at numerous images and watch countless videos.
These tools are fast changing, social, and rich with powerful learning opportunities for us all, if we can figure out how to leverage their potential. At my school we have class facebook pages where students help each other with homework. By introducing the application educreations to my students soon I’m hoping that students can help each other solve problem over the Internet. Content is not in just one textbook or one teacher any more. I often view biology classes from UC Berkeley and MIT. It is a wonderful opportunity to gather interesting content and ideas. Ideas for cool lessons are available and are just a click away.
If you want to get a sense of what’s in store for education, look at what’s happening to journalism. Reporters and writers are now everywhere. Content and news is everywhere. It’s changing the very nature of the business. Same for education, just that now it’s content and teachers that are increasingly everywhere you turn. What happens when school is something you organize for yourself? Learning could be from "others," people whom we may not know and may never meet, but who share our passions and interests and are willing to invest in exploring them together.
Students in my Redwoods Genetic course are working on a web site that we would like to post our data to share with other schools. We are also interested in placing a QR Code in Muir Wood’s trail map so that visitors to the park could obtain more information about Redwoods when they return from the walk through the forest.
I think that schools need to set up their technology to be relevant. Educators need to be connectors first and content experts second. As connectors, we provide the chance for kids to get better at learning from one another. Students, as the article mentioned, are more connected at home then at school. I found this fact chilling: At school, we disconnect them not only from the technology but also from their passion and those who share it. Wow we have lost our way. Isn’t that the point to instill of lifetime love of learning?
Ray Cinti
The big takeaway from this article for me is the focus on collaboration. The internet has made it possible for us to connect with people all over the world, not just by location, but by interest. It allows us to respond to written ideas and messages instantaneously and communicate in real time. Indeed, it has sparked a whole new language, a new way of communicating in general. We would do well to work together and share knowledge—we would all be the better for it.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think that students more readily grasp the idea of sharing information in the digital age better than adults. Most adults, I think, especially in academia, have grown up with the idea of “owning” ideas, often times guarding “what we know” and acting as the gatekeeper of information. The teacher knows everything, right? Maybe now that we are in the dawn of the digital age we can give that myth a rest.
There is a real opportunity here not to be missed—one for dialogue. There is no disseminator of information, no textbook, no dominating opinion, no one right or wrong answer. However, there are critical points of view to be mulled over and discussed, examined. The teacher’s role is evolving from fountain of knowledge to facilitator. WhyHistoryMatters.org is just a small example of the opportunity that is within our grasp.
In order to make the most of this opportunity, however, we all have to being willing to take risks. I, for one, in my experience as a teacher know firsthand how uncomfortable it can be to inhabit that place, standing up in front of the class uttering phrases like “I don’t know,” “how would we explore that?” or “let’s find out”… But I also know how empowering and liberating it can be to discover new things together and learn from your students. Indeed, the best things I’ve ever learned have come from a place where I least expected it.
That unforeseen question, that unexpected outcome, that lesson that ‘s going "where no one has gone before"… how beautiful these things can be when you’re able to keep your mind open and check your ego at the door.
It seems clear that the industrial-era approach to education is becoming obsolete. In our current economy, and with education budgets stretched to their limits, institutions of higher learning can no longer afford to deliver inefficient, labor-intensive approaches that are inadequate for preparing students to develop the skills necessary for future careers. Richardson's call for learning with different groups of people beyond the classroom aligns with the requirements of 21st-century workplaces and communities, but converting to this approach will present profound challenges for students and teachers alike in the coming years.
ReplyDeleteAlthough technology can play a crucial role in preparing students for success, effective instructional design requires a lot more than simply placing the right tools in students' hands. Effective transformation of our schools will require clear goals about what technology can achieve, backed by the appropriate curricula, pedagogy, and assessment approaches to reach those goals, as well as sufficient social and technical support. Richardson's call to "rely on trusted members of our personal networks" to help identify useful, credible information online is a lovely idea, but presents several challenges for teachers. How do we cultivate trusted members for these personal networks? How do we help students learn how to make these connections and find their affinity groups online? And how do we find others who are truly willing to invest in working with our students? The answers to these questions must necessarily involve developing new skill sets that probably aren't being taught in most education and teacher certification programs.
A more profound challenge to teachers is the identity crisis that Richardson foretells: that the very value and worth of teaching is being questioned in a landscape where "the most effective teachers will be the ones [students] discover, not the ones they are given." Yet Richardson suggests that teachers can still provide value by teaching critical thinking skills and by modeling their own skills as information editors and researchers. I suspect that, in some ways, the role of the classroom teacher will become even more important as students are encouraged to embrace social technologies and seek answers beyond the classroom; these students will need to be taught how to filter useful online information from all the noise, and will need extra support in learning how to "form safe, effective networks and communities around those explorations."
World Without Walls: Learning Well With Others
ReplyDeleteThe future is exciting. With the new world of digital media we have almost all the information at our finger tips. Because we can access all information almost instantly from almost anywhere the idea of memorizing fact has become a waste of time and potential. Education today is all about trying to determine how to use the great wealth of digital media. In the article "World Without Walls: Learning Well With Others " the author makes the point teachers are not the keepers of the knowledge they are the directors of learning.
The article makes the point that information is very easy to access. Since the Internet is not only on computers but also on mobile devices, such as tablets and smart phones students are learning faster from others than they can from teachers. The teachers need to focus their energy directing students in how to filter information so they are not using inaccurate data. There are no longer gatekeepers making sure that information is accurate, so students need to be able to qualify what they are reading as trustworthy or trash. Anyone can publish whatever they want and it's hard to tell with looks alone what's good. In the beginning of the Internet it took a lot of money and resources to post information so it was easier to tell who was publishing it and whether it was accurate. So it is key that students can determine what is trustworthy.
The article also talked about the importance of working in groups and the use of social networking. With today's technology, working with others is getting easier and easier. Students can share content with one another with sites like drop box and google docs. They can have meetings with Skype, face time and many other similar services. Distance is no longer an issue, so education should start to focus more on group work. The benefit of working with others is a rise of intelligence and resources. Two or more people can come up with a better solution than one person can (it brings more perspectives and experience). Social networking allows for fast input and a great opportunity for group work.
Marc Robertson
After reading “World Without Walls” I searched in the internet about author Will Richardson and found his blog “Read. Write. Connect. Learn” (http://willrichardson.com/). Thoughts and ideas such as network connections, educators’ new roles in students' lives, or teachers’ fears and concerns associated with new technologies, that are included in his article can also be found in various contexts and formats in his blog. In fact, the blog is used by Mr. Richardson as a direct application and as an effective way to spread out his passionate vision of the new educational paradigm shift.
ReplyDeleteOne of the thoughts that particularly grabbed my attention was that we need to start treating discovery, connection, and sharing as creative arts. Bounding discovering, connecting and sharing as a joint set of learning activities, and assigning the range of art, one of the noblest human activities, to it comprises a powerful statement as well as a precise description of this new vision of education. Emphasizing discovering as the starting point of the new learning processes is a felicitous decision. Discovering is often associated with wondering and surprise and only when these two situations occur can we be disposed to start understanding. It is also connected with the idea of playing and enjoyment that is intrinsic to learning.
The idea of the teacher changing role from content expert to connector is another relevant aspect within the context of collaborative learning environments. I see the indispensability and importance of this new role of connector in this process, but I also wonder if there is a potential risk of misunderstanding the teacher’s other crucial role: expertise. Simple connectors or facilitators don’t necessarily have to be subject experts, and they assist access to students where gaps in knowledge are identified. This role is different from an expert teacher who takes a more leading role while also avoiding alienating students’ spontaneous learning processes. In this regard I believe expertise should be flexible and always open to innovation.
Frank Lloyd Wright, one of the greatest American architects, once defined architecture as that creative spirit which from age to age, proceeds, persists, creates, according to the nature of man and his circumstances as they change. I believe this definition is also able to describe what learning and teaching are, and how they have the capacity to harmonize with the changes of the times.
Part 1:
ReplyDeleteThe author, Will Richardson, identifies a key challenge for students and teachers as being the process of vetting the information which is available online. His initial presentation and description of our new “Collaborative Age” is the notion that we can “...mine the wisdom and experiences of the more than one billion people now online,” and, further, that we can understand “...the global experience and do good work together.” Sounds great in an idealistic way, but the online experience is not so straightforward when delivering its positive return on the time that you have invested there. Importantly, he emphasizes how teachers must constantly “model our own editorial skills” on a continuing basis in the classroom. Editing the information available to students must be a process that teachers involve themselves with on a daily basis.
Students need a vetting process, where they can accurately determine the status and credentials of the people with whom they are in contact with online, and of the information which the students will find online. Part of the process of an increasingly collaborative online presence is that other people may also vet who you are, and may also vet the information that you are presenting. This requires a “...willingness to share our work and our passions publicly,” which is creating an environment where highly personal information is becoming much more widely available. (For me personally, I try to limit the amount of information which I voluntarily place online, which seems to make me a cultural oddity these days.)
Part 2:
ReplyDeleteThe online collaborative process requires sharing information at an unprecedented level, which can begin to blur the lines of authorship. This is a big concern for me, as someone who places a valuation on original content material. Remixing another persons work was a litigious action in the 1980s, when scratch record mixing would “sample” and copy another audio source, musical or otherwise. The ease of duplication technology using cassette tapes began to enhance the “pirate” or “gangsta” appeal of mass copying. A mentality of “remixing” was already culturally in place when the internet exploded, and when digital content became so widely and easily available. In a scholastic environment, how can an ethic of “don’t steal” be effectively taught when the pervasive cultural ethos is, in fact, to steal someone else’s digital content? One question which Richardson poses (rhetorically, perhaps) is: “What are the ethics of co-creation when the nuances of copyright and intellectual property become grayer each day?” Prior to teaching, I was in an industry where original content creation and intellectual property are incredibly important issues. As such, I am more than somewhat conditioned to think in those terms. In relation to something as successful as the Kahn Academy on YouTube, the content of what a person creates and shares online can be quite valuable. If you are a teacher, and you create original materials that are shared digitally online, what claim do you have to retaining the monetary benefit of the intellectual property that you have originated? Syllabi are considered intellectual property, so why wouldn’t a digital presentation of course content? Clearly, from the standpoint of a public school being the originating source, it could be a public property. What are the considerations a teacher needs to have if a private school requires the teacher to create original content for an online distance learning program? An hourly teacher can be paid once for the creation of the class content, but the school can leverage that content across many years of potential tuition from thousands of students. Perhaps millions of students? Again, how many hits on YouTube has the Kahn Academy had over the years? Referring back to our first blog response assignment (“Physicists Seek to Lose the Lecture as a Teaching Tool”), one idea from that reading bears reiteration: “With modern technology, if all there is is lectures, we don’t need faculty to do it...Get ‘em to do it once, put it on the Web, and fire the faculty.”
The “Collaboration Age” as Will Richardson suggests, elicits one of the most powerful effects of the Web 2.0: the ability to “learn whatever, whenever we want, from whomever we want.” Students today have at their finger tips millions of articles, videos, music files, photos, interactive medias, etc. It is a world filled with information. The challenged for students is to know what to trust and what not to engage with. Consequently it rest on the shoulders of educators to train students in this new form of learning.
ReplyDeleteAs Richardson notes, one of the major challenges the New Digital Age presents for educators is their ability to explicitly teach and model the skills that are necessary to navigate the World Wide Web. Through the K-12 educational field educators must deliberately incorporate the skills to, “locate and discern good information and god partners—at every turn,” into their curriculum. With new learning networks and technologies developing at a rapid pace, educators must first educate themselves in aptly utilizing such tools. In turn they must incorporate such skills into their own lesson plans. Just as students are taught to read a printed book, so must they learn how to “read” the Web.
For educators there exist a further challenge. No longer are educators, the only available source of information or education. Rather than “teach” subject matters (this is especially true for secondary schools) educators must now be facilitators of learning. As Richardson declares, “we as educators need to reconsider our roles in the students’ live, to think of ourselves as connectors first and content experts second.” A student has the option to sit through a 40 minutes mundane lecture or can come into a classroom with a tablet or Smartphone (and imbedded Internet access) and gain the same information in a shorter amount of time, and through mediums that stimulate and engage various intelligences.
Rather than receive information from one source (how reliable is that in research) a student can collaborate and interact with a plethora of resource. And if educated properly in digital literacy this student is offered the opportunity to, “mine the wisdom and experiences of the more than one billion people now online.” It encourages students to look break past an egocentric ideology and truly engage in critical thinking through a global perspective.
What is crucial though is to ensure that such resources and opportunities are not limited to the top few, who have learned to appropriately utilize and navigate such a vital resource. As Richardson concludes it will be our challenge to ensure that all children are empowered in “learning how to add dots to their pas on their own.”
I think that as Educators and Students we now an opportunity to tap into vast amounts of information at our fingertips. We are able to break down the barriers of conventional education that can be limiting and mundane. Public schools would benefit greatly by embracing the advancements made in technology. When schools are losing extra curricular classes such as music because of budget cuts, students can now learn how to play an instrument through and instructor on Skype or on You Tube. It is amazing that we are able to collaborate with others knowledge and different perspectives on a global stage. There does need to be reason for caution, how do we know that all the information that is out there valid. Have we become so trustworthy because information is so readily available that we forgot to questions its validity? There must be some kind of safeguard in place that ensures that the information that is out there is valid. I also feel that the advent of virtual classrooms may make us socially retarded when it come to something as simple as a face to face conversation. Will society be unable to communicate without a tablet/smartphone/laptop. I can see that in the personalities of some kids today. Alot of them are unable to shake your hand or to look you in the eye because they lack these very basic social skills. I think as generations go by these social skills will become obsolete.
ReplyDeleteReading Will Richardson’s article about collaboration may evoke ambivalent feelings in teachers.
ReplyDeleteOn the one hand it may be really hard to accept that as he says, ‘our ability to learn whatever we want, whenever we want, from whomever we want is rendering the linear, age-grouped, teacher-guided curriculum less and less relevant’. Teachers need to let the students learn from all the resources that are available and need to teach different skills to their students, skills that which are required to make the most out of these resources. Students need to know how to benefit from all the knowledge that is from a couple of clicks far from there without exposing themselves to all the possible dangers of the cyber world.
On the other hand, teachers can rely on such resources that are much more engaging and interesting than a couple of years ago. With the help of technology, teachers can bring their subjects closer to the students, and teach them things
In my opinion, what teachers need to learn is to accept that students can learn a lot from outside the classroom and encourage them to learn from each other while also making them aware of how to use technology in the most beneficial way. Students need to acquire the skills to become digital literate, without those one should not use technology for their studies.
As Richardson says, ‘collaboration in these times requires our students to be able to seek out and connect with learning partners, in the process perhaps navigating cultures, time zones, and technologies’. Obviously, not every school kid feels comfortable with collaborating with others, especially with people they have never ever met. Teachers can help a lot making them adjusted to cooperation and showing them how technology and the Internet can help them gain more information about what they are interested in and how much they can learn from each other.
Richardson’s article proves that in the 21st century one of the most essential skills is collaboration. Students are able to seek information, share ideas, and also discuss and assess them with the help of technological improvements. As teachers it is our responsibility it is our job to make sure that it does happen.
Zsofi