All of my experience has been in the work force and training adults. When my daughter entered school we, as parents, were heavily involved in the school. As I started my Masters degree in Instructional Systems and Learning Technology I tried to aim my assignments, projects and papers towards either my work that I was involved in or with my daughters school so that I could implement the work right away. Technology is growing and I wonder how teachers balance their work load and the introduction of technology into their classroom. In the article by Charles Cook, The ‘digital native’ in context: tensions associated with importing Web 2.0 practices into the school setting, Mr. Cook looks at 53 mixed gender focus groups from age 13 to 15 in the UK. Many of the findings were ones that I expected to see, for example the tension of blocks that are placed on the schools web 2.0 to prevent learners from going to certain restricted sites. What I did not think about was the separation from in-school web 2.0 use to out-of school web 2.0 use. I guess I never thought it as two separate types of cultures and that the use of web 2.0 would differ so much but as the article pointed out if neither the learner or teacher fully embraces web 2.0 in the classroom the learner will follow the culture that they are comfortable with, out-of school. In the article, many of the learners admit some of the same concerns that educators have with the abuse of the system in the in-school web 2.0 use but at the same time there is a contradiction when conducting school work and a site is blocked and the teacher tells them to just look it up at home then. My daughter is still young where I do not think that this same type of concerns have crept up on her yet but I wonder for those that are educators in the middle to high school do you see these same conflicts of two different cultures coming to head and how do you deal with it and balance the use of web 2.0 in the classroom? Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Web 2.0 Practice in the School
All of my experience has been in the work force and training adults. When my daughter entered school we, as parents, were heavily involved in the school. As I started my Masters degree in Instructional Systems and Learning Technology I tried to aim my assignments, projects and papers towards either my work that I was involved in or with my daughters school so that I could implement the work right away. Technology is growing and I wonder how teachers balance their work load and the introduction of technology into their classroom. In the article by Charles Cook, The ‘digital native’ in context: tensions associated with importing Web 2.0 practices into the school setting, Mr. Cook looks at 53 mixed gender focus groups from age 13 to 15 in the UK. Many of the findings were ones that I expected to see, for example the tension of blocks that are placed on the schools web 2.0 to prevent learners from going to certain restricted sites. What I did not think about was the separation from in-school web 2.0 use to out-of school web 2.0 use. I guess I never thought it as two separate types of cultures and that the use of web 2.0 would differ so much but as the article pointed out if neither the learner or teacher fully embraces web 2.0 in the classroom the learner will follow the culture that they are comfortable with, out-of school. In the article, many of the learners admit some of the same concerns that educators have with the abuse of the system in the in-school web 2.0 use but at the same time there is a contradiction when conducting school work and a site is blocked and the teacher tells them to just look it up at home then. My daughter is still young where I do not think that this same type of concerns have crept up on her yet but I wonder for those that are educators in the middle to high school do you see these same conflicts of two different cultures coming to head and how do you deal with it and balance the use of web 2.0 in the classroom? 
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Oh my goodness! Flikr is blocked in my district! Creative Commons images and music are the biggest firewall I have hit as a teacher. How the heck are students supposed to create digital media without the ingredients?
ReplyDeleteThe key is to find out which social media sites the district supports. For example, kids can access Edmodo but not Facebook, Kidsblog but not other blog sites.
Usually the firewalls are set up by IT, not ET, and the two do not communicate well. IT (information technology). ET (educational technology). IT is concerned about law suits and viruses. ET worries about tech in kids hands.
BTW - an awesome kids book related to your graphic is "It's a Book" by Lane Smith. A short, simple picture book. Have to warn you though, the donkey is called a jack ass. double entendre.
We really have the same restrictions in the government systems, ok maybe not as restricted as school age but there are a lot of sites blocked and you have to get special permission to visit certain sites once you show it is work related. You would think that the IT and ET world would be able to work better and open more sites up to the learner.
ReplyDeleteThe phenomenon carries over into higher ed. I've done research in this area. The undergrads have the tools they use in their personal lives, and they (a) do not want to use them for school purposes and (b) are not really interested in learning new tools just for school purposes. And there goes the theory that the so-called digital natives really want to be taught in that manner.
ReplyDeleteI find that interesting, I wonder if it is because they want to keep their lives separate or if they do not want to add something they do not want to have to keep up in the long run.
ReplyDeleteBoth. :)
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