Education has a vested interest in the way new media and communication technology are changing how we learn.
Last weekend I attended the "Teaching the Millennial Generation: Technology Tools that Transform the Learning Experience" conference in Monterey. The conference was sponsored by the California League of Middle Schools, the California League of High Schools, the National High School Association, and Computer Using Educators. Outside were wind-swept trees and sea-breeze air and inside were speakers, session presentations and workshops, as well as an exhibition hall filled with ed-tech product vendors (it seemed like half were projector systems). What made this conference amazing and important is that it aimed to introduce emerging new media and communication technology tools (principally those involving the internet) to middle and high school teachers, staff, and administrators.
And what made things even more interesting was the conference's ongoing recognition that students in today's and tomorrow's school environments are and will be more knowledgeable -- more fluent -- in new media and technology tools than the majority of current teachers. And teachers -- those who are entrusted with educating and preparing these same students for their future -- might have some new learning to do, need to change their teaching methods, adopt new technology in the classroom, and listen to younger generations of teachers and students whom are already connected and mobile within the world's growing information networks.
Many western (in this case California) children are growing up using new media and communication technology. The ways children socialize, learn, think, and even develop personal identity is being changed by video games, social networking, online collaboration tools, the ease of media production, and portable media devices. Children have a greater awareness of these tools' communicative reach than their parents and schools sometimes understand. "Teaching the Millenial Generation" gave teachers the option to learn more about new media and communication technology and how to integrate it in their schools.
Keynote speaker David Warlick provided the conference a philosophical backbone by situating the role of the teacher within the changing educational context. He described the "Millennial Generation", children born to boomer moms over 30 in the 1990s whom, as he put it, barely recollect the 20th century, and the only connection they have to the last century is their (outdated) classrooms. He covered a lot of ground throughout his talk and described how the teacher-student relationship is changing, how new markets for creative information are emerging, and how teachers can sustain an important role in education by helping students tap into these markets. He had a big impact on the audience.
Warlick expressed that educators, "for the first time in history, are preparing kids for a future that we know almost nothing about." Teachers need to reevaluate how they teach. We are moving from a paper-based to digital classroom. Warlick drew a connection to Thomas Friedman's book "The World is Flat" when describing the new "flat classroom" (which he contrasted to a photo of a 1950s classroom) where teachers can no longer take a top-down approach when feeding students information –- "from the perspective of the information landscape, our students are more literate than we are!" He described cell phones, the internet, video games, and computers as the students' "tentacles" reaching through walls and connecting to vast networks. Students see the world through technology and use it to "see themselves, but when they come to school, we cut those tentacles off."
Educators need to listen to the "Millennial Child", whom Warlick explained is wrapped in a cocoon of technology but is primarily interested in a compelling story. It's not about bringing video games into the classroom, but rather about learning from video games and bringing the video game experience into the classroom experience. (Would blending such an idea with social entrepreneurship games like 'Village: The Game' result in a form of service-learning education?)
Warlick spoke highly of the "new grammar" of instant messaging, invented "casually and in collaboration" by children. The role of educators in this case is to "teach them when appropriate to use IMspeak and when appropriate to use formal English", and show the different purposes of each language. And after a review of video games (Nintendo is investing more money in our children than our government, apparently), MMORPGs, and "web 2.0" applications, he posed the fascinating questions: "what if we asked kids to tap into the digital library and remix their own digital tools?" and "what if we had textbooks that kids could remix?"
Dr. Joy Lopez of Bishop O'Dowd High School in Oakland continued Warlick's themes in a session about teacher collaboration. She described the current "digital immigrant" teachers (from veterans who won't adapt to newbies fluent in computers) and how administrators can integrate technology in the classroom. She urged educators to try things out for themselves, get a MySpace account, and listen to students and younger teachers who are in-the-loop. Dr. Lopez recommended teachers communicate and collaborate regularly online and use instant messaging as a way to become more comfortable online.
Treading into the projects presented, I was very inspired by Pajaro Valley Unified School District's writing and technology program. They're changing their students' lives and the entire community. PVUSD, which serves the mostly low-income population of Watsonville, used a Federal EETT grant to bring portable labs of 90 PCs and about 200 Macs to their middle schools where there were previously no computers and students usually had limited access outside of school. What really amazed me was how the district's passionate staff developed training and "coaching" programs to assist in developing computer-aided writing curriculum. As was noted throughout the conference, for many older teachers, changing how they teach can be a real challenge, but taking the time to collaborate on creating new curriculum can help get the ball rolling.
PVUSD also focused on student and staff motivation. They conducted video-interviews of students and staff about their views on the use of computers. (Listening to the kids was great; I'm a big fan of student input.) The program was also extended off-campus and into the community by giving computer access to parents at local libraries and in their homes. And they even partnered with a local newspaper and radio station to give students a venue for their writing work. Coming away, I couldn't help but think of the One Laptop per Child program Worldchanging has written about before, and the benefit it may bring when combined with passionate educators and community partnership. I suspect the impact of PVUSD's program will have many long-term benefits for Watsonville.
I had tons of hands-on fun by building underwater robots (which we raced in the Marriott Hotel pool) in a session about ROVs (Remotely Operated Vehicles) and Marine Technology Education. The Marine Advanced Technology Center in Monterey, super-inspiring shop teacher Anne Sullivan, and an excited former student talked about how building underwater robots is a fun way to get kids interested in engineering, ocean science, college, and marine careers. In 2007 the international ROV competition will head to Newfoundland, Canada to celebrate the International Polar Year and teach students about the link between the polar region and global climate.
There were also a lot of tech tools presented. Teachers raved about Moodle, the free, open-source alternative to the popular Blackboard course management system. And Ooos and ahhs came from the rooms where teachers learned about "web 2.0" gadgets, RSS feeds, Google, wikis, ebooks and applications for Palm PDAs, and educational-focused email and blogging websites. Turns out Blogger also now allows private collaborative blogging – the biggest concern was finding a way to keep online student work private.
I enjoyed learning about SFMoMA's new educational website, "ArtThink". Still in beta stages, it should be fully functional in about two months. "ArtThink" has curriculum to teach art fundamentals. There is a lot of interactive content including a special section on California artists. I could see students browsing the site at home or teachers pulling video or zoomable-image of a painting up in class. I really liked how the site uses art study has the centerpiece for lessons in different disciplines – social studies/history, language arts, and the visual arts.
The conference took an overwhelmingly positive look at new media and communication technology; this was great as it can be all too easy to villainize change by focusing on cyber predators, "cyber bullying", and lack of controllable and constant adult supervision. Keep in mind that concerns over child safety are important, but taking a positive stance enables us to become knowledgeable about what's really going on and find out how teachers can connect with younger generations.
At the end of David Warlick's talk, he asked his audience how many were teaching in 1983. About half the audience raised their hands. 1983 was the year I was born. Ultimately, I felt, the conference was about generational adaptation, and how older generations of teachers can catch-up and participate in youth technological use-cultures. I did not find the conference addressing generational adaptation in the other direction: change in use-cultures is also an opportunity for youth to adapt to older methods of learning unassisted by the digital age. We don't need to go back to, say, the classrooms of 1955, but since middle and high school are such foundational times, students will benefit from learning how to appreciate and listen to older generations who might prefer a face-to-face conversation over text messaging. Exposure to diverse forms of learning is like exposure to different artistic media from painting to sculpture to digital art. Learning to appreciate different ways of aquiring knowledge will only strengthen a student's ability to creatively think and contribute in the world.
The feeling surrounding change between old and new ways of learning lead me to think of the industrial revolution and processes of modernization still continuing today: new methods of production replacing older methods, sometimes rendering old industries and occupations defunct. Some jobs completed by people can now be done by machines... will the internet replace teachers? "Teaching the Millennial Generation" recognized the evolution of education but also made clear that teachers still have an important role to play.
