Andy Carvin’s blog (Waste of Bandwidth) provides a series of blog entries, podcasts, and video segments from the We Media conference. We Media is a new phrase for me and it blends in with Web 2.0, the read/write web. and other phrases/concepts that appear to be advocating for the more participatory opportunities of the web. Andy provides access to some very interesting content. Try Al Gore’s presentation as a starting point and then explore other blog entries associated with this conference.
Within this collection, I would also recommend Andy’s presentation (podcast and PP available) on the digital divide.
Several past posts have contained concepts advanced in Thomas Friedman’s book – The World Is Flat. Friedman’s analysis positioned the Internet among the key factors that have brought both positive change and challenges to our world. Free access to the Internet allows oppressed people to gain a broader perspective. The Internet allows the work of U.S. workers to be outsourced to those willing to do this work more cheaply. Open access serves as a challenge to the productivity of the U.S. education system. In head to head competition, if one cannot do the same job for less, one better be capable of solving more significant problems or providing more creative solutions. etc.
The flaw in Friedman’s analysis may be the greed of U.S. based multinationals. Friedman’s idea that you cannot hide behind walls assumes a lack of collaboration from those on the other side of the wall. It appears Google, Yahoo, and other technology companies are willing to help countries that compete with the U.S. economically and subject the unfortunate to mistreatment keep the walls up by censoring the information that gets over the walls. (Human Rights Watch) I thought this issue had been resolved a couple of years ago. Now, it seems the big tech players have gone soft again perhaps in fear that a competitor will take advantage of any show of resolve.
National Geographic has a great webcam feature titled Pete’s Pond. Great live imagery from a watering hole in Botswana.
Webcams need not be located in such exotic locations to be interesting. Cornell University runs a feeder watch program for the purpose of collecting data and involving the public in a little field biology. Search for “webcam bird feeder” online and you will find several others.
New Kids On The Blog. Not my cute title this time – this is the heading for an NEA piece on K-12 blogging. This is an introductory level description of blogging, but the examples are worth a look.
It’s an education project, not a laptop project. If we can make education better–particularly primary and secondary schools–it will be a better world.
By the way, if you visit the CNET site to read this story, make sure you explore the graphic organizer tool “The Big Picture” showing interconnections of the story on the $100 computer and other news stories.
This is really a continuation of yesterday’s post regarding “real” experiences for children. The “contra” example addressed in that post concerned the position that children need more opportunities to explore their own environment (outdoor environment in Dr. Monke’s example) and the damage that would be done by substituting virtual for real experiences.
Rather than promoting technology as an alternative to “real” experiences, we promote technology as a way to increase the probability that physical experiences are real learning opportunities. Again, experiences without thinking are ineffective learning opportunities. It is our contention, shared by many other scholars I believe, that when used properly technology can involve students in thinking about virtual or physical experiences.
Cindy provided the following images from her experiences of the past week. All middle school students in Grand Forks have an opportunity to attend an Eco-ed Camp at Turtle River State Park. This has been going on for several years. The tech group goes along and works on the “invertebrate study” which involves issues of water quality and presence of invertebrate species.
Students collect specimens – sometimes taking them back to the classroom in physical form and sometimes in digital form.
Once back at school, students continue to work with the images by creating multimedia projects based on their experiences in the field. The projects continue student involvement with experiences from the field.
I have commented previously on the curious, but contradictory perspectives of me and my “next farm” childhood friend (Lowell Monke). Lowell and I differ in our opinions of the potential of technology to help young children process their life experiences. Lowell, it seems, is a persuasive writer and I keep running across his work (Orion Magazine). Reading his material is a weird experience for me – the farm and elementary school experiences he describes as “authentic” in this article were identical to my own and often I was physically there at the same moment (his description of a common acquaintance Lee Anfinson).
I knew our farm—where the snowdrifts would be the morning after a blizzard, where and when the spring runoff would create a temporary stream through the east pasture. I could tell you where I was by the smells alone. Watching a massive thunderstorm build in the west, or discovering a new litter of kittens in the barn, I would be awestruck, mesmerized by mysterious wonders I could not control. One of the few moments I remember from elementary school is watching a huge black-and-yellow garden spider climb out of Lee Anfinson’s pant cuff after we came back from a field trip picking wildflowers. It set the whole class in motion with lively conversation and completely flummoxed our crusty old teacher. Somehow that spider spoke to all of us wide-eyed third graders, and we couldn’t help but speak back.
Ironically, my farm home no longer exists except in digital images and the school descrbed in Lowell’s article is no longer in service. This following picture of my home shortly before it was demolished was sent to me in an email from Lee Anfinson (the person described in the excerpt).
Near Pierson, Iowa – my farmstead is now only a grove of trees. The childhood homes of Lowell and Lee are still standing. (Thanks to Google Map)
Must be a constructivist thing – we each process our experiences to create our own truths – similar experiences or not. Probably a very important lesson here – it is not the experience (virtual or physical), but the mental interpretation we apply.
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