In our academic lives, we have books and articles that we regularly return to. The dog-eared pages of these treasured readings contain lines of text etched with questions or reflections. It's difficult to imagine a similar level of engagement with a digital text. There should probably always be a place for print in students' academic lives -- no matter how technologically savvy they become.
I agree, but know more and more folks may start to argue against this.
What distinguished this atypical group was that they actually read slower when the text was on the computer than when it was in a book.
I'd be curious to know what the digital text looked like -- did it have media embedded in it? Links? Distractions?
Teachers could make students aware that their ability to comprehend the assignment may be influenced by the medium they choose.
So, a self-reflection activity might be helpful and then providing choice for students ...
In other words, there's no "one medium fits all" approach.
Good point. I suspect that even in schools where one-to-one and iPad distribution has happened, print is still often being used as an anchor text format (or so I hope)
But when it came to specific questions, comprehension was significantly better when participants read printed texts.
I wonder if the marking up of text, and how it was done, matters. Did they know about search functions on a page of digital text? Did they use highlighters and marks on paper? I think there is some visual memory cues that come into play on paper (remembering the general location of an idea or fact, as if the paper were a map and your memory a sort of compass) as opposed to a digital page that has no real anchors. Interesting.
This appears to be related to the disruptive effect that scrolling has on comprehension.
This is interesting ... I want to know more ... I would think it would be more the media and hyperlinks that would lead to less comprehension, not the act of scrolling through text on the digital page.
Given this trend, teachers, students, parents and policymakers might assume that students' familiarity and preference for technology translates into better learning outcomes. But we've found that's not necessarily true.
See note about how you started this piece ...
Today's students see themselves as digital natives, the first generation to grow up surrounded by technology like smartphones, tablets and e-readers.
Really? This is how you start the piece, using this outdated and wrong reference point about the Native/Immigrant divide. Really?
I thought it would be worthwhile to parse this piece ... you are invited ....
The first wave of excitement about digital politics has passed, maybe even the second wave has bit the dust, and there are many reasons for skepticism, if not cynicism, about whether social media platforms enable users to challenge entrenched authority and change the world.
Perhaps we put too much into the possibilities of technology to help facilitate change. Or perhaps our view of what change is becomes part of the problem, and technology both amplifies and dampens those notions.
We are finding young people constructing new forms of the civic imagination, using the resources of popular culture to help them articulate what a better future might look like.
Imagining is the first step towards doing ...
internet comedy and music
That intersection between entertainment and politics is an intriguing one, particularly in countries that see dissent as dangerous. Humor and music may provide a screen, right?
Like many Americans, I still have much to learn about the conditions she faces in doing activist work in her region and like many Americans, I have stereotypes to overcome if we are to really be able to share lessons learned by young activists working in these two very different contexts.
Me, too. I appreciate the honesty of the statement ...
n the course of our research, we’ve found many such stories as young people have turned to video sharing and social media sites to circulate their own stories and in the process, learned to deploy their voices toward political ends.
Do you think there is more left-leaning activist youths doing this than right-leaning youths? It may be my own filter bubble, but I find it easier to discover progressive voices on the left than conservative voices on the right when it comes to youth movement with digital media. Can someone point me to places where I can hear those youth voices on the right?
the video’s circulation brought it to the attention of a diverse set of audiences
How do we know this? How do we know when a message isn't caught in an echo chamber? I suppose YouTube might know this through its data but on the outside, we can only make assumptions that her powerful voice is being heard.
shared the ways her schoolmates responded differently to her after 9/11, and discussed the chilling climate her family members faced as they went about their normal lives.
I wonder how many of her classmates watch her YouTube channel? What audience did she have in mind here? Was it to affirm her views on being an American and being a Muslim in Trumptimes, to help others like her? Or was it to provide a counter-narrative to the views of Muslims in America?
Nabela Noor
Here is her YouTube Channel ... https://www.youtube.com/user/NabelaNoor "Hey, e-cohort ..." she says on her opening video. I'm noticing that kind of invitation, and the acknowledgement of her audience.
Online courses are prone to cultures of surveillance.
Clarify: Online Courses sponsored by universities and organizations .... Do open courses have this issue and concern, I wonder?
diversity
Maybe. Maybe not. This act of diversifying is tricky across all sectors.
interface design shapes learning
So important ... design shapes so much of our interactions and we rarely think about how the design was determined (planned or unplanned)
Place is differently, not less, important online.
Different in that we are grounded not in physical space but in the shared, collective ideas of space, right? I wonder how much we misinterpret the places we think we are connecting in ...
We who have signed this letter
Anyone here sign the letter?
digital citizens
The "loaded" term .... both too nebulous to make much of a different and filled with fault lines ... even if the underlying intent is the right move (ie, we all have an obligation to each other)
We are builders at heart
Maker Movement reference here.
We must protect and nurture the potential to do good with it.
Always .. although this sometimes collides with "business models" of private industry, where much of the innovation takes place. This is the conundrum of the tech world: companies seeks to maximize profits while users seek to find new ways to make their lives better. Richer, but not in monetary terms. Is the answer that governments invest more in technology? (seems doubtful that would work in this day and age).
The Copenhagen Letter
Curious as to the origins of the letter itself ... where did it originate from? Who "wrote" it? What's the context here?
Distill
??? What's that?
Why
Indeedly do.
Webrecorder.io
new tool for me
Add some more in the comments or feel free to hypothesize in the margins.
Seems like a lot of fishing off the bank of the stream ... so curious of where the bite takes you.
digital hospitality
My next step is to re-engage
And now underway? In paper.
I am trying to “ante-up” by sharing digital objects
And it is appreciated. The storify is a good example of how curation can bind many people's ideas together.
asked to be left alone
And Joe later responded in a thoughtful post http://onewheeljoe.blogspot.com/2017/04/oops-and-ouch-reflecting-on-my-gendered.html
Reflecting on our research, the American Muslim youth we encountered were struggling to balance the benefits and risks of public expression. Determined to tell their stories and challenge existing stereotypes, they have turned to new media platforms and practices as a means to circumvent perceived roadblocks. As traditional advocacy organizations have sought to censor open discussions within the physical space of their local mosques, the youth have sometimes moved these discussions online, forging a potentially supportive peer-to-peer network. As stereotyped portrayals of Islam obstruct the development of a diverse and realistic understanding of their actual lives, American Muslim youth have used digital media tools to collect and share more authentic stories. As concerns over government surveillance have grown, the youth have harnessed humor to acknowledge and ultimately alleviate some of the resulting strain. As more conservative Muslims have slammed young American Muslims for transgressing Islamic norms, the youth have sometimes turned to each other for support. Sometimes. At other times, the youth have withdrawn and chosen silence as their supportive networks faltered under pressure.
This paragraph contains some key findings here ...
While the American Muslim youth we met certainly thought about top-down surveillance and anti-Muslim sentiment, many more were more worried about “friendly fire” from other, more conservative community members. Some of these critiques came from elders concerned about young people’s safety. Others came from youth with very stringent notions of what behavior is acceptable in Islam.
This addresses my query above ...
Such social surveillance can come from both inside and outside the Muslim community. Muslim peers and elders may dismiss and critique material young American Muslims share online.
I guess there is always cultural conflicts -- from within as well as from without
many of the youth-driven storytelling efforts we observed moved away from the “good” versus “bad” Muslim binary to express more complex, diverse, and morally ambiguous (yet still nonthreatening) American Muslim experiences.
Interesting ...
Some of the interviewed youth actively contributed American Muslim stories by creating, appropriating, and remixing content. Others were aware of such efforts and had circulated stories across their networks. Whether they told their own stories or shared others’, these expressive practices have much to teach us about the ways storytelling bridges cultural experiences and political concerns
I wonder, was there pushback for this kind of social media/cultural appropriation and remix from elders? Is there a line where this work might bend into inappropriate? (I guess there is always a line)
The stories Ali and Tariq collected contributed to, and also inspired others to join, a growing but dispersed storytelling movement that seeks to counter stereotyped perceptions through the circulation of narratives about the lived experiences of diverse groups of American Muslims.
The power of story to change our minds and combat stereotypes ... excellent!
Young American Muslims’ ongoing use of new and social media as a way to connect, share, and debate topics that may not be explicitly political builds “latent” capacity to mobilize toward political goals should such a crisis arise. Such circulation prepares the ground for those “monitorial” moments when, as Hurwitz explains, “politics comes to life” because of “great dissatisfaction with a current state of affairs and finds expression in ad hoc protest movements.” While often organizationally “ephemeral,” Hurwitz’s monitorial citizenship relies on “volunteers who foresee some national … crisis” (108). Functioning as crucial nodes, these volunteers not only “monitor” situations, they are also connected to networks that allow them to respond quickly, often bypassing more established organizational structures.
Interesting insight. So, the social networking is more than just connecting. It is building a network in the belief that it will be needed, for some crisis, down the road, and when that comes (which is considered inevitable), the network will be the center of survival or cultural identity or support.
Sharing media, with or without political dimensions, was crucial to maintaining these networks. The media youth shared included news reports on current events (like Michelle Bachman’s accusations against Huma Abedin and other Muslims in government that surfaced in July 2012), religious materials (motivational quotes from the Qu’ran), faith-based lifestyle topics (photos of food during Ramadan), and popular culture debates (the controversy surrounding whether or not young American Muslims chose to watch Zero Dark Thirty; see Hussein 2013).
And it reduces the sense of isolation. We are not Alone.
the young American Muslims we interviewed shared their determination to navigate expression in a climate where the odds are often stacked against them. The media these youth created, the networks they fostered, and concerns they articulated have much to teach us about both the opportunities and challenges of participatory politics for an emergent, marginalized American Muslim youth community.
This is an important point of discovery and inquiry ...
Many of the American Muslim youth we interviewed shared experiences of anti-Muslim prejudice growing up in America, which confirmed the findings of other studies of this population.
Tragedy always exposes fault lines. That these young people feel like targets for racism is sad. Not surprising, though, and maybe that is even worse (that they would be targeted is not a surprise in this current political climate)
In fact, many of the American Muslim youth efforts we encountered were not conceived as explicitly (or even implicitly) political. Nonetheless, they often assume political meanings as they circulate and reach broader audiences.
This is part of the interesting nature of the Networked World, right? Sort of like the game of Telephone, except not only is the story changing as it gets passed along, so too can the context of the story, and suddenly a non-political parody, for example, becomes interpreted very differently.
In particular, we highlight media making and storytelling as crucial dimensions of efforts by American Muslim youth to express, poke fun at, network, and mobilize around identity politics.
And where is the line that they might cross between civic duty to make visible the strange world of cultural identity and nationalistic politics, and the world of having data gathered on you in legal settings? How many don't even bother to find that line but instead, remain silent?
he is caught in a bind: he constantly juggles his desire to connect with others through social media with the awareness that his posts may be viewed (and possibly misunderstood) by audiences far beyond his intended networks.
In this way, the networked narrative takes on multiple meanings -- both as connector points and as means for being overheard and perhaps, having one's words (sometimes out of context) used against you.
A zookeeper?
Are we making fun of zookeepers now? Is there no barrier to low for this kind of comedy? I am alerting the Zookeeper Alliance immediately.
While you’re there, be sure to visit
I won't be there. This whole column is a travesty. Hasn't Trump made parody illegal? Isn't there a wall somewhere that negates this kind of humor?
Are you thirsty for a protest movement
I am already offended by the tone of this piece. Is it right to take a moment of cultural appropriation and appropriate it through the lens of humor? Who is this McSweeney anyway and why doesn't he/she get a life? Leave sweet sugar drinks alone!
Within these connections, there is the opportunity to educate, empower, and advocate for all learners, and for each other.
See Networked Narratives course for one way forward .... NetNarr
Participating in networked publics involves the need to better understand the challenges of participating and socializing in these online spaces.
Yep. We don't teach this ... very much.
We often speak to ourselves using a terminology and jargon that is unfamiliar and unwelcoming to a citizen who has not spent time in a graduate or doctoral program.
Which creates social and class divisions ... this played out in our US election
A perfect storm has erupted around the ways in which networked publics consume and critique information online.
More .. imperfect storm ...
emotional coddling
This statement no doubt comes on the back of "trigger warnings" of content and curriculum and campus events in some places. How widespread is the concept of Trigger Warnings, I wonder?
I encourage the academy, and all of those who advocate for its primacy, to consider the ways in which it has sheltered itself from the world, and to put on some boots, become deeply aggrieved, and be strong.
A solid call to action. Will it remain buried here in the bottom of Sean's piece? Or will it be sent across the channels of professors and administrators?
the Middlebury protest ended in violence muted its usefulness
Agreed. The violence became the story, not the criticism of Murray's views on race and intellect.
students are finding themselves on the front lines
We need their voices, and we need their passion. We need their calls for equity and social responsibility. We don't need the violence that mars the underlying importance of the protest.
Is it any wonder these students didn’t want to sit down for a chat with a (at least theoretically) eugenics enthusiast?
No, they prob would not. But that doesn't mean you shut a talk down. You can protest it in other ways. Certainly, Murray's views and writing needs a lot of pushback, as he is prob one of those who was on the fringes and now suddenly finds himself in vogue (in Trump/Bannon World, anyway)
if the level of rage and despair in student lives had been accurately assessed.
Let's also keep in mind the Middlebury demographics: mostly white, mostly upper middle class, many rich, and it has deep roots of white male power. A typical New England elite school. It is really despair that led to this? Or was it an opportunity for protest that got out of hand when the students realized their collective power in the moment?
It’s been strange and alienating to experience the drama of the Middlebury protest from a distance.
We have a friend of our family (friend of our eldest son) who just started at Middlebury in February and we've been wondering about him, and his impressions of the campus after this event.
“There are no devices allowed in this class.”
Curious to know if this was college level or high school or what? It does seem that public schools are only slowly realizing the computing power and possibility of devices in the classroom.
wanted there to be a continuum, a narrative,1:33that tracks the history of people1:37disseminating, collecting, sharing data.
Back to the question: Can data help tell the story? or does it obscure the humanity of the narrative?
ail system and the telegraph1:08and made Council Bluffs an enduring anchor1:13of the sharing of information.
The history of data points is on the ground, first, and then in the air, and then in the wires, and now, in the wireless.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tfmdv68nOck
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tfmdv68nOck and then https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLtHwTNVF5g
At $600/lb.
! ? !
Black laboratory anyone?
Holy crapola ...That's all we need: people setting up genome labs in their basements. Just saw Logan, and watching Stranger Things. "nuff said.
BS detection and deep searching
We need more of this. The world of BS is staggering in its growth.
Deadly rubber band weapons.
The first time we met, as roomates, you gave me a bunch of wicked strong rubber bands, right? You passed them to me, and said, Here you go. I remember thinking: Dang. What can I fire across the room today? But maybe I should have been thinking this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NxL2dHAQOo Now where did I put them?
several students doing podcasts
Awesome. Will they be public? Do they need an audience? What topics?
Why can't we all just be convivial toward each other and the planet?
Why, indeed. Is it really so hard? Perhaps we are on the cusp of finding more middle ground ... but I don't know about that. Not yet, anyway.
Terry Elliott
I know this dude ...
diversity of my web feeds
So important to be drawing in and refreshing our feeds ... so we expand and don't contract our views of the world ...
Yancey reminds us that the move toward new media in composition does not mean a move away from the written word. Digital and print overlap. They depend on each other and remediate each other.
Text may call to mind words only, but I am indicating the woven nature of this thing, distinct modes overlapping in a unique composition but also the various other texts (discursive and nondiscursive) to which this thing responds.
I appreciate this ...
Neil Gaiman
Still one of my favorite writers ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikAb-NYkseI
To write comics is to write from the middle, between modes. To read comics is to enter between panels.
This middle/muddle concept of writer/reader is certainly intriguing ... and although I still grapple with the whole D/G Rhizome Idea (or is it idea), I am curious to see how you use comics to bring us into the fold.
Best Practices in Digital Writing
Thank you for making this a visible companion to the previous BP about Writing
Similarly, in Teaching the New Writing: Technology, Change, and Assessment in the 21st-Century Classroom (2009), Herrington, Hodgson, and Moran suggest that writing and assessment are changing as teachers “develop curricula that teach students to use new media to compose, [to] communicate with others for a range of purposes, and to understand and act in the world around them” (p. 14).
Hey! I know that book!
In other words, unless teachers provide proper scaffolding and support, inquiry-based instruction can quickly turn into mass chaos.
Good insight ...
National Writing Project
go online
There is a space in the link that makes it a dead link. This will take us there: https://resources.corwin.com/writingrewired And a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ7yGkFO4fk
the MAPS heuristic for writing and thinking. Traditionally, this heuristic includes mode, audience, purpose, and situation. As you will see, we’ve added another essential M to this heuristic: media.
MAPS
And now, MEDIA
“Dream big, start small.”
The purpose of sharing these tools is not to define a single, preset suite of tools that students must go through in order to complete a research project.
Wise .... since any of these tools can go dead in a minute and be gone forever ...
We didn’t just integrate technology when it seemed convenient; instead, a variety of technologies were integral to the research process.
Important point -- I think it was Bud Hunt who once wrote that if you can do something without technology, why bother with technology? What we want is to find ways to make the technology integrated and central to the experience, to transform the learning and the practice.
research paper
Maybe we need a new name for what it is we hope students will do when they examine the world through interest and critical lenses ....
the increasingly myopic view of standards and assessments that dominate the current discourse about schools, as well as the changing nature of communication and commerce in our global world
These are odds with other ... but is there a way to bring them together? Perhaps that is your book. Maybe I should keep reading ...
connecting students with language and helping them interpret what they read, see, and hear, as well as the language they employ when sending their own ideas, questions, and reflections out to the world.
I agree .. and believe that our role as teachers has never been more important ... particularly when it comes to contextualizing technology for interactions with the world ...
Anyone would think that they'd be pleased to see the back of me.
But I'm still breathing ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnTZa4FY_7I
surveillance
The song that everyone thinks is about love but is really about surveillance in the Reagan years ... and now is coming back around again https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMOGaugKpzs
I was in their shoes once.
I smile at 'em
My margins are empty ...
I was just an ordinary woman
My Child, You are no ordinary woman at all. You were the One who saved your people and your world. In the end, your Love was more powerful than any virus. Sleep well. Sleep the sleep of heroes. Dream deep. The Gods watch over you.
It was a long time coming, but one night my husband located me and called to me from orbit. My heart leaped in my chest to hear his beloved and nearly forgotten voice. “Time to come home,” he whispered in my mind as I held my palm chip over my fluttering heart. “Oh yes,” I said, “oh yes.”
Yes. We let Him call to You. We folded His World into Your World. We let His Words dance across the skyline, from falling stars, so that you might hear Love again, and connect.
first warrior who fell out of the sky
What you say as "falling out of the sky," we see as the juxtaposition of folded worlds. Warriors from one world can find solace in those of another world, even a world in decline such as your own.
“I can do this, at least,” I thought, and in my own way fought like a warrior to save him.
And this is the moment we watched for -- the moment when Humanity reaches beyond itself to the Other. We were well-advised to watch your Story unfold this way, Child.
I was still on Earth
Yes, Child. And No. Our worlds spin in many different ways, and move beyond time and space. As Gods, we fold worlds on top of each other. As you do with Origami, so we do with worlds. Where the edge of one World meets another World, strange things can indeed happen.
It was just me
One is never just oneself. One is always Us, too. You were indeed a vision from the Gods. You wander but you are not Lost.
I wore a long green cape with stars printed on it.
As your choice was made, so too was your fate. And although you may not yet have faith, there are many among us who root for you and your survival. You have hidden prospects, buried deep into your soul. Find the map and the way forward will be revealed. Lose you way and all will be lost.
it seemed for a moment like there were paths going off in every direction, as if I had a choice
As Gods, we move in Metaphor. Your pipe journey was indeed one. Which path will you take? How will your heart guide you? Every path we take is important. Every choice -- the choice of a lifetime. Choose carefully.
It may have been pointing ironically out into the vast, sun-hammered alkali flats.
So it is. Yet. Hidden there, in the mirage, is the alternative world you cannot yet see. There are vast oceans and rivers, and a world of green as far as your eyes can see. But you cannot yet see it. And what you cannot yet see, you cannot yet experience. Time moves onward.
I tried to remember all of them
In this Remembering, we help. We ensure that you, who want to remember, will remember, and that the stories you tell in the future of this time will be balanced with the Good of the World. This is our gift to you.
It was as if some force had picked up my world and shaken all the people out of it like the last of the peppercorns, leaving me alone in a world of salt and abandoned mercury mines.
Indeed, Child. Indeed.
I hadn’t been able to save them
From the skies, we watched them. Watched her. Watched the ways they cared for one another. Or didn't. We wondered: what threads of Humanity might remain when faced with the challenges of a lifetime? Some might call us playmakers. But as Gods of the Sky, we were increasingly worried about Humanity. A challenge was in order. We did not know if they would meet the challenge.
bots
I am having trouble connecting bots to digital writing ... and hope some makes a good argument how the programmed bot is a piece of writing (not that I don't like bots for what they are)
Hypertext
I do love the associative underpinning of linked texts and media, and how one path leads to multiple paths, and maps that know no boundaries.
Networking
The expansion of the networked element of storytelling is huge with possibilities. Whereas a writer used to be able to tell a story, and hope for readers, now a writer can write with others, interact with readers, and update and expand the story in new directions. If they want.
transmedia storytelling
I think unpacking this term is really important, and difficult to do.
a fixed narrative playing out across multiple worlds
So, story as anchor points but the worlds revolve around the story, not the other way around. Interesting.
The ability to wander among the alternate worlds serves more as a framing device, a set of instructions on how to consider the film, than as a tool for exhaustive use.
This is where this article might best connect with Networked Narratives in a few weeks (I think). Making new worlds, but what stories will we tell?
“Possibilia” is a term of art in metaphysic
Ben-Shaul feared that, as technology dissolved the boundaries of conventional narrative, it could also interfere with essential elements of good storytelling. What was suspense, for example, if not a deliberate attempt to withhold agency from audience members—people at the edge of their seats, screaming, “Don’t go in there!,” enjoying their role as helpless observers? At the same time, why did the mechanisms of filmmaking have to remain static? Cautiously, he embraced the idea that interactivity could enable a newly pliant idea of cinematic narrative
I think this is an important point -- where is the line where the technology interferes with the storytelling (or vice versa? Is that possible?) But really, the way to find out is to do it and watch/see/listen
the book, he discovered, sought to explore every possible decision that its characters could make, every narrative bifurcation, every parallel time line. By chronicling all possible worlds, the author was striving to create a complete model of the universe as he understood it.
“We have to break out of the gimmicky use of interactivity, and make sure it is used to enhance a story.
story
Does this mean that what we can infer before and after the fish is not part of the "story"? Only what we see in the frozen architecture of the image is the story? I am not so sure about that.
the shattered moment
An animated gif is not a story.
Curious to know what others think. I am not sure, and hadn't really thought about it before. It's a bit too general of a statement -- I am sure someone somewhere (prob in some DS106 universe) is making gifs that could counter this claim. Love to see some.
At the heart of anything called a story is a shattered world.
Made her an image ... https://twitter.com/dogtrax/status/821910929843568642
When the centeropened, it was used first by African Americanyouth. Center staff found that young peopleparticularly those new to this countrywere notwilling to cross cultural boundaries until they haddeveloped some security in their own culturalgroup. Ultimately, the Trust, the ethnicassociations, and the Y acknowledged the needto strengthen the programming of the individualethnic associations while working to bring theiryouth together through the teen center'sprograms.
I imagine this is a significant barrier, even today
Scarce resources have caused intense com-petition between social service agencies vying forthe same dollars. Organizations work hard todistinguish themselves from one another, carveout their "turf," and convince funders (as well asthemselves) that the services they provide areunique and better than those provided by others.
This may still be true in a lot of places today ...
Many were surprised when alongstanding member of the community councilasked those present if they had "any problemwith 'us' being at the table." By "us" he meantgangs, and thereby revealed for the first timethat he was not only a member but a key officerin a gang. All present were asked their reactionto having gang members at the table. and mostindicated that it was not a problem.
Interesting aspect to how all groups had to have a say ...
a collaboration withlocal professional perform-ing arts and visual artsstudios to involve 400youth in a wide variety ofopportunities for artisticexpression
Cool! What happened to all these programs?
Mostfamilies turn first to their communities for sourcesof enrichment, support, and problem solving.Connections among providers and the people theyserve can be created and sustained most easily atthe community level.
True even today, which makes issues like bussing and ending neighborhood schools all the more painful for many communities
The proposed shift is from anexclusive focus on curing or preventing problemsfor some children and families to one that is alsoconcerned with promoting the development of allchildren and the functioning of families.
A move away from the "deficit model" (what's wrong) to a support model (here's how to impact change)
The goal-- improving the lives ofchildren, families, and communities-- is important,and the resources being invested, both humanand financial, are substantial
As always, a noble goal and one worth pursuing ...
guerillaconnectors
Has there been pushback from conference folks? (ie: they didn't pay so they can't attend?)
VCfeelslikeanexclusiveclub
I'm not sure how you escape this concern -- if you use existing channels and communities to reach out, then you are still in a narrow audience field. Whether the "exclusive club" moniker works or not, there is a constant struggle to expand the boundaries of access points and a variety of vojces.
inancial,logistical,socialorhealthreasons
I appreciate this statement .. it's an access issue ...
VCthereforeallowsvirtualconference participants tomeetandtalkwithconferencepresentersandattendeesinwhatoftenfeelslike spontaneous hallway conversations. Thereis room fortenconnecteddevicesineachvirtual conversation - thelimitation of Google hangouts on air.
Any other platforms beside Google being used? Don't put all eggs in one basket. We know how that goes. I also am shaking off a Max Headroom) vision, of people walking around with computer screens of people's faces. :)
Informal conversations thatoccur outside of the scheduled organized sessionsareanessentialyet overlooked knowledge-sharingaspect of conferences.
This is true ... the hallways are often hives of activities
We can change the world for the better.
Now you are talking my language! (I'm not sure of all that came before this ...)
channels
Perhaps a few that tunnel down below sight, below the surface, might be necessary ....
combinatorial
But we rarely recognize how wonderful it is that a person can traverse an entire lifetime without making a single really serious mistake — like putting a fork in one’s eye or using a window instead of a door.
And yet ... some do ...
Schools do not have feedback loops even though they exist within larger feedback loops.
Interesting observation ... wondering and wanting more of this insight ....
If it leaves a digital trail, if it is owned by someone else
Yes, this is something I think about. Even as I try to teach my students about their "digital footprint," I am contributing to it by having them do things via tech that leaves a footprint ... for a company to target them with marketing or for the government to track them (potentially). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsPUKtHis8Y
post-school view of learning
Ok .. yes, this should always be in our vision ... but isn't this for self-drive learners? Autodidacts? Who gets left behind if we have way forward for those not in the system? I am not defending the status quo ... but wondering about who learns and who doesn't? I suppose you don't mean replace one with the other ...
mirror
Writing, the remembering; Inside, remembering the writing.
civic imagination
This term has me intrigued, Mia
I am trying to respond here (to this annotation for a post about annotation) in image alone (well, except for this) as a way to amplify the amplifier (and let's turn this bad boy up to 11, right?)
Suffice to say that when we help students into those unregulated spaces where their learning is unfettered by institutional management systems, assessment deadlines and fair use rules, we are not sending them into the country of the free. We are sending them to the data warehouses of Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Weiner. We’re sending them into a world of increasingly de-regulated private learning, where the sales team at Trump University can promise you the educational sky if you are only willing to max out on your credit card. Let’s be very careful what disruptions and transformations we wish on them.
Wow .. well-stated and a constant worry on my mind when I teach my young students. It's more important than ever to teach our students how to keep a clear mind and a clear eye on what is being done with their data, and why. Nothing is free. Nothing. Unless you build it and host it yourself. And who does that?
Thank you for reading.
Thank you for writing .... and letting us wander around the space beyond your words ...
In digital space we are constantly choosing. Click and sign. Send a message. Vote x out of the tent/chair/jungle. We have the illusion of elective power but none of the responsibilities of citizenship.
Interesting point ... well-taken
resilience
And maybe that means us, too, recognizing that our values are not represented by the majority of voters who elected Trump to the presidency. By "us," I mean us, the educated elite from the coasts. Or by us, maybe I just mean me. We need resilience, too. And perseverance.
Let’s remember that was the promise. Not the freedom to order white goods in the small hours, or to spit bile below the line when any liberal (especially non-white, especially female) person feels empowered to speak.
Yes, this gets lost in much of the shuffle -- the original notions of the open web and free access to information -- or at least, that was the myth that the web was built upon -- and then it became the commercial marketplace it is now. Not everywhere. But more places than one would feel comfortable about.
in a culture where everyone has access to values-based conversations, people above and below the median level of formal education are joining different conversations.
Here is a critical point -- we are missing each other in conversations. Do we even know the other is having a conversation?
The ironies abound
Indeed. Yet. Yet I am more apt to read a book by Troy (and just about anyone, really) away from the technology. I don't think I am Old Skool, like that, but the seamlessness of an ebook connecting to media beyond the book have not yet captivated me as a reader (for the most part). Am I not a digital reader?
he uses the computer as a key actor in the text, but it is all controlled by him.
This is an interesting observation. "using the computer as a key actor" -- and yet, not losing the human agency behind the technology that creates the piece of "writing" (text,composition) that might transform it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLlGopyXT_g
"Teach the writer, then the writing, then the technology."
Troy Hicks frequently uses the words "intentional" and "deliberate" to highlight the need for writers to conscientiously think through composing digital texts.
I think these two words -- intentional and deliberate -- guide how we should be teaching digital writing yet part of me, the one who identifies as a "digital writer," also wonders if "chance" and "experimentation" aren't key elements of how we discover what digital writing is. Is this the tension between the teacher (Students should know this .. and this ...) and the writer (I have something to say but I don't quite know how to say it ... yet ... so let me try this ... and this ...)
Troy Hicks
I just wanted to point folks to Troy's blog
Hello everyone .. as part of the CLMOOC/DigiWriMo Pop-Up Make Cycle, we thought it might be interesting to dive into this interview with Troy Hicks about the nature of Digital Writing. Troy may join us in the margins, too.
This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and even it can inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise, it's nothing but wires and lights in a box. There is a great and perhaps decisive battle to be fought against ignorance, intolerance and indifference.
They would like us to believe that they can distinguish between the public good and the private or corporate gain.
I do not advocate that we turn television into a 27-inch wailing wall, where longhairs constantly moan about the state of our culture and our defense.
But this nation is now in competition with malignant forces of evil who are using every instrument at their command to empty the minds of their subjects and fill those minds with slogans, determination and faith in the future.
prescient words ....
One of the basic troubles with radio and television news is that both instruments have grown up as an incompatible combination of show business, advertising and news. Each of the three is a rather bizarre and, at times, demanding profession. And when you get all three under one roof, the dust never settles.
So what does it mean now when our President-elect is a star of television reality show?
The Dust Never Settles
it remains a fact that the newspapers and magazines are the only instruments of mass communication which remain free from sustained and regular critical comment.
Note that Trump is already engaged in a war of words with the New York Times, which has vowed to redouble its efforts to keep our leaders accountable. Trump doesn't like that, apparently. http://www.newsday.com/news/nation/the-new-york-times-tweets-reply-to-trump-comments-on-coverage-1.12612278
For surely we shall pay for using this most powerful instrument of communication to insulate the citizenry from the hard and demanding realities which must indeed be faced if we are to survive.
We can make the leap from the radio that he is talking about to the social media in our lives today. Perhaps no matter the age, some form of media is shaping the way we think and interact with the world, as we shape the media. (Some would argue it is only one way or the other -- it shapes us or we shape it, but I suspect it is both)
do-it-yourself
This just might do nobody any good.
Not always the best way to start an essay. But this rhetorical stance certainly sets the stage for what Murrow is talking about and why he is articulating his thoughts
We still believe in make believe.
Make/ this belief/ something/ worth believing in/ so that you can forget/ I exist, and I can believe/ you're no longer/ there
black wind blowing
Listen to Coltrane fuse experimental jazz
Like "rhetoric," "imitation" sounds pejorative today: a fake, a knockoff, a mere copy.
Actually, I don't know his perception of "imitation" is true to younger generation peeps. They may see it as an extension of "remix" -- of how memes are created and shared, of how video techniques are re-used, etc. Perhaps, imitation is a loaded word, meaning "you were too lazy to come up with your own ideas so you stole someone else's ideas."
Because thinking and speaking well form the basis of existence in a community, rhetoric prepares you for every occasion that requires words.
Good point ... we need to shape our thinking before we shape our writing, for our writing is a reflection of our thinking ... or so one hopes (?!?)
critical thinking; clear communication; collaboration; and creativity. (To these "4Cs," I would add "curiosity.")
I like this alliterative list ... and appreciate the "curiosity" element
this unrelenting assessment has stunted your imaginations.
Sigh
your course offerings in art, drama, music, history, world languages, and the sciences were all too often set aside "to create more time for reading and math instruction."
I hate that this is true ...
Your generation is the first to have gone through primary and secondary school knowing no alternative to a national regimen of assessment.
Ack ...
How is technology changing our memories?
Intriguing considerations ... with significant implications ... (and see below, Who owns our data? ... if they own our data, do they also own our memory?)
Are we more connected or more lonely?
Lots of researchers working on this one ...
I want students to embrace technology and to love it, but also to think about the nature of technology. I want them to think beyond simply “how does this work?” and into the deeper questions about how technology is shaping our connected world.
As should we all ... thank you, John
Who owns your data?
Many good questions here -- this one rises to the top for me and for me as teacher of my students. You, too, probably.
Sure enough, they are selling a book
Of course ...
NPR story
Link to NPR: http://www.npr.org/2016/09/20/494733654/atlas-obscura-tour-of-manhattan-finds-hidden-wonders-in-a-well-trodden-place
I noticed people sharing a few random articles from Atlas Obscura
Funny ... I was going through the same thing in my head when I saw this post by John.
What is the relationship between virtual learning spaces and the pedagogies being enacted? And what are students actually doing while they are learning anywhere, anytime?
Key questions we should always be asking ourselves: I use Google Apps for Ed with my sixth graders ... but I don't always feel I do a great job with having them notice the entire ecosystem of Google. Partly, it's because I worry about putting all of our eggs into the Google basket (and that brings up privacy issues and OneToRuleThemAll concerns, and worries about PlugGetsPulled). So I feel as if I don't have a fully articulated sense of the ecosystems of online components of our writing and media spaces. Maybe I should ...
Incorporating all of these modes and hybrids are Collectives where the crowd acts as a single user. In this circumstance, collectives organise learning through the use of algorithms, allowing the user some amount of control and autonomy.
Wondering about this ... I could use an example of what this looks like in practice ....
Communities of Interest:
Big fan of this idea ... we find our people (but try to avoid the echo chamber so that all our people don't necessarily think just like us)
Communities of Practice
These, in my experience, are often mandated in schools by top-down decisions. Sometimes, it works. Sometimes, it doesn't work. You often don't have a choice. You meet with your COP.
Groups are social forms where individuals deliberately join others with shared goals and identify with group norms and behaviours. Nets are social forms where the connections between individuals and sometimes clusters of individuals are what bind them together. Sets are social forms where people may have no knowledge of others in the set but are clustered by commonalities between them. This may lead to strong identification and trust in some cases, but not typically.
Intrigued by places where these overlap, too. And you have me wondering about where CLMOOC fits? Digiwrimo? Rhizo? My colleagues at school? A twitter hashtag as place for connection?
However, I wonder if the focus on anywhere, anytime overlooks the complexities of the pedagogies and practices in these spaces? The question that seems to get overlooked is what do the complexities within these spaces look like, how do the different roles and relationships change and what are influences and expectations on pedagogy and practice?
Excellent probing question -- one we may be taking for granted? I'm not sure. But I appreciate the deeper look here at what we not just call these clusters of peeps but how different variations of those clusters may provide different opportunities ... and how we often dip our toes into various elements without wondering what each brings to the table.
Katie
Nice job, Katie. This was just what I needed.
We ask our teachers to innovate, differentiate, and create awesome learning experiences for our students. But do we provide our teachers with awesome learning experiences? Can they take risks? Exercise curiosity? For a lot of teachers, they can’t.
This is often the heart of the matter for many teachers. Leadership from the top does not provide them enough space to take chances. Some do it anyway (God bless them and protect them from spiteful school administrators) but the middle majority is wary of stepping on toes and risking the wrath of administrators. I am heartened by the number of admins in IMMOOC and hope they are sharing widely with their own networks.
efore I knew it, my students were teaching other teachers on campus how to get their students collaborating using GAFE!…Embracing change can lead to innovative experiences for our students!
Empowerment of students is powerful ...
A real teacher is constantly changing, giving up, and adding in. Not for the sake of change, mind you, but for the betterment of learning.
Great insight ... we are all always learning and adapting to new environments and new possibilities
10 years
Ack.
Not long at all.
The learning environment can be an innovation in itself.
This is something I need to think more about ... I'll have to explore how the physical layout of space might change the way my students learn and engage. I am not a row person, but I do mix things up. Not strategically, though. Or not for learning. More for classroom dynamics.
I too, have often associated innovation and innovators with amazing new technology, systems, designs and ideas created by brilliant minds.
Maybe "innovation" is not the right term, then. If so many of us have associations (as I do, echoing Nathan here), maybe the naming of it is not right. Actually, I don't have any suggestions. Just wondering out loud in the margins ...
What is the purpose of education? Is innovation necessary in education? How are you embracing change to spur innovation in your own context?
These are good guiding questions ... broad enough for many entry points ...
More discussion here using Hypothes.is (digital annotation right here)
Funny ... I can't connect the text markings to your comments here. I see your comments in the margins (that place where you and I often live) but not as highlighted in the text on the page. Digging in deeper to see if I can find them ... might be some odd formatting via Amazon (You Must Only Annotate Our Text in Our Format!!)
These shifts are accelerated by access to technology that has transformed how we learn. However, making these shifts equitable across countless classrooms is more than purchasing technology or creating creative learning spaces. In order to reimagine classrooms and to leverage technology, educators need opportunities to develop new skills, knowledge, and dispositions to create opportunities for deeper learning that align with the world we live in.
This is where Step One should happen -- re-imagine Professional Development for teachers, and move away from the Stand/Deliver Sit/Listen sessions that do very little to move the needle forward. The National Writing Project's model of "teachers teaching teachers" and interactive PD sessions, where reflective practice and collaboration is at the heart of teacher learning, is a model I turn to all the time.
There is wide agreement that we need to rethink the outdated factory model of education to meet the needs of all learners in our schools.
While I agree with you, I am not sure it "wide agreement" enough to see policy changes reflect that thinking. Granted, the educational system is a slow-moving freight train. But if there was enough momentum for a shift, it would be happening all over, not just in pockets.
We cannot prepare students for these careers that don’t yet exist, we must equip them to be able to adapt and work in a world that is complex and dynamic.
This the most difficult part of being an educator. I teach sixth grade. Eleven year olds. What will the World be like for them when they graduate high school? College? Who knows? So, focusing on critical thinking skills is important -- and collaboration and problem-solving. As we identify skills that translate across disciplines, and time, we do justice to the learners in our spaces.
Educators need to better understand and attend to the misalignment in the workforce job skills and our educational system that leave over half of college graduates to be under-employed or under-qualified for their jobs.
It seems to me that we need to do more to value and support and enhanced our Vocational Education System, which we have often underfunded and devalued as a place for those who can't cut it in academic/traditional high school settings. If we rethink Voke Ed, we could create powerful pathways for many students into the trade fields and beyond.
According to the report, the skills that will be in high demand by 2020 are: Complex Problem Solving Critical Thinking Creativity People management Coordinating with Others Emotional Intelligence Judgement and Decision Making Service Orientation Negotiation Cognitive Flexibility
These are all excellent anchor points, and articulated well. Thank you for sharing this.
Hmm .. page notes? I guess I would note that this page is a post about digital writing. Or not. It's a debate playing out in the margins of the post. Karen kindly represented some interesting criticisms of digital writing.
