After reading Adopt and Adapt and Living and learning with new media I can say that I agree with a lot of it, but as always I have concerns and hesitations. I should point out that I liked Adopt and Adapt so much, I also used this as the blog of my choice selection, nevertheless, I will try not to repeat much from that post.
Both articles discuss a shift in the way education ought to be viewed. The recurring theme is use more technology, but use it with a different teaching style. A style whereby the class is working collaboratively on building something and don't limit it to just your class. Make your classroom 'flat' and collaborate with others around the world.
Students should have more say in their education and help guide it. Teachers and schools should listen to them.
"Adults who stand on the other side of a generation gap can see these new practices as mystifying and, at times, threatening to existing social norms and educational standards. Although we do not believe that youth hold all the answers, we feel that it is crucial to listen carefully to them and learn from their experiences of growing up in a changing media ecology."
The MacArthur report talks a lot about students on social networking sites and using that for education. I believe those sites have potential to be used for this, but I have to say I mainly use Facebook to update and get updates from friends and family. I find myself on the computer more now than ever before and that's the part I don't like, so although I support furthering the use of technology, I would hate to see an already less active generation of kids spend even more time in front of a screen.
The MacArthur report also stated:
"Rather than thinking of public education as a burden that schools must shoulder on their own, what would it mean to think of public education as a responsibility of a more distributed network of people and institutions? And rather than assuming that education is primarily about preparing for jobs and careers, what would it mean to think of education as a process of guiding kids’ participation in public life more generally, a public life that includes social, recreational, and civic engagement?"
Now, this I love! This is where I can see technology really helping. Too often now the quality of education is based on what district or country you live in. Are you in a 'good' school or 'bad' one? This has the potential to level the playing fields and give children in poor and/or isolated areas the chance for higher levels of education; that is of course assuming a system is in place to make sure even these areas have the technology available. For me learning is important, but if that isn't turned into useful action then what's the point. The world needs a lot of help and if this 21st century style of learning can help solve those problems, I'm all for it.
I love the leveling the playing field idea - and using technology to help solve some of the world's problems. I think I sent you this cute video by an elementary school in Australia about how students can make a difference every day at school. A good example of how we can all be contributing.
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