I was stumbling around Facebook late one night (ok, tonight... and it's currently 4:00 AM...) when I came across this article:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/social.media/06/08/twitter.school/
The headline reads: "Twitter Finds a Place in the Classroom."
The article basically follows a middle-school teacher who, instead of shunning the use of technology, allows his students to be on the internet, "as long as they're using Twitter." As he lectures in class, he poses questions to the students. Now, whereas before only a select group of students would consistenly speak up, he now finds that he is getting a more well-balanced response from the class via Twitter.
This article really got me thinking... Although I'm so much of a social media whore nowadays (I've got Facebook, Twitter, Blogspot, Tumblr, LinkedIn, and Youtube AS WELL AS three emails) that any article related to this kind of medium will get me "thinking."
ANYWAY, I got this off of a friend who at first shot down the idea outright, speaking of getting the children AWAY from their "extreme dependency on technology." However as soon as I read this article I thought to myself, "huh..."
Sure, on one hand the internet can be a very sketchy place, and many people will argue that it has no place in the classroom, BUT:
WHAT IF we were to create an environment on the internet, a sort of safe haven forum that allows everyone to participate in an intelligent manner? What if we then took this idea of a "safe zone" and applied it to people who are just coming to realize the internet's potential?
By starting in middle school, we would be able to "get them" while they are still young, and uncolored by the distractions that are facebook and youtube and what have you. This would teach the students that the internet is more than just a cheap dick joke or meme-source; it's a place of discussion and intelligence.
Also, as stated at the beginning of the post, the teacher in question noticed that he got a wider base of response from his class, not just the kids that always tend to "dominate classroom discussions." The slight anonymity that the internet (and in this case, Twitter) has given his class allows a lot of his shyer students the opportunity to speak where they may not have felt comfortable before.
And maybe, just maybe, by reaching out to the students in this way, we can see a change in how the internet is run, where facebook and intelligent conversation can run side-by-side.
Now, I realize that this is EXTREMELY and utterly optimistic and idealistic, but I think that by starting young, and by fostering an environment that is both safe and intelligent, these children might be able to change the way the internet is perceived (at least by a lot of America, at any rate).
A lot of people find it a lot easier to parse their ideas through a written form instead of a verbal communication, myself included. It's easier to formulate a thought, make a coherent argument, back it up, and disseminate it through the internet than it is in an oral form such as answering a question in a discussion class. In this day and age, I'd wager most communication nowadays does happen through the internet and other forms of written communication, so it logically makes sense to teach students skills to improve their writing skills than necessarily their oral participation. This, furthered by the fact that the internet is in many ways the "great equalizer" where anyone and everyone can have roughly an equal opportunity to speak and be heard, makes for a compelling argument to increase technology use in schools.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I am also quite the social media whore as well, so naturally I agree with you completely on the substance, but I honestly feel that many people just discount internet use and the like because of stereotype without actually thinking about the potential benefits of structured use. And, of course, structure is important. Giving students free reign to play WoW and browse facebook when they're supposed to be listening to a lecture or answering discussion questions will result in disaster. But utilizing tools found online for educational purposes in a deliberate and limited way can be quite beneficial to the learning experience, and allow students to develop skills which will help them navigate through technology into their future.