The videos I decided to choose were somewhat related because each have an impact on the other to a degree. The first one is about the adolescent literary crisis (http://www.adlit.org/webcasts/makingroom), the second is concerned with how we can improve learning through free content usage through xml. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRymi-lFHpE), and the third video is on culture shock and how we need to mediate media relationships (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwyCAtyNYHw&feature=channel).
Why I thought the adolescent literary crisis was important was because if half of the students in today's schools can never get past the 4th or 5th grade reading level then how can we ever expect them to become technologically savy and adapt to the future of how information might be shared and learned. This crisis should be dealt with at an early age, but students who enter high school that read well below their grade level will be "doomed to a life of second class citizenship" if educators can't get them into an effective literary program. I see students struggling in my school when I ask them to read from a textbook on how to construct decision structures in programming and all I get is a deer in the headlights look.
Richard Baraniuk is an advocate of open source learning which may someday be the wave of the future throughout the educational world. He gave examples of how electrical engineers have constructed a "textbook" through the use of xml where free content can be shared and customized. This can be produced economically, published on demand, at at a fraction of the cost of a regular textbook. Teachers Without Borders are using this type of learning tool to share content knowledge, teaching strategies, and a variety of related information in their organization. If this were available to me as a principal perhaps the freeze on purchasing new textbooks might not of had to happen and I could give my students the newest resources in learning their content area in a more economically way.
The last video is concerned with the cultural shock of new media and how we need to be concerned with mediating media relationships in today's environment. We need to ensure that the information we get in cyber space is somewhat controlled and not deceptive, transparent, or distracting. As we learn new ways to share information we have to ensure that the information is reliable. Advances in technology are constantly improving and these new connections will be changing the way we teachers have to teach.
I found the following website http://mashable.com/2009/07/24/education-social-media/ which discusses the initiative "The University of the People" founded by the UN's Global alliance for Information and Communication Technology and Development (GAID). This initiative is designed to offer higher education opportunities to people who would otherwise couldn't afford it. The cost would never exceed $100. The concept is based on the open source learning leveraging social media ideas and technology. This initiative is also under study by President Obama as an alternative means of educating in America.
What a neat website! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteGood job on the assignment.