#5: Technology: Ever-Changing Tools

The two technologies we learned about this week were the printing press and the telegraph. Both technologies changed the way that people interacted with one another and information. “The Victorian Internet” notes how the telegraph was called the 19th century’s “highway of thought,” due to its ability to connect individuals across long distances over a short period of time (Standage, p. 2). The telegraph went through many design iterations, caused new tech to be invented alongside it (e.g. vacuum tubes), and created a culture and language of telegraphers (as well as people who abused it).

The lessons learned from the telegraph can be applied to any new technology. There are always pros and cons. The creators & investors will sing its praises, the skeptics will argue how we can do without it. The youth and growth-minded individuals will embrace and apply it in new situations, the criminals will abuse it.. Its impact on society and cognition may only be observed with use over time. Tech is also ever-changing. Just as the telegraph eliminated the need for sending letters across long distances, so did the telephone eliminate the need for a 3rd party telegrapher to be an intermediary between message senders. 

At the end of the day, technology is a tool through which we human beings interact with the world, but the tool needs to be used properly for optimum effect. We tend to be optimistic about new tech: it will change our lives, it will make us smarter/better/faster/stronger. This “technological utopianism” (Standage, p. 211)  holds technology as the panacea for all our problems, when it could possibly just end up causing more. Going 1:1 with student devices is supposed to close the achievement gap, engage all learners, create future ready citizens (who are experts in the 4 C’s), increase access to information, personalize learning, etc. In reality, I sometimes spend more time patrolling student gamers than supporting meaningful learning on the student Chromebooks. It is very easy to get caught up in all the bells and whistles of new tech, thus losing track of the ultimate goal of creating authentic learning opportunities for all students. Is the tool being used in a meaningful way to develop and internalize meaningful thought? Does it support learning? If your answer is “no,” best to rely on tried-and-true tools, while keeping an eye out for the next big thing.

Standage, T. (2007). The Victorian internet. Walker.

#4: Learn to Play, Play to Learn

How often have we teachers heard our students beg for partner quizzes or group projects? There’s something to be said about the importance of social interaction and group learning in the classroom. Over the past four weeks in the EDIT 780 classroom, we have collaborated with each other and have constructed our own ideas about the principles of school-based design, which we individually consume prior to class. Whether we are writing dubiously rhyming poetry or solving Priscilla’s maladies, this way of learning is far preferable to the standard PowerPoint lecture. 

Vygotky emphasized the importance of social interaction in his theory of the zone of proximal development (or “ZPD”): learning occurs when a student engages in “problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers” (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 86). A student who observes, imitates, and problem solves pushes his actual developmental level towards his potential developmental level as informed by his interactions with peers and with proper scaffolding from the teacher. Learning is situated in engaging collaboratively in an authentic context. Understanding is socially constructed by groups of practitioners: the students and the teacher, who models, coaches, and fades (Brown, Collins, Duguid, 1989). Hmm--I wonder if there is a reason why we read “Situated Cognition,” followed by Vygotsky? 😎

Vygotsky (1978) also discusses the role of play in engaging within the ZPD. While play can appear infantile and purposeless, (e.g. a child playing with a doll), a child develops behaviors and understanding via the actions taken and decisions made during play (e.g. understanding the role of a parent). Imaginary situations contribute towards how we will eventually act in real life. Schools are an environment where students can safely role-play in authentic activities without facing the consequences or pressures of the real, adult world. It is ok to make mistakes and to try again. It is in schools that students can imagine and imitate being the next generation of mathematicians, scientists, librarians, economists, meteorologists, etc. When taking on one of these roles, a student observes, imitates, makes decisions, problem solves, considers ineffective strategies, works in a group, etc. The teacher designs the activity or role-playing to include authentic concepts (structures) and activities (processes) that one would find in that community of practice. 

When creating tomorrow’s lesson plan, it is very easy to slip into the old habit of using last year’s PowerPoint presentations, worksheets, and assessments. This may be acceptable, so long as the resources promote learning within the ZPD and engage students in authentic learning activities. In the case of my AVID class--the goal of which is college and career readiness--I can always ask myself, “What do college students actually do and how am I designing this task to get my students to that point?” What are my Latin students actually doing that relates to the authentic practices of classicists? I do not have the full answer right now, but I can recognize that there is a lot of potential growth within the ZPD of the Doodles classroom.

Works Cited

Brown, John Seely, et al. “Situated Cognition and the Culture of Learning.” Educational Researcher, vol. 18, no. 1, 1989, p. 32., doi:10.2307/1176008.

Vygotsky, Lev Semeonovič. Mind in Society: the Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Harvard University Press, 1978.

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#3: Authenticity Matters

This week’s principle, the Knowledge Principle, directly echoes the main point of Brown, Collins, and Duguid’s 1989 research on situated cognition: students learn best when they learn to use the tools of a community while being immersed in the authentic activity and culture of that community. The classroom activities within school culture do not always reflect the activities done by authentic practitioners. Where else may students use math word problems outside the context of the math classroom? Will the declension of a Latin noun help you get a job after you graduate? Students are left not sure when and how they will use this arcane knowledge in a real world context.

Situated cognition research also suggests that knowledge is not assembled via piecemeal lessons. Learning happens through consistent use of the knowledge, or conceptual tool, situated in the context of a specific community. The more concepts are applied, or activated through different contexts, the greater the understanding of a concept is. Each activity done to teach a concept either forms or adds to conceptual knowledge, thus increasing the number of representations that a student has of that concept. 

I learned about the human brain’s learning networks this past spring. The big takeaway was that learning occurs when connections are activated between and within the three learning works. The more ways we have to conceive of a representation of a concept, the more neural pathways are activated. This idea loops back to what we know about tools: students must be immersed in and form connections with community learning in order to learn the authentic use of that tool. Our brains will not form those connections if knowledge is separated from an authentic context. Compare the students who learned new vocabulary from a dictionary to students who learned from engaging in conversation. Learning to use a new word in an authentic context is much more valuable than writing nonsense sentences on a sheet of paper, which will only end up in a binder.

Finally, we learned about two lesson design processes this week that relate to the tools and activities ideas of situated cognition research. Considering the structure, process, and discourse (SPD) of a discipline enables teachers to explore what people in a particular field actually do. The disciplinary SPDs may then be applied to the classroom context by considering what practitioner activities can be translated into student learning activities. Authentic, building knowledge, constructing, and sharing activities (ABCS) enable students to develop different areas of cognition by engaging in the environment, problem-solving, opportunities, and knowledge that are used by experts. Working with another classmate, we processed a set of economics SOLs into the SPD and ABCS that might be used in a real classroom; we analyzed the SPDs of an economist and turned those into authentic, classroom-based activities to support learning within a realistic community of economists. When we can see the current school culture as a problem, we can approach lesson design via a problem-solving lens. The SPD and ABCS are processes that educators can use to develop authentic concepts and activities within the expert culture.

#2: Build Our Youth for the Future

Created on Canva.org

If you teach in 2019, you have probably been told, “You must teach 21st century skills.” What are these highly coveted skills that students must learn in order to thrive in the 21st century and beyond? Are we creating a new generation of six-million dollar men and women--just because “we have the technology?” Most “21st century skills” literature discusses a need to prepare today’s youth for the world beyond school. The higher ed news website eCampusNews refers to these skills as “workforce skills.” Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association wrote that students must be competent in the 4 C’s-- “to compete in [a] global society.” The Common Core State Standards provide guidelines for reaching college and career readiness for all students. All three of these entities focus on life AFTER school AKA the end goal.

The Doodles crew--DDLS students--recently learned the second principle of design: the ends principle. Teachers apply the ends principle by designing learning with student outcomes in mind. Our job as teachers is to elevate our students to do and be better than when they entered our classrooms. The purpose of 21st century schools is to produce students who are: problem solvers, information users, community participants, knowledge users, literate, and ethical decision makers. You might say that students would be a real pickle in today’s world if they did not develop fluency in these skills.

Consider the case presented in J. Abner Peddiwell’s educational satire, The Saber-Tooth Curriculum. “Dr. Peddiwell,” also known as 20th century education figure Harold Benjamin, lectures about a paleolithic tribe that fails to develop a system of education that will ultimately lead to the betterment of its people. The system goes through many iterations but in the end lacks a clear vision for the purpose of education. A member of a rival tribe (on the other side of the mountain) remarks:

They do have something they call education, but it is just a collection of traditional activities, a machine which they worship for its own sake. The result is pitiful...They are forever blocked in attempts to better their lives by reason of having only mis-education, pseudo education, in place of real education.” (p. 135-136)

The tribe with pseudo-education “educates” its youth with the “degrading busyness” of rock play, relies on an oligarchical “board” of education, uses rare technology for the sake of using technology (e.g. using “rare” tigers in tiger-scaring exercises), and fails to change its paleolithic curriculum as the society changes. There is no ends principle in the minds of the paleolithic peoples; they stick to what is routine and reinvent the wheel any time the educational system needs to be shaken up a little bit. 

The satirical situation of The Saber-Tooth Curriculum is unfortunately as much a reality in the 21st century as it was when it was first published in 1939. The culture of schools is one in which abstract pieces of knowledge are taught, learned, tested, and forgotten. Knowledge, at this point, is just one tool in a student’s toolbox. The Profile of a Virginia Graduate calls upon students to become “life ready individuals” and to gain experience in content knowledge, workplace skills, career exploration, community engagement, and civic responsibility. The purpose and end goal of 21st century education is to prepare students to be “future ready” for life beyond school. 

Our job as teachers is to help students link what they are learning to what they are living through authentic learning opportunities. Instead of sticking to the status quo and teaching content that is no longer relevant, we must design a system of education with education’s #1 customer in mind: the student. We can prioritize empathizing with our students instead of implementing a teacher-centric system. We can be open to uncertainty and failure, as we traverse the unknowns of designing new educational opportunities. Perhaps we can even stop and enjoy a few daisies on the way.

#1: Teachers As Designers

Last week marked the start of my first fall semester in the GMU MEd program--with a concentration in Designing Digital Learning in Schools (DDLS). I had the opportunity to consider the work I would complete within this concentration:

• Designing: I will create solutions for problems of practice, including student learning and experiences.

• Digital Learning: I will facilitate learning that is “facilitated by technology that gives students some element of control over time, place, path and/or pace” (“What is Digital Learning,” n.d.).

• In Schools: I will design for my own context: my students, my content area, my classroom.

Prior to entering the DDLS program, I had not considered myself a “designer.” I am certainly an educator, a planner, a manager, a curator, and more--but not a designer. A teacher, unfamiliar with design thinking, may not consider the impact that he or she can have in addressing problems of practice via a design thinking lens. Henricksen and Richardson define “design thinking” as a systematic approach to coming up with solutions to authentic problems (2017). For a teacher, this means addressing challenges such as student engagement, utilization of technology, ever-changing instructional models, parents, administration, and more--but through a carefully considered approach. 

The work of a teacher is to “work with [students]...in action directed towards the betterment of their lives” (Benjamin, 2004, p. 14). As a “teacher designer,” my main focus will be on my students and their experience within my classroom. The ability to positively impact a student’s future is one of my most powerful tools. Student interest and input is crucial in the design of their education. My practice over the next two years will change greatly as I consider classroom challenges, student viewpoints, and the integration of technology via the design thinking process.

References

Benjamin, H. R. (2004). The saber-tooth curriculum. McGraw-Hill.

Henriksen, D., & Richardson, C. (2017, 09). Teachers are designers. Phi Delta Kappan, 99(2), 60-64. doi:10.1177/0031721717734192

What is Digital Learning? (n.d.). Retrieved from https://gosa.georgia.gov/what-digital-learning#_ftn1