What If? Why Not?
Kay A. Ferrell, Ph.D.
NCLID
What If . . .
Smoke signals are the only way to communicate.
This invention will produce forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn to use it, because they will not practice their memory. Their trust in writing, produced by external characters which are no part of themselves, will discourage the use of their own memory within them. . . .
You offer your pupils the appearance of wisdom, not true wisdom, for they will read many things without instruction and will therefore seem to know many things, when they are for the most part ignorant and hard to get along with, since they are not wise, but only appear wise.
Egyptian Myth of Theuth and Thamus,
Recounted by Socrates to Phaedrus
in Phaedrus, or the Ethical or Beautiful by Plato
"Students today can't prepare bark to calculate their problems. They depend on their slates which are more expensive. What will they do when the slate is dropped and it breaks? They will be unable to write!"
Teachers' Conference, 1703
"Students today depend on paper too much. They don't know how to write on a slate without getting chalk dust all over themselves. They can't clean a slate properly. What will they do when they run out of paper?"
Principals' Association, 1815
"Students today depend too much upon ink. They don't know how to use a pen knife to sharpen a pencil. Pen and ink will never replace the pencil."
National Association of Teachers, 1907
"Students today depend upon store bought ink. They don't know how to make their own. When they run out of ink they will be unable to write words or ciphers until their next trip to the settlement. This is a sad commentary on modern education."
The Rural American Teacher, 1928
"Students today depend on these expensive fountain pens. They can no longer write with a straight pen and nib. We parents must not allow them to wallow in such luxury to the detriment of learning how to cope in the real business world which is not so extravagant."
PTA Gazette, 1941
"Ballpoint pens will be the ruin of education in our country. Students use these devices and then throw them away. The American values of thrift and frugality are being discarded. Business and banks will never allow such expensive luxuries."
Federal Teachers, 1950
Have you also heard . . .
I don't think we'll have a wireless network at NYISE anytime soon. . . .
"We can't let them use calculators in middle school. If we do, they'll forget how to do long division or how to multiply three digit numbers by three digit numbers. What will they do when they don't have access to a calculator?"
"You can't use those calculators on the test."
"Why are you writing a grant for a classroom set of graphing calculators? We'll never be allowed to use them and -- even if we can -- that's only one class, and parents in other classes will never buy them for their students."
"Why would you ever want the Internet for student use? It's just the latest fad -- they need to use the library."
"We don't need a web page for [NYISE]. Who's ever going to look at it?"
You can't train teachers online .
"Teachers will never use email."
"Why do you want network drops at every teacher's desk? You're not thinking of getting a computer for all of them are you?"
"What can you do with an LCD Projector that you can't do with an overhead projector?"
"Why are we talking about students having laptops? I don't think most parents will even give their kids their old computer, much less buy them a new one."
"Why would I want to put my grades on the web? Who's going to look at them?"
"Why would I teach keyboarding? I don't teach touch-typing until Grade Two."
"Introduce contractions as they naturally occur in the reading curriculum."
"Start with Grade One braille, then teach Grade Two."
"Kids need to master braille before they can have a braille notetaker."
Turn off and put away all Cell Phones, iPods, and Electronic Devices during class!
"Has Kay Ferrell gone loony?"
Colleague, in response to A Call To End Vision Stimulation
What If . . .
We had listened?
The World is Different
The Workplace |
Farmers are checking soil moisture from their hand-held computers, and factory workers are guiding robots. |
Education |
Teachers are serving as facilitators, exploring with their students the vast world of ideas and information. |
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The World is Different
Health Care |
More efficient systems are linking together county, state, and federal facilities, accelerating the study, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases through networked applications and medical databases. |
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The World is Different
Public Safety |
Officials are gaining access to instantaneous emergency-response information and inter-operation of critical equipment regardless of jurisdiction. |
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The World is Different
Government |
Free and universal access to information is increasing for all citizens, whose informed opinions are in turn shaping policy and fostering greater global democracy. |
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The World is Different
Ethics |
Ethical issues are no longer just about right and wrong but also about informed choices between two rights--such as doing all we can to save lives and allowing people to die with dignity. |
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Teachers are stuck in the 20th century. Students have rushed into the 21st. How can schools catch up and provide students with a relevant education?
Marc Prensky
21st Century Learning Skills
Digital-age Literacy
Inventive Thinking
Effective Communication
High Productivity
Digital Age Literacy
Basic Literacy |
Language proficiency (in English) and numeracy at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job and in society to achieve one's goals and to develop one's knowledge and potential in this Digital Age. |
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Digital Age Literacy
Scientific Literacy |
Knowledge and understanding of the scientific concepts and processes required for personal decision making, participation in civic and cultural affairs, and economic productivity (National Academy of Sciences, 1995). |
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Digital Age Literacy
Economic Literacy |
The ability to identify economic problems, alternatives, costs, and benefits; analyze the incentives at work in economic situations; examine the consequences of changes in economic conditions and public policies; collect and organize economic evidence; and weigh costs against benefits. |
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Digital Age Literacy
Technological Literacy |
Knowledge about what technology is, how it works, what purposes it can serve, and how it can be used efficiently and effectively to achieve specific goals. |
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Digital Age Literacy
Visual Literacy |
The ability to interpret, use, appreciate, and create images and video using both conventional and 21st century media in ways that advance thinking, decision making, communication, and learning. |
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Yes, even for students who are blind or have low vision. . .
eDescription
Digital Age Literacy
Information Literacy |
The ability to evaluate information across a range of media; recognize when information is needed; locate, synthesize, and use information effectively; and accomplish these functions using technology, communication networks, and electronic resources. |
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Digital Age Literacy
Multicultural Literacy |
The ability to understand and appreciate the similarities and differences in the customs, values, and beliefs of one's own culture and the cultures of others. |
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Digital Age Literacy
Global Awareness |
The recognition and understanding of interrelationships among international organizations, nation-states, public and private economic entities, sociocultural groups, and individuals across the globe. |
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21st Century Learning Skills
Digital-age Literacy
Inventive Thinking
Effective Communication
High Productivity
Inventive Thinking
"In effect, because technology makes the simple tasks easier, it places a greater burden on higher-level skills.“
(International ICT Literacy Panel, 2002, p. 6).
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Inventive Thinking
Adaptability and managing complexity |
The ability to modify one's thinking, attitudes, or behaviors to be better suited to current or future environments; and the ability to handle multiple goals, tasks, and inputs while understanding and adhering to constraints of time, resources, and systems (e.g., organizational, technological). |
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Inventive Thinking
Self-direction |
The ability to set goals related to learning, plan for the achievement of those goals, independently manage time and effort, and independently assess the quality of learning and any products that result from the learning experience. |
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Inventive Thinking
Curiosity |
The desire to know or the spark of interest that leads to inquiry. |
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Inventive Thinking
Creativity |
The act of bringing something into existence that is genuinely new and original, whether personally (original only to the individual) or culturally (where the work adds significantly to a domain of culture as recognized by experts). |
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Inventive Thinking
Risk Taking |
The willingness to make mistakes, advocate unconventional or unpopular positions, or tackle extremely challenging problems without obvious solutions, such that one's personal growth, integrity, or accomplishments are enhanced. |
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Inventive Thinking
Higher-Order Thinking and Sound Reasoning |
The cognitive processes of analysis, comparison, inference and interpretation, evaluation, and synthesis applied to a range of academic domains and problem-solving contexts. |
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21st Century Learning Skills
Digital-age Literacy
Inventive Thinking
Effective Communication
High Productivity
Effective Communication
Teaming and Collaboration |
Cooperative interaction between two or more individuals working together to solve problems, create novel products, or learn and master content. |
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Effective Communication
Interpersonal Skills |
The ability to read and manage the emotions, motivations, and behaviors of oneself and others during social interactions or in a social-interactive context. |
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Effective Communication
Personal Responsibility |
Depth and currency of knowledge about legal and ethical issues related to technology, combined with one's ability to apply this knowledge to achieve balance, integrity, and quality of life as a citizen, a family and community member, a learner, and a worker. |
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Effective Communication
Social and Civic Responsibility |
The ability to manage technology and govern its use in a way that promotes public good and protects society, the environment, and democratic ideals. |
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Effective Communication
Interactive Communication |
The generation of meaning through exchanges using a range of contemporary tools, transmissions, and processes. |
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Effective Communication
According to leading researchers, caution should be exercised when attempting to link high-stakes testing and high standards to the creation of a productive workforce (Levin, 2001). Levin's studies in the 1990s led him to conclude that how well students do on current tests in no way correlates to how productive they will be in the workforce.
Copyright © 2004, Learning Point Associates
21st Century Learning Skills
Digital-age Literacy
Inventive Thinking
Effective Communication
High Productivity
High Productivity
Prioritizing, Planning, and Managing for Results |
The ability to organize to efficiently achieve the goals of a specific project or problem. |
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High Productivity
Effective Use of Real-World Tools |
The ability to use real-world tools--the hardware, software, networking, and peripheral devices used by information technology (IT) workers to accomplish 21st century work--to communicate, collaborate, solve problems, and accomplish tasks |
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High Productivity
Ability to Produce Relevant, High-Quality Products |
The ability to produce intellectual, informational, or material products that serve authentic purposes and occur as a result of students using real-world tools to solve or communicate about real-world problems. These products include . . . |
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High Productivity
Ability to Produce Relevant, High-Quality Products(cont'd) |
. . . persuasive communications in any media (print, video, the Web, verbal presentation), synthesis of resources into more useable forms (databases, graphics, simulations), or refinement of questions that build upon what is known to advance one's own and others' understanding. |
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How Do We Get There?
Stay focused.
Take on something doable.
Build bridges.
Honor and extend existing work.
Make decisions at the system level.
Copyright © 2004, Learning Point Associates
Do You Use These with Your Students?
Pod casts
Blogs
Wikis
www.UnitedStreaming.com
www.TeachersDomain.org
Digital Storytelling
Copyright © 2004, Learning Point Associates
Digital Immigrants
"Those of us who were not born into the digital world but have, at some later point in our lives, become fascinated by and adopted many or most aspects of the new technology are Digital Immigrants."
Marc Prensky
Digital Natives
Our students are all Digital Natives, native speakers of the digital language of computers, video games, and the Internet.
We don't speak the same language . . .
As Digital Immigrants learn to adapt to their environment, they always retain, to some degree, their "accent," that is, their foot in the past.
The "digital immigrant accent" can be seen in such things as turning to the Internet for information second rather than first . . . . or in reading the manual for a program rather than assuming that the program itself will teach us to use it.
Today's older folk were "socialized" differently from their kids, and are now in the process of learning a new language.
And a language learned later in life, scientists tell us, goes into a different part of the brain.
Questions To Ask Yourself on New Technologies
Is it focused on student learning?
Are there observable results?
Does it meet the standards?
Can it show results?
Does it increase research skills?
Does it improve communication skills?
Questions To Ask Yourself on New Technologies
What about accountability?
Does it improve student collaboration?
Does it help students communicate globally?
Does it help students deal with massive amounts of information?
Does it teach our students to be self-directed and understand how to organize more of their own learning?
So . . .
Has your teaching changed?
Do you still use hard copy braille?
Do you still use Perkins braillewriters?
Are libraries obsolete? Will paper libraries exist in 2020?
Why lament the teacher shortage, when we can use technology to solve it?
Are there ways we can use technology to train teachers across the United States?
Can universities share programs/courses/students and overcome the FTE quicksand?
Can a blind student at NYISE enroll in an online biology course that originates in Washington?
Why can't we deliver services to students in public schools by using technology and expertise based at specialized schools -- and eliminate the windshield time?
Can we use cell phones to provide in-time explanations of complex or unfamiliar material to a blind student located in a different state?
"Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not."
Robert F. Kennedy
Why Not?
Together we can do more.
http://nclid.unco.edu/Presentations/ferrell/nyise