Depth or Decoration?

Having a teaching program brimming with information and communication technologies is almost di rigeur these days. Let's state from the outset that this isn't some Luddite rant. But there's a need for a sceptical look at the depth of use in classrooms. So often teachers let the technology substitute for good classroom interaction. What happens between teachers and students is a complex, special process - most of it based on face-to-face interactions.

And technology is not just about presentation. A PowerPoint can be a great way to teach a concept if used sparingly and intelligently. But it's not a substitute for teaching using more fundamental tools: the voice, the eyes, and reasoning. Form the relationship with the child, then set about using the peripheral tools.

The superficiality of usage by some educators is so often mirrored in the work produced by students. - everything based on presentation. The technology is very good at that, but it's not the same as conceptual depth. So much student work is presented and published in frilly form, and we have to guard against being too impressed by the gadgetry. Blogs, wikis, social-networking sites - they have immense potential, as long as we analyse the content within. Otherwise, it's the equivalent of giving marks to the kid who draws flowers around their full-stops.

Hula Pod

Is the iPod the hula hoop of the 21st Century? I know they're ubiquitous (iPods), but are they more than a cultural icon? Okay, you can listen to music on them, and maybe they have an education role (podcasts). But I'm thinking they're really just a clever Walkman. You wanna walk around with music playing in your ears? Great. You wanna use technology to communicate, educate, extend the mind, work in new ways? Get a computer.

An oldie but oh, what a goodie

It's about time Neal Stephenson wrote something. The Baroque Trilogy is drifting into the past (although finding someone to celebrate the genius of the ending with is not easy).

Not familiar with our Neal? Consider yourself slapped with a wet fish.

He's more than a novelist. His "geek journalism" is exemplified in the wonderful Mother Earth Mother Board, first published in Wired. There's a version with the formatting intact here.

VoiceThread - a minor killer app.

Sharing is all the rage on the Net right now. I’m hoping that caring goes with it, but that’s another matter. A quick think comes up with YouTube, MySpace, Flickr, BitTorrent (notice a trend with the evolution of punctuation here?) and the blogosphere (all 70 million strong). You say network, I’ll say social. In fact, there’s so much sharing, it’s easy to get plum shared out.

Blogs send me to sleep (except this one, of course), MySpace is just plain silly, and BitTorrent… well, no names, no packdrill. Then along comes a simple, bright idea that you just know could work in a classroom. Remember film strips? The ones with beeps on a tape that told you when to advance the slide and sombre commentaries on the precipitation cycle. Here’s the DIY version, and as slickly presented, in an understated way, as a Swedish breakfast.

VoiceThread is a web application where you build narrated slide-shows. Upload some pictures, record some commentary (or type in text if you wish), then share with selected friends. It’s beautifully simple, and the interface is an easy-to-look-at mix of charcoals and greys. The design means the images are the centre of attention, and you can’t help but produce slick results.

Well, actually, it can go wrong. Recording the audio uses Flash in the browser. I used, by coincidence, VoiceThread’s recommended input device – a Logitech USB headset functioning perfectly with Windows Sound Recorder and Audacity. I tried it in Firefox and IE. It thought it was recording, but just however-many-seconds of silence was the result. Right-clicking on the Flash window and playing with the settings fixed it - but it wasn't obvious. I'm big on obvious.

Which would normally be enough for me to suggest you forget it. But this is worth persevering with. Assuming the audio works for you, then the rest is a treat. You could do this sort of thing with Photo Story or the dreaded PowerPoint, but this has all the advantages of a web application. No installs, use it where you like, share as you see fit. It has a nifty multiple-identities feature that means one class can work from a single account. VoiceThread also make a noble proclamation that the app will always be free for student use. (Wait until Microsoft buy them.) It’s useful, by my estimation, from about Year 3 onwards. Simple, but not childish, so perfect for children.

The obvious use is with Listening and Speaking in English which would take care of Viewing in the process. It’s the perfect medium for reporting Science investigations or journaling a challenge in Technology and Enterprise. That’s from the student side of things – if you want to present some resource material to the class, here’s a place they can find it from anywhere.

I’d recommend playing with this one. It has minor killer app written all over it – in subtle charcoals and greys, of course.

Digital Natives or Digital Savages?

There's been so much written lately about the notion that out children have somehow evolved into a different species. Most notable in this view is Marc Prensky, with his Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants essay.

I'm not convinced. It's a nice idea - one that makes us want to believe that the Brave New World is here, but experience in the classroom and attendance at recent talk-fests have me thinking otherwise.

Kids are good at using technology. Is this new? It's (generally) in a kid's nature to pick things up easily, but that's what the young of our species are programmed to do. They've been like that for millenia. But extending this self-evident fact to suggest we're dealing with some sort of sub-species. Oh, please...

Martin Owen's little discussion paper first raised my doubts about worshipping at the church of holy Web2.

More to come on this...