This comic provides an interesting take on the current debate regarding banning social networking sites in schools.
I believe this current debate represents the beginnings of the perfect storm for educational reform. Although the comic focuses on a poor application of technology in school, it hints at other pertinent issues such as plagiarism, test design, teacher preparation, study skills, time management, and social software affordances.
I wonder if my boss would prefer to determine my work status (keep or fire) based on a 50 minute multiple choice/short answer examination?
For me, the current DOPA debate feels like we, as a learning society, are in this Bardo state, this Kuhn-ian pergatory, somewhere between darkness and light in our overall perception of schooling and society. I find myself wondering how we are going to make this shift from seeing secondary schools as an assembly line to seeing them as network nodes in a connectivist ecology.
As David Byrne (1977) once said, They say that compassion is a virtue, but I don’t have the time….
Keywords: assessment, Bardo state, compassion, David Byrne, DOPA, educational design, educational reform, George Siemens, learning, paradigm shift, perfect storm, plagiarism, social software, study skills, teacher preparation, teaching, testing, Thomas Kuhn, time management, Vicki Davis, Zits
Comments
This seems to be a generational issue. Older people like myself are still discovering the sublties of this new technology. Congress---which loves simplistic solutions---with its deft hand takes a shotgun to kill a virus. We seem to be in a time that abhors sublties and prefers simplistic alternatives.
The generational issue probably has at least 2 sides. As one gets more sophisticated, the vocabulary changes. New words or new meanings for old words [social software?---like a condom?]
When television came out in the 1950s, it brought the family together. Parents and childrem gathered in the living room to watch a program chosen from one of the three usual channels. Yet, as the price of television plummeted, everyone can afford more tvs. Now with the television in every room and dozens of channels, families are now atomized with everyone viewing separate shows in separate rooms---so much for the social nature of television.
The rate of change seems to be faster now.... but it always does in the midst of the storm.
Thank you for your insights on many subjects including this one.
Thank you Vicki. I am honored that you took the time to comment.
And I look forward to reading following your posts. I use them all the time in workshops and class.
Chris