Our Wired Children

In the post "Forget Screen Time - Lean In To Parenting Your Wired Child" Jordan Shapiro "came to realize that part of his job as a parent was to help his children make sense of their online experiences and teach them how to uphold enduring values in the new world they are living in."

Teachers are doing this every day.  Rather than fight the losing battle of "no cell phones" in class, many teachers I work with use instructional strategies that encourage students to access Google, YouTube, online texts, or interactive lessons and quiz sites through their phones.  They encourage learners to use the device glued to the end of their arms as a tool for learning as well as for entertainment and social interaction.

Now, do all students have access to smartphones that allow them to use these tools?  How can we educators ensure equitable access?  That's another topic for another day!

Back in the day, we used to pass notes in class hand to hand.  Now students text each other, faces focused on the screen.  Back in the day we stood around in groups and chat, now they follow each other on Instagram and Twitter.  Facebook?  More for the older generation, like me at this point!

A while back (three years ago!) I wrote a post about teaching active learners, those digital natives who were entering our classrooms at a rapid rate.   I wondered what a future world - a world without face-to-face, interpersonal communication would be like.  If you've never watched Wall-E, check it out for it's spot-on social commentary.  

I think a main call to action from Shapiro's post is to encourage adults to model effective communication whether it is face-to-face or through a device, and to teach young people how to learn and interact in an online world with a sense of their own personal integrity.  How are we helping them apply the morals and values we are trying to instill in them to what they see, hear and read online?

We have a responsibility to help our kids become critical users and producers of online content.

  

If our own kids and our own students are able to view a YouTube video or Instragram post through the lens of "who paid for it, and what are they trying to sell me?", then we are well on our way to helping them develop those critical thinking skills we keep saying they need. When they are the ones posting original content, is it representative of their learning or their values?  I love to think that it is!

Teaching Active Learners

When I first saw this video, I did not have the same reaction as everyone else in the room who oohed and aahed and thought that it was so cool that these hip and happening kids are digital natives and learn in such different ways.  Out with the old way of learning (and teaching) and in with the new!  

I was horrified and wondered what was going to happen to the art of conversation and the whole notion of personal connections.  Are all these kids marshmallow eaters?  Do they really not need to memorize anything ever because the device at their fingertips will access it all for them whenever they need it?  What will they do with the information once they get it?  Do they know how to determine whether a source is credible or not?  And what exactly is wrong with actually knowing some things from memory?  Doesn't the knowledge that we have internalized allow us to make connections and make sense of things when new stuff comes along?

Remember Wall-E?  

I thought that movie was wonderful for its social commentary.  The humans in it  were fat blobs who blobbed around in blobby floating chairs with their faces glued to screens in front of them.  Food and drink magically appeared for them and they never had to interact with others in person because everything was done via the screen in front of their faces.  When they actually bumped into each other skin-to-skin they freaked out and didn't know what to do.

As an educator, I try not to be on the end of the pendulum as it makes its way to the top of the cycle.  When new things come along I want to find ways for them to add to what is already tried and tested, but I'm also not afraid to let go of things that don't work.  It is important to think of technology in education as a way to enhance learning, but I don't ever want it to take over and supplant human interaction and conversation.  

I truly believe that human beings are social beings and construct knowledge in social ways.  Some of this can and must take place in an online platform.  We are in the 21st Century after all!  But as educators, we have to continue to teach students how to share ideas face to face, how to argue a point in a respectful way, and how to honor each other for the valuable and unique people they are.  We cannot replace human interaction.