Learning 2.0 | It's About Learning

Does the Internet Make you Dumber?

Dwayne Harapnuik — February 12, 2010 — Leave a comment

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Viewing this youtube video makes me reflect on a response I had written shortly after Carr’s Atlantic Monthly article was released in July of 2008.

In the Atlantic Monthly article Is Google Making Us Stupid Nicholas Carr states:

My mind isn’t going-so far as I can tell-but it’s changing. I’m not thinking the way I used to think. I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading. Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I’d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That’s rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google

Carr is simply restating, or applying to adults, Jane Healy’s argument put forward in her 1990 book Endangered Minds, and expanded in the 1998 book, Failure to Connect.

Healy argues that children’s increasing exposure to computers has created a “toxic environment” that leads to patterns of “disorganized thinking” and “mental restlessness” akin to ADHD.

While I will concede the Net is rife with “toxic content” and I often do agree with what Carr writes, I am not willing to agree with him on this point. In the two weeks from when I first read this article to when I started this response I have read 2 complete books and am several chapters into several more; I have also read at least 10 full articles from peer reviewed journals and my usual fair of daily Blog posts. One of the books I recently received as a gift didn’t make it past the afternoon before I thoroughly devoured it and marked all the key sections for a later review-no concentration drift there.

There are some parts of Carr’s article I do agree with. I also find my concentration starting to drift after two or three pages or sometimes even after two or three paragraphs, but I will attribute this drift to the quality or type of the content that I am reading. If the book, article or Blog is well written and the author genuinely has something valuable to say, there is no problem staying engaged.

There is also a style of academic writing that is of such “high quality” that I find myself curling up with a good dictionary rather than a “good book”. With this type of writing, the chances of even getting engaged are pre-empted by repeated trips to dictionary.com or a traditional Websters and the need to determine if the author is referring to the connotative or denotative meaning of a word.

Perhaps the biggest challenge of an Internet infused world is the immense volume of available information. For example, many people have already commented on Carr’s article in the Blogosphere and most will simply repeat the highlights or provide a basic review-some will even review the reviews, so staying engaged while wading through all the chaff can be challenging.

Google doesn’t have to make you stupid if you use it wisely to sort through all the chaff. However, if you rely solely on the first hits you find with Google then you are just being stupid because Google should only be used as a starting point (just as wikipedia). You can’t blame Google or the Internet for your lack of effort and discernment

In 21st century learning, Learning 2.0 Carr, dumber, internet, stupid

Apple iPod Touch in K-12

Dwayne Harapnuik — January 5, 2010 — Leave a comment

http://blogs.twincities.com/yourtechweblog/2009/12/east-metro-schoolchildren-use-apple-ipod-touch-in-class.html

East-metro schoolchildren use Apple iPod Touch in class – Your Tech Weblog via kwout

Julio Ojeda-Zapata offers some excellent perspectives on using iPod Touches in primary school in his Twin Cities Pioneer Tech Test Drive column.

Watching the student and teacher video clips, which make up the majority of this post, truly reveal the potential we have for learning engagement when we use technology appropriately.

In 21st century learning, Engagement, Learning 2.0 21st century learning, Educational Technology, iPod touch

Progressive Education – Are We There Yet?

Dwayne Harapnuik — December 10, 2009 — 1 Comment

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I was looking through the ISTE NETS Implementation site and while I get excited about these initiatives and look forward to seeing a move toward student centered learning realized in education I am reminded just how much of a challenge it will be to make this happen. When I watch video clips like “Progressive Education in the 40s” and consider the work of icons like Dewey, Kirpatrick, Gagne, Bruner and many more who all advocated forms of teaching and learning that we only see small glimpses of, I am motivated to stay the course and do my part to ensure that the work they started is carried on. We can create active, engaging and dynamic learning environments that focus on real world activites that will encourge critical and analytical thinking but this will take a great deal of work.

We are not there yet but there are many who are working to make this happen. The Partnership for 21St Century Skills are the the latest group to advocate and promote change in education. This group advocates for the integration of skills such as critical thinking, problem solving and communication into the teaching of core academic subjects such as mathematics, reading, science and history. The primary focus of ISTE NETS and the Partnership for 21st Century Skills is primary education but there is work happening in higher education which parallels the same priorities.

ACU’s new Core is designed primarily to help learners to think. Classroom activity will not focus on the professor as presenter and the learner as the audience, but on the learner as an engaged participant with faculty as guides. Professors will assist learners in examining, critiquing and assessing information, solving problems, and making decisions in order to prepare ACU grads for the 21st Century.

You can’t mention ACU without talking about ACU Connected. ACU is the first university to announce distribution of Apple iPhones and iPod touches to all incoming freshman, allowing ACU to explore a new vision for mobile learning. Looking at how to use mobile learning to engage the learner forces instructors and the institution as a whole to revisit the teaching and learning environment and consider learning from a non traditional perspective. The focus on mobile learning at ACU should be very transformative. Unlike what has happened with online learning, where the traditional classroom has simply been digitized and content is delivered online, mobile learning should forces a significant change in the way learning will work because mobile devices work best with connection and engagement.

In 21st century learning, Learning 2.0 21st century learning, active learning, ISTE, Learning, NETS

A Brave New World Wide Web

Dwayne Harapnuik — December 3, 2009 — 2 Comments

I really enjoy running across these video productions that pull together all the thoughts and ideas about active and engaging learning that most constructivist tend to agree with. David Truss offers this wonderful example or argument for 21st Century learning.

The video was originally viewed at: http://blip.tv/?file_type=flv;sort=date;date=;id=1262079;s=file

In 21st century learning, Learning, Learning 2.0