Excerpt from Howard Gardner's New Book of Educational Technology

Barseghian, T. (2014, January 27). How can we maximize the potential of learning apps? KQED Mind/Shift. Retrieved from http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/01/how-can-we-maximize-the-potential-of-learning-apps/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+kqed%2FnHAK+%28MindShift%29

I generally find the Mind/Shift Blog to be full of ideas that are both rich and practical; this post was ne exception. I follow Howard Gardner’s work closely—he is best known for his work on Multiple Intelligences and currently works at Harvard’s Project Zero, an incredible educational organization.  His most recent book—co authored with Katie Davis—is titled The App Generation: How Today’s Youth Navigate Identity, Intimacy, and Imagination in a Digital World.  I read two reviews earlier this winter in which the reviewers found Gardner’s tone a little preachy and vague, pitting “youth” against “adults” and creating a false dichotomy between a generation reliant on electronic devices and a generation accustomed to communicating differently. Surprised that Gardner would draw such a sharp distinction, I hesitated to rush to put the book on hold at my public library. However, after reading the excerpt Tina Barghasian selected, I may go back and read the book, but slwoly0- and with an eye to my 75-year-old father’s increasing tech-savviness.

In the excerpt reprinted, Gardner and Davis warn against the majority of educational apps that they say serve an outdated model of “factory-style” automation, rapidly and sleekly delivering digestible educational content with a rewards system that they compare to behaviorist B.F. Skinner’s. However, they also point to the promise of emerging web 2.0 technologies as far richer and more engaging. They claim that “as we transition from web 1.0 to web 2.0 and beyond, there is no reason anymore simply to respond to stimuli fashioned by others, no matter how scintillating and inviting they may be. Rather, any person in possession of a smart device can begin to sketch, publish, take notes, network, create works of reflection, art, science — in short, each person can be his or her own creator of knowledge.” (Gardner and Davis, 2013). They use Scratch as an example of a potentially wonderful app for fostering ingenuity and engagement, yet also warn that, like a hammer, even an engaging app can be misused—in this case, for hacking. This excerpt concludes with a reminder that mindful, attentive adults need to be attending to children’s engaged learning rather than offering mindless consumption in the name of education. The authors choose a Sesame Street word finding app as an example of a tool that could potentially be a path to greater engagement with words in the world for young children, or a mere electronic babysitter.

I was hooked—again—by Gardner’s thinking and will be reading the whole book this summer. 

A School Librarian's Journey to Transform Her Library

Anna Taylor
Gilcreast, J. (2014). FROM DRAB TO FAB. Knowledge Quest, 42(4), 38-43.

Jessica Gilcreast just got the position of School Librarian at an urban school in New Hampshire! However, Jessica's joy soon simmers as she enters her new library. Shelves are placed in a way that leaves no open space, books are falling apart and lack diversity, no decor is present, the list goes on. Jessica knows she has a lot of work to do but does something that is very smart; she decides to take everything little by little. 

Throughout the course of six years, Jessica transforms her library into a drab space in the school to a learning commons that meets the wants and needs of both students and teachers. 
Below is a brief over view of Jessica's process:

YEAR 1: 

• Painted a mural
• Weeding 
• Rearranging shelves and furniture
• Build relationships with students, staff, and teachers
• Write a grant for books and a SMART board

YEAR 2:

• More weeding
• Provide professional development opportunities with teachers using new technology
• Create a new tech space for the new SMART board
• Write a grant to add multicultural books into the collection

YEAR 3:

• Take a break and focus on teacher collaboration
• Write a grant for more technology

YEAR 4:

• Create and obtain a connecting computer lab
• Take over the book fair and use the money to purchase more furniture
• Add over 1,000 books to the collection

YEAR 5 & 6:

• Un-Dewey the collection
• Continue making the library an extension to the classroom
• More staff development and integrating technology into the classroom
• Keep up with other libraries and implement new ideas to reflect the needs of the library users

How Does Electronic Reading Affect Comprehension?

Nicole Myerscough

Jones, J.  (2013, November 5).  How does electronic reading affect comprehension?  Retrieved from http://dmlcentral.net/blog/john-jones/how-does-electronic-reading-affect-comprehension

The brain prefers paper? Screens drain mental resources? I understand the argument and concern regarding comprehension with electronic devices, especially as popular as they have become within the past few years. I think it's more that weren't not as adapted to electronic over paper. I believe screen drain my eyes more than my mind. The debate of electronic vs. paper is ultimately is a personal preference.

The article presents an interesting argument and examples their perspective using text message sizes to measure comprehension and a very outdated electronic screen vs. paper comprehension reading test study. I think it's really important in the LIS community to recognize that 2005 is not current enough in regards literacy studies with mobile technology... screen resolution was horrid compared to what we have today. I preferred paper over electronic back then too.

Updating Those Acceptable Use Policies

Jessica King

Chaplin, H. (2012, April 6). Welcoming mobile: More districts are rewriting acceptable use policies, embracing smartphone and social media in schools. Spotlight On. Retrieved from http://spotlight.macfound.org/featured-stories/entry/welcoming-mobile-rewriting-acceptable-use-smartphones-and-social-media/

            Chaplin supplies a thorough examination of the initial thoughts and fears surrounding the Web, the growing use of the Internet, the impact CIPA had (and is still having), and how that has shaped current views of Internet use in schools. She acknowledges that perceptions of the immediate dangers the web poses are changing but caution should still be used. These changing views and the increasing usage of technology in and out of school needs to be addressed in updated Acceptable Use Policies (AUPs). To emphasize her points she pulls from multiple examples of how schools are bringing technology and the Web into the their daily teaching activities.  

            Many schools are now allowing increased amount of Internet use in their schools but they will not be prepared for challenges that may arise because their AUP is outdated. The AUP is not just there for schools to use in case upset parents approach about their child coming across something ‘inappropriate.’ Chaplin (2012) asserts, “schools ought to be providing safe environments for students to learn how to be responsible digital citizens.” This is absolutely true, the filters mandated by CIPA were not meant to keep students from everything the Internet has to offer forever and part of the mandate was that the schools teach students digital citizenship skills. The AUP needs to reflect this dedication to students learning these skills and understanding their responsibility when it comes to using this tool. 

Discussion: 7 Data Viz Sites to Inspire Your Creative Eye

Rene Hohls

October 7, 2013

From the Mashable.com website, these apps and sites for visual data display are part of a very interesting group of digital literacy tools used in various professions, including education. In designing my PLE's, it is becoming obvious to me that the visual display (and shorter attention span required to process it) is one of the fundamental elements that distinguishes the digital natives in our K-12 schools from their teachers. I also realized in making my PLE's that I could eliminate all those bookmarks in my IE and Chrome bookmark lists and give myself a visual display of my bookmarks. The more I use it and manipulate it to suit my needs and my own thinking, the more efficient and useful it becomes. I am wondering what other people are finding and how is it changing the way you organize yourself in the digital sea?


http://mashable.com/2013/10/01/data-viz-sites/


10/9/13 UPDATE - I used Symbaloo to create my 2 PLE's: a Personal Webmix and a Professional Webmix. When my 12 year old son saw what I had - he wanted me to show him how to make one for his school work. In one day, we had cleaned up our desktops, tightened up our bookmarks, eliminated clutter on our Chrome start-up pages and made our work streamlined and much more efficient. And of course, now all his friends want to know how HE did it! It's our little secret ;)