In my previous role at HWDSB I spent five years as the district Information Technology Consultant for Secondary Schools and invested almost every waking moment thinking about the intersection of technology and education. In many ways, therefore, taking this EPDC module was nothing new. But what is new is that I now have a slightly different perspective than when I was a technology leader. Now I’m ‘on the ground’ directly with teenagers again, and while technology is a huge part of their reality (and mine too, and the whole of society for that matter), what I’m more aware of now is that social/emotional/mental considerations play an enormous part of their lives—and I think their lives are more complex, perhaps more disillusioned, and maybe even more disconnected.  And, despite my huge affection for technology and ever-present commitment to leveraging technology for good learning, I have begun to wonder if we’ve missed some important sociological implications of all our fast-growth-ever-present-personal-mobile-always-on technologies.

Ken Robinson implores us to be creative and to use the technologies at our disposal for such purposes. I agree!  Yet I cannot avoid noticing that on a daily basis I’m dealing with students so distracted, if not distraught, by their technologies that the capacity for creativity seems largely extinguished, and that the love of learning seems distant, and that the ability to sustain connected thoughts over a period of time is lessened and shortened. The speed of the technology matches the speed at which they jump to conclusions and trigger short tempers, perhaps even previously unimagined levels of disrespect for themselves and others, particularly anyone who might stand between them and their ubiquitous technologies (cellphones and mobile internet devices in particular).

I hate to admit it, but I, too, am changed by these technologies. I read much differently now than I did 15 years ago. I’m great at skimming and scanning for information that I want…not that others necessarily want me to catch. I find it harder to read densely but carefully constructed arguments or theses. I must now force myself to slow down, read each word hang ideas on one another, clause by clause. I feel frustrated at the slow pace of such activities. And, I’m an English major! If it’s happening to me, what then might I surmise about my students who have, with all due respect, significantly less experience than I at reading/thinking deeply. Or, is this all a good thing? Have I evolved quite handily and am I now much better equipped to live in an information-saturated world? Am I a better reader because I can filter out much of the dribble that is out there? And, is this what I want for my students?

Reflecting on this module causes me to remember what I wrote down for our Pre-Module assignment. My questions remain, and I will continue to think…deeply, frequently, collaboratively, and humbly on the following:

1. The world has changed (I point to the year 2000 as the tipping point) and I need to change, too. How will that affect my role as a Vice-Principal? I need to be open to new learnings in this area.

2. It seems that people still want to ‘connect’ with one another. How does genuine relationship and connectivity happen in an education setting, and how do educators develop learning settings that help all learners reach their full potential, even in a society where technology ‘distractions’ run the real risk of diverting people from important things?

3. Choice is huge! This concept came through loud and clear in the module and in our class discussions and readings. Unlike the ‘olden days’ when there was little choice other than to follow precisely what the teacher said, today’s education settings have to somehow provide relevant choice that allow learners to tailor their learning to things that carry personal meaning.

4. There is a management/organizational component for educators to figure out. For me this is manifested in practical ways, i.e., how do I help keep the school functioning orderly and respectfully while simultaneously celebrating the new role of technology in learning? I need to be able to do both ends of the spectrum and will spend this coming year intentionally seeking new protocols and practices that make sense.

In conclusion, I have very much appreciated the time-out to think about Digital Citizenship. I think it may be the most important topic of the 21^st Century.

~ Learn WITH the world, not just ABOUT the world

~ TEACHnology not TECHnology – showcase small successes both in school and with other schools. We have enough tech already, now use it and celebrate the successes slowly and with small successes.

~ Shift to LEARNING BY DOING which involves learning together–”Just try it and pick out the good stuff.”

~ Can you imagine a heart surgeon who does not go out and learn?  Similarly, what about educators who do not learn from others?

~ GlobalTeenager — connect teenangers, ie., long poem composed of twitter messages built from stduents around the world. How can I INCLUDE many voices.

~ TODAY’S LEARNERS ARE TOMORROW’S LEADERS

~ Hero Culture and ‘working together is a conversation’

~ http://www.globalteenager.org/

~ Best ideas from co-learners at today’s session:

• EBSCO host – I’d forgotten that this was available via OPC and OCT
• www.ictnfirstnations.blogspot.com  – then scroll down to First Nation Innovation

~ Tell and Test vs Ask and Assess  (recurrent them = learners want more feedback)

~ Digital Details

~ use the 8 Gen norms from D Tapscott

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Khan Academy – most intriguing site with lots of math lessons and mastery level practice. Many important ideas for educators to think about, especially administrators who need to lead and learn.

Top 6 Emerging Technologies in Education – very timely article which identifies the emerging trends which should be considered by educator/leaders.

Dan Pink on Motivation – check out this site for info that teachers might not want to know about (rewards don’t work) and then also check out the RSA version. I bought the rights to the final product .jpg

Chris Lehman – anything by this guy is worth spending time with…he’s an amazing educator/administrator who knows how to set a course for an entire school, not just re technology but 21st Century learning skills

~ DT concludes that young people have no fear of technology because it’s like air to them…it’s just there….so they don’t think about it.  They are, instead, thinking about their friends or other things.

~ Great example of DT’s son literally looking at Mars via the Hubble telescope.

~ internet started out as a basic display for info, but this generation uses the technology for lots of other things. They want to collaborate and they want relationships…..but I have to wonder what kind of relationships?

~ they want speed….the metabolism of things has sped up, and DT asks if this is a bad thing? Is speed bad?

~ DT was raised in Orillia and used to go to the Ex to see this year’s innovation which at the time was glacial in speed, comparitively speaking.

~ is this hurting their brains? Does this hurt brain plasticity? note that all of us have this. What are the deep structures and synaptic connections?

~ DT notes that if there is balance in their lives then multitasking and other things can be OK. There is some evidence that imbalance is bad. Note that what we think is multi-tasking may not be that at all…maybe they have better switches and better active memory. Evidence suggests that exposure to these technologies may be pressing the net-gen brain past conventional understandings.

~ is this the dumbest generation? Go to Youtube.com to find examples of Mark Bearline gleefully finding examples of young people who don’t know basic facts. He depicts a negative view.

~ Generation Me …..little army of narcissists?  Is this the true depiction of this generation?

~ DT talks about the three big areas they are going into: Corporation, Consumers, Learning (and the model of pedagogy)

~ basic demographics show the baby boom….with a delay for about 12 years called Gen X, then the boomers start having babies again. Note: I could not see the graphics in the audio version, naturally. Canada has the biggest generation right now…some call them Gen Y, or millenials, but the ‘net-generation’ is probably the best title. They are bathed in bits. Time online is taken away from TV, not soccer, friends etc. They are not passive recipients of someone else’s video like their parents were. This generation thinks differently. Even TV has changed. Note differences in actual TV shows vs previous generations.

~ digital divide is something he talked about earlier in a book

~ kids and parents have less of a divide….generation lap….

~ funny story re teen who uses email to send a thank you card to someone’s parents

~ Taking it Global.org…..interesting group that I saw at NECC….this group has grown up interacting. “Choice is like oxygen”

~ They can change everything….they are the scrutinizers?  When I saw a picture it was just that…a picture, now kids ask lots of questions.

~ what about video games? WOW ….guy takes ppl on missions. 15 year old guild master who takes 35 year olds on activities.  Some ppl think that these games don’t invoke .   Almost list HR and issues that they work on….sounds very much like high level thinking

~ note that DT showed some charts….showing lots of great graduation with many kids doing great. The top third doing well, the middle third doing pretty good, but the bottom third dropping out. Note that this may be a difference of opinion from that of Ken Robinson.  Note that some people want to blame the internet for the bottom third, sort of like blaming a library for illiteracy.

~ DT may be asking us to think about the OTHER issues that affect education. I agree!!  DT notes that mental illness is present in some youth. Be careful to not confuse cause with symptoms…..just because there’s internet does not mean that it’s the cause of mental illness.

~ note that this generation does come back. There are, indeed, big changes in the family from the days of ‘father knows best’. Mom reported to dad, kids reported to mom. Now it’s a bit different. Are kids over-coddled? Or is it that they need to pay off debts…is this something that’s awful or is it just consistent with what goes on in the rest of the world? Depends on your perspective.

~ note that the old html website are eclipsed to XML .

~ told story about ‘community’ on Facebook…within 15 minutes he had 6 members, then very shortly 150 members in 7 countries….with kids writing back to note that DT has errors in the book….and how will DT contribute. This is called ‘self-organization”….no central committee. What used to take place over millenia, now takes place in minutes or a single Christmas day.

~ what about the fact that they don’t give a damn? Well, DT says that’s not true since many youth volunteer. Note that Harvard grads want to work for something that has meaning and worth. Interesting!!!

~ there is a dark side….but it’s not what all the people think it is….note that basic safety stuff needs to be there, and note that we do need balance….note that we apply perjorative things to kids who are online a lot. There is still a digital divide and that’s a problem for everyone. there is a digital firewall….these kids don’t want to work in cubicles….but we try to ban their tools such as facebook.

~ note also that kids are blowing the privacy things….

~ overall it’s a different generation that thinks differently.

~ note that there are things going on….a kid has put out there 2% of his future earnings in exchange for a chance to go to college.

~ two markets – one is a market for customers and one is a market for talent.  Initiate relationships on FB….get to them while they are young. Mike Dover….suggests that you bringin ppl on contract.

~ eight norms….customize job….freedom of choice and mobility…(work and learning should be the same activity…some blogging is required by some companies)…don’t ban Facebook….(if pple are wasting time it’s a management problem),…rethink retention…. Half of my ads are wasted, but I just don’t know which ad…Rethinking marketing and engage young people in their networks. Product, Place, Price, Promotion -= the Bible in traditional marketing, but DT says it’s wrong because Marketing now is about the experience, not the product. Place can be anywhere. Price can be movable. Coinnovate vs promote your own ideas.  Key idea = Doritos superbowl ads contest- go to youtube. Power shifts towards consumers. Brands are becoming more complicated…and you need good values/integrity. CADEB/s of marketing = new tend

~Don’t focus on your customers, engage them.  Don’t sell products and services, create customer experiences. Radically reduce your broadcast efforts and rethink.  Have integrity as part of your DNA.

~ These kids are changing learning! The model of learning has been around for a long time….lecture. Drill and Kill. Sage on the stage. Lecture = notes of the lecturer go to the notes of the learner without going through the brains of either one.  Irony is that DT is giving a lecture right now.

~ DT has minimal objectives…..we were broadcast to….

~ This is not about technology…it’s about a change in the rel btwn student and teacher…change in the way that knowledge is acquired.

~ disturbing story ahead….will cause us to think….that’s his main goal.  DT spent a lunch with lots of Deans of universities etc. who wanted to position themselves to be the 21st c learning place. Move from teaching to discovery.  A 22 man said he doesnt’ read books…if I need to know what’s in the book…and find the best chapter. And when I do read a book I don’t go from beginning to end…I try to absorb it that way. Is this the end of civilization or the beginning of a new trend. DT then interviewed the student….who gets straight As without reading books. ….amazing story of young man who set up a health care clinic….and global peace exchange….got info on the internet….his family died and he keeps his family together so he takes them on WOW misssions as a way of keeping the kids together. Next year he’s going to school in London and he’ll get health care….quoting Plato and Maslow….and doesn’t read books….taking a masters degree of philosophy at Oxford….got a rhodes scholar….and he doesn’t read books and he is as knowledge and is as deeply informed as any person DT has met in years.

~ What conclusions….??? It’s not about technology. Make learning fun. Lectures are too slow. Let them go to the experts. Reinvent yourself as a teacher/professor.

~ DT was at a cocktail party in Toronto….met a lady who said DT changed her life. Math teacher….who doesn’t give lectures anymore….and she now knows more about every kid in a month than she did in years and years of teaching….and the kids are learning better.

~ Why do we resist….fear gets in the way….at home it gets into the way of love, like porn which gets in the way of love. Don’t do silly things like telling them to put computer in a public place….don’t block, but talk about the real issues.  We fear what we don’t understand.  Leaders of old paradigm

~ speech from guy at William and Mary…”When it comes to world, we/you sort of broke it.”

~ Bill Clinton says to create fewer terrorists….terrible problems exist….like how to get water. DT is enormously hopeful and optimistic…and try to create the conditions for these kids to have a future that is better than now.

I need…

• practical strategies to overcome mental health issues that are exacerbated online
• practical ideas for how to lead in ‘new territory’, a land in which we do not yet fully realize the historic, sociological, and economic influence of technology

My staff needs…

• practical examples and easy-to-do strategies that include digital learning practices in every day life in the classroom
• increased awareness of how the speed of technology influences the teenage brain
• increased potency in DI and how to leverage it with digital, sometimes digitally addicted, teens

My students need…

• to find ways of being accepted in real time, biological time, not digital time
• to become more wise and slower in reaction time
• to be more discerning in what is true and false and what biases people bring to any conversation, including digital ones
• more ways of being whole people….less distracted and more focussed. I’m afraid that they are addicted to the buzz of the twit…and not the beauty of eye-to-eye chats.

Now it’s time to revamp the plog and use it to archive my learning in an EPDC course I’m taking at OPC this month. Rather than doing my assignments in paper, I’ll archive much of the thinking here.

First assignments include:

1. Read an article
2. Watch an RSA talk with Ken Robinson
3. Get an iTunes talk by Don Tapscott
4. Make an annotated bibliography of things I would recommend to a colleague to support their leadership
5. …and Summarize my thoughts.

I also have to complete the following statements:

I need…

My [our] staff needs…

My [our[ students need…

So, when I learned this week that one can ‘hide’ Farmville I was more than happy and relieved to know that I can rid myself of trivia.

In some cases Facebook is working well, especially for the recent wedding pics of Scott and Heather.

Grateful for:

• news from Laura and Ryan in Bali
• Krista is home!

Curious about:

• Smartboards and Prezi

So now I’ll keep going, but not necessarily every day. It’s summer!

Grateful for:

• a year of learning on lots of fronts
• the L’Abri group and a chance to discuss significant movies together

Curious about:

• the growing list of things I hope to learn over the summer
• the books that will hopefully get read this summer