Technology in schools

1. Can IT make a difference? Technology in schools Framtidens skolbibliotek Malmo University 23 April 2009 Dr Carol Gordon cgordon@scils.rutgers.edu Rutgers University

2. What do we know about youth in the digital environment?

3. Video Games 50% of American teens played games “yesterday.” 86% of teens play on a console like the Xbox, PlayStation, or Wii. 73% play games on a desktop or a laptop computer. 60% use a portable gaming device like a Sony PlayStation Portable, a Nintendo DS, or a Game Boy. 48% use a cell phone or handheld organizer to play games. Most teens play video games in a social environment 99% of boys and 94% of girls play video games. Younger teen boys are the most likely to play games, followed by younger girls and older boys. Older girls are the least “enthusiastic” players of video games, though more than half of them play. Some 65% of daily gamers are male; 35% are female. Most popular games are racing, puzzles, sports, action and adventure

4. A Participatory Culture Children who game together—whether in family basements or after-school clubs—are more likely to volunteer, raise money for a charity or participate politically than those who play alone. Their engagement did not appear to be affected by how often the teens played or the types of games they chose. Sixty-four percent of those who play video games with others in the room said they have raised money for a charitable cause, for example, compared with 55 percent of those who are in a room alone when they play.

5. Gaming in Education The Education Arcade, a consortium of educators and business leaders working to promote the educational use of computer and video games ; GAMBIT, a lab focused on promoting experimentation through game design; The Knight Center for Future Civic Media, a joint effort with the MIT Media Lab, is using new media to enhance how people live in local communities.; Project nml is developing curricular materials focused on promoting the social skills and cultural competencies needed to become a full participant in the new media era.

6. Social Networking Blogs Facebook/MySpace Twittering I-Phone, Blackberry

7. Hole in the Wall ExperimentCan Kids Teach Themselves? Does language matter? Will they steal the computer? Will anyone teach them? New Delhi physicist Sugata Mitra has a radical proposal for bringing his country's next generation into the Info Age

8. Self-organizing Systems Second Life Moodle Wiki Bearshare Hole in the Wall Traffic jams Stock market Social and disaster recovery Terrorism and insurgency Is it possible to produce learning that is self-organizing? What kind of learning would it be? Who would use this learning?

9. Can Education be a self-organizing system? What would happen if India placed 100,000 computers with minimal intrusive instruction in the slums of India?

10. MUVE: Multi-User Virtual Environment 3-D graphical environment simulates real world Created by its residents; high level of interaction Linden Lab creates new land. 64 acres has become 65,000

11. Who is in Second Life? Colleges & Universities Businesses More than 200 universities & learning-focused organizations* • Arcada University of Technology (Finland) • Australian Film TV and Radio School • Finger Lakes Community College • Harvard Business School • Institut Ingemedia (France) • New York University • San Jose State University • SUNY Empire State College • Universidad Carlos III of Madrid (Spain) • Adidas Reebok • BBC Radio 1 • Dell • IBM • Reuters • SirsiDynix • Talis • Toyota Low cost protyping, collaboration, new products, education/training, marketing/advocacy

12. San joseuniversity: school of library and informationscience Is this the library of the future?

13. The Alliance Library System manages Info Island. In March 2007, the Info Archipelago had 17 islands, 10 of which were library islands. In April 2008, the Info Archipelago has“more than 40 islands including over 50 libraries and over 75 educational groups.” Healthinfoisland Has a medical library that provides information about consumer health and resources

14. Cybrarycity I and II Are dedicated to provide a space for participating libraries from around the world to showcase their local resources in Second Life

15. Second Life and Youth Linden's Technology Development VP announced that the company will open-source the back end so servers can run anywhere on any machine . "SL cannot truly succeed," Joe Miller told an audience of executives, "as long as one company controls the Grid." Again, this is a vision of a world that is not a niche product, but the Web in 3D. Global Kids is an organization which regularly runs events through Teen Second Life

16. MIT Media Lab’s Sixth Sense Project A gadget that reads the world http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense.html

17. Gaming and social networking are learning environn- ments Learning is social Learning is self- directed Learning through mulit-tasking Learning is fun Learning is free Gender Digital Divide is disappearing The Challenge

18. How does school fit into this picture? Today’s schools are print-centric. Today’s student s are image-centric Students are immersed in pop culture Teachers have no training to link pop culture to the classroom Schools are retro-fitting technology to conform to a 19th century model of teaching.

19. And what about the school library? Literacy and Inquiry emerging as biggest challenges Reading and writing are not enough Literacy incorporates reading in many formats Inquiry is the pedagogy of the 21st century

20. Is technology the answer? Will there ever be enough technology? Should schooling be high tech? Are we dumbing down education? Have computers in schools produced higher performing students?

21. The Net Effect Have we lost our ability to concentrate? Are we more social or more isolated as a result of our constantly interconnected lives? How is the internet affecting our brains? BUT Online Youth are Content Producers More than half of American teens online have produced media content About one-third have circulated media that they have produced beyond their immediate friends and family. Is Google Making Us Stupid?

22. The Partnership for 21st Century survey showed a significant majority of voters ‘are deeply concerned that the United States is not preparing young people with the skills they need to compete in the global economy.’

23. Partnership for 21st Century Skills lLearning Outcomes Support Systems http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/

24. 21st Century Questions What do we want them to learn? Traditional literacy Information literacy Media literacy Digital literacy Computer literacy Technological literacy Critical thinking Innovative skills; creativity Inquiry skills How will they best learn it? Authentic learning; real life situations; problem-solving; role playing How will we know they have learned it? Performance-based assessment Formative assessments (rubrics, journals, portfolios, checklists, exhibition; peer review; self-evaluation)

25. Why Authentic Learning Tasks? Do we want to evaluate student problem-solving in the visual arts? Experimental research in science? Speaking, listening and facilitating a discussion? Doing document-based historical inquiry? Thoroughly reviewing a piece of imaginative writing until it works for the reader? Then let our assessment be built out of such exemplary intellectual challenges. Grant Wiggins, 1990

26. What doesn’t an authentic learning task look like? Many resource-based assignments contribute little or nothing to learning have little evidence of authentic engagement have little evidence of construction of new knowledge are rarely guided throughout the research project rarely equip students with information and technical competencies necessary to complete the task Teacher/textbook give background Pick a dinosaur Teacher provides worksheet: Describe how it looks What did it eat? Where/when did it live? Draw a picture of your dinosaur Librarian explains a few sources Students copy and paste/plagiarize Students hand in report for grade

27. The new book talk? Students make a digital recording of response to a book they read. They create digital images to accompany their narrative They work with their friends to add music to the background They post their book review on the library website where the librarian has created a digital repository for virtual book talks. Students can access the virtual book talks when they come to the library to choose a book

28. The new term paper Students are reading, “The Diary of Anne Frank” in their English class. They go to the library to explore the topic of the Holocaust They browse through print and digital text and respond to writing prompts supplied by the teacher and librarian in a blog. As they are blogging the narrated stories of Holocaust survivors is streamed through the computers at low volume. After students have collected information they set up a wiki and post what they have learned

29. Rubric for the Authentic Learning Task: The Task… .

30. Rubric for ALT: The Learner… These are METHODOLOGY criteria for the ALT

31. Rubric for ALT: The Teacher… These are DESIGN criteria for the ALT.

32. Projects Authentic Learning Tasks

33. 20th Century Assignment Hall of Fame Research “Greatness” Grade 8 Research Project • Where/when born, died, lived • Education/Jobs/Career • Challenges overcome • Qualities that led to greatness • Awards/Commendations • Political offices held • Best remembered for what • Connection to NJ • 

34. 20th Century learning outcome Critical thinking and Deep Knowledge? Walt Whitman (Camden) Considered by many to be the most influential poets in U.S. history

35. 21st Century Mentoring A student who has not been interested in doing this project conferences with the librarian. The librarian finds out that the students likes jazz and suggests Ella Fitzgerald as a topic. The student listens to Ella Fitzgerald’s music on Bearshare. The student decides to write a poem rather than a report about Ella Fitzgerald.

36. Lonely, Nervous, Brave, Determined, Sassy Daughter of parents who filled their house with music Music must have filled her loneliness when her father died Moved to New York for a better life. Who loved the night magic of Harlem, Who loved the celebrities and begging for autographs with her friends Who really loved singing and scatting Who loved her Aunt that took care of her as a child. Who felt loss, when her mother died Who felt anger when she was put in an orphanage Who felt trapped in those walls but they couldn’t keep her down because she felt the pull of her song and the night magic of Harlem. Who felt nervous and fear at auditions Who feared not being able to sing because she had no one to care for her Who feared dying from diabetes and possibly going blind, Who feared whom she would pass her singing crown down to Who wanted to see someone take over her singing crown Who would have liked to have spent more time with her late parents Who wanted to work with the best bands Who changed the world of jazz and swing Who was very proud of her awards and achievements She was “The First Lady Of Song”; she was “Sassy” and a Legend of Jazz Born in Virginia, grew up in New York, adopted by the world. Ella was great Fitzgerald Ella 21st Century Learning Outcome