Week Nine Class

This week's class started with an overview of MAME logistics.  I am really excited for the speakers this year, which include Barry Fishman (an Ed School favorite of SI) and my classmates presenting on using cell phones for education.  I am really excited by these opportunities, because I think that there are a lot of interesting applications in developing countries.  When I was in the Philippines, all of my students had cell phones.  Even if you lived in a grass hut with a dirt floor, you had a cell phone and probably a gold-plated karaoke machine. Some other Peace Corps Volunteers utilized mobile technology to start an underground sex education campaign for Filipino youth.  By texting a certain number, kids could receive a menu of topics that they wanted to learn more about, and depending on the number they texted back, they would get multiple texts about topics ranging from STDs to pregnancy prevention.  This was all information that was not discussed in schools or in homes, so it was an accessible and private format for youth to get the information they needed to make informed decisions about their sexuality.

This week, we also held class in the Brandon Center-- which is the bomb.  Seriously, the color scheme was energizing without being agressive, the layout was flexible, and free drinks!  Who would have thought that free drinks would make such a difference, but I will now have free drinks in my library and that's all there is to it.

It made a difference in that school in Texas that was able to become a place that students embraced because it became the kind of place that students wanted to be in.  It reminded me of the user-centered design that Peg talked about during last class-- completely made to support student learning.

Speaking of supporting learning, Technology and learning was our big discussion topic of the week, and we came to the conclusion that technology must transform teaching and learning processes, or else it is just an expensive substitution which is paid for through job cuts and rising classroom sizes.  We checked out a bunch of examples of digital student work online, and what we saw was completely outrageous.  Multiple glogsters that we saw dumbed down the learning process to the point where absolutely no usable knowledge was being transferred.  The big question that I now have is, how do you approach a learning community that thinks that this is an excellent example of student learning, without sounding patronizing and belittling teachers?

I liked the idea of stripping down the example to its analog elements to prove actual student engagement.  Technology looks flashy, but the flash does not signify learning or actual skills (unless the student has programmed everything themselves).

Lastly, we gawked over Raspberry Pi.  Since class, I've been mulling over the idea of having a DIY Computing Closet that just includes lots of pieces like Raspberry Pi's, SD Cards, Plugs, DVD drives, projectors, etc. and teachers or students would have to pick up all everything they need and piece it together themselves.  I think that even kindergarteners have the spatial intelligence to understand the organization of these things.  This could lead to greater self-confidence and self-sufficiency regarding computers.  One of the reasons that librarians become the go-to techies is because a lot of people just don't feel confident enough to mess around with the plugs or open something up and look at the insides.  Just a thought.  How would you use Raspberry Pi's in you schools?