For week #5 of OLTD 502, students have been encouraged to develop their Personal Learning Networks (PLNs) in order to experience some online communities and connections. A few of my online community interactions this week have included:
In this increasingly digital and connected world, three questions come to mind: why is balance necessary, how do we demonstrate or measure it, and are educators modelling, achieving, and accepting it? These questions, I believe, are vital in determining how successful we will be in navigating the digital world – educationally, socially, and emotionally.
Why is balance necessary?
Digital technology is a growing part of how we define ourselves, and in particular, how our students define themselves. Yet, we need to provide our students with the freedom to enjoy the vast benefits of technology, while ensuring the health and development of the whole being. I feel balance is necessary to be a productive, happy and healthy citizen, particularly today with the array of challenges the digital world presents. We need to model how to use technology and how to be a good digital citizen; one that nurtures and gives back to our digital world. Jeff Merrell (Lecturer of learning and organizational change) notes, “Citizenship has embedded in it the idea of being part of a larger community. It’s not just about us.” Through giving back to our digital world, we can hopefully effect change both on and offline.
How do we demonstrate or measure balance?
How Life is Like Dinner Theatre: On Embracing Participatory Culture, by Amy Burvall (history teacher and progressive thinker) has caused me to think about how society has become accustomed to and dependent on social media connections. We rely on soundbites, or short bursts of information, and we seek a back channel to formulate thoughts and questions. Ultimately, we want to participate and be connected. I for one have learned how powerful a Personal Learning Network can be, and I appreciate my Twitter PLN and the 140 character (maximum) tweets, which often reference more helpful links to articles, videos, and the like. I have experienced the benefit of back channel chats, noticing that chats help to process and clarify thoughts, information, and questions on a topic being presented. Yet, how much is this participatory culture changing our learning style and balance?
Amy Burvall's blog, Soundbitification, brings up an interesting observation, and that is, are we becoming less able to read lengthier articles without losing our focus and getting bored? Furthermore, could it be that society is becoming less able to communicate face to face when the conversation is at a slower pace or less concise? As noted in The Elevator Speech, Social-Media Style, tweeted by Glenn Hervieux (Technology Coordinator, and E-Rate Consultant), businesses are beginning to change their hiring practices based on digital trends and social media. For example, Pizza Hut’s new direction in hiring will require employees to communicate in a social media manner that gets straight to the point. Yet, what does this mean for us as a society?
Is society becoming less able to … demonstrate lifelong skills such as:
Or, perhaps a better question might be …
Is society becoming better able to:
Are educators modelling, achieving, and accepting balance?
As an educator, I truly believe we can only achieve balance if we demonstrate balance, and to demonstrate balance, I feel we need to let go of the ‘only this or only that‘ ideology and come to recognize that variety is the spice of life. Alternatives are necessary, and there are many ways to achieve a desired result. I appreciate differing points of view, even when I don’t always understand them, and I feel that tolerance and respect can lead to an appreciation of other perspectives. So, for example, although I would find it extremely challenging to teach without a plethora of technology, I believe that teachers who currently choose a different approach always manage to offer students something special and unique. By accepting difference, we can open the doors to collaboratively help each other learn. Maybe by offering a balanced and varied perspective to students, we strengthen their ability to adapt and change, and hence survive, in an ever-changing world. What do you think?
- Viewing the archives from the Global Education Conference
- Reading some of my favourite Twitter feeds
- Revisiting the Social Media and Personalized Learning and OLTD Google + Communities
- Exploring Open Education, an EdTechOpen course. I had wanted to take the Moodle 2.8 course, but was unable to find the time.
In this increasingly digital and connected world, three questions come to mind: why is balance necessary, how do we demonstrate or measure it, and are educators modelling, achieving, and accepting it? These questions, I believe, are vital in determining how successful we will be in navigating the digital world – educationally, socially, and emotionally.
Why is balance necessary?
Digital technology is a growing part of how we define ourselves, and in particular, how our students define themselves. Yet, we need to provide our students with the freedom to enjoy the vast benefits of technology, while ensuring the health and development of the whole being. I feel balance is necessary to be a productive, happy and healthy citizen, particularly today with the array of challenges the digital world presents. We need to model how to use technology and how to be a good digital citizen; one that nurtures and gives back to our digital world. Jeff Merrell (Lecturer of learning and organizational change) notes, “Citizenship has embedded in it the idea of being part of a larger community. It’s not just about us.” Through giving back to our digital world, we can hopefully effect change both on and offline.
How do we demonstrate or measure balance?
How Life is Like Dinner Theatre: On Embracing Participatory Culture, by Amy Burvall (history teacher and progressive thinker) has caused me to think about how society has become accustomed to and dependent on social media connections. We rely on soundbites, or short bursts of information, and we seek a back channel to formulate thoughts and questions. Ultimately, we want to participate and be connected. I for one have learned how powerful a Personal Learning Network can be, and I appreciate my Twitter PLN and the 140 character (maximum) tweets, which often reference more helpful links to articles, videos, and the like. I have experienced the benefit of back channel chats, noticing that chats help to process and clarify thoughts, information, and questions on a topic being presented. Yet, how much is this participatory culture changing our learning style and balance?
Amy Burvall's blog, Soundbitification, brings up an interesting observation, and that is, are we becoming less able to read lengthier articles without losing our focus and getting bored? Furthermore, could it be that society is becoming less able to communicate face to face when the conversation is at a slower pace or less concise? As noted in The Elevator Speech, Social-Media Style, tweeted by Glenn Hervieux (Technology Coordinator, and E-Rate Consultant), businesses are beginning to change their hiring practices based on digital trends and social media. For example, Pizza Hut’s new direction in hiring will require employees to communicate in a social media manner that gets straight to the point. Yet, what does this mean for us as a society?
Is society becoming less able to … demonstrate lifelong skills such as:
- Patience while listening to someone (for example, a senior) struggle to formulate a concise statement or a thoughtful argument
- Tolerance for a different style or custom (i.e., in some societies, snippets of information may not be desirable or acceptable)
- Face to face social skills, etiquette, and personal lasting relationships – many feel these skills require the ability to turn off the ‘noise’ in order to listen (as suggested by a blog in HuffPost: Social Media, Mobile Devices and the Demise of Social Skills)
Or, perhaps a better question might be …
Is society becoming better able to:
- Multitask (one can find research to both support and dispute this)
- Get our point across and ‘cut to the chase’ – using Twitter certainly necessitates the need to be succinct!
- Seek knowledge and participate in self-directed study and independent learning
- Openly ask for help and find solutions – forums and chats seem to indicate this (whether it be at the individual or corporate level, or science research that is moving into ‘the cloud’)
- Make connections and develop relationships in a more interconnected and rhizomatic way, thus tearing down cultural and social walls and boundaries.
Are educators modelling, achieving, and accepting balance?
As an educator, I truly believe we can only achieve balance if we demonstrate balance, and to demonstrate balance, I feel we need to let go of the ‘only this or only that‘ ideology and come to recognize that variety is the spice of life. Alternatives are necessary, and there are many ways to achieve a desired result. I appreciate differing points of view, even when I don’t always understand them, and I feel that tolerance and respect can lead to an appreciation of other perspectives. So, for example, although I would find it extremely challenging to teach without a plethora of technology, I believe that teachers who currently choose a different approach always manage to offer students something special and unique. By accepting difference, we can open the doors to collaboratively help each other learn. Maybe by offering a balanced and varied perspective to students, we strengthen their ability to adapt and change, and hence survive, in an ever-changing world. What do you think?
