Sugata Mitra’s Ted Talk “Build a School in the Cloud” shares insights on the future of learning in a digital age. 

How do we ensure students are provided a relevant and purposeful education in an age when they have instant access to all information and the need to know is superseded by the need to learn?  In his Ted Talk Build a School in the Cloud, Sugata Mitra points out that our education system was designed in a time when the objective of formal education was to disseminate information.  Now, that need can be satisfied through a few clicks, a youtube video, or a quick Google search.  To progress education, we need to move away from the ideology of propagating information and move towards a school of thought that values problem-solving, inquiry, and discovery.   Mitra convincingly suggests that traditional learning environments are obsolete and detrimental to real learning.  He believes that self-organized learning environments are how we can innovate education in order to allow education to match the rapid evolution of our digital world.

A self-learning environment is one where the learner is provided with access to technology, collaboration is valued, and encouragement is offered.  In this environment, the role of the teacher is to guide student questioning, encourage exploration and discovery, and support learner collaboration.  This shift moves away from the traditional model where the teacher is the content expert and holds all the answers.   It creates a space where an effective teacher must be skilled at supporting the development of positive relationships, modeling the design and refinement of inquiry, and introducing tools and resources to support students’ natural inquisitiveness.  A classroom teacher in this environment is a facilitator and a guide.  Their role is to create an environment where self-learning is possible.

Podcasts

Episode 4 of the 1619 podcast discusses the impact of race on access to quality healthcare.  In the podcast, we hear the voices of the podcast creator Nikole Hannah-Jones, her interview with expert Jeneen Interlandi, and archived recordings from historical interviews.  The episode begins with Hannah-Jones telling a story from her personal history that has a deep connection to the discussion topic.  This establishes a context for the historical and political discussion that follows.  During this, the podcast blends expert commentary with first-person accounts and interviews to tell the story of how race has impacted access to adequate healthcare.  The podcast closes with the reading of a short narrative piece from Ghanian-American Novelist Yaa Gyasi.  By incorporating various modes of spoken word and storytelling like interviews, fictional and nonfictional, narratives, and historical recordings, the podcast is able to tell an important truth about how the country has failed Black Americans.  

I use podcasts with my Emergent Bilingual high school students.  In an English language development classroom, there are many benefits to incorporating podcasts into teaching and learning activities.  Podcasts can support EBs in developing listening and speaking skills, provide foundational or background information on new topics, and provide a real-world context for new topics and vocabulary.  When I do incorporate podcasts, I provide different scaffolds to support learners at different stages of English language development.  Some of those scaffolds include providing complete transcripts or cloze versions of transcripts, pre-teaching vocabulary, activating prior knowledge, listening guides, note catchers, and visual supports.  I use podcasts to support the comprehension and analysis of class texts but also as the class text.  I think podcasts are a great tool in education.  Depending on the pod, they are scripted to an extent while maintaining a conversational authenticity that is lost in other media.  I find some students struggle with the audio-only format so I often accompany listening with a task that supports active listening or present the pod in chunks with activities woven in.  

Here are some podcasts I’ve used in my teaching:

• American History Tellers

• Serial 

• StoryCorps

• The Moth

I would never make it as a Disney princess.

Before becoming a mom, the only Disney princess movie I saw in its entirety was the 1989 version of The Little Mermaid.  My fourth-grade teacher showed the film in class as a reward for our good behavior during her extended absence.  It was selected by a majority vote.  It was not my pick. 

My younger self thought the Disney narratives were boring and too girly.  I was a tomboy.  I wore hats and boy’s clothes.  After making my first communion, I embarked on a boycott of all skirts and dresses.  It lasted 17 years.  Disney, and other media portraying similar archetypes, did not make me feel like I needed to be a certain type of girl but it did make me feel like I wasn’t the right type of girl.  From a very young age, I had a sense that some part of who I was challenged what others thought I should be.  Luckily, I was strong-willed and this did not impact my behavior but, in retrospect, it did influence my self-esteem and confidence  As Disney diversified their characters I began to enjoy Disney movies more.  They became more relatable.

Christensen’s critique of Disney culture validates my views.  In her chapter Unlearning the Myths that Bind Us: Critiquing fairy tales and cartoons, Christensen begins her discussion by pointing out how, from a very early age, we are manipulated to accept the world as it is represented: male-dominated, influenced by wealth, valuing whiteness, prioritizing Christian ideals.  It is from these representations that a sense of how the world works begins to develop.  Without exposure to alternative narratives, young people are left to create ideas and beliefs about the world and themselves based on the hierarchies and inequalities portrayed in popular media.  

Christensen provided her students with the necessary tools and challenged them to view children's tv, film, and literature through a critical lens.  Their takeaways were lasting and meaningful.  They developed new, actionable ideas about children's media and its role in society.  

 

The Myth of the Digital Native

    While I see validity in Prensky’s description of digital natives vs. immigrants, it has many gaps.  Boyd does an excellent job of pointing out these gaps and the holes in Prensky’s thinking.  There are clear generational differences in digital literacy for many individuals and in many communities.  Individuals born after the mid-1980s have been utilizing technology for most of their lives.  Technology is built into many of the things they have always done.  Whereas, for older individuals, many of the same life activities happened with the support of technology and can continue without technology.  

The danger in adhering to this mindset is that it overlooks gaps in digital literacy that exist amongst those Prensky would identify as natives.  Literacy does not rely solely on access.  On page 196, Boyd points out that digital literacy is related to how individuals interact with technologies, digital information, and other individuals and institutions.  This varies greatly amongst Prensky’s digital natives.  Just because an individual can use technology for social and entertainment purposes does not mean they are able to access it in a productive and effective way in other arenas.  If we assume that all of Prensky’s digital natives have a proficient level of digital literacy, individuals without the technology skills and knowledge will not have the opportunity to develop them.

I think the term “digital native” is dangerous because it assumes all young people possess the same level of digital skills and knowledge.  In reality, not all young people have the same exposure and access to technology.  So, using the term “digital native” can be misleading and allow institutions, like schools, to overlook the digital divides that exist in society, like limited access to technologies, language and cultural barriers, and discrepancies in educational settings

Introduction

 Hi!  Summer is the best time of the year!  I am looking forward to fully engaging in all my favorite summer activities after completing this course!  My family has a summer home in Narragansett.  Our favorite places to visit when there are Narragansett Town Beach and Crazy Burger Cafe & Juice Bar.