Last spring I had the privilege and fun of spending a whole class period with middle school students talking about their favorite uses of technology. Of course there were about as many preferences as there were students, so I'll just zoom in on one student whose interest I felt best illustrated how very individual and diverse digital tech use is. He loves shoes. I can't remember the brands, but … [Read more...] about Unboxing learning
education technology
Some mobile learning myth-busting
As I read "5 myths about mobile learning," I realized how literal we are in our assumptions – and how much we base them on a technology's physical properties. When you really think about it – or compare the assumptions to the reality – it can make you smile (if you don't let yourself get discouraged by the resistance these assumptions symbolize). The first few myths educator Nicky Blockly shares … [Read more...] about Some mobile learning myth-busting
Why we mustn’t have a participation gap: 2 students’ experiences
The other day, two school librarians posted an insightful article about two students – Jessica, just starting her junior of high school, and Michael, who just graduated – who stand on opposite sides of the "participation gap," Prof. Henry Jenkins's term for the digital divide of participatory media and today's networked world. They describe what conditions in schools close the gap and what … [Read more...] about Why we mustn’t have a participation gap: 2 students’ experiences
All kinds of learning all at once with ‘BYOT’
With their bring-your-own-technology (BYOT) program, teachers in the Forsyth County (Ga.) School District are "learning along with our students how their devices work for their learning," Tim Clark, the district's instructional technology coordinator, told me in a phone interview. My excitement about the promise this represents for students grew as we talked. What this school district is doing … [Read more...] about All kinds of learning all at once with ‘BYOT’
The 7 properties of safety in a digital age
In Part 1 of this series, I pointed you to a recent talk by John Seely Brown on the whitewater-kayaking kind of learning we need today and in Part 2, examples of that in Marianne Malmstrom's New Jersey classroom. Both touch on "safety" in and for the learning process. Here, Part 3: zooming in on how they and other wise educators have clarified my view of child safety today. What safety is … [Read more...] about The 7 properties of safety in a digital age