Issues of Open Access in Mobile Browsing

I came across two articles that question the openness of the mobile internet.  The first, titled, Is Mobile Internet Really a Good Thing?, discusses that the Internet has been a platform of innovation and cultural ferment because it is open and relatively unregulated.  Connectivity using mobiles is not as open and is very regulated.  Therefore, the shift from computer access to access on mobile devices may actually be a bad thing as telecom companies and government restrict access to information from those devices.  The second article, titled Japan Panel Urges Limit on Mobile Use by Children is an example of this in action.  Japan, the country that probably has the highest penetration of mobile phones, may be actively limiting access to information.

While theoretically, the push to mobile Internet is empowering as it provides continuous access, I’m beginning to wonder why certain circles are pushing access in this way.  Traditional Internet and mobile Internet access is generally provided by the same telecom companies.  Why is it that content filtering is resisted through traditional access but not through mobile access?  Why does the platform matter?  Just because Internet is accessed through a mobile browser instead of a computer browser, it doesn’t mean that content should be restricted.  Instruction and information is the best way to keep kids safe, not blocking.  Blocking just makes it more enticing for kids to want to access inappropriate content.

It has been difficult for telecoms and countries (except for China, of course) to restrict content through traditional access.  Are we shifting from computer access to mobile access to make information less accessible and open?

The Evolution of Mobile Phones

Thanks to Alec Couros from my Twitter network for this one.

Failure is Not Problematic – It’s a Learning Opportunity

As I think about the evolution of education and how we can encourage a paradigm shift in the way we deliver lessons and engage students in learning, I think about how we in education generally have difficulty in accepting new norms. We resist change as we fear that it will expose our ‘weaknesses’. We worry about failure and how failure affects our students’ learning. The fact is, however, if we do not fail, it means we haven’t grown. Failure only happens when we try something new and different. Failure provide us with opportunity to learn something new.

It just appears to me that when it comes to trying new things, we in education generally have this ‘do what I say and not what I do’ attitude. We want our student to do and try new things but we are afraid to do that ourselves. We use expressions such as ‘if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again’. This expression comes out of a spirit of trial and error and not does not value status quo. Thomas Edison, considered one of the most prolific inventors of all time, once wrote that genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration. We are knowledge workers and our business is learning. Isn’t learning all about discovering and trying new things?

Why is it that we shoot down the incorporation of new technologies when it doesn’t work the way we expect the first time? When we hear anecdotal stories about the misuse of digital handheld technology, we quickly use them as examples of how the technology does not work in learning. Yet, at the same time, we bemoan the fact that students are able to quickly learn new tools while we are not so quick to learn. The basis of this appears to be what I will call ‘the sweat factor’. Kids are constantly experimenting with new tools and learn how to use them because of this constant experimentation. Adults, on the other hand, give up after one try because of failure. We do not see this failure as an opportunity to learn but as a reason to resist.

George Siemens, in his breakout session at Leading Learning 2008, stated that teachers should be encouraged to constantly experiment with new techniques and new ideas. I agree and one nice place to start is with technology.

Here is a short inspirational video that informs us that failure is actually part of the growing and learning process.

iPods in Education Part 7: Travel Maps

I must admit that the motivation behind this blog post stems from my upcoming trip to Europe. This self-guided tour will include a lot of travel on public transportation system and, as a result, I need maps to guide my travels. In comes iSubwayMaps.com to the rescue. This small but growing database of maps utilizes the photos feature of all modern iPods to display subway maps of various major cities around the world.

In schools, we can utilize these maps to teach a tool within a tool. Maps are a navigation tool and the development of mapping skills are found in curriculum expectations at the early-mid elementary grades. The ability to download maps from iSubwayMaps to an iPod and to have these maps available wherever one is opens up a whole range of possibilities in teaching students mapping skills using an iPod beyond just subway maps. Any image of any map of anywhere in the world will do and with the ability to add multiple images, a student can scroll through various part of a maps just as it is done with an iSubwayMaps map. A teacher can also utilize this technique by including historical maps in the iPod’s library of maps.

The possibilities of using an iPod for maps extends beyong just static images as this video of the Toronto Subway system clearly demonstrates:

Memorization is an Outdated Learning Strategy

“If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.” – Unknown Authour

Personally, I equate encouraging memorization in learning as giving students a fish and encouraging skill development and teaching students to use ALL available tools to find information as teaching students how to fish.

Memorization – a teaching style that was a necessity at at time when information was scarce and access to that information was very difficult. Throughout history, in order for someone to access the information they needed, they either had to remember what others told them (and who they could actually speak to was limited to individuals who lived in close proximity) or remember what they read about the topic (assuming that they could read). The development of apprenticeships was likely the result of this scarcity of access to information. Hence the need of education systems to fill students with as much information as possible just in case is was needed at a future time.

Times have changed. The digital web has made access to information so ubiquitous that, dare I say, we don’t need to memorize information in the same way that we needed to before. I’m not saying that having a good memory is not important. Actually, a good memory is very important. However, when it comes to developing skills in school, I feel that teaching the skills required to find and manage information when it is need is more important than trying to get students to memorize information. There is just too much information out there, and the amount is growing exponentially. It is impossible for the human brain to remember even a fraction of all this information. However, if we combine modern digital tools and the skills needed to find and manage information, we will serve our student much better as we prepare them for the 21st century workplace. The modern workplace values those who can find and use the information they need when they need it and not those who can only remember some pieces of information but don’t have the skills needed to find pieces of information that they don’t know. The reality is that new information is constantly coming online that often updated or discredits older information/knowledge. An informed citizen in today’s society is one that can access the most up-to-date information when they need it.

Having used a number of online tools for the last few years that has convinced me that memorization is really an outdated learning style. The tools vary – it could be computer tools, web tools or mobile tools. However, when we can tap into both professional publications and the collective intelligence quickly and easily, then we can have what we need when we need it. I guess it’s a question of what 21st century Western society values – “just in time” knowledge or “just in case” knowledge.

Utilizing Mobile Collaboration Tools

There are many new communication tools that are available for us to utilize in our own lives and in our practice. That is obvious. But what is awesome is that these tools can be accessed on the go and used to collaborate with others.

I had some real first hand experience doing this at the Leading Learning 2008 conference. The tool of choice at this conference appeared to be Google docs. It seemed that everyone I talked to who used Web 2.0 tools were using Google’s tools. If you’ve been following me on this blog, you will be well aware that I am personally not a fan of Google and I prefer to use the services of other companies that offer the same services as Google. Let’s make one thing clear – it’s not the tools that I dislike, it’s the business practices of the company. Nevertheless, for the sake of communication and collaboration, I bit the bullet and I set up an account with Google so that I could collaborate with others that were using it.

And collaborate I did.

During the various keynote and breakout sessions, I worked with several delegates in Google Docs to collaborate on creating notes during each of the session. I really saw first hand the power of being able to collaborate in real time with anyone anywhere around the world. While I have yet to try this one out yet, I have heard that Google docs currently doesn’t work on an iPhone or iPod Touch. I’m not sure it will even work on my Blackberry. Nevertheless, with an ultra-portable laptop, anyone can access the collaborative tools found on the web and work together to create knowledge and create understanding.  Being able, then, to collaborate on the go opens up new possibilities to both teaching professionals and the students they teach.

For Teachers – create shared documents for PD; for students – create shared documents for assignments.

Creating knowledge has always been a collaborative effort.  However, for the sake of individualized assessment and evaluation, students have experienced an education system that has valued individualized knowledge regurgitation. Perhaps it’s time to move the conversation beyond the value of collaborative knowledge creation and the tools that allow this to happen to a conversation about how educators can assess and evaluate this type of learning.  Where do we start?

Leading Learning 2008: Post Conference Reflections

Another year has come and gone and another Leading Learning conference has come to a close. I felt that the conference was an overall success which provided me with many new insights and opportunities.

The Good: I connected.

Actually, I really connected. Not only did I connect with delegates that I know through my daily practice and those that I’ve met before at other conferences, but I also met those that I had previously met only virtually. I met George Siemens in person when previously, I had only virtual interactions with him. I met Ben Hazzard in person when I previously had only virtual interactions with him. I met Rodd Lucier in person when previously, I had only virtual interactions with him. It is mainly through my relatively new, but growing, Twitter network that made these physical connections possible.

The Good: I learned.

I really enjoyed two of the keynote presentations. The first was George Siemens’ presentation “On Becoming: The Cognitive Social Impact of Technology”. I found his ideas very thought provoking as they pushed my thinking to a new level while still staying grounded to real world situations. Here are some ideas that I found thought provoking:

• New technologies are often used to serve the needs of previous models of teaching and learning
• We don’t think alone – our cognition is distributed
• The job of education is not to train students for jobs but to transform students into critical social thinkers
• We are currently doing things without understanding the implications of what we are doing
• We is smarter than me
• With all technology, there is a transaction cost – in return for technology, we sometimes exchange money, but sometimes we exchange our privacy and personal security

The other presentation I found thought provoking was a keynote presentation by Shari Graydon titled “Eloquent Seductions: Using Pop Culture to Cultivate Critical Thinking”. Shari’s topic was based on media literacy and how media shapes our thinking and our preferences. Here are some ideas that I found thought provoking:

• Media’s messages influence people – both children and adults
• Corporate constructs often create lasting social constructs – i.e. the DeBeers “Diamonds are Forever” campaign in the early 20th century associated the durability of diamonds with the durability of love – now marriage rings usually have diamonds in them
• Media messages are embedded in values and claims
• Media have social and political implications
• When analyzing media, must analyze both the contents of ads and what is left out of ads

The third presentation that I was looking forward to but didn’t get a change to see was a keynots address by Ken Hudson on using virtual worlds in education. I hope to get a chance to see him sometime in the future.

The Good: I presented.

My breakout session, titled “Mobile Learning: Embracing Handheld Devices for the Post Pencil-Classroom” was attended by about 50-60 participants. In it, I discussed how various handheld devices can be utilized to help kids learn and why we should be encouraging its use in classroom instruction. I have had pretty positive feedback so I think the presentation was well received but I must keep in mind that I was “presenting to the converted” so to speak. I wonder how a more diverse audience would have reacted.

The Bad: Microsoft’s Message

I wasn’t impressed by a presentation made by Mark Parkhill, a representative from Microsoft. His presentation was not original, he was speaking to the audience as if he were training a group of parents in how to protect their children from Internet predators, and his presentation was full of fear mongering. Let’s leave it at that.

The Bad: Unclear Digital Interaction

Commun-IT was again used as a platform to encourage teachers to discuss issues brought up in the presentations. However, unlike last year’s event, this space was very underutilized. I’m not quite sure why this happened. Perhaps the space wasn’t advertised enough. Perhaps it was late in being setup. Perhaps people were collaborating in other spaces. I know that I was using Twitter and Google Docs (yes, I reluctantly set up my own Google account – more on that in another post) and not Commun-IT. We will have to definitely revisit this issue of communication platform for next year’s conference.

As I said in the beginning, the conference was an overall success. Looking forward to exploring the issues further with my personal networks.

Leading Learning 2008: Pre-Conference Reflections

The Leading Learning 2008 Conference is just a few days away and I starting to get excited. I’m presenting once again this year but this time, I’m going solo. My presentation, titled Mobile Learning: Embracing Handheld Devices for Today’s Classroom will look at how digital handheld devices such as cell phones, iPods and PDA’s can be integrated into today’s classroom. While I had recorded a version of the presentation in VoiceThread several weeks ago, that recoding is obsolete as I’ve made a number of changes since then. I will make the slides available here and in SlideShare after the presentation.

In addition to my own presentation, I’m really looking forward to a couple of the presentations. In particular, I’m interested in listening to one of the keynotes: George Siemens. His keynote address is launching the conference Monday morning and is titled On Becoming: The Cognitive and Social Impact of Technology. I have heard George speak on a number of occasions and think that his presentations are both interesting and thought provoking. It will be interesting to see how Ontario educators receive his message. The other keynote address that I am looking forward to is also on Monday and will be presented by Ken Hudson. If I am not mistaken, his presentation, titled Educational Opportunities in Virtual Worlds will look at Second Life. While I have never heard Ken speak, I am interested in seeing how, in this world of distance education and instant access, virtual worlds can be used as a medium to immerse kids in learning environments impossible in the physical world.

Most of all, though, I am looking forward to the networking and the discussing visionary ideas with other educators. Often, conferences such as these provide us with the opportunity to escape the day-to-day grind that bogs us down and to think and discuss ideas on a grander scale. I hope to spark this conversation in my own presentation and to engage in it myself throughout the two days.