Last week in out 587 class the Prof Heil mentioned two words, at different times, in response to some of the more subtle (and not so) claims of worry with putting everything up for everyone to see when situating ourselves with a PLN.
Transparency and Community
All this week those two words, and their deeper meanings with respect t what we are doing in this class and profession, kept bouncing around my head. For some reason I kept envisioning a Schrodinger's Cat, Quantum Theory Version, (see 'minute physics' youtube video below, all the way at the bottom if needed.) scenario where instead of a cat we have an unsure, potential and possible, Superman that believes he can fly but is hesitant to just go ahead and jump off of a cliff to make sure one way or the other... I mean, he won't know unless he does it, right? You may ask yourself why he needs to to jump off a cliff instead of just taking off from the ground, however, this is obvious; it makes the metaphor moderately more effective. In my own thought experiment with Schrodinger's idea I wondered about a superhero named Transparency Man who may or may not be successfully translating his learning into an interesting and useful purpose with regard to his education in public view. Transparency man has the same dilemmas as Superman AND Schrodinger's cat (the cat having less of a choice in the matter). If Transparency Man decides to take the leap to an open insight into his learning and it is now 'observed' within the greater community, is it possible that he will now either fly/grow as an educator becoming part of that community or die/drop off the building/ and demonstrate his 'newness' to different ideas thereby offering the roadmap of confused struggling student?
I specifically chose to take this tech class to learn about tech for education. It is my opinion that the current of technology in the educational stream we are in now plans on turning it into a river and then a waterfall in the half of a breath (speed of contemporary technology gains?). I, myself, am tech-ish. I had classes on very early and simple DOS programs (anyone remember BRUN?) when I was in elementary, found that I learned about new innovations a little before others, went on to use what I thought would be useful for my life and career in a specific way, and by default became the guy/family member/friend who would act as a de-facto tech support for friends and family. My usual response was to say "gimme a minute to look it up [as you should be doing], read about it and get back to you" before doing just that; my guess is that it is the terminology that frightens most people at first. I will never forget my first day at ucla, completely lost and looking for a genetics class, when I wandered into the computer science building and saw diagrams that seemed to indicate, that at its most basic, programing and the underlying structures of computing resembled philosophical dictates of the organization of things. Blew my mind and I was a little late for class.
At any rate, our students have an innate, instinctual understanding of the course of technology that demands that we use it in our classrooms. I say 'course' of technology rather than technology because they, having been born into a rapidly changing hard and software age have learned to navigate the way it works and changes rather than simply as specific tools. Well, a lot of them.
I have seen hard evidence as I try to integrate things into my classrooms only to be taught BETTER ways of doing them by my students- which is awesome btw. Here, 'Community' starts to take on a less ominous meaning. Here, for me, and as I think the Prof meant it, is where shared learning can start to take place.
I am compelled by and curious of how integrated things have become. Community, the other word that has been bouncing around my head, means so much more these days. Community, in this tech sense, in this sense for me, means thought integration, sharing, learning spaces, idea generators, reflections, and experimentation, and a combination of those words put together in different ways. Community could be as small as needed or as large as global classrooms. We could be learning about the mutation of Sickle Cell anemia (to keep with a theme) in response to Malaria in the classroom while having a dialogue and research on it and methods to prevent Malaria with student in places like West Africa and Turkey. Or, we could be learning about how to write a persuasive essay by using the class community to chime in and help mold, shape, and present a best in show example.
Well, so what about transparency man? Why is he worried and should he take the leap?
Transparency and Community
All this week those two words, and their deeper meanings with respect t what we are doing in this class and profession, kept bouncing around my head. For some reason I kept envisioning a Schrodinger's Cat, Quantum Theory Version, (see 'minute physics' youtube video below, all the way at the bottom if needed.) scenario where instead of a cat we have an unsure, potential and possible, Superman that believes he can fly but is hesitant to just go ahead and jump off of a cliff to make sure one way or the other... I mean, he won't know unless he does it, right? You may ask yourself why he needs to to jump off a cliff instead of just taking off from the ground, however, this is obvious; it makes the metaphor moderately more effective. In my own thought experiment with Schrodinger's idea I wondered about a superhero named Transparency Man who may or may not be successfully translating his learning into an interesting and useful purpose with regard to his education in public view. Transparency man has the same dilemmas as Superman AND Schrodinger's cat (the cat having less of a choice in the matter). If Transparency Man decides to take the leap to an open insight into his learning and it is now 'observed' within the greater community, is it possible that he will now either fly/grow as an educator becoming part of that community or die/drop off the building/ and demonstrate his 'newness' to different ideas thereby offering the roadmap of confused struggling student?
I specifically chose to take this tech class to learn about tech for education. It is my opinion that the current of technology in the educational stream we are in now plans on turning it into a river and then a waterfall in the half of a breath (speed of contemporary technology gains?). I, myself, am tech-ish. I had classes on very early and simple DOS programs (anyone remember BRUN?) when I was in elementary, found that I learned about new innovations a little before others, went on to use what I thought would be useful for my life and career in a specific way, and by default became the guy/family member/friend who would act as a de-facto tech support for friends and family. My usual response was to say "gimme a minute to look it up [as you should be doing], read about it and get back to you" before doing just that; my guess is that it is the terminology that frightens most people at first. I will never forget my first day at ucla, completely lost and looking for a genetics class, when I wandered into the computer science building and saw diagrams that seemed to indicate, that at its most basic, programing and the underlying structures of computing resembled philosophical dictates of the organization of things. Blew my mind and I was a little late for class.
At any rate, our students have an innate, instinctual understanding of the course of technology that demands that we use it in our classrooms. I say 'course' of technology rather than technology because they, having been born into a rapidly changing hard and software age have learned to navigate the way it works and changes rather than simply as specific tools. Well, a lot of them.
I have seen hard evidence as I try to integrate things into my classrooms only to be taught BETTER ways of doing them by my students- which is awesome btw. Here, 'Community' starts to take on a less ominous meaning. Here, for me, and as I think the Prof meant it, is where shared learning can start to take place.
I am compelled by and curious of how integrated things have become. Community, the other word that has been bouncing around my head, means so much more these days. Community, in this tech sense, in this sense for me, means thought integration, sharing, learning spaces, idea generators, reflections, and experimentation, and a combination of those words put together in different ways. Community could be as small as needed or as large as global classrooms. We could be learning about the mutation of Sickle Cell anemia (to keep with a theme) in response to Malaria in the classroom while having a dialogue and research on it and methods to prevent Malaria with student in places like West Africa and Turkey. Or, we could be learning about how to write a persuasive essay by using the class community to chime in and help mold, shape, and present a best in show example.
Well, so what about transparency man? Why is he worried and should he take the leap?
First of all, he probably should jump...with caution. It's true that we are all wary of putting too much out there. I am learning and, as such, am concerned that as I do so openly I open myself up to the appearance of a mistake maker at times. In my "i want a job" mind, the temptation to shine through only showing my perfect highlights looms large. Seriously. Then again, transparency can also mean accessibility in terms of any potential employer understanding how I work, think, my passion about what and how I am teaching. I will say that the prospect of connecting with the energy and ideas of a digital community focused on directly looking at all aspects of teaching is exciting.