Blog Post: My First Time on #engchat
I participated in my first Twitter #engchat on April 23rd, 2012. Although the topic of the day seemed to jump around, most tweets centered around the topic of finding mentor texts for digital writing. At first, I was a bit confused about what the topic even meant, so I decided to sit back and observe for the chat. I really liked seeing how natural conversations still feel on an edchat. I found that when someone suggested to first define and consider how teachers use digital writing, many agreed. They talked about how they use digital writing and then reflected on how to bring in their students into the same fold (while also deciding what to teach and how to teach it). I found that everyone who contributed was very polite and through, even when using short tweets. I found many links and resources through the participants' tweets. I followed new people in the hopes of expanding my PLN in the future.
Since this was my first edchat ever, I was surprised by how fast the tweets pour in. With so many hashtags and links, it was sometimes a bit difficult to keep up. When I considered responding to someone, I would find that somebody else had already responded with the same idea that I was going to express. The speed with which the Tweets go by is surprising and amazing, considering that so many different people affiliated with English education from all over the world participate. Next time I participate in an edchat, I will know what to expect and a little more on how to be an effective part of an online conversation.
Blog Post: Disruptive Innovation
Chapter 1: Why Schools Struggle to Teach Differently when each Student Learns Differently
1. Explain the difference between interdependence and modularity. How is education currently organized?
The difference between interdependence and modularity is that they describe the makeup of a system. A system that relies on interdependence is marked by the fact that one part cannot be created without the other. In other words, its interface is is completely dependent on all parts running a certain way in order to function. Modularity is different. It is more flexible and customizable because, by specifying the fit and function of all elements, it won't matter who makes/produces the elements as long as they meet the necessary specifications.
Currently, education is organized under interdependence. The authors claim that education can be observed to be interdependent in four ways: lateral, temporal, physical and hierarchical. Education right now is restricted by the different interfaces that hold it together. Students are learning certain ways because of the interlocking systems in our educational system. This includes a standardized instruction and assessment system in United States Education. Part of the reason for this, which the authors cite when discussing Special Needs students and the cost of customization, are economic reasons and setbacks. In essence, education now is still under the "factory model."
Chapter 2: Making the Shift: Schools meet Society’s need
2. Explain the disruptive innovation theory. What does this have to do with schools?
The disruptive innovation theory is one that explains how things change in consumerism. The authors state, "Instead of sustaining the traditional improvement trajectory in the established plane of competition, it disrupts that trajecotry by bringing to the market a product or service that actually is not as good as what companies historically had been selling" (47). Disruptive innovations therefore appeal to nonconsumers and by providing something different than quality and improvement on par with another, similar product. This then moves consumers away from the traditional product, as described in the book with the personal computers. The disruptive product is then improved and worked on until it becomes the standard.
Schools represent a field that has no non-consumers because the educational system in the United States is a monopoly. No one, no product, can come in and disruptively innovate because everything is so in place already. In order for a product to truly change and dirupt education, it will need to change what and how students learn. Currently, no product or alteration has really been present enough to create significant changes in education. The authors do suggest, however, that technology may become a disruptive innovation in education in the future.
Chapter 3: Crammed Classroom Computers
3. Why doesn’t cramming computers in schools work? Explain this in terms of the lessons from Rachmaninoff (what does it mean to compete against nonconsumption?)
Cramming computuers in school doesn't work because the way in which they are utilized is not enough to actually be a disruptive innovation. For one, students go into the library, choose a computer and begin typing essays or any student work he/she needs. In cases like these, the computer becomes supplementary, not a means of instruction that changes how or what students learn. Computers do not replace the teacher either because they are typically not used often in the classroom.
Competing against nonconsumption is clearly seen in RCA. Nonconsumers were the people who were not listening to live music and artists such as Rachmaninoff. When RCA invented a way to bring Rachmaninoff home for those people, those noncomsumers, they ended up a creating a market that is still seen today. In schools, computers are not yet appealing to noncconsumers. Partly because of its limits in the educational monopoly, computers have not yet been able to replace teachers. In order to do so, technology would have target and appeal to people who are not benefitting or feeling fulfilled by traditional education. In the future we may see technology take on this role, but for now it still has not made the jump into disruptive innovation.
Chapter 4: Disruptively Deploying Computers
4. Explain the pattern of disruption.
5. Explain the trap of monolithic instruction. How does student-centric learning help this problem?
The pattern of disruption consists of creating a new "plane of competition" against non-consumption. So rather than entering a pre-existing, established plane, disruption requires highlighting a "new plane" that targets people who do not exist/are not accounted for in the more popular and traditional plane of consumerism. Christensen describes the pattern of disruption as an S-curve. It begins with a flat introduction and then as the product or system is improved, it grows exponentially and nears the exisiting product. Eventually, the disruptive innovation will reach and overtake the existing product, replacing it completely. When it replaces it and establishes "market dominance" the curve then flattens.
To my understanding, monlithic instruction means rigid instruction. It is not flexible, it does not allow for customization and change in delivery of instruction or assessment. It certainly does not reach and work for all students, and is heavily dependent on the teacher. Student-centric learning is different because it focuses on the students and their learning abilities. It emphasizes customization in instruction and takes away the focus from the teacher and places it back on student learning.
Chapter 5: The System for Student-Centric Learning
6. Explain public education’s commercial system. What does it mean to say it is a value-chain business? How does this affect student-centric learning?
Public education's commercial system is likened to a value-adding process in the book. This is so because students begin school very young (in kinder) and travel through public education until the day of their graduation in the same way. They are students in classrooms who constantly received information, are fed information, and then move on to the next grade. The reason for why school functions like this is because of the idea that schooling leads students to become knowledgeable citizens.
The system is currently divided into steps that begin with textbook publishers, who influence the curriculum and teaching of material, the teachers who teach according to their states/districts, the students learning and being assessed, then the teacher teaching training being adapted to fit new trends in testing, and finally cycles back to textbook publishers. Under this system, student-centric learning is not at the forefront of issues. Students' learning abilitities and the needs of particular areas or locations are not accurately addressed because of the cycles of a "one-size fits all" kind of system. Student-centric learning may flourish through the addition and proper use of technology in the classroom, but it needs to truly promote learning and change in order to become a disruptve innovation that changes the education system.
Blog Post: Are Grades Necessary for Learning?
If we took grades out of education, the first thing I think about is that there will be a gap in how to quantify learning. Without grades, how will schools figure out GPA's, how will teachers assess knowledge, how will colleges decide student admissions? Pink expressed that currently, performance goals and learning goals are two very different facets of education (even though we'd like to think they are well-aligned). He gave the example of learning French and how we learn for a grade, not for actual learning and a permanent acquisition of skills or knowledge. I agree. I have taken many courses and can probably only recall little to no information about most of them. If we took grades out of learning, we would have to set up parameters and guidelines that show us how to assess student learning and provide valuable feedback. That way, both students and teachers know what to look for and how to show real acquisition of skills.
Blog Post: Learning in New Media Environments
The emphasis on identity in the video Learning in New Media Environments strikes me as the most interesting way to approach new media. Mike Wesch focuses his work in New Guinea on relationships and identity, which is aided and undeniably affected by media. He then transfers over his work in New Guinea to the work that goes into being a student, an educator, and a citizen of a changing world, When we try to use media, Wesch says, the media uses us and we are ALL part of those changes. Media are not just tools, media mediates relationships. He also emphasizes the double-edged sword of media. It's both empowering but limiting depending on how we utilize it.
I identified with the point of view that we need to be more involved with the new media in order to help students go from knowledgeable to knowledge-able. As a student, I can't deny that I text, surf the internet, and use media for my own purposes in class. As a teacher, those same habits are some of the most frustrating things to deal with when trying to teach high schoolers. I am interested in finding ways to incorporate more of Wesch's ideas into my teaching. One of the difficulties I can see myself facing is just trying to change the mentality under which students in our current educational system have been trained. The current system divides media and schooling; we have computers that block the internet, schools that do not allow any cell phone use (sometimes not even for academic purposes), and teachers who have decided to ignore new media. I am very curious to see how my efforts in adapting to new media go in the future.
Blog Post: My Internet Presence
After watching the Visitors and Residents video, I must say that I am leaning more towards the residents side even though I strongly cling to my status as a visitor. I love the internet. I love being able to read, write, research, or simply waste time visiting different tumblr pages. I consider myself to be a "lurker" on the internet; I am a person who loves to observe but does not actually have a stong online presence (other than the usual social media sites).
I am a visitor in the sense that I value my privacy. I also like order and structure, which the internet does not provide. I like to login and logout when I am finished. Even now, I tire of having tweetdeck run in the background and interrupt my train of thought when new notifications pop up. I have, however, loved exploring new sites. I love the accessibility of the Diigo bookmarklet and the Pinterest button. I also love the idea of using more technology in my classroom.
In the future, I see myself leaning more and more towards becoming an internet resident. I am not quite there yet, but I am insterested in seeing what else the internet has to offer. Maybe if I find some tools that I fall in love with, I will become more active in the internet community.
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Hey Karina,
ReplyDeleteI really liked you comments and descriptions of the monolithic education. I completely agree. It's is rigid. There is so little flexibility in teaching students as individuals. Everyone learns in the same way, at the same pace, and with the same materials, and as a result so many get left behind.