From teacher to network administrator in a garden with no walls…
On Saturday (January 20th) we had a synchronous round table and our guest speaker Clarence Fisher was online LIVE from some remote Canadian town loud and clear after some initial (typical) technological glitches. It was a great session and it was wonderful to hear Clarence speaking and confirming many of our ideas and key issues on blogging and openpublishing as well as hearing his expert views on what it means nowadays for our “kids” as he called them to “Be literate”.
He was appreciative of the EVO session title, focusing on the “open” I agree, is a political statement in itself. Here are some of my notes:
An open classroom allows for diverse opinion, encourages debate and shares voices from all over the world.
Teachers are no longer teachers but could be seen as network administrators. Their role now includes helping learners to form networks, value and evaluate and as we all know this means the results we end up with are very NEW . Clarence compared the non-network learning to “walled gardens” where results are stilted and easily fade out whereas with open flexible learning networks you get results you didn’t expect and they strength and develop over time.
So what does it mean to be literate in today’s hi-tech world?
The points Clarence focused on were:
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ability to access information – so teachers need to provide places where learners can access. Information is not simply text but now includes images, audio, video, photos.
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ability to evaluate the info –requiring much higher levels of reading and writing skills, requiring a whole new set of tools.
The web can give our learners a voice and people who are interested in hearing that voice. One of these new skills is the ability to differentiate between an audience and a community.
Clarence defined audience as: “global, sensational, gives learners a “drive” but is not always there for you. It’s a nice pat on the back though.”
A community, however, is “made up of trusted nodes, a more permanent interest in what learners are “saying”, offering a return to the same network, it drives learners forward with their learning. It helps them understand the lives of others and shows them that having a voice is only about THEM.”
Three essential points for educators to encourage and instil:
AUTHENTICITY – for a real voice to develop that voice needs to be representative of who they are. i.e. Online don’t be some you are not. Note that we stressed that this does not mean giving out Surnames and addresses, privacy issues should be taught alongside.
ETHICS – online act ethically – understand right from wrong, enhance values. Learners can still protect their identity.
EMPATHY – we need to help learners be respectful of people all around the world. Help them understand the lives of others.
Thank you Clarence, Patricia, Bee, Graham and Nick 😉 Great live session.
Other references mentioned:
Collission detection re: Google is no longer a “search engine” but a reputation management system see 15 Jan 2007 entry on “Give me your thoughts on an upcoming Wired feature: “Radical Transparency” at http://www.collisiondetection.net/
Graham has now uploaded audio file if Clarence Fisher’s talk to http://www.webcastacademy.net/node/741
