Comments for Beyond Digital

Comment on Where is the manual? by Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:12:18 +0000

Thank you for an interesting article. I agree with your premise but in actual practice the method leaves much to be desired. In searching for information online and avoiding face to face help, there is a real danger of misinformation, not to mention a time commitment that while it may be acceptable in an education environment is much more difficult to justify in a work environment. Sadly, when a task needs to be accomplished in a very short time frame (which is most of the time), the luxury of seeking answers from the ungodly slurry of information online is just that, a luxury. When I need answers, I usually need them NOW. While I sometimes get good information online, sifting through the chaff can be an exercise in frustration not to mention a black hole of time. The profusion of poor writing on the web is another stumbling block. Explanations that may be accurate but are so poorly articulated make for more time wasted and more aggravation. Regardless of the availability of information at the click of a mouse, give me more human contact and a manual.

Comment on unlearning learning by Where is the manual? « Beyond Digital

Where is the manual? « Beyond Digital — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:54:18 +0000

[...] This last week we had the pleasure of having Jason Ohler visit our school and work with our parents, students and faculty. One statement that stood out during the day was Jason‘s reference that a sign of intelligence is not how much knowledge you have, but one’s adaptability to learn, unlearn and relearn. [...]

Comment on The success of failure by Nancy vonWahlde

Nancy vonWahlde — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 05:08:54 +0000

I love what you wrote, and Lindy’s comment as well. Investing time to reflect on what went wrong and explicitly discussing these experiences will allow us to become comfortable with acknowledging the problems and more able to learn from them. We need to celebrate patience and tenacity as well as success!

Comment on The success of failure by Lindy Buckley

Lindy Buckley — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 21:19:39 +0000

John, what a great little film! Congratulations to Julien and his group.

You are so right about the failure being important. When my students finish with a performance task one of their reflection questions is always, “What didn’t go well? What did you do about it?” After all how can I tell if they are problem solvers if they don’t have problems and they can’t tell how they overcame them. I think we will always celebrate success but the intensity of celebration should be equal to the amount of failure and difficulties overcome that got you to that success.

I am already thinking of how I will put greater emphasis on this aspect when I introduce the perf task for our current inquiry unit this afternoon! So thanks for that!

Comment on Where is the “off” switch? by Susan MacIntosh

Susan MacIntosh — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 08:59:31 +0000

Your points are well-taken. When I teach online content to students, I’m always aware that students are often working in controlled environments – classroom or group blogs/wikis. While this is necessary to protect their online privacy, I think we should also let them see “under the hood” so they become aware that they’re protected because we’re vigilant – it doesn’t happen automatically. In my experience, they need explicit instruction in digital citizenship. They need to be taught the skills of leaving a positive digital footprint from the time they’re introduced to online learning.
An excellent example of teaching online responsibility is Julie Lindsay’s Flat Classroom& Digiteen Projects. Middle & high school students from all corners of the world produce a multimedia project based on concepts from Daniel Pink’s The World is Flat. Kids get a unique opportunity to experience the concepts through the perspectives of their peers on the other side of the globe. They are also exposed to different countries’ control over digital content, e.g. China. That could start a very lively discussion! Students can also collaborate by asking for “outsourced” photos that illustrate a global concept. I’ve never had the opportunity to teach Flat Classroom because I don’t have my own homeroom classes, but I hope I get the chance to collaborate with a keen IT team. I’ve worked with these projects as a judge & expert advisor, so I have some knowledge of its value as a powerful learning medium.

Comment on Where is the “off” switch? by Pete Kennedy

Pete Kennedy — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 10:40:57 +0000

Many years ago when cell phones were just beginning to emerge we were sailing roughly 10 miles off Montauk Point, New York on our way to Block Island, Rhode Island. All that could be heard was the low hiss of the wind through the sails, water rushing along the hull and the cheerful banter of friends enjoying a lovely day on the water. We were all enjoying the peace and solitude my sailboat always offered when suddenly my brother’s cell phone rang, not a common occurrence back in the day. This brought smiles of amazement to most on board but I felt an awkward mix of wonderment and dread. If we could now be reached 10 miles off the coast while on a sailboat in the middle of no where what would the future bring? At the time I felt this new found connectivity with 24/7 access was either going to be really really good or really really bad. It has been roughly 15 years since that cell phone call and I have still not decided…………..? But at least you can give me a call, text, tweet, chat, skype, email, ………….. and we can talk it over!

Comment on Where is the “off” switch? by arniebieber

arniebieber — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 10:58:21 +0000

Your points are well taken. Where do today’s digital natives find peace? On the other had, is it even an issue for them or are we trying to fit the reality of today’s digital citizen into the last generation’s Twentieth Century world view?

Comment on Where is the “off” switch? by Patrick Green  ADE

Patrick Green  ADE — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 13:38:53 +0000

There are a number of good points here, but I especially appreciate you bringing up this idea of our digital footprints continuing to be active while we sleep. I had not really thought of this previously, but it is true that while we may be physically not connected, our typed words and images are still able to make impressions and “communicate” to others. All the more important for us to be actively “crafting” a digital image that we can be proud of.

Comment on Where is the “off” switch? by Stephen Dexter, Jr

Stephen Dexter, Jr — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 17:27:55 +0000

I can’t help but thinking “genie out of the bottle!” Yes, the idea of connectivity is reaching its tipping point.

Thanks so much for the reminder of what’s really important when it comes to learning. The challenge will be, of course, not to look like the crazy uncle in the basement telling the kids to turn the stereo down. A bientot!

Comment on while I was waking up… by Lindy Buckley

Lindy Buckley — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 09:25:06 +0000

John, you have put into words what I have been thinking. Actually I am alarmed about too many aspects of my life being organised for me in the cloud somewhere. I purposely like the right hand not know what the left hand is doing sometimes!

As I sit here in Ireland, having done a load of washing and stacked the dishwasher, I am also thinking that what you describe is, in my other life, a technological continuation of day to day living. In Indonesia, there are some who have everything organised for them at home. (Not me – I don’t like it, but many do) So you don’t know what you’ll have for dinner because your cook will have decided that, you don’t have to go shopping for washing powder because the maid will do that when she sees that it’s running low and you don’t need to think about flowers and plants in your house because the gardener will take care of that…. I actually like to make those decisions myself. it concerns me that in the social/technology area, we do seem to be losing control. It’s a worry…