What are the implications?

By Dean Shareski on Jan 25, 2007 | In Technology, Change | 1 feedback »

The issue of instant publishing and privacy continues to add complexity to education. On the one hand we can really leverage the tools to create a real audience and connect learners. On the other hand we can be so transparent as to reveal way more of ourselves than we'd like.

We may not have that much control. There are also some interesting implications. This post by Christian Long is an eye opener. Watch this video of an grade 8 student describing the project he's worked on for his history teacher. If you were his teacher, how would you feel? Could you stop him from posting this? Frankly, I think this is a great little piece of work and he clearly demonstrates a strong skill in digital story telling.

Christian wriites:

I wonder how global my kids would go with my assignment sheet before
they even produced the content I requested. What if the very
assignment were mashed-up on YouTube and quickly sparked hundreds of
thousands of viewers to tune-in? What
if the best part of my teacher assignment was a 13 year old kid with
the gumption to turn my 'teacher' moment into something far more viral? Would it change the way I challenged my kids? Supported their creativity? Got out of their way.

These are issues we've not thought about much but we need to. What are your thoughts?

[youtube]kSKlmhymihk[/youtube]

Comment from: Alan Stange [Visitor] Email
Marvelous stuff. It brings to mind a student I have worked with who is hopless in the classroom with conventional modes of communication. Put video in his hands and he understands the medium as a first language of communication. We have stressed the value of varied communication strands in the classroom but until the technology Christian used (camera and standard computer with internet) are as readily accessible as a pad and pencil the other Christians will never have the time to "doodle" electronically. Even so we need to be mindful that there are producers and consumers. Christian (and his camera operator... hope it's Derik) is a apparently one of the producers. Most students will be consumers, just as the imaginative poem is a rare class production. What fun for Christian anyway.
February/4/07 @ 10:03

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