STSD Curriculum & Technology Update

Regular updates and musings on curriculum and technology in the Salisbury Township School District in Allentown, PA.

The Future is Now…according to the Rutgers University English Department

There are lots of interesting points in this short presentation:

1. “...the nature of communication has totally changed.”
2. “English, as the site that excels in human expression, and in the study of human culture related to expression—we should be the place that’s at the very cutting edge of education for students in these areas.”
3. “We now live in a world where we don’t simply go to the web to draw information down, but that people are actively participating in and contributing to the knowledge and information that is on the web.”
4. Because we now live in this read/write world, it’s essential that the English Department provide our students with training in how to live in this world.”
5. Collaboratories - “...spaces where students can work on multimedia composition. Because to compose, and to compose successfully in the 21st century, you have to not only excel at verbal expression and written expression, but you also have to excel in the use and manipulation of images. That is what it means to compose.”
6. Writing in the 21st century - “It’s multiply authored. It’s multiply produced. That’s where English is going.”

What are your thoughts?

Comments

My main concern with the focus on the “creativity” buzz word and technology is the potential of leaving behind “genius” and “individuality.” If we combine the theories of two cultural theorists of the sixties - McLuhan and Riesman - the direction our society has been taking is that of a global VILLAGE and an other-directed society.  We are all too familiar with Friedman’s phrase, today: the world is flat.  In a globally tribal world (village) , anonymity rules while genius could be left behind.  Many famous statues and works of art of a preliterate Medieval Period were anonymous because the individual did not matter; individuality was not an issue.  Individuality was an invention of a printing-press world.  According to McLuhan, psychologist Robert Ornstein, and media guru Neil Postman, the fragmentation created within the individual through a book culture is reversed in an electronic culture.  Riesman’s description of an other-directed society ponts out that parents, elders, communities, etc. are no longer responsible for teaching or influencing our children.  Rather, corporations through the media teach our children how to act, consume, and CREATE.  This process involves conformity rather than individuality.  My worry is that students will be creating through conformity rather than modeling or expanding upon genius.  Hence we hear how much we should praise every student.  Genius could fall behind if we are not careful and put too much emphasis on creativity through technology.  We need to stress the ability to be alone; many intellectuals have stressed this fact of CREATIVITY.  It goes beyond Dewey’s learning by doing.  I am an advocate of technology and creativity.  But I think we must be very careful in how we go about our responsibility of educating about technology - which I admit is a huge necessity.  From my readings and observations, we are ignoring many pieces of the puzzle.  I think Neil Postman’s work (TECHNOPOLY, AMUSING OURSELVES TO DEATH), Marc Edmunson’s (WHY READ?), and some others belong at the forefront of this conversation.

I, too, am not a nay-sayer for the creative use of technology in the classrooms, but also feel simultaneously the concerns for what Martrich has posted.  Certainly thought processes change as we move from a text-based to multiple-media world.  The speaker references graphics, but audio and video are other components, too.  The most recent brain research indicates that a human’s brain is not fully developed until one’s mid 20’s .  I would think the neural connections will be very different for someone growing up with this, rather than evolving along with it as most of us educators now are.  This can be both positive and negative. 

Many years ago a poet considered quite creative in his own right credited his thoughts to his need to stand on the shoulders of giants who came before him.  It will be interesting to see how this all plays: how will we take the knowledge base already available and improve upon it in creative ways?  I wasn’t surprised to hear a Rutgers prof exploring these issues, as Rutgers is one of those universities really committing to those sorts of explorations.  RU online postgrad program, of which I have participated as both a student and instructor, focuses on how we as educators can bridge with new connections young learners’ interest in technology with the best resources that we know we want them to encounter.  It’s exciting to be a part of this happening with younger students, but it’s always a balancing act for which we cannot see all the ramifications ahead of time.

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