TechIntersect

These days social media is in the forefront of our consciousness. Twitter tweets and Google searches about the death of Michael Jackson slowed the entire Internet. Social media is constantly in the news and many organizations are struggling to make sense of it all, trying to see how new media fits into their mission.

Recently, I was struck by the marked difference in approach between IBM social computing guidelines and the Associated Press social networking Q & A. Obviously these are very different businesses with different missions. However, IBM seems to understand that social media empowers it’s employees to learn and to contribute while AP seems to want to place limits on what it’s employees can and cannot do while using the medium for self-expression. AP even goes so far as to expect it’s associates to self-police personal online sites such as Facebook for third party posts that might run counter to AP standards & guidelines.

If I were an AP employee, my Facebook page would be out of compliance. In recent weeks I have posted informational links to news stories that triggered passionate replies from Facebook friends. (George Tiller’s murder is one such story.) I didn’t really offer an opinion, just shared information, but if I were to follow the AP guidelines, I would have had to delete all comments that weighed in on the story. Also, I have a Navy buddy who rails against President Obama on a near daily basis, often with links on my Facebook page. Sometimes I agree, and sometimes I don’t agree with his thoughts, but the point is I’m happy that the commentary happens. I know my friend better as a result of the conversation, and since he lives far away, before Facebook I rarely heard from him.

Honestly, I think that Twitter scares the heck out of the AP. This tweet comes from my twitter friend @grantgriffiths:

RT @Dana_Willhoit: I swear Twitter is the new Associated Press/UPI wire service. It’s The People’s Wire Service.

No wonder AP is threatened. Certainly Twitter has the downside potential of quickly spreading false rumors. But it’s facilty with globally sharing information that is accurate is undisputed. As I write this, the Iran election story is still in progress and we don’t know what impact Twitter might have on that situation. Could the AP become irrelevant in the near future as this technology evolves?

I will continue to beat the transparency drum. I think social media amplifies your true identity. If you are a cheat, a jerk, a bigot, these will quickly be exposed, just as will if you are a decent & humble person. I don’t think that it’s wise to try to live a phoney baloney life these days. It’s best to just be yourself and let the world see you for what you are. If you are trying to hide something from us, it is no wonder you shrink from this medium.

The empathetic response is the secret to delivering bad news without coming across like a class-A jerk. Love  & Logic teaches that consequences delivered with empathy allows kid to direct blame inward, while consequences delivered with anger provides an escape valve for them to project blame elsewhere. This is often where many parents & teachers (myself included) mess up.

Recently my 5 y/o & I were in Walmart. He wandered off & soon returned with four Ninja Turtle DVD’s at $10 ea. and he only had $6 in his pocket. That’s great, I’ll bet you’ll really enjoy those, I said. Let’s check out. (We were at a not so busy electronics counter). Give them your money.

The clerk smiled, we need more than $6, honey. She whispers to him, try to talk your dad into loaning you some more.

Oh, no, I said. He buys his movies with his OWN money! How do you feel about taking $6 for these movies? I asked the clerk.

I don’t think I can do that, she says, thinking to herself I must be an idiot.

She says she won’t take $6, I sadly tell him.

He starts crying and throwing a fit. That’s a bummer, I tell him. What are you going to do?

By this time, there are two clerks, and they think their heart is going to break at the sight of my disappointed & distraught boy. Maybe you can find a toy that you can buy for $6, they offer. How about a car? They suggest.

Then my son perks up. Yeah, maybe we can find a toy. Let’s go Dad.

So we leave the videos at the counter, off to the toy section, with my reputation as an understanding dad intact.

Wait, it gets better. After several minutes of looking for under $6 toys, he settles on a pair of foam swords, one for him & one for his sister. You really want those? I ask. A kid could get into a lot of trouble with those. Yes. he’s decided. OK, you decide. I reply.

You might be able to guess where this is going. Only a few hours later, I was again being a sad, empathetic dad when I explained that I only let sword fights happen between kids who take it outside, and don’t try to hurt each other. We’ll get the swords down another day when I have more energy & feel like you guys won’t get crazy with them.

Yes, it is a lot of work to do it this way. Yes, to some parents it seems like I’m a pushover when I don’t get angry when straightening my kids out. (trust me, if you stick around long enough you can see the anger too.) But as Jim Fay puts it, “someday they’ll be the ones choosing my nursing home.” Hopefully when that time comes they will remember the patience I’ve tried so hard to model for them.

Last evening I was invited to give a brief presentation to the History of American Education class I am in about Diigo, and how we might use it to collaborate during the rest of the week when we are not in class. I was about two minute into explaining what it does, when the self-described “Type A personality” interrupts me demanding, But why should I care?

I’m getting to that, I say. Not only can you save your bookmarks, your favorite websites, but we can form a group; we can collaborate, we can comment and annotate with highlights & sticky notes on the websites we are viewing as a group! Isn’t that cool?

Unfortunately, the demonstration computer didn’t have an up to date browser that would allow Diigo to function correctly, making it all the more difficult to sell my case. When the sign-up sheet was passed around collecting e-mail addresses of those interested in checking it out, as you can guess, Mr. “Type A” was not among the names. Neither were about half of the rest of the class.

I have written before about how I think Web2.0 should be taught in teacher education programs. Last night’s experience only bolsters my position.

I remember back when the “information superhighway” was just starting to catch on, and there was a big hub-bub about the potential for a “digital divide between the haves and the have-nots”. Wealthy kids could tap into this rich source of information while the poor kids wouldn’t have the means to do so, and there was a big push to wire every classroom in the country.

I believe the digital divide is very real, and the division line is not along economic boundaries. The boundary lies between those with a curious mentality towards technology and those without.

The real digital divide is between mere consumers of content and information, and those who are learning about the collaborative nature of Web 2.0 technology and its amazing content creating power.

Students without a role model at home or at school might be able to cross the digital divide on their own with their own curiousity and some blind luck. I would rather see adults setting the example for them.

When Benjamin Franklin was a young man, he embarked on a daily program of personal improvement. I should like to think that were old Ben alive today, he would be among the curious, teaching himself all he could about becoming a contributor in the digital age. He was all about self-education, which is exactly what every IT expert in the world has discovered is required to remain abreast of developments in the field.

Somehow, we have gotten away from the value of a self-education, in favor of a passive education that is supplied to us by a knowledgeable and well-qualified teacher.

Part of our struggles in the classroom is related to this change in attitude towards learning. How can I engage my students? How can I get them to take ownership of their own learning? Learning is not a passive thing; indeed  in the end all learning must be self-taught.

Mr. Type A from my class, you should care because students need role models of parents and teachers who are themselves traveling a path of life-long learning and discovery. Technology is an ideal area to engage in life-long learning because it is revolutionizing the world, and because you can never learn it all; it simply changes too fast. Not to mention you also run the risk of leaving your students on the wrong side of the digital divide if you don’t.

Edit: This video explains the power of social networking in a way I never could.

If you are a teacher, and you have not already viewed the TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson, then STOP! You obviously have time to kill because you’re here. Stop reading my silly blog and watch it now!

Wasn’t that awesome! I first saw this video last fall in my Principles of College Teaching class, although it’s been out for a couple of years; wish I’d seen it sooner. I think it’s brilliant!

I’m currently reading “The Rhythm of Life: Living Every Day with Passion & Purpose” by Matthew Kelly. He writes:

We don’t produce broadly educated, well-rounded leaders for tomorrow. We teach more and more about less and less. We don’t draw out the individual. We impose upon the individual – systems and structures. We don’t reverence individuality, we don’t treasure it, we stifle it and try to stamp it out. We don’t educate, we formulate. We abandon the individual in his or her own need and uniqueness and “impose” the same upon all…

Truth be told, our modern education systems crush the very spirit they claim to instill.

When I reflect on my own teaching and philosophy, I wonder if I am ever guilty of the indictments of these gentlemen. After all, I am a computer technology teacher, and the field of Computer Science is chock full of specialists. Do I ever “crush the very spirit I hope to instill“?

I believe that often times teacher themselves suffer from the same mentality. Certain ways of teaching are preferred over others. For example, the lecture has taken a beating in recent years in favor of “active learning”. But Ken Robinson gives us a spellbinding 20 minute lecture. The point is, we should encourage the strengths of our students and we should also be teaching with our own personal strengths.

Albert Einstein said, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

How many of our students leave our classes thinking they are stupid because what we are teaching doesn’t resonate with them? While we should never accept a lack of effort, perhaps we might do well in accepting that some of our students will never excel in our subject. One thing I struggle with when I recognize that I have a “tree climbing fish” in my class is how to be patient and continue to encourage.

Matthew Kelly also writes:

I believe that we are all capable of doing one thing better than any other person alive at this time in history. What is your one thing?

Oh my gosh! I’ve heard this before! And when I heard it, I thought “yeah, whatever“. In the film, City Slickers, Mitch, played by Billy Crystal, is on a cattle drive trying to sort things out and make some sense of his life. The trail boss Curly, played by Jack Palance, says that middle aged men often come out around the same age, trying to understand.

You city folk!  You spend 50 weeks a year getting knots in your rope… then you think two weeks up here will straighten it out.

Here is Matthew Kelly’s idea expressed in Curly’s simple, cowboy way that I’ve heard before but never paid much attention to:

Previously, I posed the question “The quality of my life is determined by the quality of my _____ ?” referring to the Jim Fay statement that “Quality of life is determined by quality of decisions.” Most of the replies I received dealt with some aspect of this idea, whether it was relationships, family, friends, thoughts, or so forth. Ultimately, it all comes down to how we decide to approach these areas of life.

But how do we make good decisions?!?

Kelly suggests that if we know our one thing, the thing that helps us to become the “best version of yourself” then every decision should be centered around whether or not it will help us to do the one thing we were created to do!

I believe if we want to be truly amazing educators, then a number one priority ought to be helping our students discover their “one thing.” And we ought to know our own personal “one thing” and strive to use it each and every day we step into the classroom!

Tags: creativity, individuality, philosophy, purpose