Those who know me know that I have been a very active participant and proponent of using technology in the classroom. I have designed and taught multiple models of online learning in multiple subject areas, I have integrated digital technologies into my own classroom, and promoted digital technologies into my schools. I have participated on the design teams and in pilot projects with electronic portfolios, tablets, lap top projects, synchronous and asynchronous lesson design, blended approaches to online learning and . I am well read on educational technology philosophy. I blog, I tweet, I text, I use Facebook, participate in online forums, and use a blog aggregator to accumulate the feeds that I want to read for me. I have done this as teacher, as a learner and as an administrator.
In his TED Talk, Ali Pariser presents a very thought-provoking point of view into the way that electronic information is manipulated for us (and at us). His pointed discussion on our filter bubbles was full of barbs for me that stuck, at first, but that were quickly pinched off. I think that it is very easy to fear the Big Brother(s) out there as they customize the information accessible to us, and his “balanced information diet” is a clever way to remind us about those things that we learned in school from our teachers: to research a topic and research it well from multiple sources, and then to sift through that information critically as we move through the process of forming our own opinions. I loved his analogy of eating a balance of information vegetables and information dessert.
Below are some of my personal nuggets from Ali’s talk, followed by my own beliefs in italics:
· What you click on first [on the Internet] drives your information diet. Instead of eating a healthy and balanced diet, you may only get served information junk food. Teachers serve a balanced information diet, and—more importantly—they teach students how to prepare that balanced diet for themselves by helping them to grow into learners that can see when their diet is imbalanced. It is so important to develop that sense of personal, self-reflection and regulation.
· Who is our new curator of knowledge? Teachers are trained, apprenticed and masterful curators of knowledge. More importantly, they are versed in teaching people how to use that knowledge.
· [We are living in a time when we are] passing of the torch from human gatekeepers to algorithmic ones. These algorithms have no embedded ethics. Teachers have embedded ethics.
· Information cannot be keyed solely to relevance. Well-rounded, credible opinions are always based on information that is important, uncomfortable, challenging to us and containing other points of view. I just can’t see how a computer program can “understand” what is relevant and important, or if something is uncomfortable and challenging to our own points of view. Isn’t that the beauty of debate, that it illicit, by nature, thorough discussion from multiple sources and from multiple points of view?
I embrace technology-embedded learning because it’s the right thing to do and because I believe that we have a moral obligation to teach children in the medium of their time. Not to do so, in my opinion, should be considered malpractice. That’s a strong word: malpractice. I do not use it lightly. Yet, I strongly believe that all of the wonderful gizmos and gadgets will never replace the organic warmth of a classroom teacher, that key cog who facilitates the puzzle. If there is ever a point of view advocating for the role of the teacher in the classroom, this is it. We need discussion, we need teachers, and we need the ability to think critically. So far, I haven’t found an algorithm that gives me all of that.
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