How I Came to Feel Like a Reactionary AKA Adopt and Adapt, Living and Learning

In reading Adopt and Adapt I realized that I find myself in an odd position. I have embraced technology in my professional and personal life. I use technology extensively to further my students' language learning and in doing so I help them develop their ability to collaborate and to use technology effectively. Yet, in reading the articles I often find myself feeling like some kind of arch conservative because of the flaws I find in the readings.

I have been teaching since 1991 and have seen different trends and programs come and go. Each time one has come, it may have taken some convincing to get adopted, but once adopted, there has been an orthodoxy that accompanies it that does not leave a lot of room for questioning. Programs like ours in which teachers have ample time to 'play' with digital tools and to talk about them provide the necessary opportunity to evaluate how to implement technology effectively.


Much of the language we use in schools today is adopted not from academia/research/psychology but instead from business. Let's not forget that Presky is founder and CEO of a for-profit corporation. We are educators and follow a long line of educators. Some are good and some are not (as always) but it makes sense that we take a critical eye when adopting and integrating new tools. In way too many cases our teaching and our curricula became slaves to the corporate publishers created texts that were purchased by far-removed administrators. Now we are entering a period of potentially disruptive technologies, but they likely will not disrupt the increasingly powerful paradigm of corporate profit from the education of our youth. Nor will they disrupt the increasing influence of business over what we do in school.

I believe strongly that we should expand the range of tools we use in the classroom, we should adapt/reinvent our curricula to reflect what we can now do, we should embed the skills that go with the tools into our newly adapted curricula, but I do not buy into the orthodoxy that to not do so is to fail as a teacher. As David Healy mentioned in class and in his blog, what about the rest of the world that doesn't have the digital tools at their disposal? Will they not be educated? What about ISB? We often don't have enough computers to implement this kind of curriculum. Do I think we should? YES. Do I think our students can't get a good education because teachers can't book computers every class? NO.

Prewsky makes no reference as to why schools might ban email, cell phones and instant messaging. Is it because teachers don't know how to understand them? Hello, we're not idiots. It's because students aren't using them as tools for school. They are using them, at best, to socialize during learning times (I wonder why we didn't encourage the passing of notes) and at worst creating an environment in which the social aspect of students' lives becomes a 24 hour onslaught. I seem to remember from my own experience and know from all the students I have supported over the years that the social aspect of our students' lives, even for the most popular among them, isn't always that much fun.

Most importantly (back to the, hello, we're not idiots point), some teachers want the tools in place to make cell phones, email, instant messaging etc. work for the classroom. A great example is facebook. I would never use it in my classroom because there is no control over what gets posted and who joins. Aside from the productive use of time aspect, the social trauma that could ensue is enormous. Ning, however, allows me to create a social/academic/collaborative network in which students can't post harmful writing or images and I can control who joins. This is a tool developed for the kind of things we do in school.

The City of Toronto, the world capital of facebook use, banned facebook from city government offices. Was it because they did not understand this emerging technology? Did they not see the incredible potential for collaboration it presents? No, they banned it because no one was doing any work. Keep in mind that this was with educated adults with important jobs to do. Is it any surprise that schools are struggling to create policies that will ensure students learn in school?

When Marc Prensky says that students "are far ahead of their educators in terms of taking advantage of digital technology and using it to their advantage," I have to wonder which students and teachers he is talking about. The students I know don't really know how to take advantage of the technologies available to them. Similarly, many of the teachers I know are remarkably comfortable with digital tools. The students I have known as digital tools have become widespread have learned only to scratch the surface of what technology has to offer. Yes, they can make calls, send texts, update their status on facebook and make lists of their top friends, but so what? Is that using technology to their advantage?

Most of my students' (past and present) use of technology is for social purposes. In many cases, that use has really become a new way to make people feel bad about themselves. Oh the tales of woe I have heard because of facebook posts, cell phone three ways, texts. And then of course there is sexting. I'm not naive enough to believe all the nighmare stories about teenage online behaviour, but I also have enough experience with students to be critical of blanket statements about young people's technological prowess.

The MacArthur Foundation Report

"Rather than seeing social¬izing and play as hostile to learning, educational programs could be positioned to step in and support moments when youth are motivated to move from friendship-driven to more interest-driven forms of new media use. (p.35)"

This has nothing whatsoever to do with technology. Take out the words new media use, substitute activity and you have what good teachers have always done. This is where I once again feel like a cranky reactionary old man, but I can't get over the tunnel vision of the authors of some of our readings. They seem to have forgotten all that has come before them and much of the context in which we function.

"Adult lack of appreciation for youth participation in popular culture has created an additional barrier to access for kids who do not have Internet access at home. We are concerned about the lack of a public agenda that recognizes the value of youth participation in social communication and popular culture. When kids lack access to the Internet at home, and public libraries and schools block sites that are central to their social communication, youth are doubly handicapped in their efforts to participate in common culture and sociability. (p.36)"

Ironically, on the day that I read this article, it was reported that there are potentially major health risks associated with this type of social communication. This is not a Tipper Gore, our kids our going to be monsters because of rap music report; this is in the journal Biologist, the journal of of the Institute of Biology. Then of course there are all the reports of increasing obesity and health problems associated with inactivty.

Oy!!!! Once again, I feel like the cranky old man when in fact I support both philosophically, and in my practice, these ideas. Yet some of the conclusions are so facile and so clearly the result of orthodoxy that I am compelled to say, "Sorry, I can't agree."

"And rather than assuming that education is primarily about preparing for jobs and careers, what would it mean to think of education as a process of guiding kids’ participation in public life more generally, a public life that includes social, recreational, and civic engagement? (p.39)"

So many arguments for the adoption/inclusion of digital tools actually mention the absolute necessity of developing skills precisely for students' future jobs and careers. Good education has always been about guiding students' positive participation in society. That goes all the week back to Plato, but once again, someone has tunnel vision.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to watch some Lonely Island on youtube so I can stop feeling like an irascible old fart.