The Greenhow et al. (2009) article mentions two main future research strands: ‘learner’s participation and creative practices’, and ‘online identity formation’. Within these strands I found the discussion on the future possibilities of cloud computing one of the most persuasive. Cloud computing has the power to revolutionize all aspects of education. Simple use of Google docs, slides, etc. has the power to increase collaboration and participation among students by allowing multiple people to concurrently edit the same document. This gives all students equal power in the creation of an assignment, instead of the common situation of one ‘leader’ taking over the computer and creating a document, slides, etc. while others offer secondary input. I was also convinced of the importance of the ‘literacy’ communicative theme from the Crook (2012) article. Specifically, the use of a range of multi-media products in the creation of assignments is important to bring into schools. Many assignments are still restricted to papers, worksheets, or slideshows, while the world outside of schools expects many other types of products.
While all areas identified may yield useful insights, one area I find less convincing comes from the Crook (2012) where the concept of publishing is concerned. Some users of technology are producers, some are consumers, and it is unclear to me if it is beneficial to be one or the other. It may be that research could identify an ideal amount of interaction; however, I believe resources could be better used in other areas of research.
Although I did not think about it when reading these articles, I agree with your suggested focus on cloud computing. Recently in Intellectual History of Educational Technology, we discussed the idea that research and theory development in ed tech in the 1990s (and before) focused almost exclusively on how tech can structure, deliver, and facilitate exploration of content (see, e.g., Duffy & Jonassen, 1992), with little attention to student collaboration and communication. When a classmate expressed her frustration about this, Rand pointed out that the powerful collaboration tools we are so accustomed to now did not come on the scene until the proliferation of the Internet, after the Duffy & Jonassen book was published. Cloud computing’s power combined with its relative newness makes it a strong candidate for future research.
Reference:
Duffy, T. M., and Jonassen, D.H. (Eds.) (1992). Constructivism and the Technology of Instruction: A Conversation. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Hi Matthew – your idea about publishing made me think of the relationship between publishing and authorship. Greenhow et al. (2009) states “today’s students try out their identities through Web-enabled authorship in the form of home pages, blogs, and online social network site profiles.” Crook (2012) discusses some of the limitations of publishing, but I’m curious, do you think that there is value to understanding publishing when it can afford benefits for authorship? I am thinking of learning spaces where students can make use of publishing to give themselves an identity within a specific community. As for your comment about benefits for producers or consumers, I see a reciprocal relationship in that they both benefit from building communities to engaging with one.
Hi, Matthew. I like the way you structured your response to this prompt, grouping your comments about what you found most persuasive in one paragraph and what you found least persuasive in another paragraph. This structure highlights that you’re both questions in the prompt. Most others wrote about one article mentioned in the prompt, then the next. This structure makes it easy to overlook answering the question about what you found least persuasive, which is the tougher question, in my opinion. It’s always easier to agree than to explain why you disagree.
Regarding content creation and whether this skill should be seen as equally important to critical thinking as a content consumer, you might be interested in the work of the Partnership for 21st Century Learning on this topic:
http://www.p21.org/storage/doc…..ersion.pdf
In the past month, we have seen how powerfully students can use social media content creation to engage in the civic issue of gun control. I’m thinking about how the students learned those skills, and what social media researchers can learn from the way students nationwide are using the tools we study. I don’t have answers, but I think it’s worth thinking about what research questions we should be asking about this historic moment. People who have taught high school for decades tell me they have never seen students so engaged with a civic issue, or with their digital literacy skills.
This topic will be the subject of a P21 forum this week: http://www.p21.org/news-events…..ad-the-way
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