Learning Side by Side

I have heard Alan November speak before regarding his hope for a change in learning culture. But he tweaked his presentation at the 21st Century Learners Symposium at Pasadena, CA to include some interesting, new methods I had not previously seen him use. I want to point this out here as I highlight what was meaningful to me as I not only gave attention to his message but also evaluated his presentation technique.

I begin with his demeanor. In my experience seeing him multiple times addressing groups in a conference presentation format, he always begins with nuances of making the audience feel he is uptight, nervous, or haphazard. But it takes a couple of times hearing him at several venues to realize how he takes that approach to funnel everyone into hearing his proposal. For example, he used humor as he explained how he felt too wound up when comparing himself to the California audience before him. Then he engaged the audience in the very back of the room by acknowledging he could barely see them as the curvature of the Earth partially blocked his view of them. He then followed that up with a story about his son explaining to him how to use his newly acquired iPhone; he explained that his son espoused, “You are not going to use that just for phone calls?” So Alan November proceeded to take a course from Apple… on how to use a phone! But then he started with a number of questions, having us answer them using Promethean ACTIVstudio software and ACTIVotes placed on our tables. He used this method of formative assessment to help focus our opinions on what the current national learning landscape looks like in comparison to the rest of the world. Here is a sampling of questions he had us respond to:

1. Do your kids see the work other kids are doing all over the world?
2. Are your classes globally connected?
3. Do your students have a global work ethic (self-directed)?
4. What is the biggest barrier to global work ethic?
5. I think the “close-the-book” exam will be replaced by the “open-source-knowledge” exam in… (most in the audience chose the answer: In Your Dreams)

The questions led the audience to his proposal that the job description of the student, parent, and teacher needs to be rewritten. He stated this while also emphasizing that “pedagogy trumps technology”. He showed dismay as he stated that we are using technology to teach in our old ways (e.g. PowerPoint to lecture). He instead wanted to highlight we should be letting the students be the owners of learning as the students of Room 208 do in the following video shown at this presentation.

Download How to Make a Podcast by Bob Sprankle and Room 208

November moved toward illustrating the point that “the media is the message” (recognizing Marshall McLuhan for that phrase and his writings about the “global village”). He guided us through a search of a recent trip to Turkey by the Pope using Alta Vista. When conducting the search by only typing in the keywords pope and turkey, our results listed articles by CNN, NY Times, and Christian Today, which were clearly Western views of the incident. By navigating with knowledge of the architecture of the web, November also added the search string host:tr so that we could view Turkey’s views regarding the incident. To conclude this exercise, November stated that teachers do not know how to tear up the Internet layer by layer. Kids should be (1) taught critical thinking and (2) be part of a global research team in their classrooms. For example, a classroom in the United States should connect with one in England through Skype to debate the events of General Gage and the events that began the American Revolution.

November concluded his keynote address to the audience of this event with the notion of assessment. He told the story of a student he spoke with about what he would do with Skype if he could use it in the classroom. The student explained that he would have his father view him conducting his oral report in class. When asked what would prevent that, the student responded by describing that it was his feeling that the teacher does not want anyone to see what is going on in the classroom (because of the teacher’s closed door environment). But November also described how an incident with a child getting a call from her grandmother via Skype in a kindergarten classroom eventually led to the development of organized reading time when grandmothers connected to that same classroom would read a story to the children.

I took from this session a key message: students need to own the learning. Being only one person that has always held to that belief, I can only conclude that it helped reinforce my thoughts on how learning should be. Feeling the room, it is possible that the majority of the audience also absorbed the message positively. But I have yet to have a rich discussion with others who were there with me.

So I took a little time to search for video on the use of a Promethean ACTIVboard in a classroom outside the U.S. Here is one from a program in Portugal. Although I wouldn’t have a child stand on a chair, it is nice to know that the key to having the board is to have the students be at the front of the class.

In a later post, I will discuss Alan November’s presentation on information literacy, which he also spoke to in a breakout session at the 21st Century Learners Symposium. But I leave you now with this prompt for reflection. What are you doing to have your children/students own the learning?