Dennis+Lui+-+Big+Shift+Essay

Back to Main Portfolio Page

**"Big Shift" Essay**

Having considered many of the ideas that Will Richardson puts forward in his book //Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms//, it is clear that with the direction the Internet has been heading over the last several years, the nature of education has a great deal of potential for change through thoughtful and effective use of technology. Towards the end of this book, something of a challenge is presented by Richardson to “reexamine the way we think about content and curriculum” (p.131). He outlines what he sees as several “big shifts” occurring in how we teach students through the use of tools on the Web. This essay will deal with one of the “big shifts” he brings to our attention, that being “the social, collaborative construction of meaningful knowledge” (p.132). With an emphasis on the use of weblogs, more typically referred to as “blogs”, we'll consider how this shift can occur globally and envision what changes might be in store for classrooms that will undertake a transition from the traditional model of the last century to one that incorporates online elements where teachers and students have a space to create content and work together. In addition, I will discuss my own thoughts on this shift and what I feel may have to happen in education to better realize the potential of the technology and tools made possible by the Internet.

To start examining how this shift towards the social and collaborative has developed, it is useful to recall how the Internet has grown in use exponentially in the form of the “World Wide Web” over the past 10-15 years on an international scale for such purposes as news, entertainment, business and commerce. The Web was also used for communication, but this was limited early on to the relative few who understood how to program and design web sites in order to display the information they wanted, their message, or to offer services. The average Internet “surfer” had little inclination on how to publish a site of their own without extra effort to learn programming or investing in expensive web site design software which were also not simple to use. This situation has changed dramatically in recent years through a number of new tools and outlets that have made web authoring much more accessible to the general public, and has been a significant factor in a new vision for the Web commonly referred to as “Web 2.0”. Web 2.0 has been noteable for making shared interaction possible between users with no specialized web programming knowledge, allowing them to change content dynamically on the Internet as a function of normal everyday use through tools that are seamlessly built into the Web. What has become one of the essential tools of Web 2.0 is the weblog, or “blog”, which Richardson describes as “an easily created, easily updateable website that allows an author (or authors) to publish instantly to the Internet.” (p.17)  Blogs are social in nature because it allows the average web user to post their thoughts on any topic of interest and to receive comments and feedback on those thoughts from anyone visiting the site from anywhere around the world. It has the same accessibility as more static web sites of the past, but adds on interaction and elements of collaboration, resulting in a site that is also constantly changing. Until recently, the average teacher at a school would not readily be able to make use of the Internet this way, but now there are services that offer these capabilities with intuitive, organized interfaces and professional presentation at little to no cost to the school or teacher beyond the initial expense of the computer and network infrastructure that many typical public school districts already have in place. Web sites such as ePals Schoolblog and 21classes Cooperative Blogging, for example, will allow setup of educationally oriented blogs for classrooms in minutes. The availability and convenience of such tools can do nothing but encourage a teacher who may be a novice to the use of technology to at least try out a blog and see what it can offer them. According to Richardson, for participants in a blog, there is something “really powerful about easily being able to share resources and ideas with a Web audience that (is) willing to share back what they thought about those ideas.” (p. 17)

 This audience that the Web presents extends beyond the classroom and is limited only by the reach of the Internet, meaning classrooms are no longer limited to the instruction available to them within the boundaries of the school, city or even country. This, according to Richardson represents a “significant shift in the way we think about assignments and work.” (p.27) It means that students can now be put in a position where the work they do is not only independent, but involves feedback and commentary from the outside world. While on the one hand this could be seen as reducing the student's traditional responsibility to produce strong work independently, on the other it can transform the role of the world community to play a larger part in supporting the education of that student so they can learn how to excel first hand from experts and mentors. Therefore a student may be motivated to perform their best for this larger audience, or would even be able to obtain outside assistance for their work if needed. Richardson points out that what students put up in a blog “can be shared with others who might be interested or invested in the student's progress.” (p.22) This means a student has a space to demonstrate their ability to those from their family and community who care about them most, and likewise provides another way of reaching students who are struggling to provide encouragement and support. This ties into one view in education that online learning can act as a “safety net” for students experiencing difficulties, and seems worth further consideration. It is also clear that the socially based benefits of establishing connections to the outside world mentioned here could not be realized from a traditional classroom alone. This is something that educators should take note of in the increasingly technologically oriented culture of today and the future, and all the promise and problems that come with it.

 With more of a student's work collected into an online profile, Richardson argues that this presents a “great opportunity for student reflection” exactly because there are people from the outside world involved, “especially if peers, teachers or mentors give feedback”. (p.22) The perspectives of real people, those besides just the teacher of the classroom, can encourage a student to think critically about their work, making for a more reflective process than those associated with the kinds of assignments from the traditional classroom that never get shared with anyone. When students participate in this type of online dialogue, a collaboration forms and the knowledge that students gain from this process is meaningful in that it is something they could not have produced completely on their own or from just one teacher's efforts and their textbook. How this changes the traditional role of the teacher is interesting to consider, because instead of being the sole person responsible for instruction of knowledge and skills in a classroom, a teacher can introduce other contributors from the real world, including other teachers and professionals, and really start acting as a guide on how a classroom can best learn from a range of voices and participants. Ideally, Richardson sees this system as one where students “could be asked to reflect and build on previous ideas, incorporate the feedback from readers, synthesize reading from a number of different sources, and advance new ideas or interpretations.” (p.32) It is real world possibilities such as these that weblogs show educational value, and makes a case to push for the evolution of traditional classrooms. Yet at the same time, it can be argued that education has much progress to make before these ideas really take hold. With the trends of Internet use today, young people are more likely to see blog sites as “social tools” more so than “learning tools” (Richardson, p.20) and there exist difficult challenges for true pedagogical change.

 But it is precisely because of the nature of online life that young people are attracted to that Richardson sees the need to establish technology as something to be taught and made use of in schools when he writes, “Blogs can teach students the new literacies they will need to function in an ever expanding information society.” (p.27) And he believes it is imperative that students be given the skills they need to handle that information, “to analyze and manage it”. What is an undeniable fact is that the Internet has become an integral part of the daily lives of people around the world. It would seem like a disservice to this generation not to attempt to develop educational goals that provide guidance on the use of the Internet in a positive way. These goals should promote learning to help students from getting lost in the incoherence, chaos and negative influences that can be found online. One of the approaches that can steer students in the right direction which Richardson talks about is called “connective writing”, which he describes as “a form that forces those who do it to read carefully and critically, that demands clarity and cogency in its construction, that is done for a wide audience, and that links to the sources of the ideas expressed.” (p.28). With the use of methods such as connective writing, weblogs can be used as a forum where students not only benefit from the connections to the outside world in terms of knowledge, but learn how to manage the information that becomes available to them, to think critically about it and then communicate clearly back to their audience while at the same time representing themselves positively and safely.

 I would have to say that I wholeheartedly agree with many of the positive ideas Richardson presents outlining a course for what technology can do for a classroom and how it can deeply redefine what it means to be a teacher and a student. Yet at the same time since the reality is that we are at the beginning stages of what is to come, it is also difficult to predict what can happen in the schools. Having worked in an online forum this fall with high school students, I can see that students display only varying degrees of initiative to really put the effort into making use of the social and collaborative resources available to them. Some students will regularly communicate and post their work and become involved in genuine interaction and dialogue, while others will simply put their ideas out there but not take much direction and still others do not seem to get started at all. I think that some of this is explained by the fact that this method of learning really is still new to the youth of today, that they are still conditioned to work primarily in a classroom setting, and that students will be more responsive as they become more accustomed to online learning over time and as it becomes more commonplace. But what also has to be considered is that students themselves will display different levels of aptitude, ability and talent, that their online work will reflect a wide range of performance, from excellence to underachievement, and this will still be the case no matter how much technology is introduced. Therefore it is still the job of educators to help students attain the basic skills they would need to thrive in a social and collaborative environment online.

 So when it comes to learning and technology, having admittedly no shortage of enthusiasm throughout my life for what computers can do, and as I grew older the Internet as well, I also feel that the focus has to remain on the actual learning rather than the technology itself. Where technology has its place is in facilitating learning. And Richardson makes a very persuasive argument in how technology can be successful in bringing people closer and working together in a new way online, and this absolutely promotes the learning process.

 Ultimately when discussing any project where the Internet is involved and getting it underway, whether it is in education or other areas of society, the effort has to start with people themselves. People and the work they do are behind every project. Surveying the scene of blogs on the Internet, one can find examples of sites where the time and effort of teachers and students are put in, such as the Extreme Biology Blog and this blog for a class sharing discussion on classroom readings from the impressive collection of South Brunswick Public School Weblogs. But just as numerous if not more are “dead end” blogs that get started with good intentions, such as this outdated primary school blog and the hopelessly cumbersome and clearly un-maintained Joseph W. Nixon High School blog sitethat end up adrift and neglected. What seems to be missing in many cases is the motivation by people to continue to take advantage of these resources and see the possibilities. And perhaps with the fresh perspective that pioneers such as Richardson give, that motivation can come at least in part in the social and collaborative possibilities that can be unlocked in the latest evolution of the Internet and the Web and greater awareness of what can be done with Web 2.0 if given a chance and in many cases another look by educators who may just need to be pointed the right way.

 **Reference** Richardson, W. (2008). //Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms.// Newbury Park, CA//:// SAGE Publications