Paradigm Shift
From LiteracyTentWiki
This page is for teachers who want to write about their experiences in shifting to a classroom learning model in which students' expertise in technology is recognized and used to expand the knowledge and skills of other students and the teacher(s).
It is a response to the message below, posted on the Technology Discussion List on August 22, 2007
From: djrosen@comcast.net
Subject: Writing and Making Videos about the Classroom Paradigm Shift
Technology Colleagues,
A recent survey has found that "U.K.'s tech-savvy young lack basic literacy skills". The survey found that their experience with Web and cell phone-based technologies, and the increased numbers of young people who prepare for and take an ICT exam, account for their technology expertise.
"Their fluency with iPods, mobiles and MySpace has translated well into the workplace, and often gives them an edge over their bosses. The greater focus on IT in schools and investment in computers is also helping," Richard Lambert, CBI's director general, said in the report. Read the article at:
In U.S. adult literacy education classes young adult students who may have low basic skills, or who need to learn English, may have considerably more technology experience than their teachers.
I am looking for videos and written narrative examples of classrooms where teachers take advantage of this student expertise, where they and their students improve their technology skills in part by learning from tech-savvy students, and where teachers exchange their expertise in teaching language and other basic skills for students' expertise in technology.
For example, several years ago Massachusetts adult education teacher, Wendy Quinones, did a "Virtual Visit" GED history project with her young adult students. At that time, she didn't know how to make a Web page but one of her students did. You will see that the style (including Pikachu, for example) represents his choices, not hers. (You'll find the Virtual Visit at
http://tech.worlded.org/docs/lowell/home.htm ) Maybe Wendy could write about that experience.
I see, in some of the video recorded work of ESL professor Susan Gaer at Santa Ana College in California, that students sometimes teach each other how to use technology, and from time to time show their technology maven teacher a thing or two. (See video clips of Susan's classes at http://www.otan.us/Itap/index.cfm?fuseaction=videogallery )
In both cases the teachers have made a paradigm shift, embracing their students' technology knowledge and skills, and encouraging them to share that knowledge in the classroom.
You may be such a teacher. You may know or work with such a teacher. I am interested to see some narratives about teachers who have "made the shift" and what that looks like in their classes. If these narratives or videos already exist, please point them out to me. If your narrative doesn't exist yet, please write it [on this page]. If you want to make videos of your classroom, Barry Burkett has posted his experiences in doing that here. Ask him for advice. See Barry's messages on this at http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/technology/2007/date.html (Search by author, beginning with Message 795, http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/technology/2007/000808.html
David J. Rosen
djrosen@comcast.net
Please write your narrative below
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