Wes Fryer continues, I think, to raise interesting questions about use of technology in our educational systems and what this means for young people, classrooms and the processes of learning and education. Blogging on the 26th Dec (and yes, he blogged on 25th as well), he gives this outline of a paper he is soon going to be presenting at a conference:
‘Every learner in our classrooms today needs immediate access to mobile, wireless technologies, along with opportunities to learn how to use these tools in powerful, constructive ways. Learning today should not be limited to a consumptive activity followed by periodic regurgitation. Instead, students as well as teachers should continually act as co-learners and co-creators of content for local audiences as well as the global stage. Clay Shirky correctly observes technologies don’t get socially interesting until they become technologically boring. The commoditization of digital learning devices is essential (but not sufficient) for digital learning equity and the learning revolution. In this presentation we’ll examine how netbook computers and the free, open source Ubuntu operating system can empower a new generation of digital learners in Oklahoma adept at the three C’s of 21st century literacy: Creating, Communicating, and Collaborating.’