The Pioneers of the Digital Landscape

One way that I disagree with some educational technology theorists (and some colleagues) is that I don't believe that only our students are digital natives, and we are 'digital immigrants'. I am older than some, but younger than many and I have been immersed in the wonders of a digital life since when I can remember. Does the basis for this label have to be the Internet itself? If so, read on. If not... well keep reading anyway.. Do you have anything better to do right now?

I was 5 when I received an Atari VCS (not the 2600... I mean the original 3 button on each side VCS). Oh, how I loved hat wonderful box even down to the woodgrain trim. I spent many a day defending the Earth from space invaders, asteroids, slaying dragons and blowing up tanks. I remember when my buddy John got Colecovision.. Wow! Donkey Kong at its finest! I remember Intellivision at my buddy Rick's house. Wow.. Video games FTW. I still have that in the basement in a box.

I remember the green and black screen of the Commodore Vic-20 in my school's library. My fourth grade face lit up both from the reflection and the possibilities. Wow! I remember using my Commodore 64 computer with its HUGE 1541 disk drive and 5 1/4 floppies (and my TV). I remember learning BASIC programming at 10 to create my own Dungeons and Dragons type 'choose your own adventure' with all conditional statements. Granted, these were all text-based games, but they were something! I remember using a similar programming language and a computer voice synthesizer to have my computer sing "Happy Birthday" to my Poppy. Ah.. Pop I still miss you. I remember the machine gun like sound of the dot matrix printer printing away.

Yes.. I still have my C64 too.

I remember using my Timex Sinclair (remember those cheap things?) and watching the black and white screen to see if that was any better than my C64. Sadly, it really wasn't, but it was much smaller.

I remember the many handheld video games that I spent more countless hours saving my girlfriend from an evil monkey, trying to score touchdowns and block the pass, and shoot space aliens. This was a great way to relax from just dropping much of my inheritance at the local arcarde.

I remember being in high school learning to type on a computer (C64 again - Bank Street Writer) instead of a typewriter. I remember using Apple IIs, IIcs, and IIes, in computer lab. In college I remember first using the Internet and searching for stupid, immature stuff with my buddy Joe just to get a laugh. We had no idea how it would change everything.

Of course through my graduate studies, technology has been a big part of learning, creating, and communicating. I remember using my 14.8 and then 28.8 modem to download the latest version of Netscape. I would start the download before going to bed and then waking up to see that it had finally completed. Ahh.. the good old 486 days. Things got faster and faster, more and more capable, but the underlying principles (at least to me) have remained the same.

All of these experiences have helped me to never, ever fear technology in whatever form it manifests itself. I don't believe that I am an immigrant. I feel like I was born into a world of technology, and I do not know any different. I don't feel like I was 'digitally naturalized', nor do I feel that students of today are any more apt to embrace technology than I was at the same age. I sometimes hear from adults that 'kids are just so naturally good at it', and that quite frankly is a load of crap. Humans are naturally good at many things, but using an artificial tool is not one of them. They are definitely more exposed than many adults were in their childhood, but that it not an inherent attribute.

What brought about this whole post, one might wonder? I found my old Nintendo Donkey Kong handheld. It was mine when I was in 5th grade. It was part of their "Watch and Game" series made in 1982. It didn't have the battery door, but I have masking tape for that. A quick trip to the store for batteries was in order. I held my breath as I fired it up. It works! I played about 4 games laughing like a 10 year old, and I didn't even have to have my passport stamped.

I can't wait to show it to my students. Happy New Year.

What's the Story With Daniel Pink?

Last year we were asked to read "A Whole New Mind" by Daniel Pink. I am always skeptical when reading the latest educational theories and research, but this one looked promising. To be honest, I was barely able to put it down and I read it, or rather digested it, in only a few short readings. Wow! It surely touched a nerve with me. In my previous life in the business world, I felt much like a hamster on a wheel. Sure I was "moving" but was I making progress? I was a marketing analyst, a technical support specialist and a database administrator. My last effort to remain in the corporate world was my position as a web developments specialist and team manager. I was able to work on projects and infuse a certain amount of creativity within the guidelines and constraints of brand identity and corporate direction.
When I finally decided to take the leap of faith into the world of education, I was immediately greeted by a world that not only allows independent creation and direction, but it fosters it. When I read Pink's book I did immediately think of my own personal voyage into creating my own classroom and myself as an educator.

One of the six essential senses that Pink speaks about is "Story". Story refers to the art of narrating information. Instead of merely retelling facts in a mindless list, using them in a story offers a much greater impact. He speaks of how commercial advertising has embraced this as a strategy for selling products to consumers. Technology is a natural for this sense, as it offers students a means of telling a story to get facts or information across to their audience. Since their audience can be the entire world for the sake of argument, the tools need to be powerful and outreaching, but given the user they cannot be overwhelming, cumbersome or overcomplicated.

Digital storytelling, blogs, and video logs are just a few of the tools that are at our fingertips. Twenty or even ten years ago, to make a movie and make it available to the whole world took a great deal of technical knowledge, high level hardware and a network of people "in the business". Of course, let's not forget the bank account that usually accompanies those with the last names of Spielberg, Lucas, Tarantino and the like.

This evening, I decided to revisit Daniel Pink's own site (http://www.danpink.com/), and I found a most interesting video. It was created by Tomas Nilson, and he used infographics to tell the story of Little Red Riding Hood. It is so dry and riddled with facts. It lacks story, but it does paint a very interesting picture of how important story can be. Imagine how difficult it would be to understand what was happening if you didn't already know the story. It is quite entertaining though.

Is that not a huge example of the importance of story? As an educator, I strive to use story to create meaning in my classroom. In addition to simply reading about events in history, we sometimes act them out. We view movies based on history with characters that tell the story. We create silly stories to help students to memorize concepts in math. Of course, literature allows us to use story all of the time.

On the other hand, students can be creators themselves and use stories to demonstrate competency. On my most recent social networking history site, my students are creating blog entries as if they were that historical person using information gathered from research and their own creativity. They are writing autobiographies from the first person point of view. Instead of regurgitating facts and dates, they create meaning and connect themselves to the lives and experiences of that person.

What a journey this has all been, but that's a whole other story...