Schools Need to Start Where the Students Are: Schools Need to Start with Mobile Technologies

Elliot: There must be something in the water; how else can we explain the sudden growth in mobile learning “events”?  For starters,  within a span of a few days, two other bloggers(Blog#1, Blog#2) have pointed out the coming “revolution” in K-12 due to mobile technologies. Why now?  WHY ALL OF A SUDDEN?
Cathie: Well, it means we are truly moving headlong into the Age of Mobilism.
Elliot: And eSchool News proclaimed mobile was at the tipping point last year.
Cathie: Right, but you need to be careful. Who said the “revolution in K-12 was due to mobile technologies”?  It is the word “due” that is going to give folks heartburn.
Elliot <with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes>: You don’t miss a beat, do ya?! I know, I said that on purpose. HA HA HA!!!
Cathie: It is interesting: While our friend and colleague Chris Dede is quoted as saying “devices are catalysts…the device never produces learning” and a school principal is quoted as saying "The answer is not necessarily technology," you are saying something stronger.
Elliot: Chris and the principal are technically correct.
Cathie: Here comes the but…
Elliot <beaming a triumphant smile>: … but, it all STARTS with the technology!
Cathie <eyes narrowing slightly; thinking cap clearly working overtime>: You are on thin ice, Dr. S; that’s what we hear from the folks who say: let’s buy a cart of iPads and see what happens.
Elliot <exasperated pout appears>: Ohhhh… what I mean…
Cathie: Yes, please be clear, this is really important; we have to get this right!
Elliot:  We need to start where the kids are and the kids are “mobilists par excellence” – they are the quintessential users of mobile technologies, 24/7. Julie Evans, in a Project Tomorrow report about mobile phone use amongst America’s youth, included this kid quote: “Let me use my own tools & devices.”
Cathie: Ah, so what you mean is: Schools need to start with using the tools that the youth they serve want to use – their mobile technologies.
Elliot <a sigh of relief> YES, YES. It starts with the kids’ technology; that’s what I mean…
Cathie: … but what you’ve not been saying. That’s still quite a radical claim:  Schools typically start with curriculum – that which they need to teach.
Elliot: Yes, schools in 2011 start with the curriculum which was established in 1892 by Harvard College’s Committee of Ten—ten people decided it all!!
Cathie <concern for her colleague’s well-being clearly visible>: … blood pressure, blood pressure …
Elliot: … and they called for a didactic, memorization oriented pedagogy. How can we wonder why today’s youth find school irrelevant and boring!
Cathie: But, if we start with their mobile technology-based tools and the inquiry-oriented pedagogy that all manner of organizations are calling for…
Elliot: … yes, THEN we have a shift from “I teach” to “We learn.” But the technology is absolutely necessary to making that transformation work. With a device in their hands, 24/7, students have their own, direct, personal access to information, people, events; their access no longer needs to be mediated by a textbook or a teacher.
Cathie: Yes, Chris describes technology’s role as “…devices are catalysts…”.
Elliot: But saying it that way puts the mobile technology in the background; I want to put it in the foreground!
Cathie: Remember the goal Elliot: the goal is to have schools adopt mobile technologies; thus, we need to say it in a way they can hear it – and not run for the barricades as noted in one of the blogs: “Some teachers worry that … students will spend their time texting or playing games or… ”
Elliot: <finally breathing regularly>: You are right. But just this once!
Cathie: <smiling beatifically; relieved that the Big Guy didn’t pop his cork>: Yes, just this once….
Elliot: Yes, the goal is to help classrooms shift from “I teach” to “We learn” and if we have to put the mobile technology in the background so folks can hear us…
Cathie: Mobile technologies are catalysts; but unlike chemical catalysts, mobile technologies are not consumed in the process; no, they continue to play their catalytic role all the time, everywhere.
Elliot: <pale face if you can imagine that; drained of all adrenalin>: Ok, let’s write an article in a way the Bifocal Generation can hear it; deal!
Cathie:  Deal!

Comments

[Greg Chapman]

"Cathie: Mobile technologies are catalysts; but unlike chemical catalysts, mobile technologies are not consumed in the process; no, they continue to play their catalytic role all the time, everywhere."

Did nobody else catch this? Chemical catalysts are not consumed in the process either; that's pretty much the definition of catalyst. Check it on your phone if you don't believe me.

[Elliot Soloway]

Greg: Thank you and you are correct and I did check it… "a catalyst is not consumed by the reaction itself." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalysis And yes, you are the first to publically point out our error.
I, not Cathie, am responsible for that particular mistake; I was the fact checker and I failed - and am I going to hear about it! More interestingly, I didn't check THAT fact since I was so confident of my memory of high school chemistry. WRONG. My “memory” mistake points to a key issue in education: Memorize or Search… or Both! http://news.columbia.edu/research/2490 Check out the research by a young psych prof at Harvard on the use of external memory aids - such as Google - on human memory. With a mobile device essentially embedded in my hand 24/7, is it more effective to search or to remember? What does “more effective” mean? While we have our mobile learning down, we really appreciate the help with the chemistry; merci! (Elliot)