When so many tentative hypotheses are phrased as facts it's no wonder that people read this stuff and believe it.
Sigh. Deep Sigh. They will be in my classroom very, very, very soon. My favorite is the first quote on children being wired differently these days. Really? What's the evidence? You mean their nervous system distribution is different than in past generations? So we have had a major Darwinian selection in just one generation? WOW! That's faster than finch beaks change in the Galapagos! Quite extraordinary and quite in need of extraordinary evidence. I supppose it's a good article for class........ Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 619-260-4006 tay...@sandiego.edu ---- Original message ---- >Date: Sun, 9 Aug 2009 10:20:44 -0400 >From: "Mike Palij" <m...@nyu.edu> >Subject: [tips] Will These Students Hit A Wall When They Get To College? >To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <tips@acsun.frostburg.edu> >Cc: "Mike Palij" <m...@nyu.edu> > >There is a curious article in the NY Times about the "digital turn" >that appears to be occurring in some grade and high schools in >in the U.S., namely the replacement of the traditional textbook >with collections of materials obtained through the internet (is >this "intellectual beachcoming"?). See: >http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/education/09textbook.html?ref=todayspaper > >The article claims that it is only a matter of time before textbooks >in 1-12 are replaced by computers and net access and that this is >occurring because, in part I'm sure, kids today are somehow >different from previous kids (a form of evolution that teachers >have somehow missed?). Consider the following quote: > >|"Kids are wired differently these days," said Sheryl R. Abshire, >|chief technology officer for the Calcasieu Parish school system in >|Lake Charles, La. "They're digitally nimble. They multitask, transpose >|and extrapolate. And they think of knowledge as infinite. > >I wonder if Dr. Abshire would recommend that high schoolers engage >in these activities, say, while driving because "they multitask" and >driving would just be one more task that they can switch attention to >temporarily while executing other tasks? How will students respond >to demands that they focus their attention on a stingle task and devote >all of their cognitive resources in performing just that task? > >Quoting again: >|"They don't engage with textbooks that are finite, linear and rote," >|Dr. Abshire continued. > >I wonder what will happen when student come across old-fashioned >books that a "finite, liniear, and rote" that haven't made the digital >transition (I think that everything that has be printed or produced will >NOT be digitalized because only small numbers of people will be >interested in them [e.g., scholars studying a particular person or topic] >and even those that are digitized may be in wretched form because it >was done with "dumb" Optical Character Recognition (OCR) of poor >copies that do not have a high hit rate in recognizing printed words). >Knowledge may be infinitie but that doesn't mean that one is competent >in dealing with it systematicly, being able to combine relevant components >into coherent units, and understand why some things go together while >other things do not. Even expert scholars have difficulty doing this. > >|"Teachers need digital resources to find those documents, those blogs, >|those wikis that get them beyond the plain vanilla curriculum in the >textbooks." > >Of course this assumes that teachers will have the time, energey, and >resources to locate all of these sources of information. They also better >be tenured in a stable position. I wonder how colleges which have started >to rely quite heavily on part-time/adjunct professors will be able to support >and maintain this type of activity especially given the problems of providing >support for "essential" services. > >Quoting again: >|"In five years, I think the majority of students will be using digital >textbooks," >|said William M. Habermehl, superintendent of the 500,000-student Orange >|County schools. "They can be better than traditional textbooks." > >This sounds almost like a fact instead of a tentative speculation. Is there >research on this point or is this just an expression of faith? > >Continuing to quote Mr. Habermehl: >|"I don't believe that charters and vouchers are the threat to schools in >|Orange County," he said. "What's a threat is the digital world - that >|someone's going to put together brilliant $200 courses in French, in >|geometry by the best teachers in the world." > >I wonder. Who exactly is going to put together these courses or is it >expected that teachers will simply surf the web and put together masterpieces >from what they find? Also, if a teacher does put together a brilliant course >in "(insert course name here)", couldn't the teacher copyright or put some >other limited use protection on it and associated materials in order to recoup >that time and energy put into the producation of the course (i.e., profit from >their labors)? Would such a course actually cost only $200? > >Though the article focuses on 1-12 classes, there is some discussion about >"open source" and digital text used in colleges. For example: > >|The move to open-source materials is well under way in higher >|education - and may be accelerated by President Obama's proposal >|to invest in creating free online courses as part of his push to improve >|community colleges. >| >|Around the world, hundreds of universities, including M.I.T. and King Fahd >|University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia, now use and share >|open-source courses. Connexions, a Rice University nonprofit organization >|devoted to open-source learning, submitted an algebra text to California. > >But pragmatism may forestall the "digital revolution" for a while: > >|But given the economy, many educators and technology experts agree >|that the K-12 digital revolution may be further off. >| >|"There's a lot of stalled purchasing and decision making right now," said >|Mark Schneiderman, director of federal education policy at the >|Software & Information Industry Association. "But it's going to happen." >| >|For all the attention to the California initiative, digital textbooks are >only >|the start of the revolution in educational technology. > >Will the revoultion be tweeted? > >-Mike Palij >New York University >m...@nyu.edu > >--- >To make changes to your subscription contact: > >Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
