Fear of a Wired Planet:
Technology in the University

March 24, 2007

The Washington Post carried an interesting editorial on the use of the internet in schools by Jacqueline Hicks Grazette ("Wikiality in My Classroom"). The first half of the editorial was ho-hum.. a student turns in an exam that cites Wikipedia but provides no clue as to how the article was used. That is a problem for any citation, not just one that comes from an internet source. This stuff was a little too ethic-y for me.

The article moves on to more interesting ground at the end as it comes round to provide a couple of examples of the positive use of the internet. A history teacher gets students to create a wiki-page on a topic that they have researched. Grazette herself has students listen on the Internet to oral arguments presented before the Supreme Court. She then winds up by commenting:

Making use of kids' natural comfort with online learning may require a different skill set for teachers. Most schools do not evaluate teachers on the innovative use of online technology... Changes will be needed in how teachers are trained and rewarded to fulfill the Internet's educational potential.

Now there I fully agree.

I have spent the last few days thinking about the syllabi for two courses I will teach in the spring term. In both I am trying to imagine the best ways to get students to use the resources provided by the internet.. and prodding them to be creative. I have a few principles swirling in my mind:

1) Students need a better philosophy of the internet. College is a time to transition from being a consumer of web information to being a creator. This re-frames the issue from what can I or can't I get from the internet, to what can I add to the internet? Assignments can push students to contribute new information, and by that very goal they will be driven to non-web sources. For example, why not ask students to write a Wikipedia entry on a topic/person that is not well covered? In such a case students can hardly crib from Wikipedia.

2) Traditional student papers go from the student to the teacher.. get a grade and then fall into a black hole. Why not allow student work to gain a wider audience? Last fall I had individuals work on a final project in which they marked on Google Earth important historical sites in Middle Eastern cities. At the end of the term I gathered their work and posted it as a single .kmz file (posted here). I have watched proudly as that .kmz file gains exposure and attracts hits from Google Searches.

3) The so-called Web 2.0 philosophy that encourages sharing and collaboration can apply well to the classroom. Wikipedia has the following to say about it:

A social phenomenon embracing an approach to generating and distributing Web content itself, characterized by open communication, decentralization of authority, freedom to share and re-use, and "the market as a conversation"

That sounds like a classroom ideal to me. This would mean finding ways to let classes pass on their knowledge to the next class. I have been toying with the idea of assigning the work of a past class to an incoming class.. and then finding ways for the new class to add something that could be passed on to the next class. This may not result in a project that experts in a given field will find interesting, but it does allow for a learning experience in which sharing and collaboration is built in.

4) A concern of mine is that students do not generally become well-rounded in their writing ability. They are pushed to write academic papers but do not learn to switch modes.. perhaps write an opinion column for a local paper or longer article for a magazine. Obviously the writing of an academic paper is important.. especially since many students go on to graduate school. But if we think in terms of a life skill, then writing could be seen as a mode of self-expression.. a habitual part of a thoughtful life. If this is a goal, then blogging has a lot to offer. It is a format that allows for direct engagement with ideas.. and a working of those ideas out in words. The web allows us to present writing as a part of daily life. Imagine if all incoming freshmen were told that they would be required to blog regularly for four years! What could be better for intellectual development?