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Digital Literacy in Irish Primary Schools

National College of Ireland is starting a new project, Digital Literacy in Irish Primary Schools (DLIPS). The aim is to investigate digital literacy practices and to develop a conceptual framework for the needs of the Irish Primary Education system. Digital Literacy is regarded as incorporating a broad range of competencies; there is a need to investigate new approaches that facilitate greater student engagement and connection to everyday experiences.

The project involves the evaluation of how teachers integrate ICT into their classroom activities to promote teamwork, collaboration, creativity and co-operative learning using a project-based learning approach. This approach will be evaluated with regard to the student’s academic performance and engagement with learning, particularly in relation to their literacy proficiency. The framework will be developed by reviewing existing frameworks and adapting these according to the above research findings.

This is a collaborative project with the Education Research Centre, the Digital Hub Development Agency and the National Centre for Technology in Education. It is funded by the Department of Education and Science research and development council. Leo Casey and I are co-principal investigators.

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Premier of “Round Here”

Round Here sceneWe attended a gala movie premier last night at the National College of Ireland (NCI). The film, Round Here, explores themes of community and identity in the rapidly changing Dublin Docklands area.

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limoTwelve young people from the Docklands area not only star in the film, but devised it based on their own experiences there. Philip McMahon wrote the actual script following interviews with the young people; it was directed by Colin Thornton. I thought it was an excellent portrayal of the challenges facing many young people today.

NCI atriumThe event began with the young people arriving by limo and walking down a red carpet. They were announced by young escorts wearing top hats and tails. There was of course popcorn and soft drinks as for any cinema event. Kirsten Sheridan (My Left Foot, In America, August Rush) was a surprise guest who presented DVDs of the movie to the young stars. Afterwards, we were able to visit with the cast and crew over cocktails.

actorsThe project was a joint venture of NCI, Calipo Theatre and Picture Company, and the Sheriff Street After Schools Education and Support Programme (Celine Howard) and was funded by patrons of the NCI.

people-3Photos courtesy of the National College of Ireland.people-2

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Catch 22 in Iraq

Michael Schwartz has an excellent piece in Mother Jones, Catch 22 in Iraq: Why American Troops Can’t Go Home, about why the Iraq occupation is likely to last a long time. He cites a recent video-conference press briefing for reporters in which Col. Jeffrey Bannister refers to the five-year plan, not just any old plan, but the plan. This implies a generally understood long-term mission, one which is not based on changes on the ground, such as a reduction in sectarian violence.

Moreover, he quotes and links to articles showing that the leading Democratic party contenders are fully with the program, seeing “vital national security interests,” i.e., oil in the region as grounds for continuing military force. The Catch 22 is that violent resistance to the occupation is defined as terrorism; thus, the military presence is needed to combat the very terrorism that it creates.

Schwartz’s article provides further evidence that the issue in Iraq is not promoting democracy, ending sectarian violence, reducing terrorism, promoting peace and justice in the Middle East, or any of a number of other worthwhile goals. It is to secure and maintain ample, low-cost supplies of oil to fuel the global economy, and especially for the Western nations, which use such a disproportionate share of the world’s resources.

All of this makes me think that my 12 steps to respond to 9/11, because “we have to do something!” is still relevant.

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Top 100 tools for learning

The Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies in Somerset, England asked learning professionals to identify their 10 favorite e-learning tools, either for their own personal learning or for fostering learning for others. You can see the combined lists with links to their individual lists.

It was an interesting exercise. My list changes depending on situation and purpose. It’s also hard to say whether I should list a specific product or a type. I use Firefox as a web browser, but Safari works almost as well. Should I pick just one, or say “web browser”? Is Google just a “search tool”? It has enough special features to stand out as a suite of tools. For some categories, any of several products are fine. You can see my own list and I’d welcome comments or suggestions for changes.

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Community Informatics Research Network conference, Prato, 2007

lunch on the terraceLast week I went to the Community Informatics Research Network conference at the Monash University Centre in Prato, Italy. The theme was “prospects for communities and action.” Attendees came from over 22 countries including Finland, New Zealand, Peru, Puerto Rico, and Mozambique. There were days devoted to both community informatics and to development informatics.

The next conference will be held 27-30 October, 2008.

Villa RucellaiWe stayed at Villa Rucellai di Canneto, a lovely old villa situated on a hill above the Bisenzio river. The fortified tower was built in the Middle Ages, and it’s described as a villa in 1427.

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Maramureş

Barsana Monastery church I’m attaching a couple of photos from Romania, where we went in September. One is a wooden church in the Maramureş style. It’s part of the Barsana Monastery. Another was one of many hitchhikers we picked up. Our old Dacia wasn’t much as a car, but it beats walking or horse-drawn cart when you’re tired. We had learned enough Romanian to figure out that the man is 82, has 9 children, and knows the woman who works in the post office and runs our B&B. We also saw what may be the oldest, and is certainly the longest-running Unitarian Church (in Cluj-Napoca). I spent an hour with the pastor, learning about their history and the church building and furnishings.

In Maramures, we saw Elie Wiesel’s home/museum. As you friend in Botizamay know, Maramureş was one of the worst holocaust sites, with over 20,000 Jews from Sighetu-Marmaţiei alone sent to Auschwitz. Later, Communists in Romania sent tens of thousands of “Saxons” (ethnic Germans) to work and die on the Danube canal construction. Roma people managed to be persecuted throughout, and still suffer from prejudices today (although projects such as Şanse Egale are working to improve opportunities).

We also saw the museum sometimes called the “Museum of Suppressed Thought”, which made me aware that my imagination is limited in conceiving all the ways people can oppress one another, and all the different ethnic prejudices that can be realized. Maramureş and Transylvania in general have seen more than their fair share. That’s especially disturbing to think about in a country which is otherwise so beautiful, friendly, and welcoming.

I gave a talk on Dewey, Hull House, and Paseo Boricua at the Philosophy of Pragmatism: Salient Inquiries conference at Babeş-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca. I’d certainly value any comments or suggestions on the draft.

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Earn money for good causes doing web searches

You can earn money for your favorite charity with every web search. One option is Goodsearch, which donates 50% of its revenue to the charities and schools designated by its users…You use GoodSearch exactly as you would any other search engine (it’s powered by Yahoo!).  The money GoodSearch comes from its advertisers.

A better model still may be Search Kindly. It’s a state-recognized non-profit corporation, which donates all of its advertising revenue to charity and allows users to select the charity that wins a monthly grant. It uses Google as the underlying search engine.

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The school as social center

What did Dewey mean when he imagined the school as social center of the community and as a site for building a democratic society? How is that different from just teaching history and government, or discussing the local newspaper in class? Are there any schools today that realize Dewey’s vision?

Dewey articulated these ideas in an early speech called “The School as Social Center.” He recognized even then that there were dramatic innovations in transportation & communication, the relaxation of social discipline & control, the growing need for knowledge in all affairs of life, and the need for lifelong learning. As a result, he saw the need to change the image of what constitutes citizenship and therefore the image of the purpose of the school. These ideas are developed more in an excellent new book called Dewey’s Dream.

One implication of this perspective is the creation of community schools, many of which are allied through the Coalition for Community Schools. Through that network, individuals and organizations share work on “education K-16, youth development, community planning and development, family support, health and human services, government and philanthropy.”

Other implications are to move beyond elitist models of service and to focus on reflective transformation of ourselves and our own organizations:

the creation of public spaces can be a seedbed for productive, pluralist, citizen-owned politics in an age of gated communities and privatized resources. We need to change the now dominant view of civic learning as community service or service learning, if we are to develop the political sensibilities of our students. Organizing involves understanding education as about transformation, the “reworking” of ourselves and our contexts. An organizing approach is what we need to develop, if we are to think and act politically. (Boyte, 2003)

A project at the Pedro Albizu Campos High School in Chicago is an excellent example of what Dewey meant. It embodies the community school idea, as well as ideas urban agriculture projectof transformation and collaborative inquiry to address community needs. In this case, “seedbed” has a literal meaning as well.

The project (Urban Agriculture in the Context of Social Ecology) began as a way for students to learn science with hands-on investigations of hydroponics and soil-based gardening. It has since expanded to include the study of urban agriculture, community wellness, and economic development. For example, students will grow the ingredients needed for salsa de sofrito, such as tomatoes, onions, garlic, green bell peppers, ajíes dulces, oregano, cilantro, and other spices. Growing these and making the sauce will afford a deeper understanding of their cultural heritage. Bottling and selling the sauce will contribute to community economic development as well as affording an understanding of economics and food processing.

See The Quill greenhouse project in Hartford.

References

Benson, Chris, & Christian, Scott (Eds.) (2002). Writing to make a difference: Classroom projects for community change. Teachers CP. Projects in which young people write for community change.

Benson, Lee, Harkavy, Ira, & Puckett, John. (2007). Dewey’s dream: Universities and democracies in an age of education reform. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

Boyte, Harry Chatten (2003). A different kind of politics: John Dewey and the meaning of citizenship in the 21st century. The Good Society, 12(2), 1-15.

Dewey, John (1902, October). The school as social center. The Elementary School Teacher, 3(2), 73-86.

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Messing about in technology

If we were to establish a hall of fame for reflective writing about teaching, especially for texts revealing deep, yet accessible ideas about pedagogical theory/practice, it would be difficult to find better candidates than “Messing About in Science” by David Hawkins (1965). The paper describes his work in a fifth-grade class teaching about pendulums as part of the Elementary Science Study, which grew out of his discussions with Eleanor Duckworth, another insightful science educator. Although the study was grounded in a specific setting, the ideas might be applied to any subject of study or types of learners, including learning about and with digital technologies.

Phases in science learning

Hawkins identifies three patterns, or phases, of school work in science. These phases induce different relations among children, materials of study, and teachers. If we substitute “mentors” or “colleagues” for “teachers,” we see that they apply fairly well to science work itself and to other kinds of learning and work. That’s not so surprising, given that the essence of the phases is that the form of inquiry in science is not that different from the form of inquiry in learning. In fact, Hawkins prefers the term “work” over “play” in his model, even though it might appear that he’s just arguing for allowing children to have time to play.

Hawkins has in mind the kind of work one might do on a boat, citing the famous passage by in The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame (1908):

“Believe me, my young friend”, said the water rat solemnly, “there is nothing…absolutely nothing…half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Simply messing…nothing seems really to matter, that’s the charm of it. Whether you get away or whether you don’t; whether you arrive at your destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get anywhere at all, you’re always busy, and you never do anything in particular…”

slipping pennies into water

(Slipping pennies into water in an investigation of surface tension, in a school in Brisbane; note the name tape on the forehead!)

Hawkins discovered that in order to learn in science we need ample time to “mess about.” Because it may appear that we don’t “get anywhere at all,” this phase is often neglected and undervalued. Thus, he devotes most of his article to the circle (◯) or “messing about” phase, in which learners engage in “free and unguided exploratory work” (p. 67).

In the pendulum study, Hawkins had planned to allow the children to explore for an hour or two, before getting into the science lesson per se. But he soon discovered that they needed more time to become familiar with the materials. Moreover, the materials provided a structure to their investigations. Their messing about was far from chaotic or undirected. In fact, as they messed about they began to generate the very questions that the lesson was intended to address, but in a way that was more involved, and connected to their direct experience.

Hawkins goes on to describe two additional phases, which he sees as essential, but more often included in science teaching. The triangle (△) phase, involves “multiply programed material” to support work that is “more externally guided and disciplined” (p. 72). The square (▢) phase is for “discussion, argument, and the full colloquium of children and teacher” (p. 74). The phases are unordered, and all are important. Learning in science requires the opportunity to experience al of the phases in a connected way, and to move easily among them.

Franz and Papert (1988) build on Hawkins’s ideas in a paper about students learning how to measure time. They argue that using computers well for learning requires

open-ended projects that foster students’ involvement with a variety of materials; …activities in which students use computers to solve real problems; …[connection of] the work done on the computer with what goes on during the rest of the school day, and also with the students’ interests outside of school; …[recognizing] the unique qualities of computers; …[taking advantage of] ow-cost technological advances…, which promote integration of the computer with aspects of the students’ physical environment.

Youth community informatics

In our Youth Community Informatics project, middle-school students make podcasts of stories important in their lives. Their work (learning) appears to follow the models we see in the pendulum and time projects, especially in terms of the value of messing about. They need time to explore, experiment, and become comfortable with the technologies.

In the project, young people select images from the web, scan in family photos, create graphics, find and download music, create audio files, edit audio using Audacity, and create presentations. They learn about copyright and citing sources, as well as about design and story-telling. More importantly, they use the podcasts as a way to connect with and talk about their families and their lives outside of school.

Like Hawkins, we see the value of guided inquiry (△) and of full colloquium (▢) in this work, but we have seen increasingly the need for ample time to mess about (◯) as well. Doing that allows students to make the technology part of their lived experience and not something divorced from it.

References

Hawkins, David (1965). Messing about in science. Science and Children, 2(5), 5-9.

Franz, George, & Papert, Seymour (1988, Spring). Computer as material: Messing about with time. Teachers College Record, 89(3), 408-417.

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The Quill greenhouse project in Hartford

Tending the plants Tending plants in the greenhouse Writing at the one Apple II computer Writing at the one Apple II computer

The images here are from 25-year-old 35 mm slides, so they’re not very clear, but the story is still relevant.

In 1982-84 I did some work with the Mary Hooker elementary school in Hartford, CT. We had developed a computer program called Quill, which allowed children to write and send email. Our test classroom at the school was taught by Jim Aldridge, who learned a week before classes started that he was to teach 6th, not 3rd, grade, was to work with the local garden club on a greenhouse project, and was to be a test site for Quill.

Jim’s class had 35 students, all from Puerto Rican, Cuban, and African-American backgrounds. There was a high level of transiency. Some students spent large portions of the winter in Puerto Rico; others simply didn’t come to school. The school was under-resourced and had policies such as requiring students to specify in advance how many sheets of toilet paper they needed for a bathroom trip, since students weren’t trusted with full paper rolls.

As a fairly new teacher, Jim was naturally a bit concerned. We worked out a way to use the Quill Planner feature for students to do lab reports on the plants in the greenhouse. This at least made the innovations more manageable. As things settled down, we found that the greenhouse became a focal point for learning. Several students who were on the verge of dropping out stayed in the class so they could work with the greenhouse and the computer. Some of this work is described in Electronic Quills: A Situated Evaluation of Using Computers for Writing in Classrooms (B. C. Bruce & A. Rubin; pub: Erlbaum, 1993).

It’s exciting to see how far we’ve come with similar projects today, such as Urban Agriculture in the Context of Social Ecology at the Pedro Albizu Campos High School in Chicago, which exemplifies the idea of the school as social center.

Seed packets and Planner notes
Seed packets and Planner notes		 GreenhouseGreenhouse