The World Wide Web in Plain English

I know a number of adults (let alone students) who will appreciate this short, simple explanation of how the Internet works... courtesy of Common Craft.

History of the Internet

Have you ever been looking for a simple, yet elegant icon that could be used to tell a story either in static or dynamic media. Melih Bilgil, has introduced a Pictorial Communications Language (PICOL), that promises to be released under Creative Commons licensing from PICOL.org.

While the initial icon library focuses on electronic devices, it is easy to see how this library of crisp black and white icons might be expanded to include all manner of images.

A recent graduate of the University of Applied Sciences in Mainz, Germany, Melih was the first to leverage these icons in the release of "History of the Internet".


History of the Internet from PICOL on Vimeo.

The Lord of the Flies: The Real-life Internet Version

If the survey results released today from 3000 tweens are valid, we have much to be concerned about. This morning's London Free Press article highlights the fact that 95% of grade 6, 7 and 8 students surveyed, believe they know more about the Internet than their parents.

Whether or not the students have accurately gauged their parents web savvy-ness, the belief that they are much more knowledgeable than adults, leads young people to believe erringly, that they know the world of the Web as well as anyone. While that might be true for a few limited technologies (instant chat, social networking, managing music and media files), the teachers and parents in their lives should have at least a basic understanding of the importance of maintaining personal privacy.

Scary summation #1
"Early results indicated more than half of kids surveyed admitted giving personal information to a stranger online, including their full name, address or phone number."

Scary summation #2 should cause parents to rethink where computers are located in their homes:
"One-third admitted getting up in the night to use the Internet, most without their parents knowing."

Certainly there are a great number of safe and productive ways the Web is being used by young people. But with the students being the ones using the tools, and playing by their own rules - much like the boys in the Lord of the Flies - there is the very great possibility, that things will go wrong. Students can act unsafely, without knowing they are doing so, and they are unlikely to admit to adults, the need for assistance in dealing with the problems they encounter.

It's time for a wake-up call for parents and teachers alike: We need to be proactive in learning about, using, and teaching about the tools of the evolving web. Only when we can demonstrate our competence to young people, will our guiding words about 'Internet Island' be received as valid.

For more: Tune in to today's Teacher 2.0 podcast.

Let's Ban Chalk!

This weekend, I got to thinking about how history measures time periods. Knowing that the Three-Age System subdivided pre-history based on the material make-up of tools (the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age), I'd like to propose a system of 'ages' as a lens through which we can view classrooms in recent years.

In considering the 'tools' that have been mainstays in classrooms from the time when learning moved indoors in North America, we can frame education into three eras:

The Slate & Chalk Age (mid 1800's - present)
Characteristics: records are temporary; memory is necessary

The Paper & Pen Era (1900's to present)
Characteristics: records are semi-permanent; memory for homework is possible

The Web & Keyboard Period (2000's to present) Characteristics: records are of multimedia and may be historic; searchability makes memory less critical;

In looking for links to support these time periods, I stumbled across a wonderfully concise explanation courtesy of PBS.

In identifying the Web & Keyboard Period, I'm naming the period after the tools used to write, but the implication is that we have to consider this to be a period where students produce content in as many varied mediums as they experience. The true tools would include microphones, cameras, and other evolving input devices, well beyond the keyboard and mouse. Remember, in 2006, YOU were being named TIME's Person of the Year, not for your reading and writing, but as part of "a story about community and collaboration on a scale never seen before."

But many educators are still tied to both chalk/chalkboards; and paper/pen remain the preeminent classroom tool. In order to hasten the arrival of School 2.0, a time when the norm for classrooms is for the world wide web to be ever-present as the 'chalkboard', "I propose we Ban Chalk!"

While initially tongue in cheek, this proposal is one that would demand teachers change their practice. We may eventually want ban or put strict limits on paper, but I believe that the fist step is to change the blackboard. The physical space that makes up today's classroom, is reflective of rooms over 100 years ago. Changing the blackboard to a projection screen or SmartBoard, makes a dramatic statement to students and educators that the game has changed.

The day when it is 'normal' for classrooms to harness the power of global networking by using the read/write web along with a range of multimedia tools can only become a reality when the environment is reflective of the learning that takes place within the space.

The Stone age didn't end when we ran out of stone, it ended when people abandoned stone tools in favour of a better product. If teachers can teach this historic concept, surely we can live it!

"It's time to step away from the chalkboard and to step into the present!"

My "Down with Chalk!" mini-rant began on the Teacher 2.0 Podcast.

Teacher 2.0

It's about time... We've heard the phrase Web 2.0 for next generation software for the past few years and in 2007 more and more people began using the term School 2.0. I particularly like David Warlick's take on the differences between this 'new' school and School 1.0: "School 2.0’s greatest affect on teaching and learning is that it empowers both roles with a Yin and Yang affect. Teacher’s become learners and learners become teachers, and each side is empower with conversation, control over their information landscape, and connections with each other — with almost no constraints of hierarchy."

So as the year winds down, maybe this is the best time for 'individual teachers' to consider where they fit into the new paradigm... What is Teacher 2.0?

I really think that the many changes taking place revolve around how willing and able teachers are to make use of the e-learning tools at their disposal. After all, knowledge creation is no longer about learning for oneself, but rather, it is about moving communities of learners forward, and sharing the experience with 'outsiders'.

As classrooms continue to evolve, I believe that the changing of the blackboard has the greatest potential for engaging learners. Although interactivity is important, I'm not speaking of the use of SmartBoard technology, or even as Will Richardson reports: the evolving Wii-Mote controlled screen as created by Johnny Lee



Rather, I'm thinking about any technology that brings the world wide web to the blackboard. Tradition might say that the 'Web on the Wall' is equivalent to putting global knowledge on the wall, considering Web 1.0; but putting the Web on the Wall to me, means providing a large shared window through which your learners can interact with others around the world; and through which other global students can have virtual 'window-seats' in your classroom. Once the Web is on the wall, the interactivity and networking among global classrooms becomes the dynamic by which teaching and learning have no choice but to change.

So what are teachers to do? I contend that teachers need to commit themselves to becoming e-teachers by becoming familiar with one technology at a time. For a given school year, a teacher might focus on "How to engage presentation tools (PowerPoint; Keynote; Corel Presentations)"; or "How to leverage one of many available communication tools (e-mail; blogs; wikis...)"; or "How to have students produce content and products for a global audience (podcasting; video production; online publishing". Today's Teacher 2.0 Podcast is a brief call-to-action along this line of thinking.