Thursday, December 20, 2012

Will Narcism Soar or Will Self Consciousness Win Out?

Ask anyone I know and they'll tell you that I think technology is, by and large, pretty cool. One topic that's gaining more interest, and which will require much more research, is the effect(s) that modern technology has on our brain.  For instance, research has been under way for a number of years with a particular emphasis on memory and I don't think it will surprise anyone that we tend not to remember phone numbers anymore.  The effects of the explosion of technology use on our brains leaves literally thousands of avenues to be explored, but one that I find fascinating will be playing itself out over the next ten to fifteen years and the results may be interesting.

Advances in technology have brought huge advances in the ability to personalize products and digitize personal information, images and sound in particular.  Kids born recently will be the first generation to grow up with these "ubiquity of self" capabilities.  How will this affect them?  What effect will seeing literally thousands of images of themselves before they enter school have on how they see themselves in relation to the rest of the world?  Humans  evolved in a world where images other than crude cave paintings didn't exist, and it wasn't until the past 200 years or so that anyone other than the rich could afford the luxury of seeing (much less worrying about!) what they looked like.  When I was growing up families had a handful of pictures around the house commemorating special events, with a few more tucked safely into albums.  Today in our house, again thanks to technology, our walls are adorned with scores of pictures of our two young kids doing wonderful things and looking impossibly cute.  And given modern digital storage capabilities, that's just the tip of the iceberg for images of our kids.  How will this play out as the current (and future) generations of young people grow up bombarded with images of themselves?  Will we see an increase in self assuredness or will it morph into self absorption and narcism?  Adolescent anxiety is on the rise, is there a connection?

We've also seen an explosion in the ability to "personalize" virtually anything.  From Christmas videos from Santa to toddlers having their early writing attempts published for free in hard bound books, where the 20th century was about mass production of gazillions of identical items, the 21st century is all about using technology to make each and every kid feel special about every thing they do.  Again, I wouldn't miss the look of awe on my daughter's face as Santa was addressing her personally for the world, but I can't help but wonder about the effect of having so many of her experiences personalized and so much of what she does recorded forever.

We're starting to get a glimpse of some of the pitfalls of a society where everyone is "connected" and everything is saved on someone's server.  People like Jesse Miller are making lucrative careers out of warning kids about the hazards they face thanks to their net personae.  From being incontrovertibly caught rioting, to losing jobs and coveted university entrance offers, young people are learning some hard lessons about how the ubiquity of their images can affect their lives.  In other words, we're seeing in clear terms how technology is affecting the relationships between kids and the external world,  I would be very surprised if these same phenomena weren't also somehow affecting how their brains develop and function.  Only time will tell.

Friday, December 7, 2012

Improving ESL Engagement

As I look at the numerous things our ESL Department is doing to improve student engagement I can't help but think that we're on the right track in getting reticent ESL students to "buy in" to their own learning.  As I've stated in previous posts, our ESL department has adopted a Learning Outcomes based assessment format, using rubrics to show each student where he or she lies on their journey to becoming fluent in English.  But the changes have gone further than that and what I'm seeing in our ESL 1 and 2 classes is exciting in that it incorporates three of my favourite professional development interests, assessment for learning, technology integration and the general "rethinking" of how we do things (okay, that last one is kind of broad!); here's what's happening.

Students in Ms. Sullivan's class were assigned a project that was very different from past years.  In the past consciously or not, the focus of ESL Social Studies classes has been on telling 'our' story (i.e. the story of Canada) to the students and hoping that through this the students would learn English, and learn about their new country.  But teachers were finding that this approach didn't appeal to many new immigrants, particularly young men, who were ambivalent at best about being brought to a new country with a completely foreign culture.  So, rather than tell them our story, Ms. Sullivan has asked them to tell us their stories, in the form of a project about their hometowns.  Some are doing posters, but most are using either Prezi or Glogster to showcase the stories of where they've come from.  All the students seem interested, engaged and even excited about sharing a part of their 'old' lives with their 'new' classmates.  I've been invited to sit in on their final presentations next week (I look forward to it) but in the meantime, the students have presented draft versions of their projects to students in other ESL classes and have been incorporating suggestions from their peers' feedback into the final product.

My feeling is that if we truly want students to engage, then where practicable we have to give them as much opportunity as possible to choose their own topic/material/curriculum.  Of course this isn't news to anyone who has been following research into education and learning for the past decade, but this story provides just one small example of how rethinking delivery and letting go of little control can make a huge difference in student engagement.