Today’s research group about the connected self and the cultural dimension was hard to get started as we found that we needed to first wrap our brains around the idea of culture and education.  I first found it difficult to remove my thinking from the immediate context of my classroom and to think on a broader level about big ideas in education that affect more than just my class, school, and district. However, once we got started the ideas began to flow.

Our group identified several aspects of educational culture that have developed alongside the emerging technologies that are fast becoming a part of our how we operate and communicate.  Some of these topics include: 21^st Century learning, acceptance of technology devices in the classroom, internet safety, cyberbullying and the policies that accompany these. We also talked about the ideas of the internet, wi-fi, apps, and devices all being new terms that are part of our everyday vocabulary and which are part of the educational culture within which we teach and learn. As teacher librarians we also identified the emerging concepts of digital literacy and multimodal literacy as being new forms of knowledge that students need to learn.

We also discussed early learning initiatives, (read, sing, dance, play, talk..) which seem counter to the concept of screen time that many pre-school kids receive.  On the flip side of this we also identified the introduction of technology to kids at an early age as a recent shift. The connected self now begins much earlier than before; my two year old can navigate my iphone fairly well and knows which apps are for him. Interesting as well the development of apps that are geared toward young children and education.

As part of this discussion about the connected self and educational culture my interest has been peaked by the issue of access to technology in the educational setting.  At my own school there is no clear policy about cell phones in the classroom and while we now have wi-fi in the school there has been no discussion or policy put in place for its use either.  Some teachers allow students to access their devices and the wifi while others are dead set against it.  This is confusing for students and I believe that we need to have an active conversation on this topic at my school and in my district. I am leaning towards possibly pursuing this topic for my final project as I feel it is something that I can bring forward in my school as part of my new role as teacher librarian.

Here are the beginnings of my search findings:

http://www.marcprensky.com/videos/ (If you could choose one piece of equipment to change teaching and learning, what would it be).  This is an interesting conversation about cellphone use in education between Marc Prensky and Stephen Heppell. Of particular interest to me was the discussion about cellphones as personal devices and the acceptance that these are devices that most students will bring with them as opposed to the education system providing them.  I think this is true, though I agree that a contingency plan does need to exist for students who don’t have devices I don’t necessarily think that we need to buy devices in large quantities.  It is better to get students knowing and working with what they have or they won’t use it.

http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/docview/218620060?accountid=14656           This set of guidelines issued by the Ontario Principals’ Council in 2007 demonstrates the opposite view, or at least how cellphones in classrooms were viewed not so long ago.  They were encouraged to be restricted and hidden.  Safety considerations were clearly a high priority for administrators. I am curious if these policy suggestions are still in place or if they have been changed to reflect the even greater number of personal devices that students are bringing to class?