A3 – How an idea became global with mobile collaboration
Dear colleagues,
Following the global COVID 2022 pandemic, I took on a challenge with my students: we became a paperless classroom. Although we were back in class physically after almost two years of online teaching, I wanted to keep what is positive in this new technological omnipresence while keeping in mind the environmental concern that has always inhabited me.
I thus imagined an ecotopia stemming from this lived experience which puts forward mobile collaboration on a global scale. What would have happened if my paperless classroom challenge had gone viral?
Enjoy listening!
- Text, research and podcast creation: Sebastien Renald
- Voices: George Haniotis (narrator), Sebastien Renald (teacher), Salli/Justin/Ivy/Kevin (AI student voices) and Siri
- Music : The Space Between Us, Dominik Eulberg
(It’s only 23 minutes and you can listen to it while doing any other activity. I’ll be stoked to read your comments!)
References
Bernacki, M. L., Bernacki, M. L., Greene, J. A., & Crompton, H. (01/2020). Mobile technology, learning, and achievement: Advances in understanding and measuring the role of mobile technology in education Elsevier. doi:10.1016/j.cedpsych.2019.101827
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Crompton, H. (2017), “Moving toward a mobile learning landscape: presenting a mlearning integration framework”, Interactive Technology and Smart Education, Vol. 14 No. 2, pp. 97-109. Retrieved 16 July 2022, fromhttps://doi.org/10.1108/ITSE-02-2017-0018
Danish, J.A.& Hmelo-Silver, C.E. (2019) On activities and affordances for mobile learning. Contemporary Educational Psychology. 10.1016/j.cedpsych.2019.101829
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Goudreault, A. (2020). La surutilisation du papier dans les écoles. Le journal Armand-Corbeil. Retrieved 11 July 2022, from https://blogues.csaffluents.qc.ca/corbeil-journal/2021/02/03/la-surutilisation-du-papier-dans-les-ecoles-pret/
Grabham, D. (2021). Track your carbon footprint with these handy apps and sites. Pocket-lint Retrieved 11 July 2022, from https://www.pocket-lint.com/apps/news/151680-track-your-carbon-footprint-with-these-handy-apps
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Hicks, S. D. (2011). Technology in today’s classroom: Are you a tech-savvy teacher? Clearing House, 84(5), 188-191. Retrieved 12 July 2022, from https://doi.org/10.1080/00098655.2011.557406
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Puentedura, R.R.(2021). Ruben R. Puentedura’s Blog. Retrieved 12 July 2022, from http://hippasus.com/blog/
Santarossa, D. (2022). La fin de la technophilie en éducation? Le Presse. Retrieved 8 July 2022, from https://www.lapresse.ca/debats/opinions/2022-01-17/la-fin-de-la-technophilie-en-education.php
Shonfeld, M., Cotnam-Kappel, M., Judge, M. et al. (2021). Learning in digital environments: a model for cross-cultural alignment. Education Tech Research Dev 69, 2151–2170. Retrieved 16 July 2022, from https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-021-09967-6
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Hi Sebastien, I really enjoyed listening to your audio. Having the script was helpful to reflect on. At the start, I particularly liked what you said about how the pandemic (with all its negatives) forced a lot of teachers to adapt to a new tech norm that they maybe never would have explored otherwise – or, at least, not so soon. I also liked how you referenced Puentedura’s SAMR model as it’s a model I think about a lot since coming across it. It was fun to hear you portray your future self, telling us about what has happened the past/future 25 years! I think I got so invested in the story because I felt like it was tangible and achievable. The challenges you brought up and found how to resolve got me interested even more. I really enjoyed the storytelling
Thank you for this informative and entertaining podcast! I found it very easy to listen to. I took the time to clean as I listened and found myself pausing and reflecting throughout your storytelling. I remember this past year, I was photocopying two class sets of a project and after almost 30 minutes, I look to see the print and it was completely faded. I was so angry and refused to re-print things. However, I looked in the recycling bin and saw loads of slightly faded papers, just realizing how much paper is used each day in classrooms. I really hope the future of this becomes something we can be familiar with and accustomed to. Thank you Sebastien!
Very well produced podcast, Sebastien! Sound effects, music and your voice really kept me engage.
Recently, another course I took brought to my attention that mobile learning isn’t totally Carbon Footprint free. This is something I’m still reading up on and gaining clarity. My understanding is that Google is at the forefront of changing their data and cloud use to reduce their carbon footprint. However, the physical technology such as our laptops, computers, phones, and tablets are one of the leading production of carbon footprint due to the damage required to mine the natural materials from the depths of our earth. Being mobile and accessing learning anywhere, anytime, means that we need to use mobile data. Another production of carbon footprint due to the hefty use of energy. If an application or mobile learning device requires the use of a cloud drive, again, another carbon footprint production.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200305-why-your-internet-habits-are-not-as-clean-as-you-think
https://reboxed.co/blogs/outsidethebox/the-carbon-footprint-of-your-phone-and-how-you-can-reduce-it
To add to your Green Life Matters, I would also challenge students, families and teachers to turn off all technologies when not in use (including phones and computers) to also contribute to a greener society. In listening to your podcast, it reminded me of the movie Lorax, where people bought mechanical filter trees for breathing and air quality, no longer respecting or needing trees. How else can we continue our mobile learning, but refrain from the increase in carbon footprint? One of your ideas were to recycle our old technologies… but in what other ways can we reduce the damage we need to do to the earth in order for our learning to take place in more mobile and accessible ways?
Excellent podcast, Sebastian; it was fun yet factual. I appreciated that it was audio, being on a mobile device myself. I hope educators heed your advice and apply your three tips that mobile content needs to be short, easy to access, and eligible without straining.
As you mentioned, when my department was face-to-face more than two years ago, we drowned in paper. Then, however, the discards went to the industrial recycling bins, not the garbage bin. But being virtual and mobile, we are now also paperless. So I am wondering, have your class and school accepted the paperless challenge or are you still in the planning phase? ????????????
Good question! I would love for my ecotopia to be at the global stage, but for now my class is still a paperless class and several of my fellow teachers are participating. I would say that it is the 2/3 of the school which takes up the challenge. I don’t want to fall into stereotypes, but it is usually older teachers who are rather reluctant to transform their practices and embrace technology, especially mobile technology. However, I believe that the example of those who take up the challenge inspires them to be more conscious in their paper consumption.
Sebastien,
As Tamaka mentioned earlier, your storytelling is done really well. I actually downloaded your podcast episode to my phone and listened to it while out on my evening walk with my dog which I think really enhanced for me the topic that you were discussing. As a grade 6/7 teacher myself, I have tried to make a lot of my own assignments online as well as we utilize Microsoft Teams but I will admit that I was not really doing it for the reduction of paper use, but mostly because it was much easier for me to do so and I wanted to incorporate computer skills into my classroom as well. One thing that I have been thinking about is also sustainability when it comes to technology as my other class had a topic on this. In one of the articles I read, it discussed how energy use is up due to majority of people being online and that, “digital traffic has soared in recent years, efficiency gains have now muted or even flattened growth in data-centric energy use” (Mills, 2020). I think we also need to think about data use as well because I am sure there are more efficient ways to be online as well.
References
Mills, M. (2020, April 27). Our love of the cloud is making a green energy future impossible. TechCrunch.
Thanks for listening and I’m glad you did it during your evening walk! 🙂 You are right Sonia, it is true that technology is not always green and that it draws on natural resources that are non-renewable. There are solutions, but it always seems like a double-edged sword. “Technology (…) is a double-edged sword-one capable of both doing and undoing damage to environmental quality. We look at technology and the environment in four key areas: energy, climate, water quality, and waste cleanup. In each case, we illustrate the dual nature of technology’s environmental implications.” Very interesting website : brookings.edu/articles/cutting-through-environmental-issues-technology-as-a-double-edged-sword/
Sebastien, what struck me as I listened to your presentation was the high level of engagement in your teaching practice. You embodied constructivist teaching methods that Schunk (2012) describes as “structure[ing] situations such that the learners become actively involved with content through manipulation of materials and social interaction.” Your students acted with purpose and directed their learning. You took on the role of facilitator, which is where teaching seems headed in the future, with advances in brain chip implants and other mobile technologies. I will admit that when I first saw your blog length was over 20 minutes, I inwardly groaned. But as I listened, I became transported by the power of your storytelling. I appreciate the challenges of the global digital divide you described in advancing the message of environmentalism. Conservation is low on the priority list when food, shelter, clean drinking water, and heat are hard won. Since mobile technology, marketing has moved from the television and radio to peoples’ pockets. You will have a chance if your students can rise above the noise of competing interests by influencing human feelings rather than just thoughts. What other new mobile technologies do you envision will become channels for others to learn about your message?
Hello Tamaka, thank you for your comments. To answer your question, in the future, I like to imagine that mobile technologies will be much more advanced and will allow, for example, to project your hologram. That would be another good way to spread the message globally. We can also perhaps imagine that teaching will only be virtual and that the spaces reserved for school buildings will be replaced by forests, in the same way as all offices. We can always dream! 😉
Sebastian, I appreciated the production, and creativity of your podcast, highlighting Green Life Matters! Wow, what a feat to not use paper for the entire school year. At 10:34 you begin to mention how students became “marketing specialists” by sharing the movement through social media. It made me curious and wonder how our students will market their ideas in the distant future?
Hi Sebastien, the production of your podcast was appreciated, especially your integration of sound effects to enhance your messaging. I would have appreciated having a written transcript to refer back to, as well as for accessibility. Identifying the pandemic as a trigger point for a reflection of the usage of technology to reduce our carbon effects on the Earth was meaningful. Conserving paper through digital means has been a goal of mine in my educational practice, so I appreciated hearing that sentiment echoed and share the idea that it will take a large-scale shift in ideology to make this a reality. I hope your future becomes a reality.
Thanks for your comments Braden! And very good point about the transcript to refer back to. Here is the link : https://docs.google.com/document/d/1konHSIkcVAlK7W6LzgzEwvvhB692uM-BQQ_Tj5pquUc/edit?usp=sharing 🙂