I will re-post my second week reflection, wrongly place on the discussion thread for last week, later tonight. Here I want to answer the questions asked about the the survey. Firstly, there is that law, closely related to Murphy’s, where anything that can go wrong will, and it is especially true of digital technology used in front of other people. How many classes have been stalled by a YouTube video not loading or a device taking forever to buffer, and these are the tools that have worked perfectly fine just moments before being brought into the classroom? It almost seems like it has to be a trial by fire (either that or the technology has a mind of its own) to get digital literacy into young children’s education.
All of this to say that in taking the Survey Monkey questionnaire in class, we should almost expect technical difficulties. This was a very familiar experience for me, having lots of electronic fits and starts in my on-line Master of Educational Technology program. The calming and upbeat answer is that kids don’t get so worked up over computers, smartphones or whatevers not working. In fact, most of them seem capable of working around these glitches, rather than my determined, digital immigrant way of repeatedly doing the same thing until something works – how many times will I need to repost before I get it right? Otherwise, the survey gave me and my team (Danielle and Hedy) plenty to discuss while we tapped away on our screens, waiting to submit our collective results.
3 Comments
From KM
You are so write about the fact that the children don’t get so worked up. My mother-in-law will call for directions on how to do something on her ipad and my step-son will get on the phone and walk her through always encouraging her by saying ‘you can’t really mess this up Grandma, just click and see what happens’. When things don’t work the first time kids tend to just try another way (most kids).
From MA
You’ve highlighted the importance of social learning first and foremost Kyle. Just as interactions around inquiries is a powerful learning structure, we can apply the same principles in early childhood/literacy. The context has to be richly engaging, and tools available to understand and play with and effectively represent thinking. Although development of many skills and strategies will occur in such contexts, teachers also need to attend to explicit instruction as appropriate. So are there significant differences between early childhood and adult education?
Thank you for the comments, K and M,
One of the big differences between the adult learner and younger students, especially those in early childcare, is as K points out “getting worked up” over doing something wrong. It may just be part of the digital immigrant/analog refugee status for anyone who did not grow up with the Internet that there is only one shot at doing something like posting a comment or opening an app. Problems do occur, but like Karen’s step-son says, “just click and see what happens.” I had the similar experience with the worry-free attitude of young children; years ago, when I had a short-lived career as a ski instructor, I was very impressed with children on the slopes who would wipe out, get back up and continue skiing. Trying to teach young adults, on the other hand, requires so many psychological pep talks before they even click into their ski bindings that it is a wonder anyone over the age of ten would try the sport. Of course, everyone is snowboarding now, I am dating myself with ski references!!