Scribbling with THE DIGITAL PENCIL

I've just finished:

Lei, J., Conway, P.F., & Zhao, Y. (2008). The digital pencil; one-to-one computing for children. New York, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Although I may choose this text to review for another class, (we're assigned to write a review to send off for publication), I wish to post here how this text assists my thinking on "Blogging In An English Classroom".

•computers have moved from being innovative into being an appliance that can be used in a classroom like a pencil, a pencil sharpener and a chalkboard. “computer technology is no longer an innovation. Computers have become appliances seamlessly integrated into our lives.” 10 “Compared to innovations, appliances are more affordable, widespread and reliable; they have fixed functions and often disappear into the context where they are used. (2).

•There’s been a move from group ownership of computer technology to individual ownership.

•computers function as communities themselves: a community that can compute, take photographs, create video, watch DVDs, connect to the internet, fax, listen to the radio, etc

•social capital is the potential to access resources through social resources and informational resources available via technology today creates cyber communities. Interconnected communities grow. We are social creatures. Online people learn from each other and assist the learning --- an audience is real. Audience Awareness is key in a writing classroom.

•The internet is favored over other mediums during a student’s leisure time.

•At one time, information was “pushed” at individuals and controlled by those with media power. Today, information can be “pulled” to the convenience of those seeking information (or entertainment) when they want it. p. 12

•“The most fundamental change in ICT is perhaps the capability it affords individuals to publish and broadcast their ideas to a broader audience. Thanks to low-cost digital tools and easy access to the Internet, practically anyone who wishes to publicize his or her ideas, images, or any other personal information can do so. Publishing and broadcasting are no longer controlled by corporations or organizations; they are now within the reach of the individual. Podcasting, Web logs (or blogs), and YouTube.com are just a few examples of personalized publishing and broadcasting.

•“Blogging is another form of personalized publishing that has grown exponentially in a matter of years. A blog, or Web log, is a user-generated Web site written in a journal style. It started as manually entered online journal entires in the mid 1990s, but toward the end of the 1000s, tools to facilitate the creation of blogs became available, which made it possible for anyone who can browe the Web to contribute to the web. Blogs began to grow as a quickening speed. As of November 2006, a conservative estimate put the number of blogs at 60 million. Blogs kept by individuals have already become an important competitor to traditional mass media such as newspapers.” 13.

•rapid #’s of students are using “digital pencils”

•There needs to be a “co-evolution and co-adaptation for digital citizenship.” 186

• new, one-to-one learning is likely to play a critical role in helping education systems attain educational goals of:
o understanding the global system
o capacity to think analytically and creatively across disciplines
o ability to tackle problems and issues that do not respect disciplinary boundaries
o knowledge and ability to interact civilly and productively with individuals from quite different cultural backgrounds
o knowledge and respect for one’s own cultural traditions
o fostering of hybrid identies
o fostering of tolerance

•social networking sites allow the predicted two out of every three individuals who go online to be individuals who producing, collaborate, research and publish from their personal computers. 189

•pushes forth the questions: How is one-to-one technology changing children’s media consumptions and production patterns What is the role of adults and educators in mediating these patterns both in and out of school? 191

•m-generation: media/multitasking (Rideout, et. al, 2005), N(et) generation (Tapscott, 1998) or digital natives (Prensky, 2001). --- regardless, there is no distinction between play and learning. “They are not passive consumers of information, but energetic participants and active contributors to the digital world.” 192

•more intercurriculum, more sharing, more collaborating, more national, more international

•The digital world is a part of our lives. “Then, in this digital world, in which technology defines talents, what kinds of talents are needed? What kinds of skills will our students have to learn? Thus, schools need to teach our children to learn how to become competent citizens of this new world.” 200

•FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS:
o knowledge of the nature of the digital world
o positive attitude toward the digital world, including appreciation for the complexity and uncertainty of it.
o ability to use different tools to participate and lead in the digital world
o ability to use different tools to express, create digital products, and create and manage online communities.

• “Our ecological view of technology necessitates that we take seriously the social life of the digital pencil.” 204