ICT and IL: Week 3 Blog

In discovering and discussing IL and ICT within the wiki group and the readings prescribed for this week I have been sincerely awakened when it comes to education styles in our schools. Be it Librarians or Teachers (or even Teacher Librarians) that are initiating the learning process, it is thoroughly straightforward that the expectations require more teacher and student involvement in their ever day activities and lessons. Richardson harped on the necessity of weblogs in a school setting, whereas Gordon approached the concept of, "student-as-researcher," which embraces the belief that we deconstructed last week that attests teacher's "instructional role is 'sage on the stage' rather than 'guide at the side.'" (Gordon, 61)

I personally feel like it is a call for more all around engagement of students in their learning. Dialing in to an active learning initiative that grabs hold of a collaborative approach can be the way to go in the 21st century.

Going on somewhat of a tangent, Eli Pariser's speech involving Google's algorithmic system replacing the role of human gatekeepers of information, he states, "We need the internet to connect us all together, introduce us to new ideas, new people, new perspectives…[it] won’t do that if it leaves us isolated in a web of one.” In this quote he is referring to the 'filter bubble' model that he has constructed. More information on his belief can be found here:

http://www.thefilterbubble.com/

If we compare the constraints of a filter bubble to ICT and IL, we can see some prospective problems that could strike fear in the education process. However, we can defeat this if we effectively teach our children how to look beyond what the internet wants us to see according to our interests or tendencies. I don't know about anyone else, but when I was a child-student I had NO IDEA what I was interested in, what I needed, what I liked, etc. Things were in a constant state of flux.

I compare these two photos (thanks to google). Consider it an SAT question, but matching images...

The Filter Bubble is to Education as Bubble Boy is to closed off social life.




















In a closing note, I took the time to check out the validity of the links provided on the Novemberlearning website. I felt compelled to post the link to the Dog Park website on my facebook, and immediately received the following response:


Perhaps an exercise for a class would be for students to find one real and one not-so-real website an assess what makes them either classification. It would further strengthen a student's analytical skill and could be a IL skill building task.