The Flickering Mind Part 2

Chapters 6-10

A brief overview of each chapter:

Chapter 6- Computer Literacy: Limping Toward Tomorrow’s Jobs

• A White House report stated that by the year 2000, about 60% of the nation’s jobs would demand the use of computer skills and would be better paid than a job where computer work was not involved. However, many employers (even IT employers) who were surveyed felt that computer skills were not that important to them. They were more concerned with things such as, a deep and broad base of knowledge, strong character, the ability to speak, write, and comprehend, and the ability to work as a team.
• When using computers only 2 senses are engaged, hearing and sight.
• SCANS (the Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills) report issued by the Department of Labor came up with a proposal for schools that involved learning through real world problems.
  o Many schools did not have a problem with the proposal but had a problem with carrying it out.
  o Teaching this way takes an unruly amount of time and patience.
  o Was quickly forgotten and replaced with testing and accountability.
  
  (Sorry we got a little carried away with this chapter)

Chapter 7- Bulldozing the Imagination

• Getting rid of hands on activities or cutting certain subjects and replacing them with computers hinders “the experiences that build students’ inner foundations and their imaginations."
• Using a computer may be too technical for younger students (through 3rd grade) who have not yet developed experiences in the human and physical world and would therefore be most effective if done in the upper grades.

Chapter 8- The Spoils of Industry Partnerships

• Once again it’s all about the benjamains.
• Instead of helping the schools, companies often created more problems by marking up equipment by adding additional costs, not carrying out promises, not delivering equipment that it promised, not properly installing equipment and not training teachers.

Chapter 9- The Research Game: Faith and Testing in Las
Vegas

• President Bush stated that before any new program could be adopted it had to be scientifically proven to be worthwhile. This brought about a problem for schools: How do we evaluate the claims of scientific research?
• A lengthy discussion about the scientific research about Renaissance Learning’s products, Accelerated Reader and Accelerated Math is then discussed.

Chapter 10- Education’s Holy Grail: Teacher Training

• Major problem: Education’s approach to training its teachers.
• Teacher training involves large amounts of time, money, and effort and districts only invest anywhere from 1-3 % of their resources on this.
• Teachers are often trained by someone who does not have a background in teaching.

In chapters 6-10 Postman refers to several educational e-lusions about technology. They are as follows:

• A rush toward technology is the best guarantee of security in the years ahead.
• Parents faith in technology’s power may be quite a misconception.
• With computer technology, the choices for teachers of how to use the technology can be a mirage.
• Teacher training will solve technology’s problems.
• Students and teachers rarely have time to do justice to both challenges, or even to one. (using computer simulated programs and learning the core subjects)
  
  

Comments that we agreed with:

1. Bonnie Beach’s (an Ohio University professor) lesson on technology: “Schools should actually avoid being on technology’s cutting edge.”

2. Theodore Sizer’s comment on testing: “Tests tend to test how one individual performs on that kind of test.”

3. “Unfamiliarity with computers remains surprisingly common within education circles. “

Reasons:

1. Technology in education is constantly changing and it never fails that just as teachers start getting comfortable with the technology they are using that something new comes along. The school system feels the need to replace what is currently being used with this new technology. This becomes a problem for all teachers, especially those users who are less “tech savvy.” Teachers have to be trained on the new equipment (if training is offered), taking away even more of the free time that was almost non-existent to begin with. Therefore, if school systems would just sit back and watch to see what happens with a certain program, there would be less change, less money wasted, and probably happier teachers.

2. It has been stated numerous times that students have many different learning styles. Some are visual learners while others are kinesthetic learners. Since teachers are suppose to use various teaching styles to reach all of the students within their classroom, why do tests not do the same? For this reason, we should look at other measures when assessing students other than just tests because they may not be able to efficiently express themselves through this medium. One example of this is with BCR’s (brief constructed response questions). We are constantly having students practice them because they are part of MSA. However, some students can easily solve the problem they are given and tell you how they did it, but have a hard time putting their explanation into words (which is where the majority of their score rests).

3. Since we both have a role in teaching teachers how to use different aspects of technology we could definitely relate to this comment. Both of us have encountered teachers who do not know how to use a mouse, check their email (which is suppose to be done on a daily basis), and properly shut down their computers. To us, these are simple tasks, but to many teachers these are very difficult tasks that make the thought of incorporating technology into the classroom a very frightening and intimidating task.

Kerri and Marcy

The Flickering Mind Part 1

Introduction-Chapter5

Oppenheimer begins his book by noting observations and questions regarding America's classrooms:

• Classrooms have set the stage for more home sales (computers)
• Classrooms have to have computers. Or do they? Is this the definition of a well-equipped classroom
• How do children really learn?
• What does society really need from schools? From technology? From its students?
• The current god: Standardized tests
• We are currently living in a data driven society
• America's youths' attention span is diminishing, as is their ability to reason, to feel empathy, to listen
  

Technotopia: It's All About the Benjamins
Oppenheimer begins in chapter 1 by describing the technologies of the past and the present. Overall, it begins to be clear that technology has been nothing but a gimmick to produce more revenue for the technology industry. He reasons that schools are a ground for technologies to be introduced to a powerful consumer (children).
Oppenheimer mentions several technologies of the past (some of which are still being used): Pascal, BASIC, LOGO, videodisks, the onset of computer aided instruction (Dial-a-Drill), to name a few. He cites several authorities who identified personal computers in the classroom as nothing short of an "avalanche" (Bill Holloway, a professor at the University of Kansas) and Stephen Toulmin, a University of Chicago "Philosopher of Science," predicted (in 1982) that computers would "re-intellectualize the TV generation." According to Toulmin, TV relieved people of the necessity to do anything; computers depend on what you do yourself. Twenty years later, however, Toulmin had difficulties describing how computers accomplished this. Oppenheimer mentions Albrecht, who believes that students and teachers should use the same tools in school that they’re using in the real world. He adds that programs will come and go; some will stick, but most don't. This lends itself to the issues had with the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) which first wanted to create AP exams solely for the programming language, Pascal; however, most students had begun learning BASIC, which was more student friendly and accessible. To this day, BASIC is more widely used.
The Digital Divide: refers to underprivileged people receiving less than technology than their wealthier counterparts. Andy Carvin, Benton Foundation Specialist on questions of technological equity, states that the digital divide will never be solved because there will always be a new technology that recreates the divide. The Digital Divide was also described as the "Mercedes Divide ~everyone would like to have one but you can still get where you need to go with a less expensive machine."
Forbes editorial staff writes: "It is the poor who will be chained to the computer; the rich will get teachers."
Oppenheimer continues on in the following chapters to include observations seen at various school locations which feature technology usage. Primary mention was made of the following schools: Harlem NY (IS 275), Ralph Bunche ES in NYC, Hundred in WV, Blair in Maryland, and New Tech High in Napa Valley.
Oppenheimer discusses various technologies used in each setting and the variety of ways it was used. For the most part, in each school, however, they were all plagued by the similar obstacles: little to no technical support, connectivity issues, no teacher training, compatibility issues, distractibility concerns, working computer to student ratio, and diminished creativity and imagination of the students, despite the differences in money being allocated to each school.

Comments which really struck a nerve:
· Degrasse case overturned by then NY governor Pataki
· Computers were seen to "take up the slack teachers are leaving now" (Bob Wallace-IBM manager of education industry marketing).
· Patrick Suppe's comment about teachers: "There's a lot of bullshit about teachers. Let's not think they're all beautiful flowers about to bloom. We'd all like to be tutored by Aristotle. But that's not possible."

Degrasse decision appealed and reversed based on the reasoning that "society needs workers in all levels of jobs. The majority of which may very well be low level."
When we both read this case, we were both mortified to think that the government could so easily manipulate society. As society is already faced with discrimination and prejudices, it was incredible to read about a 2002 appeal that is contributing to the demise of a society. What are we saying to the citizens of this country? That we might as well not instruct you beyond the 9th grade because that is clearly the amount of education we are willing to provide you regardless of whether you want it or not? If this is the case, why bother keeping those children in school? To be babysat? Of course, this is not where we stand on this issue. We instead believe that people should have choices. As taxpayers, we are not granting the government the power to decide who gets the opportunity for better paying jobs. There's always someone willing to not go that extra mile and end up with a low paying job--regardless of socioeconomic status. Pataki, a son of a Hungarian immigrant himself, should take a better look at how he got to where he is.

Drill and Kill the Teachers:
Suppe's own company, CCC, created "drill and kill" programs that were marketed to teachers as programs to make their lives easier. Businesses have continued to sell their wares to schools by marketing them in this manner. Yet, how it's incorporated into the reality of the classroom is left to the imagination of the teacher. Therefore, unless teachers effectively integrate the technology in the curriculum, it will continue to not be a factor in raising student achievement.
We believe that all good teachers know that technology is most beneficial if used accordingly and in moderation. Again, we mention moderation. Research is pretty clear that it's not the sole effects of the technology that have helped with student's scores. If anything, they have shown a stagnant effect regardless of whether it took place in a privileged school or an underprivileged one. What does make a difference are additional teachers, smaller class sizes, appropriate funding allocated evenly, and better parenting.
As teachers, we are not looking to find tools that will "take up the slack." We became teachers because we wanted to make an impact on children's lives, the way they learn. But we are also constantly being bombarded with new and ever-changing initiatives that trickle down from way above (No Child Left Behind, for example) which demand excellence yet provide no plan of action. It is with these types of innovations that technologies are born and are thrown into schools with no directives but instead with the promise of a new tomorrow.

Personally, the question left unanswered still remains (revised): How do today’s children learn?

Kerri and Marcy

Postman Chapters 5-9

In the latter portion of the Postman book, he discusses in detail the 5 narratives previously mentioned: Spaceship Earth, The Fallen Angel, The American Experiment, The Law of Diversity, and the Word Weavers/the World Makers.

A brief recap of each narrative:

• Spaceship Earth: He wishes to incorporate archeology, anthropology, and astronomy as "major subjects" into school curriculum. Postman reemphasizes the whole notion of taking responsibility for taking care of the Earth from very early on in life.
• The Fallen Angel: He proposes three possibilities to ponder. First, the quality of education could be improved if teachers are made to teach areas which are not their specialty. In doing so, teachers teach subject areas which were foreign to them or was a topic they hated and then return to the classroom to teach the subject. This would create empathy toward the students. Second, he suggests the removal of textbooks which are in his opinion poorly written and offer nothing more than facts which are not to be disputed. Never mind the fact that the sources of those facts are unknown. Finally, he proposes allowing students to challenge "facts" taught to them by teachers. He emphasizes the student's responsibility to do so. He encourages membership in Accuracy in Academia which will, in turn, make students pay better attention to classes and urges students to think critically.
• American Experiment: This chapter dealt primarily with four experiments which cover the most important arguments that Americans have had and which characterize the American culture. All of his experiments are questions asked: Is it possible to have a coherent, stable culture that allows the greatest possible freedom of religious and political thought and expression? Is it possible to have a coherent, stable culture made up of people of different languages, religions, traditions, and races? Is it possible to provide a free public education to all citizens? Is it possible to preserve the best of American traditions and social institutions while allowing uncontrolled technological development? Postman says no to the last experiment but he realizes that most people agree that it is possible.
• The Law of Diversity: Postman defines the Law of Diversity as the telling of how our interactions with many kinds of people make us into what we are. This is not to be confused with ethnic pride. He emphasizes 4 themes (language, religion, custom, art and artifacts) in this section which outline the importance of individuality and how it creates a unique cohesiveness.
• The Word Weavers/the World Makers: Postman says it best, "It is the story of how we make the world known to ourselves and how we make ourselves known to the world."

We found the most compelling narrative to be the Fallen Angel. In this narrative, Postman identifies three conclusions that teachers would come to: 1) Everyone makes errors, 2) Error is reducible, and 3) Error is committed with larynx, tongue, lips, and teeth (in other words embodied in talk using sentences). As teachers, we found the first two conclusions quite realistic and reasonable in their own regard. We agreed that a classroom environment is created to be intolerant of errors, however, we both agreed that despite this intolerance, there is a softness and sense of nurture that exists in the classroom, as well. It was suggested that a computer is more tolerant because it allows for errors while encouraging and guiding students toward the correct answers and would not humiliate the student. While we both agree that there are wonderful computer programs which perform the above mentioned task, a good teacher will do the same. He/she will not humiliate a student and will facilitate the learning and help eliminate or else diminish the negative feelings created by this sense of needing to be error free. A good teacher will encourage students to be risk takers and openly recognize that making errors is natural. As for the third conclusion, we both agreed it was "poppycock" (a word a fellow blogger suggested we use). Actually, we thought that it was an appropriate conclusion that, perhaps, just needed to be elaborated. Language, we felt, was not the only means by which to commit error, but also felt that thoughts and actions would be appropriate additions to this final conclusion.

Although we found the Fallen Angel to be the most compelling narrative, we also found the Law of Diversity to contain a certain theme which appealed greatly to us.

(Oh...our time is up. Tune in next time to find out what theme it was).

(Just kidding)

That theme was language. Postman emphasizes the need for students to learn another language if it is truly the goal of the nation to have diversity as a narrative within the school system. He points out a reason for teaching languages as it providing an "entry into a worldview different than one's own." We both agree with Postman as he mentions that there is no better way to achieve diversity than to learn a second language. Additionally, as elementary educators we both feel that this is a realistic goal for our schools, as it is evident that other nations are now, and have been, providing language education in the primary grades. Research has shown that children are more apt to effectively learn a language at an early age, thus, the appeal to us as educators to incorporate this into the school curriculum.

Kerri and Marcy

Bring on the Oppenheimer! Prost!

Postman Ch. 1-4

Neil Postman introduces the theme for the entire book which is that schools are a way for a means, but not an end. He agrees with Nietzsche’s philosophy, "He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how." This "meaning" Postman describes as a god or a narrative (he uses this two word interchangeably throughout the book).

Chapter 2: Gods That Fail
In this chapter, Postman identifies gods that have existed and have failed. Specifically he mentions the god of utility, "You are what you do for a living," which is defined as the willingness to succeed or to make a living. Coupled with the god of utility, is the god of consumership, which he describes as "whoever dies with the most toys wins," and "You are what you accumulate." Clearly, Postman identifies these gods as reasons that have failed. The god of utility is presented repeatedly as parables in commercials; it is told and retold as the reason to why children should go to and stay in school. More importantly, it emphasizes the reason why schools should receive more public support. Parents, however, see schools as training grounds for future employees. However, Postman refutes these positions by saying that there is no strong proof that lucrative and stimulating employment will be available for students upon graduation.

We both agree about how the gods were defined. On the other hand, we both felt that these gods do provide a motivation for schooling. Students do attend school with aspirations to become somebody. Schools facilitate this by sponsoring programs such as Career Day and mentorships with local businesses.

Chapter 3: Some New Gods That Fail
The major focus of this chapter encompassed the gods of Technology and of Multiculturalism.
Postman references several people’s thoughts on the gods of Technology:
Dr. Ravitch who presents us with little Eva as the ideal little girl who is sleepless and decides to tune into a channel to learn Algebra and young John who decides he would like to learn the history of Japan. Postman disagrees with this ideology, as he believes that Dr. Ravitch is full of crap because little Eva and young John would never wake up yearning to learn more but instead want to tune into SkinaMax, (just kidding, the Disney Channel) since both their parents are asleep. Ravitch believes that this mode of education offers equal access to all, however, Fulghum’s book refutes this because he identifies skills not addressed in this type of learning: sharing, playing fair, flushing, and not hitting people. Postman half-heartedly disagrees by commenting that children don’t learn all these skills in kindergarten but throughout several years of schooling. Thus, the reason children should not learn in isolation.
Hugh McIntosh: Presented three scenarios, which envision those who are tired of reality and move toward virtual reality.
· Chatting with a scientist to receive expert assistance for science class/homework
· Virtual labs
· Computer simulation to design life forms
Postman disagreed with the views of McIntosh and believed a technology solution to a psychological problem is more like “therapy.”

Bottom line to this chapter is that the information is out there, the desire to gather the most information is present, and however, people don’t know what to do with it.

This chapter was the most interesting to us as it dealt a great deal with technology. We agreed with several points made, however, they were all made by different people. Those points included:
· Learning should not take place in isolation
· Technology does allow for equal access to more people
· Schooling provides the learning of skills needed by children over a period of years
On the contrary, we do believe that there are those children who possess an innate desire to learn without being directed to, and, therefore, can learn independently. It’s not necessarily a new species of child.
Concluding point: There is a lot of technology out there, using it in moderation is key.

Chapter 4: Gods That May Serve
“Why do birds suddenly appear…?” (Did anyone else think of this song when you read the first line of this chapter?)
Postman identifies and describes 5 narratives in this chapter.
1. Spaceship Earth: the responsibility of taking care of earth. “The caretakers of a vulnerable space capsule.”
2. Fallen Angel: we are born imperfect. The example given was the concentration camp of Auschwitz, Poland; when man aspires to possess the knowledge of the gods, or arrogance and dogmatism overpowers man, it leads to evil deeds.
3. American Experiment: Is described as continuous question to help form, maintain, and preserve a nation. Students are taught in school to take part in the great experiment by learning how to argue, learning to decide which questions are worth arguing about, and learning what happens when the arguing stops. Postman mentions that when arguing halts, blood flows.
4. Law of Diversity: This narrative emphasizes the common core of knowledge about other people thus creating intelligent humans.
5. The Word Weavers/The World Makers: This chapter discussed the importance of language and the role it plays in identifying our moral standing. Postman also sees language as a way to transform the world. (However, here he mentions that America is more apt to adopting other words or creating new words quite often, while other nations are not necessarily following suit).

When considering this last chapter, we asked ourselves a question posed in the Postman reading: Can we use them to provide an end - that is, a purpose - to schooling? We tend to agree with only a couple of the narratives. The American Experiment and the Law of Diversity had for us the most solid cases. Word Weavers/World Makers had some valid points. We felt that the American Experiment and the Law of Diversity encouraged a deep craving for learning and questioning what has already been established as fact. If indeed, we settle on accepting what has been established as fact, and then all we do is memorize those facts. If we learn to question and investigate, we continue to grow and to discover. This applies to the Law of Diversity, as well, as we discover the greatness of the world around us and the people in it. In the Word Weavers/World Makers narrative language is referred to as “God’s greatest gift to humanity.” We believe that language is a gift, and that it helps to make us who we are and should therefore be a basis for schooling.

Final thoughts (Not just Jerry gets those): We felt that Postman had many valid points presented, however, his support tended to be a bit far fetched and ludicrous at times. Therefore, just at the point when we both felt he was leading towards something concrete and substantial, he would lose us at the mention of a spaceship or a child from Mars. We both felt that his arguments were disjointed and discombobulated making us feel that way while reading his book.

Marcy and Kerri

Welcome

This semester in ET690 Educational Technology Seminar at Loyola College, two grdauate students will be blogging about the readings, which include three books by authors who are critical of technology in the classroom. I invite everyone to respond to their blog entries with civil and respectful posts in an attempt to promote a dialogue about appropriate and inappropriate uses of technology in the classroom. The three books that we are reading this semester are:

Postman, Neil. (1995). The end of education: Redefining the value of school. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Oppenheimer, Todd. (2004). The flickering mind: Saving education from the false promise of technology. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks.

Roszak, Theodore. (1994). The cult of information: A neo-luddite treatise on high-tech, artificial intelligence, and the true art of thinking, 2nd Ed. New York: Pantheon.

I hope that this blog will help to launch a broad discussion on the issues discussed in these books.

For more information about the seminar, please visit the class Web site at: http://www.loyola.edu/edudept/facstaff/marcovitz/Et690/

Sincerely,

David Marcovitz, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Education
Loyola College in Maryland
http://www.marcovitz.com/