Information Overload!

                                                      (Image credit: www.clickz.com)

The above image pretty much explains how I feel after this week's explorations. There is an awful lot of information out there, and there are an awful lot of ways to keep track of that information. I've always known that there was a lot of information out there, but I've never bothered to spend large quantities of time perusing it, unless I had a specific need. The nature of my life dictates that I do what I need to do when I need to do it, but I don't have much time for exploring just for the sake of exploring. The thought of using a source to compile resources I might be interested in reading never occurred to me, since I don't really have much time to stop and read. Now that I've been introduced to some of these tools, I'm feeling a tad overwhelmed.

It's not as though I'm living in a world cut off from information; quite the contrary. I've just developed habits and routines that worked quite well for me and some of the tools I've been introduced to this week are a bit more than I'm accustomed to. I've been using Diigo for the past year to bookmark and annotate articles that I find that interest me. I've even introduced it to my students as a tool to use when they're working on research projects, since they have a tendency to forget where they found information, and this gives them a tool for documenting and annotating in one place, plus the ability to form groups and share their research with classmates who may be working on similar assignments. 

In addition to Diigo, I've discovered that I quite like Feedly, as it presents information in a list-style format that appeals to my sensibilities. Perhaps I should be embarrassed to admit this next part, but I also use Facebook as a source of information. Through Facebook, I follow a number of education-oriented blogs and websites, such as Mindshift, ASCD, and Edutopia. In general, I find the work they publish thought-provoking and insightful. Although I don't always agree with the work they publish, I find that it allows me to get a more fully-rounded picture of issues in education. I think finding the points I disagree with is sometimes better at helping me develop my own philosophies and ideas than reading articles where I agree with the author. Outside of the pages I follow on Facebook, a great number of my friends on Facebook are in education. They often share links to articles they have found thought-provoking, and I find that reading those articles also helps round out my views on the world of education. I have quite a long list of articles I've bookmarked in Facebook, either because I read them and found them worthwhile, or because they were on a topic that I am interested in, but I didn't have time to read the article at that moment.

I've now decided to try moving a little out of my comfort zone of list-style feeds and give Flipboard a try. I need more time to work with it to decide how much I like it, but I do like the idea of a more visual approach to curating sources. Since I do tend to prefer lists such as those I can compile in Diigo or Facebook, or even Feedly, I definitely feel out of sorts as I am starting to work with Flipboard. I want to give it a try because I think it will be a useful tool for compiling sources that I may want to share with a variety of audiences, and I know that most of my audiences (students and fellow teachers) prefer more visuals and less immediate text when looking at a list of articles. If I can manage to come to terms with the format, I think it will be quite effective at helping me reach my audiences. 

As I consider the types of sources I seek, I realize that favor the thoughts of educators over the work of academics who are not practicing educators. I tend to prefer sources that are produced by practitioners, but informed by research. If I find a piece that references research and puts it into context within an educator's own experience, I tend to think of the discussion as relevant, whether or not I end up agreeing with the writer's take on it. I also tend to look to some of the Big Names, such as Alan November, and Sir Ken Robinson, as well as some people whose names may be less-known, but who have contributed significantly to the practice of using technology to better education, such as Jonathan Bergmann. I do admit that I have a bias against anything I read that sounds as though it was written exclusively by academics, rather than practitioners. I tend to feel that those who write about education, but do not actually teach, do not have much to offer me. This is, perhaps, a shortcoming that I will need to consider as I conduct research on topics I find important. Although I value information that has been vetted by the people "in the trenches" in education, I also realize that the material that will win support at the highest levels seems to need to come primarily from academia.

As I progress with research, I will make sure that I read materials from a variety of sources, including my usual go-tos, but I'll also make sure I seek out sources that are more academic in nature, and I may even look for articles about education that are written by people outside of education entirely, such as something one would find in Time Magazine or other similar sources. Perhaps the widening field of view will allow me to look at issues through a multitude of lenses and produce work that thoughtfully addresses a variety of issues surrounding a topic, rather than considering an issue primarily through the lens of the educator in the trenches.

Here's a look at some of the articles I've put together so far in Flipboard.

To Tech or Not to Tech: That is the Question. But What's the Answer?

When it comes to parenting, nearly everything stirs up the opportunity for controversy. Practices that were accepted for years, from vaccinating to spanking your children, are called into question on a nearly daily basis, and leave parents with plenty to worry about when making decisions about child-rearing.

When it comes to more recent additions to our world of Things to Worry About, there seems to be a consensus that it makes sense to limit screen time for children, for a variety of reasons; however, there are differing opinions (and conflicting research) out there in the attempt to determine whether using mobile devices, such as iPads or smartphones, should be a part of that equation and what, if any, benefit or detriment these devices have on children.

A recent article in The Washington Post had the tantalizing headline, "Researchers: Using an iPad or smartphone can harm a toddler’s learning and social skills."

Whoa! Does that mean my five-year-old is going to have a hard time in school, or be a social outcast because I let him play with my iPad when he was a toddler?

As I read on, I discovered that the article really didn't live up to its tantalizing title. It recapped some recent research about the potential downsides of young children using mobile devices, which pretty much boiled down to the following message: if kids use mobile devices by themselves (without parental supervision or guidance) exclusively for entertainment that is not in any way educational, it's not likely to do much for them and might leave them with gaps in social skills and possible learning deficits.

OK...

This is not particularly groundbreaking news. Mindless entertainment has never done much to help develop individuals of any age, regardless of the format in which it's delivered. I don't see how this message is much different from the one that advises parents not to let kids spend too much time with the TV as a babysitter, especially if it's not educational programming.

An article published in The Guardian not long after, criticized the aforementioned article, first latching onto the fact that the title didn't match the contents of the article, then pointing out that the article in question wasn't actually citing research, but rather guidelines that had recently published based on research. The Article with the Tantalizing Title had not cited the research behind the guidelines, but instead provided selected quotes from the article under discussion that had been published in a press release about it. It made it sound like someone at The Washington Post forgot to do his homework. The Guardian's article, however, went on to elaborate on the topic, point out the conflicting results of studies on the topic, and provide a reasonably well-rounded discussion of the issue.

The titles of the articles make it sound like this is the debate of the minute: "Researchers: Using an iPad or smartphone can harm a toddler’s learning and social skills" vs. "No, research does not say that ‘iPads and smartphones may damage toddlers’ brains." In reality, both articles point to a body of research that is, at best, inconclusive and invites those perspectives to coexist. While each writer decided to take a different approach to the issue, neither one provided sufficient evidence to persuade this reader that he "got it right." A quick look at the research cited in the articles, as well as the articles themselves, points to the idea that there is no "right answer" right now.

The scientific and academic community is doing research, collecting evidence, analyzing results, and discovering how the results fit within the other research that has already been done on the topic. This is all part of the scientific process, but there isn't much of a body of research to apply new findings to just yet. The field is not yet saturated enough with research to be able to reliably predict where a study will go based on previous results, and technology is changing too fast for formal research to be able to keep up with its effects and report data within a meaningful time frame. I read those articles, which were based on research that was conducted around the time my child was a toddler. Oops! If I messed up, it's a little too late to undo it now.

For the time being, parents (and educators who follow similar studies) will need to rely, more than anything else, on common sense to make determinations about using mobile devices with their children. Keeping abreast of guidelines and recommendations based on research as it emerges is another chapter we have now added to the book of Being a Good Parent. We need to be researchers ourselves; we need to read about the topic, and we need to read with a critical eye. We need to think about who published what we're reading, and what biases they may have brought to their discussion with them. We need to be wary of the Trick of the Tantalizing Title and not let the title itself substitute for the content of the article. And we need to stop and ask if what we're reading makes sense. By taking the time to use our own common sense and apply what we learn to what we know and observe, I have every confidence that responsible parents will be able to make decisions that allow their children to thrive -- mobile device in-hand, or not -- in an ever-changing world devoid of absolute guidelines.

And in case you're wondering, my five-year-old is doing just fine. He's bored at school because he already knows what they're teaching him (we can discuss my concerns about differentiation, or lack thereof, in another post), and he's one of the most social and empathetic children in his class. I guess that time with the iPad wasn't so harmful, after all.

Whew! I was worried there for a minute!



Resources:
Etchells, P. (2015). No, research does not say that ‘iPads and smartphones may damage toddlers’ brains’. The Guardian.  Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/science/head-quarters/2015/feb/02/no-research-does-not-say-that-ipads-and-smartphones-may-damage-toddlers-brains.

McCoy, T. (2015). Researchers: Using an iPad or smartphone can harm a toddler’s learning and social skills. The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/science/head-quarters/2015/feb/02/no-research-does-not-say-that-ipads-and-smartphones-may-damage-toddlers-brains.

Introduction

Hello! 

My name is Megan Andrews, and I am a technology addict.

Just kidding! I do, however, enjoy using technology immensely. In fact, incorporating technology in education is a passion of mine, and I am constantly looking for new and better ways to do so. 

I am currently in my tenth year of teaching high school English in Palmdale, CA. I happen to teach all seniors this year, but I have spent most of my previous years of teaching with a combination of 10th and 12th grade students. I enjoy the (almost) mature seniors, but sophomores offer a special kind of insanity that I find kind of fun.

Regardless of the grade level I teach, I include technology in my classroom. My school is in the process of integrating technology into our teaching, and we have staff and students at wildly differing ability levels. We live in an area that is relatively low-income, and where the elementary schools have had computer labs shuttered for the last five years; with our students being the "iPod Generation" (as we call them around here), it is not uncommon for a student entering the ninth grade to have had only a handful of experiences working on an actual computer. Because of this, and because we do have such a wide range of experiences, incorporating technology in lessons takes some work. We have to not only plan how we use the technology in our lesson, but we also have to plan time teaching our students how to use the technology we want them using.

Since I teach English, and a very particular course at that, my need to seek outside teaching resources is minimal. The course I teach was designed by our state university system to prepare incoming freshmen for the rigors of college-level reading and writing, Because of that, I am required to teach a very specific set of units. I do have room to customize how I approach teaching those units, and that is where I use technology as a tool. In my explorations of other teaching resources, I have found much that I like on websites like EDSITEment. One resource I've recently discovered, thanks to my district's district-wide purchase of licenses, is Shmoop. What I love about Shmoop is that it is geared toward students, so it tackles some high-level content, but in a way that is easy and engaging for students. Shmoop offers everything from test prep, to teachers' units and lesson plans, to full online courses. This year alone, I have used Shmoop to remediate struggling students, help students prepare for tests, and even better understand Hamlet.

In addition to teaching, I spend part of my day as in instructional coach with a focus area of digital literacy and technology integration. I wear several other hats, too, but those are stories for another time.

It is in my role as an instructional coach that I spend time doing a lot of research. It does have the added benefit of being research that I can use personally, as I use it to inspire what I do in my own classroom, even as I am thinking of ways it can be used in other classes. In the last three years, I have done a lot of exploring to find ideas, emerging best practices, and places to follow the ongoing conversation that is educational technology. I have definitely developed some favorites along the way. Edutopia is one of my go-tos, because it is easy to navigate and always has relevant and thoughtful content. While I do not always agree with what I read there, it keeps me abreast of issues and research. Another one of my favorites is MindShift. I appreciate their format, in that the blog posts are thoughtful and thought-provoking, but they are nearly always accompanied by a piece of research that inspired the post to begin with. With Edutopia and MindShift as two of my mainstays, I have regular exposure to current thinking in the world of ed tech; however, sometimes I need something more formally written, and that is when I venture over to the ASCD website for some serious reading. When I need research to support an idea, ASCD is my go-to resource, and I have used what I found there to effectively argue for more than one initiative on my campus.

Some of the challenges I face as both a teacher and an instructional coach have to do with change. Neither staff nor students are really quite ready to embrace the change that widespread use of technology in our classrooms will entail.

Students who have been raised in the NCLB "there are four possible answers to any given question" era find the increased critical thinking required with the effective use of technology intimidating at first. In general, I find that they are initially resistant to lessons that require critical thinking or even using technology in a new way. I remember one student who was so uncomfortable using tools to annotate a digital text (Foxit Reader) that she begged me for paper copies of the text. I ended up compromising and easing her into the process by alternating paper and digital texts, and she eventually became more comfortable with it, but this example illustrates a larger issue: our students are not accustomed to working outside of established parameters, and they usually need some coaxing (and sometimes a solid push) to start taking the intellectual risks involved adapting to new ways of learning.

And just as students tend to balk at change, so do staff, even if they take a slightly different approach. Staff members like to point out the problem I mentioned earlier in this post: that many of our students really have no idea how to effectively use a computer even though they are digital natives. They will also point out that our students have inequality of access: Not every student has a mobile device, not every student has a computer home, and we have some students that don't have access to either.

While the problems I just mentioned are being used as excuses primarily from teachers who are resistant to finding ways to incorporate technology into their teaching, the heart of the problem is very real. At this time, we have some teachers who are using this as a shield to keep from using technology, but we have others who have adopted the "they will find a way" attitude.

We are finding that our students are finding ways to complete technology-based assignments, but it is at a cost to the students. I am hearing more and more reports from students that they stay at the computer lab at school as late as it is open, but the don't always finish their work. Our administration has talked about extending computer lab hours, but that will only partially address the problem.

I find myself wondering: Is it reasonable to ask a student to spend an additional four or five hours at school to complete homework? We live in a community where a large percentage of our students are needed at home to take care of younger siblings and run a household while Mom and Dad are at work, and some have to go to work themselves. As more and more teachers require students to use technology to complete assignments, are we placing an unfair burden on those families who do not have access to technology at home and can least afford to have an older child gone for extended periods of time to complete school work? In order to address this issue, I am trying to start a conversation at our school, suggesting we consider starting a program that would provide technology to students who do not have any access, whether mobile or at home. While that approach would spare us the tremendous expense of implementing 1:1 devices across the school, it would have the same net effect, but at a much lower cost. I think such a solution will provide at least three immediate benefits:

1. The "not everyone has access" excuse would be gone, 
2. Students would no longer struggle to simply have access to the technology necessary to complete work, and
3. Both students and teachers can set aside worries about access and get into the really important part of integrating technology into education: improving the way students learn.

I love to hear some of your thoughts on any of what I've discussed here.