I cannot guarantee how succinct or cohesive this post will be but more a collection of thoughts that I have been having this week at work as influences by meetings, discussions, and readings.
I think I can safely say that we all agree that engaged and authentic learning experiences are valuable in many ways, as well as, connecting learners to researchers, scholars, and resident experts with a specific industry. The need to take student engagement away from simple recall and memorization and instead emphasizing collaboration so that learners can construct, create, and share or transfer their new knowledge and skills. The deepest learning is made when information is transferred between subjects and topics. It is no longer acceptable to simple teach students subject specific information. In this day and age helping students apply their knowledge to new areas while also incorporating digital literacy and engagement must take precedent (in my mind).
I feel there is often a disconnect between how students prefer to use technology in their personal lives and what they feel is reasonable to be asked to do in a learning environment or the fallacies [some] instructors hold as reasons not to try new methods as compared to at least be willing to take part in conversations on "new media". Of course that is not to discount that both groups, students and instructors are likely to be resistant to something unfamiliar.
Digital technologies are very powerful and allow us to connect and interact with one another in dynamic ways.
In my opinion, a degree is no longer enough students must learn a whole new array of skills in the digital age including literacy, fluency, and citizenship to name a few.
My brain feels like it is on fire with thoughts and idea and I wish we were able to have more conversations about these sort of things. I would be open to having more open discussion Hangouts if anyone else is interested just let me know.
Kristi - You have an interesting thought on student's perspectives on how much technology can be used in the classroom. Much of my research has been about how technology, particularly social media, is looked at as personal and not academic by students. I don't necessarily blame the students here completely because that shows the disconnect between academia and professional. I think it has to do more with the notion that school is a game of assessments and tests and social media is a narrative of one's self and life. You can't fit social media into the same assessment model and expect Earth-shattering results. What it takes to be successful, I think at least, is breaking those walls down and getting students to see the real world value of using modern tech tools. One project that I'm always captivated by is Wikipedia authoring assignments where students have to add new info to a Wikipedia page. The Wikipedia community can be highly critical so there's a big win if the student can get something made that stays on the page. The students also know how high trafficked that is so they are feel they've made a legitimate real world impact where there participation has the potentially be highly valued by the end user. I think the big question is how to do you raise the stakes enough so that students will take the leap with technology. To your point, I hope this is moderately coherent myself. :-)
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