Mar 12 2007
The World is Flat
Hello All:
On Wednesday, March 14 we will convene a group of people via various technologies to discuss Thomas Friedman’s book The World is Flat. In the hopes of structuring the conversation in such a way that everyone benefits, I propose the following as essential questions. If we can try to frame our conversation around these over-arching questions, perhaps we can develop a better sense of the topic. Between now and Wednesday, please edit these questions, propose better ones, or suggest that we do away with essential questions altogether.
Essential Questions:
1. The World is Flat is a highly acclaimed work, that does not relieve us of our responsibility to consider it critically as a scholarly work. To that end, does Friedman document his positions? Is there eveidence beyond observational and anecdotal? In short, is there evidence to conclude that the world is truly flat?
. What part of the book resonated with you? What does a flat world mean to you? Specifically, what evidence of “flatness” do you see in education?
3. What are the implications of a flat world for education? Given those implications, what steps should be taken now to ensure that our students are equipped to participate in a flat world?
5 Responses to “The World is Flat”
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Our first show was off and running. As luck would have it, we are battling the elements in the form of a tornado. Despite the weather we began in interesting conversation.
At about 8:00 we got cut off as people to the west sought shelter in basements, etc.
Before we left, we started the topic of technology use in schools. Most felt that the access is not what it could be.
I have two other other comments after listening to the podcast. 1. Larry mentioned the SMART Consortium. SMART has sponsored the Ohio regional FIRST Robotics Buckeye Competition which takes place March 22-24 in downtown Cleveland. http://www.firstbuckeye.org/ SMART tells me that only one team from Lorain County participates!! First is an amazing program that taps into some of the hands-on experiences Larry talked about but raises the bar to have kids think about engineering as a career option. What can be done among the superintendents in Lorain County to have greater representation from Lorain County schools next year. Find out more about FIRST at http://www.usfirst.org
The second issues is the report of the Educational Testing Services “Rising Above the Gathering Storm.”‘ I challenge the Superintendents to make this required reading of teachers and principials in Lorain County. It could be discussed on a Center webcast. Once you read it you will see compelling reasons why the current way we manage and conduct teaching and learning MUST change and CHANGE fast. Find the Report at the ETS website
http://www.ets.org/portal/site/ets/menuitem.1488512ecfd5b8849a77b13bc3921509/?vgnextoid=e9f3d944c8b70110VgnVCM10000022f95190RCRD&vgnextchannel=f993d944c8b70110VgnVCM10000022f95190RCRD
I have not read the actual book yet! I feel bad, but I do have a grasp of some of the concepts and my comment is somewhat related.
First, I love that this blog site exists. I wish there was a more comfortable and accessible way to use this technology for teachers with students. Students are aware of it and use it effectively with each other.
Shoot, they can figure the html for glitter fonts and moving gifs in a few clicks. But few of my colleagues understands how to use these things to the educational advantage of our students and it has in effect been criminalized to a degree by people who think all of this technology is only good for MySpace and that is only good for predators. For example during one staff meeting, student websites were mentioned, being a bit of a geek I counted the seconds before the word predator came up: 38. That not even twelve months ago.
One huge thing that keeps educators in the dark is the inappropriate 100% filters required on our net access. Latest research in the Journal of Developmental Psychology suggests (my conclusion) that such filters should be reconsidered as children mature (http://www.apa.org/journals/dev/special-internet.html there are several studies there worth review.). Why do we keep ourselves and our students from learning? Why is there legislation against it instead of teaching smart skills?
Oh, here is a popular video that expresses several of the ideas about the flat world well, but I can’t access it from school because of the filter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHWTLA8WecI .
But I realize we are not alone in being handicapped by our own institutions. For example, right now I am sitting in your Center for Leadership and there is no wifi here. There are no smartboards here. There was a tech problem with presenting. This could have been overcome in many ways the easy one would be to have simply posted the pertinent information on a blog site.
Still, if that was done, we couldn’t access it from our school. Some .org suffixes are blocked. Almost every site where comments can be left is blocked. This very site might be blocked. I will check from school later and if it is not I will comment again to let you know if you are accessible to the schools within the district where you are located.
Blogs bring about problem of accountability in word uses and freedom of speech issues that people who have some knowledge of online communities already grasp, but noobs are seriously going to have problems. That issue would be great to address. The latest in netiquette is absolutely an unknown to the majority of teachers. Many still think e-mail only and do not consider things like flaming and blocking and a whole venue of different social nuances.
It would be helpful for them if and when they enter this sphere to have a guide for how to behave. You may have a comment policy on this site that I have not checked and I did not see one right away, but I can easily understand why a novice might be afraid to participate not knowing anything about virtual society.
Okay, that’s it. Lunch is almost over!
GREAT! We can access and comment on this site from our school, EHS.
I would like to apologize for my typos ^ above as well, I was trying to be complete but quick and having lunch too.
I look forward to reading the more recent blog posts.
Thanks for your comments! I am interested to see your experience with technology in schools. I fear it is typical of most schools across the country. In Oberlin, the town is debating whether to vote for a permanent tax levy that would allow for the purchase of laptops for children in grades 6-12. You can find the debate at http://www.communitydiaries.org I would be very eager to know your thoughts an opinion on the idea of providing laptops to children. Based on your experience as a teacher, would it help? hurt? where would you find the support you needed to make it an effective means of delivering curriculum.
Thanks so much for giving you time to help us non-teachers understand the challenges you face.