Author Archive for Sean "The Bass Player"

Where do we draw the line?

Published by Sean "The Bass Player" on February 10, 2008 in Learning, and Teaching. 49 Comments

Draw the lineI’ve just come out of a fairly quick skype call with Jen/Injenuity… I seem to have been in contact with her quite a bit recently. In the chat she put forward a few interesting questions, one stood out to me in particular. It brought up something I surprisingly hadn’t thought about before: “Does it seem strange to you to associate with a bunch of adults?” Strangely, the answer is no. When I think about it and put it in context, I realize that yes, it is a bit weird, but it still doesn’t bother me, and I don’t see why it should. Just because there is an age gap doesn’t mean that there should be a conversation barrier there too (of course there can be if you want there to be).

One of the other questions she asked which stuck a chord was, now that I think about it not really a question, more of an observation - “and I noticed on your blog that you mentioned you’re the only one of your friends that is interested in this stuff… you really haven’t connected with anyone in your area”. This is sadly very true. Student ed tech types are lone wolfs, we just generally don’t come in packs; I suppose what she was asking here ties in with the previous question. Online I need to be in contact with adults in order to be a part of the networks that I am so fond of because I can’t connect with a lot of other students. This is mainly due to the fact that it is outside of what the average student normally does online. The “you really haven’t connected with anyone in your area” part sort of answers the question that she asked right at the start of the chat “why are you up so late” (it was almost midnight at the time… it’s now almost 1:30am). I’m up so late because I really can’t seem to find many people in Scotland who are interested in this, especially people my age. So, if I want to actively converse, I have to be around when all the Americans are out to play. I guess I’m a wannabe American from the hours of 11 pm till whatever am. Actually, that’s a lie, I’m happy being 100% Scottish no matter what the time zone I end up living in.

The main thought that is running through my head when I look back over all these questions is, where do we draw the line? Or even, do we draw a line? What I mean in this respect is if we were to achieve our goal, if we were to have technology (in particular web 2.0 tools) widely used within education then would teachers actually welcome their students to contact them? And converse in the way I do with the adults and teachers I am connected with over my twitter network and similar things online. The reason I find this a difficult question to answer is that although in a traditional school environment this type of communication (especially that outside of the school walls) is discouraged (at least on a relatively large scale) we are proposing change to this system, and a big change at that. Does this mean that the principles associated with the current system should be changed? Or I should probably say, adapted? Should the door be left closed to student - teacher communication both in and out of school? Should it be left open? Or should there be some sort of compromise?

Personally I really can’t answer this. It may be because I’m not a teacher, and I don’t really know how I’d feel about the students in my class contacting me, and hanging around in the places on the web I have found so sacred at times. And let’s face it, there’s always going to be at least that 1 student sitting in that class that gets on your nerves that bit more than the rest of them… does this mean they would do the same within your own personal networks? And should all this mean that a line needs to be drawn somewhere with the use of these tools (at least in the classroom)?

So, back to Jen’s original question - no I really don’t mind networking and communicating with adults and teachers. It can spark up a good conversation from time to time (one which can be difficult to have with many teenagers my age), besides, it also proves that teachers actually don’t live in school. The question I’m now left wondering about though is this: would you be comfortable sharing your networks if there were more of us around? Because if/when classes of students become connected with you it may not necessarily be for the same reasons I connect with you. It would be a part of their classroom learning, and students don’t always participate in the way they should. In saying that though, I’m assuming you were comfortable with it in the first place...

Here’s the audio! - Call to Jen

The Bass Player

  1. draw the line by alfarman on Flickr

Royal Changes

Published by Sean "The Bass Player" on December 26, 2007 in Leading, and Teaching. 19 Comments

RoyalThe Queen’s speech, formally known as The Christmas Broadcast, is something of a Christmas tradition here in the UK. It gives the Monarch a chance to send her message to the nation on Christmas day at 3pm GMT, giving us her views on what is happening in the world today, and more.

The Christmas Broadcast was started in 1932 with King George V and was first televised by Her Majesty the Queen in 1957. Now, 50 years on, this broadcast has been uploaded to YouTube for the first time... but why? I suppose the answer is simple really, the PR people at Buckingham Palace knew fine well the sort of reach YouTube has and saw it as a new medium for getting the Queen’s message out to the nation... and to the world.

To me, this begs the question: if someone of such a high stature can adapt with the times, and incorporate the technologies found around us in to something that has done its job over the past 50 years then why do these technologies not have a place in our classrooms right now? Why are the schools the only places left that don’t seem to want to adapt? We all know that schools do their job: they work... they train students to pass exams. What they don’t do is do what the Queen’s PR people did so simply. Say right, ok... it works, but we could make this better just by doing something new, just by incorporating a bit of technology here and there. This sort of approach is really valuable for students, for the main reason that technology is taking over: the YouTube broadcast proves that. The thing is, if students are not exposed to technology then when it becomes so important it can’t be ignored they will be left behind, it’s that simple.

We are being taught how to pass exams... not how to stay on top of the technological advances in the world, not how to communicate effectively in the modern world and at the end of the day, why can’t schools do both? After all, the Queen managed...

The Bass Player.

  1. Photo by Southbank Steve on Flickr

The Future of Student Bloggers

Published by Sean "The Bass Player" on December 11, 2007 in Learning. 16 Comments

TypingWhat happens when we student bloggers aren’t students anymore? A question that suddenly popped into my head a couple of weeks back, and it’s been niggling away at me ever since. I mean, what happens when the small amount of students who write blogs, with their own individual views on education, aren’t in school anymore? When they aren’t in the loop, when they have moved on to college or university or are just members of the general public? When they have no real connection to the matter at hand anymore?

The easiest way to answer it is the blunt way: If we don’t get successors then nothing will happen, the student opinion will be gone from the loop completely. Which would be a very sad outcome, seeing the pre-launch reaction to this blog. Most of the students on this blog will continue posting after leaving school, just as I will, but that’s not quite the same. We will be posting from a different perspective, we will have moved on, to college, or university, and some of us might just take the leap straight into the big, bad world. Seeing this new point of view does definitely have its advantages, but the opinions from inside the school walls, the opinions from those 20 or so teenagers in the classroom will always be the most important in my eyes.

So how do we get these successors? Well, it’s something I think this blog can really help with, I hope that the next generation of students can be shown what is possible, through their teachers, and be inspired to take it to the next level. This blog is, for me, a tool for both educators and students. Educators can come and hear what the silent majority actually thinks, and hopefully they will take those thoughts and find a way to incorporate some of what we talk about/suggest into their own teaching.

After all, that is how I came to be here. I was introduced to the use of web 2.0 in the classroom by my old English teacher Mr W. I realized how much it really can impact learning, and so I began my blogging quest! As for students, this is a tool that they can use to interact with educators, to see that the student opinion counts for something, and to provide a place where they are treated as an equal.

But what happens to us? the student authors bringing you this blog. Well, that’s not really up to us. It all depends on our readers and the value you give our views when we grow up, go to college, and (eventually) stop sponging off our parents and get jobs. At the end of the day, this will change our perspectives and almost certainly our views. The educators will always be here, as educators blogging about education, but the students won’t. We may still blog, we may even still blog about education, but we will be college students, musicians or businessmen/women blogging about education. I suppose the point I’m trying to get at is this: will this perspective matter to the edublogosphere?

Personally, the only time I can think of our future opinions being directly applicable is when we become parents. But does this mean our opinions will cease to count from after high school until we have children? I’d hope not, because education is universal. Everyone is constantly learning and has opinions on education, even those who have no connection to a school building. I suppose I can can relate it back to a T.V. advert that was running a few months back in the U.K. saying “if you don’t do politics, you don’t do much.” In a lot of ways if you don’t do education you don’t do much. The world is all about constantly learning something new and passing on your own knowledge to others, a school is just an institution that brings order to the process. Basically, all views on education should have some degree of importance, even if some have a greater value. It just depends who you believe is worth listening to.

As for us, it’s up to you, our readers. Do you carry on listening, and taking notice regardless of our position in society or do you move on and put full faith in the next generation?

Your call.

The Bass Player.

  1. Photo by Misterteacher on Flickr
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported