The Next Step?
Podcast:
This is a look at the future of technology in the classroom as a response to Chris M. Anson's "Distant Voices: Teaching and Writing in a Culture of Technology." What part should technology play in learning and in the classroom? How much technology is too much before we become completely isolated from the rest of society? These are some of the questions brought up within this podcast.
Anson, Chris M. "Distant Voices: Teaching and Writing in a Culture of Technology." College English 61.3 (Jan. 1999): 261-280. Web. 25 February 2011.
Black Silk by Syenta is licensed under a Attribution Noncommercial (3.0).
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Hi Courtney,
I found your discussion of ebook readers paired with Anson's analysis to be interesting. I'm a little concerned about how gradual transitions to "technology-enhanced", or even "technologized", learning can be, given the radical and unforeseen ways technology can effect every day life. When paired with Kelly's ideas about the technium, can we really expect any transition to a new technology to be gradual?
Considering how computers, cell phones, and other technologies have changed the world around the classroom, it seems unlikely the world inside the classroom could possibly remain unchanged. The web changes the way we research; cell phones change the way we collaborate. Technology can act as an independent drive that changes the classroom whether teachers like it or not; often what matters is how teachers deal with the coming change.
Ereaders are a particularly interesting case, and I'd like to point out something you didn't mention. Besides the physical and informational benefit, ereaders can offer a communal benefit, being that they're automatically tied to the Internet at least in some limited way. Options for so-called "social reading" [a good example is the burgeoning Open Bookmarks initiative http://booktwo.org/notebook/open-bookmarks-the-beginning/] show the way that ereaders could radically effect not just the convenience of reading, but the actual ways that we approach a text.
I'm thinking especially of Arjun Appadurai, who, in his essay Modernity at Large, posits that technology irrevocably changes the political and social landscape that we create for ourselves. Indeed, we're shifting from a nation-based system to a more global socioeconomic society even as we speak [recent turmoil in the Middle East as primary example]. If technology is the impetus for such political change, the classroom is almost a small thing in comparison. It would seem that radical classroom change, from something as small as an ereader, is unavoidable.
Great podcast! Very provocative thoughts.
Thank you for your comments.
Hi,
Thank you for your comments in response to my podcast. I am glad that it got you thinking. I have been thinking about ereaders in classrooms since they started becoming popular a few years ago. I'll always have a fondness for the printed text; but in the context of a classroom, I believe that ereaders have more that they can offer students than the printed text. I see where you are coming from in regards of transitioning gradually. Just transitioning the texts over might be the best idea.
You are right about the communal benefits of ereaders in the classroom as well. I never really thought of that. I guess that is because the type of ereader that I have does not access the internet unless it is actually plugged into a computer. That is definitely something that needs to be looked more into, though.
Thank you again for your comments.
~C~
What would Rice say?
Hi Courtney,
Let me offer you a quick technical comment. Your voice was a little too soft for me in this podcast to hear very well.
Your point about e-book readers and tablets is well taken and from recent developments in which some universities have distributed ipads to teachers willing to test them in their courses, you are not alone. Before we move too quickly to affirming these new technologies as the next step in educational development, I think we need to consider Rice’s article, “Rhetoric’s Mechanics: Retooling the Equipment of Writing Production.” Rice argues for the importance of understanding the mechanics of technology and, drawing from this, it seems essential that we explore the ways in which e-readers and tablets can be used to further student creativity and rhetorical understanding and expression. Rice’s ideas let us move away from the idea of progression, which applied to this case reminds us that we cannot simply think of the emergence of new tools as a step in a progress or a replacement of “obsolete” technologies (like books or traditional classroom settings). Each new technology tool needs to be integrated in a way that reflects the preparation our students need to be effective contributors to society. This means of course, we need to anticipate the role that e-readers and tablets might have for students in the very diverse workforce. Rice reframes the conversation about what the new technology is to how we use (and teach) that technology for rhetorical ends. Rice points out that “the deployment of the rhetorical ‘text’ itself depends upon knowing and practicing that mechanical work” (375). Proficiency in the technical mechanical and technical rhetorical aspects is essential for students and Rice argues, provides better educational outcomes. Rice acknowledges that teachers often fall short in their ability to teach this way (for a wide variety of reasons that they are not necessarily responsible for). Rather than thinking about e-books and tablets as the next step in our educational situations, Rice reminds us we should think about how we use and understand the tools we have to become inventors of new kinds of writing and media.