Is anyone aware of curriculum standards for Edtech in schools? Do Edtech teachers have a common knowledge of what digital DNA is and how datamining plays an important role in this?
With google classroom still in full swing- it doesn’t appear privacy is part of Edtech in the classroom.
We don’t know what beholds our future with the amount of information that has leaked out in ourselves- but there is time to harness our kids right to privacy.
Again… Does technology education teach kids about privacy/humane tech principles and rights? I see digital citizenship, but I almost shudder at this term because it is broad and doesn’t face the core of what will be our children’s future.
I hereby propose to start awareness campaigns targeted at schools / child education under the campaign theme called Tech Wise in the brand new project space at Github: Humane Tech Awareness Campaigns. Are you in, @healthyswimmer?
@aschrijver yes indeed! I’m remediating on how to logistically contribute through Github… GitHub is a new tool for me. Is there a step by step tutorial ?
I will create a document in each Github repository (project) that outlines in detail how to work with the tool. Though Github has some technical aspects, they are not that hard to grasp and you can get familiar with it really fast. The documentation format is the same as used in this forum, so it will help you write posts here too (without using the toolbar). There are easy (WYSIWYG, what you see is what you get, UI-based) editing and more handy (but slightly more technical) ways to contribute. I have been spending quite a bit of time already… go out for a walk now, but the guidelines will hopefully be ready this weekend.
GitHub has a guide that I found easy to use. I was able to follow the instructions and create something (very modest). If anyone wants company while following the guide, I’m happy to try to help.
I think it’s fantastic if with your ideas the community could spearhead another awareness campaign for children/young adults. Indeed, I was feeling a bit bad just now as I was working on a campaign intended for 16 and older, feeling I was missing out on the most vulnerable segment.
Hopefully you can quickly get up to speed on Github - I was new to it as of yesterday but after a little bit of exploration and as @aschrijver rightly said, the learning curve is not so steep. Hardest for me was to come to grasp with how to properly structure the collaboration environment, but at the end of the day, you will find it immensely rewarding.
@anon51879794 your contributions are perfect for the age group you’ve stated- this is why we work together. I’ve thought a special focus group on 20 something’s should be in place- this group is very special. 20 something’s have insights about missing something they never had- the face to face dialogue was missing in their teen development years. That why your video ideas are so important.
Because of the evolution of technology is so sudden- it seems there are these “mini generations” evolving. Based on where technology was at the stage of each kid’s development- there are different things affected. Anyways… some elementary school age kids are not asking for smart phones- they are tired of being ignored by their parents on their phones!’
Yeah, it’s important that we always think of our target audiences, and different approaches are required for each particular audience.
I don’t know many 20 something but I see teenagers spending an incredible amount of time socially interacting through their phone rather than face to face. The idea of reading a book is totally foreign and seems like a tremendous chore. That scares me, as I attribute most of my development as a person to reading from am early age, which leads me to wonder “am I a dinosaur?”, or “will this generation be left with irreparable damages?”. There is no study (and cannot be for practical reasons) on how this shift in paradigm will result in a new generation that is deeply flawed or superbly better. We are therefore left with concerns that may or may not be valid. My thinking: give our kids both experiences and teach them how to cherish both.
@anon51879794. Developmentally, teens are learning discipline on many fronts… there are many risks during this developmental stage- like experimenting with staying up too late, drugs, driving, and sex etc… Most of those behaviors are self limiting with natural consequences. But not phone use- it’s a different animal altogether- that’s the danger.
Technology was meant to be used as a tool- not in place of face to face contact… and teens can not moderate these behaviors. In the past when teens can’t moderate behavior the activity is taken away- so why not with phones?
Someday we need to realize that we will not be saving our teens social lives by reigning in phone time… We need to show our kids how to connect and have fun together- let our teens host parties again- give them another outlet to socialize- offer to pay or try to make it so you are not directly involved so they feel independent.
The displacement of skills and development utilizing technology can be impossible to recover. As a parent, it is so hard to cherish technology when I’ve seen so many problems already- I had to put my child in a private school to get away from all the keyboard time so she could learn how to handwrite again- I’ve spent many hours helping my kid remediate from the displaced time in school spent on fancy reward apps and learning google fonts- so they can type instead of creating. You can always learn how to use an app or email etc…, but our kids only have one chance to build a foundation of skills. I could go on and on… When I speak about kids and Edtech, it’s from the trenches…
Great reading, very enlightening. I have a son too now in his teenage years, who likes to spend time watching Youtube videos. He is alright, though (not my doing, no credit here). Perhaps you could propose an initiative on the Github platform? No commitment here, just to get the ball rolling, see what happens.
Actually, there is a book out, Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World, which deals with exactly this topic. I am reading it now and recommend it highly. Here is an excerpt from the book description on Amazon.com:
[Maryanne] Wolf draws on neuroscience, literature, education, technology, and philosophy and blends historical, literary, and scientific facts with down-to-earth examples and warm anecdotes to illuminate complex ideas that culminate in a proposal for a biliterate reading brain. Provocative and intriguing, Reader, Come Home is a roadmap that provides a cautionary but hopeful perspective on the impact of technology on our brains and our most essential intellectual capacities—and what this could mean for our future.
BTW, if you want kids–and friends and colleagues–to read, you’ve got to lead the way. Read at the coffee shop, hair salon, etc., talk about what you’re reading, and share it on social media. And, I would add, please support bookstores. I am a member of Barnes & Noble and go to it three or four times a month. From now till the 14th–sorry for the commercial, but I am pretending it is a public service announcement–educators get 25% off on selected items.
Do you think you could take the lead on this initiative (the so-called “Tech Wise” campaign)?
If you were to spearhead a project of educational videos prompting other parents to realize the possible harms of technology to their kids and adopt new, practical ways to detach their kids from their phones and promote non-digital activities, I think that would be great.
