Addressing The Digital Divide

Education in our society is at a turning point. The academic achievement gap is real and keeps widening despite efforts to close it. The standardized approach seems to not have been enough. On top of it a new reality is developing, a digital divide. This divide threatens to solidify the economical structure by consolidating access and success around those who have access and excluding those who lack access. Access to what?

Modern societies are centered around our social lives. Language and culture, as we already know, are living things, human constructs that change shape constantly according to the social environment. In this arrangement literacy plays a major role. Being literate is equaled to being academically successful. But what is being literate? Evidently it transcends today the definition of knowing how to read and write. Today being literate is being able to use digital tools to construct and deconstruct meaning, to be able to make original and unique contributions to society, and to adapt to ever changing environments where communication reigns. To do so, of course, one must have access to the tools that facilitate it and, most importantly, have access to the educational support that enables our mind to construct around these tools. Do we all enjoy access equally?

Studies of online usage show that minorities are connecting to the net using mobile devices instead of computers. This has a huge impact on what they use the net for. The productivity of a mobile device is null, used mostly for viewing than for writing or transforming content. Computers have software that is used to create. This points to a growing divide. While this happens we know that mobile devices are banned in most schools so the usage is obviously not academic but rather social.

In schools the same trend seems to exist. Urban schools face budget constraints that make getting innovative technologies hard to get. Even the schools who get funds from external sources and invest in innovation are faced with technologies that teachers have not been trained to use. I have seen too many interactive whiteboards sitting in classrooms, never used. A five thousand dollar investment put to waste. Other classrooms use them as a projection screen, a very expensive one. This makes educational technology seem like a way to make companies rich, not a way to close the achievement gap.

Innovation happens regardless of all these factors. It happens because it needs to happen, not because a group wants it to be. As an educational technology specialist I assist learning organizations in decision making. Using budget allocations wisely is important for closing the gaps and divides that threaten our sustainability as a society. My recommendation is to always make informed decisions. Look at research and identify promising strategies and tools that have worked in similar conditions. Discard proven failures, why would they work here and now if consistently they haven't? Avoid pricey tags, education should not be for sale and is non profit in monetary terms. The only profit obtained from learning is the ability to make a contribution to the body of knowledge that will improve the living conditions of all. In the end, it is sometimes better to invest in what works for a specific community of learners than to invest in what promises to work without solid evidence.

Through the looking glass: Video Streaming vs DVD's

Today's technology makes audiovisual entertainment readily available. Movie theaters, home theaters, desktop computers, laptop computers, hand held devices and even our cellular phones are capable of delivering full feature films. Watching a movie is not exclusive to any one location anymore. The choices are so many and so varied that sometimes in one house a family of four may be watching four different movies simultaneously.

When we were asked recently to watch a movie for the Emerging Technologies course the choice was simple: which one from the suggested list can I stream from Netflix? If this had been 10 years ago the choice would have most likely been to drive to the nearest Blockbuster and find which one was available on DVD. Today that is no longer an option I consider. I own DVDs, and I believe the ones I currently have will be it. I do not find myself buying any more DVDs, or Blu Rays for that matter, anytime soon. I see storing them as an obstacle to overcome. What do I do with them? Digital content is so easy to store, and I don't even do that. Why store a movie that someone else is storing for me? Sure, Star Wars collection, Lord of the Rings, Heavy Metal, Pulp Fiction, some movies are worth having to watch them whenever I want. Still, I think I bought my last DVD already. I might buy another one at some point as a gift or such, but it is surely a rare occasion.

Does this mean that video streaming services and DVDs are in the midst of a 'Red Queen' race?

It seems like this is so. To my generation there was and still is a principle when it comes to watching audiovisual entertainment: bigger and louder is better. From what I can see to other generations there is a modification on this principle: mobile is better. I see many children and young adults happily watching videos, ad even movies, in their miniature phones. The resolution is obviously not the best, the sound is not superb. Yet the convenience of disconnecting from the world from anywhere in it is sufficient to please them. This makes streaming video attractive and marketable. At the same time most movies make as much or even more from DVD sales than in the theater. This points to strong sales, explained by the fact that consumers like to watch feature films more than once and at the comfort of their favorite location. There is no signs of the DVD industry slowing down, even when services like Netflix and Cable's On-Demand make watching movies so easy. Of course, many factors in the public's perception  contribute to this fact: not all titles can be streamed (although I find almost everything I want to watch online); watching in a computer monitor is somewhat uncomfortable (yes, true, that is why I hooked my computer to the big screen TV); services that stream require a monthly fee (yes, Netflix is $8.99, which I pay gladly since I am saving more than $100 in cable, Oh and Hulu is free); streaming from online requires an internet connection (? who lives without internet these days?). Finally a big factor in the growth of popularity for streaming services has been the success of YouTube. This website has made on demand entertainment very favored and opened up the possibilities of using computers beyond for purposes other than typing, communicating or doing research.

There are many options to obtain audiovisual entertainment. They saturate the market. It is a great time to be entertained, but how is this affecting human development? Market forces have now driven how we think for centuries. We are branded since very early on, yet we comply happily. Watching too much means we are not producing too much. If everyone is watching, then we are still leaving the power in the hands of a few. Streamed or not the truth is the media still controls many hours of our day. Audiovisual content requires our full attention for a specific amount of time. How can we avoid being influenced? How can we take advantage and use such a powerful tool with so many possibilities to advance human knowledge? It will be upon us to see how...

The Disruptive Power of Second Life

Since the launch of Second Life we have witnessed how other meeting spaces have been impacted. Where are the chatrooms that were so abundant less than 10 years ago? They have given way to other forms of virtual communication, one of them Second Life (SL). On SL users, or residents can meet, socialize, work, shop, build, share and even get educated. The convenience of this latest one is immense and represents possibly one of the largest areas of possible growth and establishment of SL as an integral component of our everyday lives.

SL disrupted online meetings. Why would you sit and talk to strangers in a plain environment when you could build a space and socialize virtually in a multimedia rich environment that is multi sensory? Its potential is so big that several learning communities have been creating spaces and building facilities to hold educational meetings. Even medicine programs have been exploring with their interns practicing virtually. Learning in such an environment taps into the power of online environments and enriches the body of knowledge. It is when diverse opinions and ideas are shared and considered that human contributions become significant.

Second Life will be around for many years. Being open source and free empowers many users to join and explore. Having so many users necessarily means having a high percentage of developers finding how to improve the experience. The added economical opportunities makes for another motivating factor, where competition to be the next big product or service in SL drives the creativity of many. Other advancements such as holographic projection will take the experience to the next level, enabling resident to fell physically inside the environment, closer the the life presented or constructed. It should be expected that other environments might try to compete, and some may be effective. Still SL is established as the premier site currently and we are only starting to see that there are many possibilities with it beyond entertainment. Just to think that we can have virtual classrooms where students at all levels can meet and obtain content, guidance and expert advice is very promising...

Module 4 Responses:

Response 1 - Leasa -  http://lcodner.blogspot.com

Response 2 - Henry - http://7108-1.blogspot.com

Virtual Social Gathering

Throughout human history the social aspect of our lives has been key to development in general. We all want to belong, to be accepted, to have a purpose. We enjoy meeting with others to discuss topics of interest and share everyday experiences. Early tribes would do this around the fire, some would hold dances, other would compete or challenge each other. In all, we always group together. With today's technologies some of this gatherings are starting to happen in virtual environments.

The virtual world of Second Life offers users places to meet, explore, share, learn and socialize. Where a few years ago everyone would have to meet physically to attend a workshop they can now have an equivalent experience, with equivalent content and educational value in a virtual space. The same way, there are places to meet and socialize, make new friends, hold conversations and satisfy that need to be around others.

While this initially may seem like a trend I believe that a new generation growing up to having virtual socialization will increasingly use virtual spaces for many aspects of their everyday life. Distance education is rapidly becoming part of every College and University's offerings. Soon every graduate will have had, at some point in their education, taken an online course. At the same time soon every adult in our society will have participated in a videoconferencing session, a video phone call, a Skype call, or any other experience where communication has taken place remotely. The use of virtual environments for these purposes will keep growing for it satisfies a human need and offers users a satisfying experience.

Rhymes of History (Thornburg, n.d.) speaks to the human being, the social creation that we are, pointing how as a group we experience and learn. Finding new ways to keep improving what makes us how we are will always be welcomed and accepted provided it makes being so easier. Virtual socialization enables communicating with many from anywhere in a simple way. Barriers of language and culture are minimized. Barriers of skill and access are established. New experiences affect our development and transform our future. New tools, new schemas, new results...

How Smart Can My Phone Be?

In 1992 IBM showcased the prototype for the future of mobile computing: The Simon (see image). It was on the market by 1994. It was huge and heavy, plus very expensive, but offered features that were revolutionary at the moment. It was an enhancement to the existing PDAs and cellphones, and it could even send a fax! Still, the rapid changes in the market made it obsolete as a model but not as a concept.

A Smartphone, in simple terms, is a hand held device that allows communication in many ways. Today we find models that are capable of performing computing tasks at decent speeds. The Windows Mobile platform enables devices such as the HTC Touch Pro to create and share Office Documents, Spreadsheets or Presentations while simultaneously browsing the web, copying content to include in said creations, plus streaming tunes from online services to stay current with the Billboard hits. Multitasking phones make us feel connected while working which is essential for productivity in today's world. It is with these tool that I can be taking notes in a meeting while tweeting and finding resources that enhance my contributions to the discussions online and in the meeting itself. More than once have I found answers to questions that arise in such meetings and made it possible to find solutions that improve productivity and efficiency.

With this in mind we can say the following about Smartphones in the form of a Tetrad:

Smartphones enhance communication by making it possible wherever we are -as long as there are 'bars of course :) I can even stream live using Qik!

Smartphones make ordinary phones obsolete, enhancing their capabilities beyond mere voice communications. With them we can text, IM, stream, create, share, use WAVE or BUZZ, and even add Apps that enable us to do what we do in our home computer.

Smartphones make us think of how in the past we had a collection of devices that could do some of the things they do now, e.g. pagers, PDAs, feature phones, land line phones, cameras, MP3 players, portable TVs, laptops and many more.

Smartphones will bring upon a revolution in how we conduct our lives by bringing mobility to our daily tasks. For students, the classroom will be with them wherever; doctors can stream to the emergency site and assist live; the customer may purchase at any time; in all, anything will be possible regardless of how far, how early, how late or how difficult.

Of course, factors must be favorable -customers still need money, students must be registered, doctors need to be in an area of service- but with all this in place Smartphones will be here for a long time. The market is growing and the platforms are expanding with new presence from known competitors such as IBM, Apple and Google aiming for control. With more than 16 years of existence the Smartphone is proving to be the way humans are choosing to conduct an important part of their daily existence which is communication.

References:

Goggin, G. (2006). Cell phone culture: Mobile technology in everyday life. New York: Routledge.


McLuhan, M., & McLuhan, E. (1988). Laws of media: The new science. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Schneidawind, J: "Big Blue unveiling", USA Today, November 23, 1992

Thornburg, D. D. (2008b). Emerging technologies and McLuhan's Laws of Media. Lake Barrington, IL: Thornburg Center for Space Exploration.

Emerging Technologies: The Case of Educational Streaming of Videos

In the field of educational technology innovations come from risks taken by true innovators. This risks can lead to advancements in academic achievement or can result in big failures that end up with the rejection of the new technology. As with any human activity in a market society, innovations come at a big economic cost to the institution that is investing. This economic investment is not easy to undertake and, if it doesn't translate into something that is ultimately adopted and benefits all learners many members might point it as an economic loss. Is it right to think of these investments, when they fail, as 'losses' or can we say they are 'opportunities' and 'learning experiences'?

Innovations come at a price, as already pointed out. As Dr. Solloway (n.d.) says, "if you're not failing enough, you're not taking enough risks.” With this said it would be safe then to point to a failed innovation as a standpoint for future investments. Right now in education institutions are facing budget cuts from the money that the government traditionally invested while at the same time that same government offers opportunities for funding that are innovative, such as the 'Race To the Top' grants. These grants give school districts the opportunity to receive large amounts of funds if they are committed to innovate the educational approaches of their learning organizations. This presents an opportunity to bring about change as we might find institutions that are already taking innovative steps taking them further with more funding. While it can be argued that this also leaves behind other districts, it is urgent and evident to modernize education and find new models that promote academic achievement for the new generation of learners, who seemingly are not benefiting from traditional approaches to education.

I work in the Office of Educational Technology that services the Bronx borough of New York City, the largest educational district in the United States. There are 1.1 million students in NYC and almost a quarter of a million of them in the Bronx. With these numbers the challenges to seeing how they benefit best from education are enormous, so the Department of Education has their hands full trying to find innovations that work. A few years back, around 2001, a new technology was incorporated to include different learning styles in about 1,000 schools. The technology consisted of installing a streaming service in the school server that would have the capability to stream video into every classroom. The technology was simple to operate and robust enough to sustain school demands. Professional development was offered to 'School Technology Liaisons' in every building, the necessary equipment was distributed which consisted of video players (VHS & Video Discs), cables and a video library to initiate the streaming. Schools would finally have a way to deliver content in an innovative way without this representing an obstacle for teachers as they would simply need to turn on a monitor and watch.

Today this technology is not operational in any school of the many that I have visited. Many reasons made it very difficult to adopt it. First, schools did not have a person they could dedicate for the task of designing, planning and delivering the video content to be streamed because every classroom is different and time for common planning is mostly non-existent. Second, it was never a priority to address different modalities of learning, and where it was they would take more simplistic measures. Third, the idea of streaming to several classrooms was never appealing to teachers as not all agree that visuals are as effective as other modes of deliverance. Fourth, the growth of video streaming services on the internet gave innovative educators the option to choose videos that served their purposes to meet their student's needs so without the support of leaders in the building other educators were never even aware of the technology.

Video streaming is one of the most widely used and fastest growing services on the internet. Millions watch videos on youtube everyday. Others watch TV exclusively on the net. In some instances there have been more viewers online than on standard TV broadcasts. There are even specialized ones that serve specific populations. Services such as Discovery Education StreamingTeacherTube and SchoolTube are free but do not include sophisticated content to the extent that Discovery does give educators access to thousands of videos from experts in virtually every field but is not free. Other services such as

These services are all available to the mainstream public but schools have not adopted them widely yet. The idea of delivering content through visuals benefits many but it seems at first sight that educators are not yet ready to adopt it as a genuine component in the classroom. One of the problems encountered is that most of these free tools have been blocked in schools by the filtering system, which to a given point is understandable. Not all content is appropriate and without guidance learners might not benefit as they should from them. Another challenge is that using videos for instructional purposes requires knowledge about planning and designing instructional activities that promote their use and include the right approaches. Researchers such as Roxana Moreno and Richard Mayer have made great contributions to this area and will help shape how multimedia instruction will be designed in the near future.

Streaming video is mainstream already, yet educational video streaming is still emerging. Differentiating between emerging and mainstream is not this simple of course. The distinctions make no difference in the technology itself, but they have an impact in its future. What happens with a given technology in the future has much to do with future innovators, and those are sitting in our classrooms. The more they are exposed to these technology the more they will get used to it for a given purpose. If schools continue to negate access to video content in the classroom then students will only associate something they use everyday with non-academic activities only. If schools start incorporating more video content in their curriculum students will associate the use of visuals with academics and in the future we might have some innovators bring about changes that will benefit more learners.

References:

Rogers, E. M. (2003). Diffusion of innovations (5th ed.). New York: Free Press.

Thornburg, D. D. (2009b). When is a technology emergent? Lake Barrington, IL: Thornburg Center for Space Exploration.

Thornburg, D. D. (2009a). Current trends in educational technology. Lake Barrington, IL: Thornburg Center for Space Exploration.

Soloway, E. (n.d.). Emerging vs. emerged technologies. [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from: http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=4008117&Survey=1&47=5590091&ClientNodeID=984645&coursenav=1&bhcp=1&BrswrOK=1&PrevRef=http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn%3FCourseID%3D4008117%26Survey%3D1%2647%3D5590091%26ClientNodeID%3D984645%26coursenav%3D1&submit1=Continue

Thornburg, D. D. (n.d.). What is emerging technology? [Vodcast]. Retrieved from: http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=4008117&Survey=1&47=5590091&ClientNodeID=984645&coursenav=1&bhcp=1&BrswrOK=1&PrevRef=http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn%3FCourseID%3D4008117%26Survey%3D1%2647%3D5590091%26ClientNodeID%3D984645%26coursenav%3D1&submit1=Continue