Will Richardson reports on Thursday’s sweep for phones and other electronic devices at a New York City middle school. As reported by the NY Times, police and school administrators set up metal detectors and confiscated “404 cellphones, 69 iPods, 23 other electronic devices, two knives and one imitation gun”.

I have so many ideas here I am not even sure where to start. First of all, with the recent events at the high school I work with, guns and knives (even imitation ones) have absolutely NO place in our schools. Any attempts to remove them receive nothing but applause from this corner. However, are we to include iPods and cell phones in the same category with these dangerous weapons?

As Will writes

What does this teach those kids? First, it teaches them that they don’t deserve to be empowered with technology the same way adults are. Second, that the tools that adults use all the time in their everyday lives to communicate are not relevant to their own communication needs. Third, that they can’t be trusted (or taught, for that matter) to use phones appropriately in school.

These devices ca, and are, used for pedagogical value by innovative teachers. In Japan and Europe (where cell phones are even more prevalent that here!), many secondary schools are using cell technology to communicate and share between students and teachers, mainly through texting and phone-based blogging.

And many universities are also in on the gig. Duke University issues every student an iPod, where lecture notes, podcasts and other information is available – anytime, anywhere.

I understand that a few students have used this technology irresponsibly. Baiting teachers until they react and then posting the result on YouTube is certainly not acceptable behavior, but the key here is education, not filters. How do we expect young people to not to use this technology in innappropriate ways in the adult workplace if they don’t learn as young people.

As educators, we have accepted the challenge of preparing our students not just to be the workers of tomorrow, but citizens of a changing, and increasingly transparent, society. This is part of the deal we signed up for.

Technorati tags: education, teaching, technology

A couple of teachers have recently been starting some conversations about the role that video games might play in the future of learning. In fact, our shop teacher has been in discussions with a game designer at a local military training base to design a game to virtually (and safely) teach students about using some of the finger-chomping machines in our woodshop. The military is increasingly using virtual worlds to train soldiers.

Now comes Canada – The New World. I read about it last week in our local newspaper, and saw it again in David Warlick‘s blog. It’s a new video game based on award-winning, best-seller Sid Meier’s Civilization III game.

The game allows participants to play their way through Canadian history as the English, the French or as a mamber of the First Nations. The real catch is that the game allows participants to make decisions of who to join forces with, where to fight or retreat or where to explore next. This is real partipatory history!

The game can be downloaded for free for those who already have Civilization III.
Add this to the growing list of virtual spaces that are emerging that hold huge potential as engaging learning tools…Just think where this could fit in our “softer” schools.

Technorati tags: education, teaching, technology, HistoriCanada, Canada

I sometimes hear from educators and parents who argue that technology is little more than a distraction and that the cyber world is simply not “real”. Well, another nail in the coffin of their arguments as Sweden announced this week that they are opening a virtual embassy in Second Life.

Many commercial entities, including car companies, lawyers and various other professionals and other enterprises have set up operations in the virtual world run by Linden Labs out of San Francisco, which now counts almost 7 million residents – each represented by a virtual entity called an avitar. For a basic introduction to Second Life see here.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://youtube.com/v/b72CvvMuD6Q" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Sweden’s announcement brings yet another level of legitimacy to the worlds of cyberspace. While the Second House of Sweden will not initially issue passports or other documentation, can those services be far behind?

Now that both the private and public sectors have bought in to the shift, how long can education hold out? What could virtual spaces offer to our schools? Virtual, collaborative workspaces? How might these tools further the development of distance education? The possibilities are almost unimaginable.

With the virtual delivery in Second Life of a section of a law course at Harvard University already completed, what might be next? Are we ready and open to the possibilities to “soften” the walls of our classrooms?

Bring it on!

Technorati tags: education, teaching, technology, secondlife