Archive for the ‘cultural changes’ Category
Posted by Marti Weston on April 4, 2012
My First Palm (PDA)
I’ve been thinking a lot about staying power and about the importance of understanding just how fast things can change in the digital world. Both are great topics for family conversations about 21st Century life.
My Current iPhone 4S
In Bye Bye BlackBerry. How Long Will Apple Last? Forbes writer Adam Thierer describes a historical pattern — digital information giants rising and eventually declining when something better, more interesting, and useful comes along.
Using Blackberry as the current example, with occasional references to Palm devices, Thierer points out that these companies are classic examples of companies, “… with a static snapshot mentality disregarding the potential for new entry and technological disruption.”
I’ve never owned a personal computer other than a Mac, so I understand a lot about rising and falling fortunes and how Apple is currently riding high. I also, fondly remember my first Palm device and how revolutionary it seemed.
Still it’s interesting to think about what new and exiting gizmos may be residing in someone’s garage, basement, hard drive — or imagination — and how revolutionary they may seem compared to the products we love right now.
Posted in cultural changes, digital parenting, parent child conversations, parents and technology | Tagged: digital devices, digital world parenting, family conversations, Forbes, gadgets | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Marti Weston on March 3, 2012
A view from the convention center.
As an educational technology faculty member attending the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) conference, I enjoy the opportunity to meet with lots of colleagues and friends. More interestingly, at these events I always come face-to-face, for the first time, with a number of people with whom I’ve previously connected via personal learning networks, LinkedIn, Twitter, blogs, and even via old-fashioned listservs.
While it’s always a joy to meet and greet these people, I am always aware that dozens more connected friends and colleagues are probably attending any given conference — I just haven’t met them yet. Today, in fact, I sat down at a table to eat lunch, looked at the woman across the table, noticed how familiar she looked, and realized that she and I are Twitter followers.
It wasn’t always like this! More than 20 years ago, when I received my first email account, I desperately wanted to meet other teachers who were online.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in cultural changes, networking, parents and technology, social media, technology changes | Tagged: conference, digital learning, Independent School Educator's Listserv, ISED-L, listserv, NAIS, networking, personal learning, teaching | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Marti Weston on December 13, 2011
One of my students summed it up perfectly with this poster.
Check out the article, Why Online Learning Should Not Mean Replacing Teachers With Computers, at the MacArthur Foundation website. The post describes an article in the Nation Magazine that examines how online learning companies are manipulating the futures of our children.
I am peripherally involved with a new middle school Khan Academy project. As I’ve watched the program get started and observed the teacher combining her experienced teaching skills with the online opportunities that Khan presents, I am impressed. This dynamic classroom environment combines the best of face-to-face interaction with online learning tools, but the teacher-student connection continues, just as it always has. It’s a joy to watch children work in this setting.
What makes my colleague’s classroom so amazing is how she blends learning resources together — the activities that have always been in her classroom are now expanded with the online Khan materials. And with these additional digital materials she can more easily analyze the needs of her students, reinforce skills, and expand assignments. It’s this blend of rich teaching together with a unique online educational resource, that creates a strong educational environment in her classroom
How sad it will be if some children only have an opportunity to learn online, because the human interaction — and by this I mean the face-to-face moment-by-moment connections and not the digital communications between teacher and student — will never be completely replaced. As one of my colleagues commented recently, blended instruction (a combination of online and connections to real people) will always the easiest way to learn.
We are all living in a time of transformative cultural change. These days teaching — and learning for that matter — seem to be under fire everywhere we look — even in districts with the highest achievement levels in their states. Good digital resources present us with lots of opportunity and the potential to expand and improve the traditional classroom in infinite and exciting directions. Run-of-the-mill digital resources do very little and may, in fact, create more problems.
The bottom line? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in cultural changes, digital learning, digital parenting, online learning, parents and technology, privatization | Tagged: blended learning, digital kids, Khan Academy, MacArthur Foundation, online learning, teaching | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Marti Weston on September 16, 2011
With more than 30 years as a teacher including over 20 in the educational technology field, I’ve heard many kids reflect thoughtfully, and not so thoughtfully, on their parents’ digital skills.
Here are the seven most common “I Wish” statements that I’ve heard expressed by children over the last 16 or 17 years. Two of them my daughter told me.
Kids wish their parents and other adult would:
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Posted in cultural changes, digital citizenship, digital parenting, family conversations, gadget ownership, parents and technology | Tagged: children, digital kids, digital natives, digital parenting, parents, students, technology | 1 Comment »
Posted by Marti Weston on September 6, 2011
Made at Wordle.com.
Over a year ago I started this blog, MediaTechParenting.net. My aim was and is to organize, connect, and share resources on media, technology, and digital parenting — information that I encounter every day.
Over the course of a school year I often chat with adults about their digital kids. Most parents are enthusiastic, perhaps even astounded about the digital changes that occur every day in their lives. Yet, they also admit to feeling confused, worried, and even a bit befuddled. Often I find parents reflecting on how committed parents — who understand the importance of these digital changes — are supposed to keep track of the constantly changing digital landscape?
As a 22 year veteran in the educational technology world, I like to sift through articles, seek out references and discover resources that can help people — especially the parents of my students — understand more about the digital world. I read articles, watch videos, listen to stories, and keep an eye out for interesting research. It makes sense to share them on a blog. When I think about a post, I ask the question, “If I were a parent of a digital kid, what might I want to learn about?”
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Posted in cultural changes, digital learning, digital parenting, parent education, parents and technology, writing for the web | Tagged: #ksyb, #plp-pregame, Beloit, blogging, digital kids, digital parenting, Learning, MediaTechParenting, Mindset List, why blog? | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Marti Weston on June 28, 2011
Dear Blog Readers,
This week I am in Philadelphia attending the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) conference along with more than 15,000 technology educators and school administrators — all of us thinking about how students and, yes, their parents and teachers, learn in the fast-changing digital world.
The exhibits feature hundreds of vendors (36 long rows in a vast hall), and we can choose to attend an array of keynotes, presentations, meetings, poster displays, student presentations, and demonstrations.
To share some of my experiences I have set up a new MediaTechParenting page, and I am blogging several times each day from the conference — my thoughts, ideas, observations, and more.
Back to more traditional posts late this week.
Marti
Posted in cultural changes, digital learning, digital parenting, parents and technology | Tagged: digital kids, education, ISTE, k-12, Learning, Philadelphia, technology | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Marti Weston on June 25, 2011
Bloomberg Graphic Via ComScore Data Mine blog
In our digital world things change fast and unpredictably.
Check out this interesting comparison of the rise and fall of two well-known social networks. For a larger image go to the ComScore Data Mine blog.
For the original story go to Bloomberg article, The Rise and Inglorious Fall of MySpace.
Observations
We, including our children, can all count on three things in today’s digital world, and these are points well worth emphasizing in family conversations.
1. Change is constant.
2. Unpredictability is a given — no matter how wildly successful a social media addition to our digital culture appears to be, we have no guarantee it will have staying power when something better comes along.
3, In time, something better will come along.
Posted in cultural changes, digital parenting, parents and technology, social media, social networking | Tagged: Bloomberg Business Week, digital parenting, Facebook, Myspace, Social media, social networks | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Marti Weston on May 18, 2011
Read this thought-provoking post, Why Social Media Tools Have a Place in the Classroom, over at the GigaOM blog. Writer Ryan Kim goes into considerable detail describing reactions to a recent New York Times article, Speaking Up in Class, Silently, Using Social Media. Kim’s blog post then goes on to offer some compelling reasons why teachers (and probably parents, too) should examine social media more thoughtfully before rushing to judgement.
Learn a bit more about the GigaOM blog.
Posted in answers to media questions, cultural changes, digital parenting, parents and technology, social media, social media friends, technology changes | Tagged: GigaOm, New York Times, Social media, teaching | Leave a Comment »
