Ok, I want in. Baptize me, slaughter a goat, do whatever it is you cyborgs do to welcome someone to the fold – er… network, I suppose. Fold seems too organic. Is cyborg not the preferred terminology? Technologically Integrated Person? Alright, TIP it is. The thing is, the technology available is just too darn cool to ignore, push aside, scoff at, or carefully tiptoe around like you’re 17 again and trying to get down the stairs and out the back door without waking up Mom and Dad. So, TIPs, I’m ready to cut a deal with you, the terms of which are inspired by my experience, my deep-set system of beliefs, and in part by some wise comments I read on Weblogg-ed. I will do my very best to use 21st century methods to teach 19th century skills. Before you reject me immediately for my support of the before-times (though it seems we’ll always have a soft spot for that century’s superstar, coal), hear me out.
The different technology toys – sorry, tools – that I have been exposed to through this class over the past two weeks are fantastic, and say what you will, both of those words apply to them. They are simultaneously monsters of instruction and great fun. Before you know it, Toyls will rank up there with the Brangelinas and TomKats of the world. These Toyls allow students to access fun, engaging technology in ways that cements the course material for them. Hearing it, seeing it, reading it, writing it, all these are well and good, but sometimes not as good. Toyls make students take their knowledge and use it in unexpected, novel ways. Using skills they’ve learned, they create personal products that showcase their interests and creativity as well as proving to them and others that they understand the skills they’ve just applied. For example, a student takes a scene from a play and makes a PhotoStory of it (see Macbeth IV.i on my Artifacts page). In the PhotoStory, the reveal their reading of the scene by focusing on what they deem important and making choices as to how they will portray characters, setting, etc. This reading may have been a subconscious one, but this artifact is now tangible evidence that they are making choices about the scene based on how they interpret what is contained within the scene. FUNctionality at its best.
I hear you saying, “But wait, what about the 19th century skills?” Patience, friend. The skills emphasized in education in the 19th century are wonderful, valuable skills. Reading, ‘Riting, ‘Rithmetic, to oversimplify. Students must be able to comprehend and logically evaluate materials they encounter. This skill was important then, and is massively important now considering the sheer volume of information available to anyone with a computer and internet access. Sifting through the dribble to find those chunks of gold hidden and buried like pirate treasure is a daunting task, and one for which students must be carefully trained. Students must be able to express themselves in a logical, articulate manner, both in writing and in speech. No one will care what you say if you sound like a donkey saying it. Proper grammar, spelling, and usage are essential in today’s society just as they always were. As ‘prosumers,’ students need to be able to articulate clearly and precisely what they mean to say, or post, or e-mail, or Facebook message, or, God forbid, tweet (*shudder*). The skills formed in ‘traditional’ sit-down-and-shut-up kinds of classrooms are not bad skills, the methodology just needs a bit of an overhaul. I haven’t discussed content specific skills, but certainly they haven’t changed too drastically. Students still need to be able to analyze a piece of literature using the terminology of the field, still need to know how and why photosynthesis works, still need to know the quadratic formula and how it looks on a graph, and still need to know what the principles of the Declaration of Independence are. The problem is not the skills; the problem is the methodology.
It seems then that to mimic the shift in the human population towards technology usage would be the sensible method to take in the classroom. Maybe it is organic, merely the next extension of humanity. As such, not using it to its greatest potential would seem almost criminal or unnatural. Technology has a lot to offer to the classroom, both for student and teacher. It also has the ability to suck people in completely. That is the danger I see. Twitter, Facebook, Secondlife, and other programs promise connectedness, but at their extreme offer the exact opposite. As people rely more and more on these technologies for aspects of daily life, they run the risk of over-reliance.
Fire didn’t make humans less human, nor did the wheel, or the internal combustion engine, or sliced bread, or any other the other countless world-changing inventions the human race has brought about. We must remember that however pretty, engaging, mesmerizing, or entrapping these technologies become, they are Toyls. In creating fire, humanity did not become a spark. In creating the wheel, humanity did not become an axle. Technology, in all its cream-filled goodness, is and must remain merely an extension of the person, a Toyl to be picked up, used, and released. Prometheus was not his fire, as I am not my Facebook page, and Ashton Kutcher is not his Twitter account. The Siren Song of virtual hyper-connectedness must not take hold. There is no substitute for another flesh and blood person. When I close my computer after finishing this post, it will go to sleep to await my eventual return, and I will stand up and walk away, a Human Being, no less whole or connected.
If any TIPs are still reading, do we have an agreement? I will preach true Human connectedness, found in a simple handshake, hug, meeting for coffee, etc, and teach the basic 19th century skills that are still demanded of students today. But, I will use the Toyls of this century to accomplish these goals, and teach others to do the same. Balance – the yin with the yang, the vanilla with the chocolate, the Toyls with the face-to-face – is the key. So, cyborgs, am I in or out?
