Dr Alb in Wal laceExecut ive Director of Research and Development

The Actors: New Media Experts and Old Pedagogues?

“The Education Fellowship (TEF) was founded by Sir Ewan Harper CBE and Johnson Kane to deliver an excellent education to children of all backgrounds. We aim to create excellence in every area: an excellence flowing from our underlying ethos and values. An ethos that ‘goes beyond the expected’ and which is based on unremitting service to young people.”

How is the role of educators being affected by social media?How can educators be authentic models for (so-called) “digital natives”?What skills do they need?How can they be supported by their institutions?Is it all individual commitment?

Do your students have smart phones?Do they engage in online gaming?Do they participate in an online social network?

Yes, they do…

There is increasing technological divergence between institutions and individuals

Institution Individual

Does this mean that students know everything and we know nothing?

Paul Howard-Jones: Neuroscience

“internet use can be problematic when it regularly interferes with normal daily living and

is difficult to control”

“excessive use of computers/internet access/gaming interferes with psychosocial wellbeing, attentional and vision problems”

Sherry Turkle: Social Media

“…it is an illusion that technology will give us control”

…”there is no intimacy or democracy without privacy”

“…the more you multitask, the worse you perform”

“…in solitude, there are new pretended intimacies”

“…we use Facebook to bail and go to somewhere easier”

Eli Pariser: The Filter Bubble

“Filters based on simplification (e.g. ‘like’ button) means information junk food can appear to be the only

option on offer.”

“The fact that 'like' is the only choice on Facebook creates a distortion problem - we don't

like everything we think is important”

"We love to be right. This is why sites want to serve you more tailored content. It makes you

feel right more often.”

"You don't necessarily choose what gets into your filter bubble, the algorithms choose for

you"

Ofsted: Managing Risk

“Institutions should manage the transition from locked-down systems to more managed systems

to help students learn how to manage risk”.

Stephen Carrick-Davies

“For most young people, the primary gateway to the internet is now their mobile phone”

Increasing focus on the intellectual, creative, social, emotional and ethical use of

technologies.

Bring students’ online personal, ethical and social behaviours in line with their perceived

technical skills.

Diana Laurillard

“This is not rocket science. It is far more complicated than that.”

Things that are changing

Diversity Tablets, PCs, netbooks, smart phones, other hand-held devicesConsistencyAgnostic platforms24/7Get-what-you-want-when-you-need-itMobile and PersonalBring-your-own-deviceOnlinePut-it-in and get-it-from the CloudEducationEmpowered, discerning, intelligent users

So, is technology good or bad?

It is neither.

Nor is it neutral.

Workshop 1…..Jane McGonigal

What do you think? Do you agree?Can gaming improve students’ learning?What could the benefits be?What are your concerns?

Workshop 2Eli Pariser

What do you think? Do you agree?What are the implications of the filter bubble in students’ lives?What can we learn from this?

Workshop 3Sherry Turkle

What do you think? Do you agree?Is social networking making us less human?How do we respond to this in educational institutions and in our private lives?

Workshop 4Mike Matas

What do you think? Do you agree?Is this just a gimmick?What should the balance be between printed books and digital books?

Some institutional considerations from The Education Fellowship…

Education is becoming…

Smarter,Faster,More flexible,More connected,Less restrictive,More discerning

Access

Inexpensive networked, portable, personal devices…

…including the ones they bring in

An institutional response is needed but acknowledge spontaneity, chaos, privacy, affinity spaces, communities of practice

We still have a role in ensuring…

Educational quality assurance,Evidence-based research,Continuous professional development, Justification in terms of learning outcomes Institutional response to social media

Dr Albin Wallace

albinwallace@educationfellowship.netwww.educationfellowship.net

@albinwallaceaewallace.wordpress.com