An Associated Press article in the Herald Dispatch article today says "Governor says Ohio schools need new focus." The news brief says: Concepts such as problem solving, critical thinking, cultural awareness and media literacy would overtake memorization and pencil-and-paper tests in an educational overhaul trumpeted by Gov. Ted Strickland. Strickland’s education aims in his two-year budget proposal would not only change how schools are funded, but also how students are taught. Ohio’s curriculum would be infused with so-called “21st Century Skills,” a buzz phrase in the education world whose framework has been implemented in 10 states and in individual schools across the country. The goal is to move students away from the memorization and regurgitation of facts and instead require them to apply their knowledge in problem-solving situations, often with the use of technology. American students have been performing poorly on problem-solving skills in comparison to … [Read more...]
Digital Media – School is just one node on a kid’s information and learning network
A couple of weeks ago when I was at the Broadcast Educators festival in Las Vegas, I was struck by the words people use to talk about new media. Words like: inundated, overwhelmed, deluged, complex, confusing, and potentially dangerous. It struck me that many of us are trapped in our own brains and not able to think about how this all looks from the brains of kids and teenagers, who use words like cool, fast, and awesome. This is an awkward situation if the people who are feeling inundated and worried are designing media and curricula for the people who think fast is awesome and who are reveling in the new worlds and ways of being that new technologies have made possible. Personally, I like to think of us all as interacting in an information environment, where different media technologies are among many facets. I was, therefore, incredibly excited (even discounted for my normal enthusiasm for cool media stuff) to listen to speakers at the Joan Cooney Ganz Center’s Digital … [Read more...]
The Brain is a Muscle, too: Lifting too Little Isn’t Effective or Interesting
A recent report says that while cardiovascular strength adds up, lifting weights that are too light doesn't do much to build muscle. It is important to tax the muscles to get them to respond. The same is true in learning. If you don't have to try, you won't get much result. Setting and measuring progress toward goals and targets--in life, education, and fitness training--are the way to build strength and ability. We all know that to achieve learning you must have engagement. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced chick-sent-me-high), the architect of the concept of flow and one of the fathers of Positive Psychology, studies engagement as an element of flow. People (of all ages) enter a flow state when they are fully absorbed in an activity which challenges their abilities so that they are using their skills to the utmost (i.e. building brain muscles). The result is complete involvement, optimal performance and achievement, and great satisfaction. The next time you see your kid fully … [Read more...]
Old(er) students and new media
Fielding Graduate University is holding an orientation for new doctoral students in media psychology in Santa Barbara. (Fielding has the only doctoral program in media psychology in the U.S.) This is the first time I’ve participated from the ‘orienter’ rather than ‘orientee’ perspective. It is fun to get to know new people, of course, but it is also really inspiring on two counts. The first is that seeing other’s enthusiasm reminds me how exciting a field media psychology really is. The second is how different it is to have an incoming class of accomplished adults rather than people who, though no less enthusiastic, are at the beginning of their careers. (Now I recognize my bias here as an old person, which I am defining as anything over 35.) Not only do adult learners bring a wealth of experience and skills from different backgrounds, partly a product of media psychology’s breadth, but they also have the wisdom that comes from living through the changing technologies and … [Read more...]
