Comments on: What is “Sustainably Digital?”

By: Ben Wildeboer

Ben Wildeboer — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 02:56:37 +0000

@Clay: The relative ease with which your networked learning model can be implemented hasn’t been lost on me. I also feel that unnecessary grading & “rubricization” focuses students more on earning the grade than serious learning. My dilemma is that there is a big focus on learning being “measurable.” While I am sure there will be ample evidence of learning in your networking project, many higher-ups like to use standardized tests to assess learning- which is not a good tool to measure most authentic learning. I guess what I’m getting at is I wonder if there’s a middle ground to take that might persuade admin skeptics to support a non-traditional class such as yours. Or…is there no acceptable middle ground? Part of “sustainable” for me is a plan that would be supported (or at least allowed). Thanks for the compliment, I appreciate your participation!

@Diane: Perhaps I should clarify a little. I do not feel that technology is the only tool for student learning. I have implemented many projects that require no direct technology (mousetrap cars, pipe insulation roller coasters, etc.) that I feel are excellent and real paths to student learning. However, I feel that at this point in my career I have developed a mastery of that format. I see the inclusion of technology as a huge tool that I don’t feel I’m using to its full potential. Also, the current landscape in education isn’t totally in support of some internet-based tools (read: blogs, wikis, twitter, etc.), while I easily get wide support for implementing more traditional projects.

By: Diane Quirk

Diane Quirk — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:20:27 +0000

Just a thought…think less about integrating technology and more about what changes you want to see in student learning then apply the best tools for the job. I think that’s the direction that Clay Burrell is more or less headed in.

By: Clay Burell

Clay Burell — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 02:36:04 +0000

Glad you pegged the gist behind what, in retrospect, seems a title open to megalomaniacal connotations. I want to “make history” by pushing the open integration in “sustainable” ways, and also networked ways, that I hope will have value for educators everywhere who need persuasive examples of what is possible.

My fear, right now, is this, though: that even the people who read me don’t get that “sustainable” ease of the networked learning model I’m trying to create (ie, labor-NON-intensive, “unschooly,” “realistic…expectations of teachers and students,” in your words).

And if they don’t get it, my experiment fails. Because I’m depending on my network to help it succeed.

In other words, I fear the network puts on its schooly lenses when it reads about networking with students, and envisions all the rubrics and lesson plans and grading and time-consuming stuff that is precisely what we don’t bother with in our own networked learning.

Ach, I’m rushing and disorganized here – at school, lunchtime – so sorry for the jumble.

Enjoying your writing very much.