Offline Youth Struggle in Online World

"Without Internet access, Julian's computer engineering prospects are a distant dream, and low-paying, low-skilled work a likely reality for this soon-to-be-graduate ..."

Check out "Offline Youth Struggle in Online World" by Megan Tady at In These Times.

DMSC featured in Converge magazine!

Kudos to Bob Bradley, Director of Technology Integration at Tennessee State University and founder of the Digital Media Sandbox Consortium, with whom digiTenn partners. Converge magazine tells his story here.

Tennessee Campus Compact

I attended the second meeting of the Tennessee Campus Compact yesterday and was so thrilled to be in their midst. Meeting folks from campuses across the state and hearing their energy and passion for service learning was so inspiring. So inspiring, in fact, that I've decided to pitch a conference for those interested in learning more about technology in service learning, with particular attention to P-16 initiatives. I've spoken with Bob Bradley of the Digital Media Sandbox Consortium and we're going to start work toward a conference in October to coincide with the 2009 Governor's Challenge Podcasting Tournament.

Often, folks equate technology training with aspirations to become a computer programmer or software engineer, but that's no longer true. I often use the analogy of a parent saying, "My child doesn't need to know how to write; he's not going to be a writer when he grows up." Of course, we all know that basic reading and writing skills are critical to any field but many are just now realizing that digital mastery is as critical to success in high school, college and career as the fundamentals of reading and writing. From this article about the promise of a highly interactive, tech-savvy Obama administration:

“Most people from the 20th century think of technology as a separate issue from others like healthcare or energy, but it’s not just one of many issues [like one of many slices of a pie], it’s the pan that supports innovation and change for all of the other issues,” says Andrew Rasiej, copresident of techpresident.com.

We want to highlight this elemental relationship and to highlight nuts and bolts approaches to program design, best practice program models and assessment/outcome potentials that are all enhanced by existing and emerging technologies.

I welcome the TNCC members to this Web site and promise that beginning in January you will see it begin to flower with resources and information regarding technology tools to help you with your work. I remain available to consult with any of you on your program or administrative models and to provide the information you need to cultivate resources and to develop your own technology resources in pursuit of service learning program excellence.

It's important to remember that from an administrative standpoint, Internet technology has the capacity to lower costs (especially important in these days of severe budget cuts), to attract funders (technology funding is very hot right now!) and to enhance and maintain more cohesive partnerships and collaborations.

Please contact me if you have any special needs for information or want to share news of projects combining technology and service learning (I have quite a few I'll be sharing soon!). And please stay tuned for more information on the conference we hope to bring to you in the fall of 2009 which will bring together academic technology and service learning for educators from Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia. You won't want to miss it!

FCC ruling could mean free national broadband!

Amazing news! The FCC has agreed to make available the "white spaces" being freed by television's pending switch from analog to digital.

"The FCC has taken a significant step to usher in a new era of technology, allowing for major investments in innovative wireless broadband, education, and government/enterprise applications to spur economic development," Motorola co-CEO Greg Brown said in a statement.

More here!

Google is rumored to be poised and ready to move on a free national broadband initiative that would bring high-speed Internet access to millions more Americans than currently have access, either because of geographical limitations, cost ... or both. According to this article, the FCC stipulates that it would require filtering for obscenity and a 95% coverage within ten years (more good news!) ... the implications for education and community development are vast and stretch the imagination.

The Digital Divide continues to close! If we can secure access and affordable hardware/software, we can focus our efforts on education and training.

Stay tuned!

Social Media Classroom

I got this straight from John Connell's blog (also permanently linked from this page ... what a resource he is!) regarding the social media classroom.

The invitation:

Welcome to the Social Media Classroom and Collaboratory. It’s all free, as in both “freedom of speech” and “almost totally free beer.” We invite you to build on what we’ve started to create more free value. The Social Media Classroom (we’ll call it SMC) includes a free and open-source (Drupal-based) web service that provides teachers and learners with an integrated set of social media that each course can use for its own purposes—integrated forum, blog, comment, wiki, chat, social bookmarking, RSS, microblogging, widgets , and video commenting are the first set of tools. The Classroom also includes curricular material: syllabi, lesson plans, resource repositories, screencasts and videos. The Collaboratory (or Colab), is what we call just the web service part of it. Educators are encouraged to use the Colab and SMB materials freely, and we host your Colab communities if you don’t want to install your own. (See this for an explanation of who “we” are).

This website is an invitation to grow a public resource of knowledge and relationships among all who are interested in the use of social media in learning, and therefore, it is made public with the intention of growing a community of participants who will take over its provisioning, governance and future evolution.

To that end, we’re launching an instance of the Colab as a community of practice for learners and teachers, educators, administrators, funders, students of pedagogy and technology design, engaged students who share a common interest in using social media to afford a more student-centric, constructivist, collaborative, inquiry-oriented learning.

Learn more about how the SMC and Colab works, how to download or sign up for the Colab, how to join the community of practice.

There's no time like the present! (And what a glorious time to be alive!)

Free Photoshop!

There is a free web-based version of Photoshop now available online. If educators were wanting their students to learn how to use this program without requiring the students' purchase of it (or a computer on which to run it), this is a great opportunity to provide access to a powerful tool for the creation of digital media.

And it's a reminder to me that Web 3.0 is not waiting for those of us still learning the Web 2.0 protocols. Web-based software and document storage is a movement I embrace for so many reasons. Besides the fact that this availability makes access to the tools more affordable, there is a huge investment of time and money I can avoid in maintaining software upgrades, document security, and data backup.

Free Geek

"Possibly the coolest place on the whole planet" ...

Global Eyes

September 2-26, 2008
Reece Museum, East Tennessee State University
Reception September 25, 5:00 pm

“Global Eyes” explores ecological, social, and political issues in imaginative and innovative ways through a variety of digital works created by digital artists from over 30 countries. Global Eyes was originally exhibited during SIGGRAPH 2007, the 34th International Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques held in August 2007 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, CA. From over 660 submissions, 91 works were chosen for Global Eyes by a prestigious international jury, and this show is a subset of the original exhibition.

The ACM SIGGRAPH Traveling Art Show helps expose people around the world to the art collected at the SIGGRAPH annual conference's art shows. The show travels for two years after the conference, stopping at universities, festivals, and museums.

Converge magazine

A colleague turned me on to this exciting magazine called Converge: Education Technology News. From its Web site:

Converge magazine provides strategy and leadership for technology use in K-12 and higher education. Senior policy makers in education utilize Converge for articles on proven, effective educational methods and models for the 21st century and beyond.

I ordered a free print subscription immediately and will be making my way through its free online archives in my copious free time (heh). I noticed that the topic list and article links touch on community service and service learning as well. Can't wait to dig in, but I wanted to be sure to share the goods!

Internet for Everyone

Today, I began my official active involvement with Internet for Everyone, "a national initiative of public interest, civic and industry groups that are working to see that the Internet continues to drive U.S. economic growth and prosperity.

We believe every American must be connected to a fast, affordable, and open Internet to serve as an active citizen in a 21st-century democracy and to prosper in today’s economy. High-speed Internet is no longer a luxury; it’s a lifeline for all Americans. Our broad alliance is working together to see that our nation's leaders adopt a national plan to bring open, high-speed Internet connections into every home, at a price all of us can afford.

For more information, contact us at contact@internetforeveryone.org." (from Web site)

I'll be sharing more information here as the broadband policy is developed and the action plan is prepared for implementation.

The One is Us

Over the next couple of weeks, I am preparing to present at a statewide foster care conference in Nashville. My topic is "Teens and the Web" and I have the responsibility of presenting the most critical Web-related information and insights that I can to a group of parents who foster children who have been taken into state custody due to family neglect or abuse. I have a prepared presentation that I created years ago and try to keep updated as technology develops and it focuses mainly on safety issues. I highlight potential danger and equip parents with tools to prevent it. Last year, I presented to over 100 parents who were all eager to learn and ran out of time during my 90 minute presentation. This year, I get three hours and two chances to make my pitch. I've been wondering how to fill the second 90 minutes (assuming I give the poor souls a break for a sip of water and a trip to the restroom!) and what is the most valuable information I can impart to them.

I've decided that I want to present to them the positive, exhilarating aspects of the Web and why it's so important to ensure access and literacy/fluency NOW while teens are in the care of adults with the resources to provide them. There is no group of youth at greater risk of falling into the chasm of the Digital Divide nor in greater need of the empowerment of technology than these children who face transitioning into adulthood and out of the care of family. I can't imagine being 20 years old in this day and age and not knowing how to manage online banking and billpay, locating resources for housing, food and utilities, educational opportunity and general connectedness to the society which has been taken over by Internet technology. How do I impart to them the urgency of this need?

For starters, I'm going to show this video from TED.com by Kevin Kelly which talks about the first 5,000 days of the Web and forecasts the changes in the next 5,000 days. It's critical viewing for anyone who plans on living at least another ten or fifteen years. Imagine being 20 and having a probable 50 years in which one must become educated, make a living, raise a family without the technological resources many of us take for granted today. I want these parents--many of whom will be perpetual parents (of course, all parents are, but you know what I mean) since they will refresh their households with children as those they have now will mature into adulthood--to not just know the importance of connection for these children, but to have the tools and inspiration to connect them at home. I want to replace their fear of the Web with passion and inspiration that they can instill in their children for learning, growth and development in the exciting world of academic technology. And to do that, I will give them a magical mystery tour of the best sites I know on the Web for teens and young adults.

I would love to have any suggestions from readers and welcome them either in the comments section or by email to digiTenn@gmail.com.

TED.com and I-tunes U

I have spent considerable time spinning my wheels at TED.com ("Ideas worth spreading"), which offers free access to "inspired talks by the world's greatest thinkers and doers" to the general public. It's like attending the granddaddy of all conferences on every topic you love whenever you want!

I've been thinking about the power of this type of digital media production in both academic and community settings. I'm sure there are programs out there doing this, and I'm sure I'd not be the first to think of it, but wouldn't it be great if a community could call upon its high school or university to have students come out and record digitally events like poetry readings, lectures, dramatic and musical performances, etc. and make them available in a TED-like format to the community and the world-at-large? Even better, the students can train community members to record their own events and have a lending library of portable equipment.

It would be easy to tie this in to the Governor's Challenge Podcasting Tournament hosted by the Digital Media Sandbox Consortium (better hurry if you want to be a judge!) and to manage it through I-tunes U. Have you checked out I-tunes U? To find it, go into your I-tunes Store and check the left hand side of the screen for a link. East Tennessee State University has a particularly stellar collection of digital media available there.

If anyone is aware of similar academic technology programs that are tied to community, I'd love to hear about them.

The Readiness Equation

I was talking to a colleague recently about how we can frame the approach we want to take in building bridges between academic technology resources and community development needs by way of service learning.

On the one hand, the education sector is so rich in potential, creative energy, innovative thinking (and a virtual lack of technophobia) and there are vast deserts of local community that are withering for the lack of such resources. How do we create those bridges? How do we introduce the resources in a way that facilitates their adoption and even better, full integration?

There is a formula (equation?) for this! (Gotta love math! Actually, this idea stems from my accounting class!) This equation, I think, can be applied to most individuals, communities and academic institutions in order to identify areas of need. It's amazingly simple:

Preparedness + Willingness = Readiness

Preparedness refers to the technological tools and skills one needs in order to accomplish a given goal or to begin an endeavor. Willingness is a measurement of the attitude or spirit of receptivity to the process or the endeavor. And readiness is the synergy of those two elements, or state of being that enables a person or group of persons to move forward with reasonable expectation of success toward a goal. Tools plus attitude equals state of being, or readiness.

As an educator, I believe that we are responsible for and capable of catalyzing BOTH preparedness and willingness in any community we hope to serve. As a geek, I have a definite affinity for technology as a tool for this preparedness, but I'm realistic enough to know that willingness is as important to this Readiness Equation as the technological tools we bring to the table (and the lack of willingness perhaps the largest obstacle with which we must contend where preparedness exists, and vice versa).

How do we inspire the confidence of our community of partners in both the tools for their success as well as for their own ability to fully utilize and exploit them for personal and common good? Well, we must lead by example. We must allow for mistakes. We must remain flexible in our plans and open to innovation and creativity (tangents lead to undiscovered treasure!). We must leave the time-line for innovation open-ended and we must include all voices in the conversation. We must provide the "sandbox" of opportunities complete with plenty of innovative toys and space in which to learn and explore. And we must maintain a democratic and egalitarian playground where no single voice or group of voices is allowed to quell the others. And finally, we must allow the process of readiness to be one of self-discovery for all players.

As parents, many of us know that the commonly held belief for the "readiness" of our children on certain hard and scary topics like sex and death is best left to the child. We ask, "When will I know when little Kate is ready to hear the hard-core truth?" And the wisest answer has always been, "She will let you know when she's ready by asking the question." We know that if we answer the questions that are asked simply and straightforwardly, without emotionally laden expectations or warnings, the forum is created by which more (& deeper) questions will come. When the response from us inspires inquisitiveness and wonder rather than embarrassment or shame, the child (in each of us) begins to move forward on his or her own path toward the tools we have laid out and into the spirit of confidence we hope to instill and inspire.

There are parts of us that never "grow up" beyond needing a safe place to explore. Even though our bodies age and toys change from dolls and toy soldiers to the more adult diversions, we, each and every one of us, need that level of encouragement and reassurance in order to progress ourselves toward complicated and scary changes. In the arena of academic technology, I meet people who are brilliant and successful in their professional fields but who melt down into hardened blocks of emotional resistance when the computer is switched on. It's critical, we believe, to address this level of technophobia not only in the process of our work, but in establishing the relationships and arenas in which we will perform and explore it.

In some cases, the preparedness will be there without the willingness. In others, we will find communities or persons with no fear or apprehension but who simply have no access to the tools (hardware/software, access, digital literacy -- each a critical component to preparedness). Mathematically speaking, those scenarios are expressed respectively as:

Preparedness = Readiness - Willingness

or

Willingness = Readiness - Preparedness

and viewing them as such lays out our mission in each custom solution to the obstacles at hand. It is the mission of digiTenn to address not only the preparedness factor (providing hardware and software tools, suitable Internet access and digital literacy to every individual and community) but to address the willingness factor as well. To do so requires the acknowledgment of fear and the dangers of rigid expectations in our program delivery and of ourselves and each other.

With a traditional Tennessee pioneer spirit and the innovative approach to sandboxing (credits to the Tennessee Sandbox Consortium), there is nothing we can't accomplish as a statewide community.

We are ready!

Judges needed!

Bob Bradley of Tennessee State University and founder of the Tennessee Sandbox Consortium is looking for folks willing to judge (online) a regional podcasting tournament. Please click here to register yourself as a judge. You do not need to be affiliated with any of the participating universities and there is no cost or obligation to join the fun. In fact, all judges will be registered to win an iPhone!

More details will be forthcoming regarding this important (and oh-so-fun!) digital media event!

Web 2.0

Web 2.0 is not coming; it's here! It sounds pretty intimidating to think that there are still more tools to get to know when we haven't even conquered the old ones. (Imagine! Is anything about the Internet OLD?! Indeed!)

Web 2.0 refers collectively to a handful of new technologies and ideas that represent potential to use the power of the Internet in business and education. Categories like social networking sites (myspace.com and Facebook), blogging for news and education, wikis (check out Wikipedia.org if you don't already know it, to see how reference material can be democratically built by users and how that changes the nature of information) and Second Life have all changed not only the way we work and learn, but how we interact socially and entertain ourselves. The lines are blurring between work and fun ... and that's a good thing, isn't it? I'm all for learning while I'm having fun and having fun while I'm learning, but it's more than a personal preference that makes this an important transition--it's about the wider success of business and learning and the inclusivity that these technologies represent.

Working and learning in academia, I'm always disappointed to hear Wikipedia being dismissed as a less-than-valid source of academic research and information. Sure, it's possible that information exists there that is incomplete or less than accurate, but I'm guessing that's not for long. This sort of user-participation model for sharing knowledge and information takes peer review to a whole new level, doesn't it? Isn't it a GOOD thing, after all, to have the discussions (and heated debates) that grow up out of the information posted? Isn't it fair to let the uninitiated reader know that there is controversy around some "information" and allow the issues to be played out in plain view? That seems so much more in keeping with the spirit of learning and academic development, to me, than simply digging through archives of printed material that may or may not have proximity to opposing views.

I've found a lot of support on YouTube.com for my studies in the agonizing area of accounting. I cannot grasp debits and credits for the life of me, and I'm dragging my class down in discussion with my inability to grasp concepts I should have had in prerequisite courses I never knew to take. Being able to type the key words "debits and credits" and peruse the educational videos so graciously posted there by dedicated educators has been a lifesaver for me! I can rewind 18 gazillion times, stop and start when I need to and keep punching it out without impeding anyone else's progress. I often pick up new "keywords" to search by viewing these and have built playlists of the series of videos that cover extended topics.

As the Internet develops into its next incarnation, video and audio are BIG! Universities serve up free audio and video podcasts in "Itunes U" (look in the left hand panel of the Itunes Store) and YouTube-type sites are growing in popularity among both educators and students. The most innovative educators are not keeping all the fun to themselves, though, they're encouraging their students to produce material as well. While the material produced by amateur educators and fledgling students may not be as spit and polish as professionally produced media, it's exciting, credible and inspiring to those who have plenty to contribute the endless supply of knowledge and information that now inhabits cyberspace.

The idea of proprietary knowledge is fading--and that's a good thing. I'll talk soon about open source, copyleft, creative commons and other manifestations of these ideas.

Free online course in Connectivism

This course in Connectivism looks exciting to me. I'm enrolling ... should you? (There is no cost to audit and it's all online! You have everything to gain and nothing to lose!)

From the Web site:

Connectivism and Connective Knowledge is a twelve week course that will explore the concepts of connectivism and connective knowledge and explore their application as a framework for theories of teaching and learning. It will outline a connectivist understanding of educational systems of the future. George Siemens and Stephen Downes – the two leading figures on connectivism and connective knowledge - will co-facilitate this innovative and timely course.

This course will help participants make sense of the transformative impact of technology in teaching and learning over the last decade. The voices calling for reform do so from many perspectives, with some suggesting 'new learners' require different learning models, others suggesting reform is needed due to globalization and increased competition, and still others suggesting technology is the salvation for the shortfalls evident in the system today. While each of these views tell us about the need for change, they overlook the primary reasons why change is required.

The course will begin in September 2008.

Must watch video!

Dr. Michael Wesch is a professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University who is doing amazing things with Web. 2.0 tools in academic technology (and just happens to be one of my many heroes). See the link to his Web site at the right titled "Digital Ethnography."

This 5-minute video is a good introduction to the issues facing educators today in terms of the challenges created by rapidly changing technology and the demands of a student body who wants educational opportunities on its own terms.

digiTenn is coming

This blog will provide a forum for sharing information and resources regarding academic technology, democratic Internet, digital divide, digital literacy, technology access and other issues related to technology in education, public service and community development, especially within and relevant to the state of Tennessee. The importance of the relationship between higher education (and service learning), public service (government and private not-for-profit) and community development cannot be overstated and this work hopes to strengthen the bridges, communications and collaboration between these sectors in the state of Tennessee.

This blog is owned and managed by Tess Beebe Johnson, a graduate student at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tennessee. I take sole responsibility for its contents and the partnerships expressed herein by no way imply an endorsement of the views or information on this blog by persons or organizations with whom I will do this work. The digiTenn project is being written into a proposal for administration as my graduate report and will be submitted for publication this winter. I welcome any and all feedback (I hope to keep the comments section open as long as I can hold back the spam!) and will be developing a full-scale Web site as the project matures. I will also be posting a blog roll of links to important voices in the media and to valuable resources to educators and community developers who value technology as tools for their work.

The digiTenn project is being developed in close collaboration with the Tennessee Sandbox Consortium, its partners and the wider scale Digital Media Sandbox Consortium which now encompasses institutions of higher learning in Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia and Georgia. Its scope and range are growing and we hope to highlight their important work in digital media on our pages. DMSC founder Bob Bradley of Tennessee State University in Nashville is being cajoled into collaborating on this blog and in our project and will be posting here from time to time as well.

Please stay tuned!