Battle lines: Is Academia at War with Technology?

Sarah “Intellagirl” RobbinsPurdue TLT 2009

Arm yourself!

78% of the incoming class of 2009 will have had internet access their entire K-12 career.

98% of the incoming class of 2012 will have had internet access their entire K-12 career.

*Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics

We must STOP talking aboutTechnology!

We MUST start talking about what technology can DO!

And what it’s already DONE!

AGREE DISAGREE

Technology has made teaching/learning

more difficult.

Let’s go back in time!

The battle

of

agincourt

October 25

1415 c.e.

The french

= 1,200 Mounted Knights

*Reenactment

= 10,000 Dismounted Knights

= 10,000 Crossbowmen

The british

= 1,000 Dismounted Knights

= 5,000 Longbowmen

= 20,000

= 5,900

I’m noble!I’m

impenetrable!

I’m poncy!

I’m a commoner.

I’m outnumbered.

I’m desperate.

The battle

There are so many of them!!!

FIRE!!!

You cannot shoot me!!!

DOH!!!

CHARGE!!!

Run away!!!

ouch…

I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!

HaHa! We have you know Frenchy

pig-dogs!

but I’m a noble…

SO?!

aaaarrrrggggg…

STAB!!

90 minutes

later

YEAH!!! WE WON!!!!!

But what do we do with all these French hostages?

All ur kni-gits r belong to us

Kill them!!!

R.I.P

VS

7,000-10,000 Dead

112 Dead

Oh the humanity!!!!

Academia

VS

Prosumer Web

AGILEADOPTION

TOO SLOWLY

How have universities reacted

to technology adoption decisions?

How is the conflict between

institutional learningand social learning

likeAgincourt?

Wikipedia is blocked on all computers in the Warren Hills Regional School District.Seattle Times November 21, 2007NO!!

Regarding laptops in the classroom:

I tell my students that it is as impolite as it would be for them to sit in class reading a newspaper.Chronicle of Higher Ed Forums Mar 16 2009

“Today’s senior faculty members look at blogs the way a previous generation of academics looked at television — as a guilty, tawdry pleasure that should not be talked about in respectable circles.”Drezner 2005

Blogs don’t

count!!

We have diplomas!

and clip art!

British food again?!

So let’s go back to

Agincourt!

The Battle of Social

Learning vs Institutional

learning

2OO9

VS

Academia may underestimate the power of the web

You’re just a commoner!

Patooey!

I only engage with people who

are my equal!

I engage with anyone who contributes!

Bad economyChanges in knowledge productionDrops in tenured positionsIncreased pressure to reduce costs

Webizens begin to buildtheir own institutions of knowledge and knowledge production

We blog!

We twitter!

We make videos!

We research!

We peer review!You didn’t

reference me!Rejected!

I disagree with your regression

analysis!

We peer review!I edited your

Wikipedia page!

I commented on your blog!

You aren’t experts. You’re

not making “real”

knowledge.

SO?!

This is the pivotal

moment!Will we

recreate the past?

CHARGE!!!

No laptops in the

classroom!

Block Wikipedia!

Online degrees don’t

count!

Stop Facespacing

and Mybooking!

Wait! Maybe if we use the web too we could do really innovative

things. Ouch!

We need to schedule a meeting to form a committee to talk about how to get out

this mud

Want some help?

But what do we do with all these old academics?

All ur toobz r belong to us

No worries. They‘ll just fade away.

Or do we learn from

past mistakes?

or

Does your campus feel more…

But what do we do with all these old academics?

LOL! ROFL! OMG! ROFLMAO!TTFN Dood!

We take off a bit of our armor

We learn to find a middle ground

TL w/T gets better when we stop focusing on the tools and start focusing on the

uses/affordances

Online journals allow anyone to read

I B in ur journalz readin’ ur research!

Academics engage with non-academics

And the bartender says ‘Why the long

face?’!

Information is layered everywhere

Intellectual curiosity is satisfied NOW! Everywhere! All the time!

Networks of people share what they know!

How do we do it?

Don’t assume knowledge can only come from “vetted” sources

Justify ALL choices, even the traditional

ones

Be willing to try new things. Learn from students.

Learn more about how people

already use the tool, learn

similar topics.

This doesn’t have to be a battle

Sarah “Intellagirl” Robbins

SL: Intellagirl TullyEmail: intellagirl@gmail.comWeb: intellagirl.comSkype, Yahoo, AIM, Gchat: Intellagirl

Look for tweets from TLTFrenchy and TLTBrit during the conference!