Defending Wikipedia - it's our job

In a recent posting to LM_Net, continuing a conversation about the advisability of the student use of Wikipedia, school librarian Jeff Hastings writes:

Let me make it clear, though, that I'm saying that the scope [of Wikipedia] in a k-12 environment can be highly distracting to students and downright hazardous to your professional life. Personally, I work in a district where a "values" group recently took actions to attempt to convict teachers and school officials for "distributing pornography to minors" based upon their use of the book "Freedom writer's diary" in High School accelerated English. And most of us have now read about the felony conviction of a hapless substitute teacher who unwittingly "allowed" students to see pornographic images.

In that sort of climate especially, Wikipedia's scope in areas like sexuality, vernacular, and pop-culture become problematic. Again, I'd hate to explain to an antagonistic group of fundamentalists how a student learned to perform fellatio by perusing an illustrated Wikipedia article while ostensibly doing a library research project--and there's no doubt that that scenario could happen in an instant. I think educators have to take a second to think about that.

OK, let's step back and think for a minute what might happen if we used the views of every "antagonistic group of fundamentalists" to dictate our school and library selection policy. You know it just ain't the naughty bits they're worried about.

What about this subversive material?

Current evolutionary theory holds that all species evolved from a single form of life which lived more than 3 1/2 billion years ago ... Although evolution is called a "theory," this term does not mean that evolutionary biology is guesswork or is not supported by evidence. In science, a theory is a set of ideas based on observations about nature that explains many related facts. The theory of evolution is supported by evidence from many scientific fields. When a theory is supported by so much evidence, it becomes accepted as a scientific fact. Almost all scientists consider the theory of evolution to be a scientific fact.

This radical information source? World Book Online. Jeff, I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that you have parents who feel this violates their values and ought to be tossed from your library as well. I hope you got some big dumpsters!

My question is this: If we let the loudest, most politically and socially radical members of our communities frighten us into abandoning our selection principles, where does it stop?

And how do we get our technology folks to help us fight for intellectual freedom instead of unilaterally making fear-based decisions? Does any technology post-secondary program from which we draw candidates for these positions address selection policies. developmental needs of kids, or censorship issues? I doubt it. I get e-mails like this one from a Florida librarian way too often:

 In my school district, the technology department, in all its infinite wisdom,  blocks Wikipedia.  They did this without asking one media specialist his/her expert opinion. ... The media specialists met as a group and talked to the head tech guy, and his answer was, it had to be done in "real time."  Apparently there were too many students wondering how the human body works.  It seems to me that might be why we have one of the highest rates of pregnant teens.  I can't quite get them to see it my way.  And so it goes.

The fight is real and it is important.  And it requires courage and strategy. It requires an alliance between librarians and technologists.

There. It's good to let off a little steam. I guess I will need to change the blog entry category on this from "professionalism" to "rants"! 

Virtual Tinkertoys

In response to yesterday's post on criteria that might impact large scale technology adoption by teachers, Generation YES's Sylvia Martinez commented:

I'm wondering if there is another criteria - something like "extensibility". The old idea of "no floor, no ceiling." I hate learning something new and then finding that there is no way to extend it, add options, go under the hood, etc. Not that everyone wants that, but in an educational setting, having tools that you only have to learn once yet can accommodate different learners and different styles seems like important criteria. Maybe there's a better word for it?

My response: 

I think I understand the concept. But could you give me a couple of examples? Maybe of technologies that are and aren't extensible? I've personally always liked what I call "Tinkertoy" software that lets me build instead of just use things that are already built. And a lot of kids do too. Not so sure about adults!

 And Sylvia replies:

Tinkertoy software is a great name for it! (and you know I'm always up for sneaking constructivist-like thinking in here somewhere!) I'm thinking that for example, Hypercard and HyperStudio were better than PowerPoint - because you could build more than just slideshows, you could actually program objects and actions. With PowerPoint, you can only make slideshows, and if that's all you wanted, you could make slideshows with those other applications.

It's too bad they are gone! But there are still things around today.

For a slightly higher initial investment in effort, you could use Flash or MicroWorlds. Both can make slideshows - but you have so much more under the hood for the future. For some kids, these tools will give them more range than they ever thought possible, it will unlock hidden potential and give them wings. I guarantee you PowerPoint won't do that.

For kids, neither one of those applications is hard to learn, or hard to use. But adults have this horrible reaction to them.

Or - Why not teach kids HTML instead of making them learn some "easy" editor. I know, I know I can hear the groans from teachers everywhere.

We talk about differentiated instruction, but that concept shouldn't stop at the instructional door. Everything we put in kids hands should have the ability to offer differentiated and leveled experiences for kids who are ready, willing, and able (and they are).

I really feel that a lot of the problems with teaching technology reflect adult fears, not student ability or needs.

Great, now I've got enough for a blog ;-) (And here is her blog posting!)

This set me to thinking about a couple things.

First, it was a good reminder that teachers' resistance to technology is less about technology itself but more about unfamiliar ways of teaching.  Learning HyperStudio is not an issue; adopting a new teaching philosophy in which students learn by creating instead of absorbing is an issue.

And happily, between reading Sylvia's comments, reading David Warlick's recent post, and thinking about a conversation I had with Mike Eisenberg back in January when I visited with him in Seattle, I am beginning to see some true educational possibilities for Second Life. 

I have to admit that Second Life does not strike me as a great teaching medium if you insist on doing stand-and-deliver. (Or as Ian Jukes puts it, full frontal presentation.) Chat is not how one delivers a lecture or even holds a decent guided discussion if you ask me.

BUT, Second Life is the ultimate tinker toy set. Mike E. envisions that the outcome of a student history research assignment be a virtual museum exhibit - a room in which are gathered photos, documents, analysis, etc. If a display is considered worthy, it would become a permanent exhibit in this virtual museum. How cool would that be?

But with the tools in Second Life, one need not be limited to a single room. Why not let a class build the whole museum? Or recreated Peter the Great's Hermitage? Or recreate the massacre at Wounded Knee? Or build Rosa Park's bus and populate it with avatars that reflect the points of view of the era? Design eco-systems in science? Build Huck Finn's raft or Well's Time Machine? Think of the physics simulations! (I was in Second Life's Transylvania recently, but it seemed more inspired by Ann Rice than Bram Stoker.)

I am sure I am day late and dollar short in my thinking on this. And remember that this comes from somebody who has created but a single object in Second Life and have relied on the charity of others even for simple furniture. 

Is Second Life the ultimate Tinker toy application? Are the examples from education that now exist and I just don't know about?  

At right, my avatar admiring his sole creation -  a picture  for his wall.

TechProof column

My April TechProof column, It's Delightful, it's del.icio.us, is available on the Education World website. In fact all my TechProof columns are there.

I like the logo.