Do No Harm--- That Means Us
Henry Jenkins isn't exaggerating. What he's saying in the Edutopia video above is true in the United States, Canada, Alberta and many of the schools down the street from you and I. It may even be true of the school you are teaching in. There is a digital participation gap and we need to be concerned about that. I talk to teachers everyday who tell me that they can't access (in their classroom) YouTube, Web 2.0 tools that store student work on foreign servers and access to certain topics in their Internet searches. Jenkins talks about the students who don't have access to technology other than in school and asks what will become of these students if schools limit their access and don't integrate rich use of technology into their teaching. Jenkins believes that these students are doubly left behind --- the participation gap.
"It's not about access to technology but access to learning experiences, social skills and cultural competencies, to a sense of empowerment and entitlement that allows them to fully be participants in this new society that is emerging" ~ Dr. Henry Jenkins
This video challenges educators to "pull back, have an open-minded perspective and be willing to explore", to "recognize and value the kind of learning that is taking place outside of the school and give a space for kids to share that expertise in the classroom so that they feel better about the things they do".
Henry Jenkins packs a lot into this 9.5 minute video. It may be short in length but don't let that deceive you. The kind of changes he's calling for here will take a lot of courage and willingness to leave behind teaching practices that no longer fit today's digital learning landscape.
For more reading on this topic check out: A New Culture of Learning (by DOUGLAS THOMAS and JOHN SEELY BROWN).
