[Yr7-10it] Twittering

[Dr Paul Chandler]

Hi Claire and others,

I'm interested in following up what the issues are for Claire's (or other
remote) kids.  Maggie has asked what access they have to the Internet, and
that is, of course, quite relevant.

> My students don't know what twitter, irc, or forums are.

They wouldn't be alone in that - there's 2 upper primary kids sitting my
family room right now who aren't in-tune with those either.  In my
opinion, its not accurate to infer that the "better" (or "city") kids are
familiar with all available technologies.  Part of our job is to introduce
them to those which are relevant and accessible.

> They don't even think to look up help (F1 is unheard of!).

I'm actually not sure that this is saying: are they particularly
rudimentary computer users, or are they un-motivated learners ... or is
there something else happening?

> Most country kids (esp. here on the EP) have heard of MSN, but that
> doesn't mean they even use that regularly.

My relatives in England hadn't heard of Skype until they had a purpose for
using it (to call us!)

> In my experience some interactive device (maybe wiki, or IRC channel)
> might get used by city kids, or
> kids who live in more densely populated areas, but it would be a waste
> of resources over here.

To be honest, I'm not sure that this means.  Assuming access to the
Internet, access to a wiki is no different to accessing pages on the net:
no additional resources required, and therefore no waste.  IRC would
require installation of one relatively simple, free, piece of software;
again, no cost/waste issue.

The 'Kahootz project' has as part of its brief to be working with schools
of a variety of sectors and also rural and city schools.  Therefore, I
need to get some handle on the issues for the rural kids.

Here's something which happened recently: we were visiting a school and
one student asked "do you know how to make rain in Kahootz".  We said "no,
but we'd find out".  That same afternoon, my colleague was visiting
another school and put that question to them as a challenge; very shortly,
a student came up with a good idea, which - over the course of a day - was
passed back to the original student.  Sneaker-net, and the smallest amount
of e-mail, in action.  In Kahootz, there's a considerable range of
work-around devices (eg how to make rain, shadows, create morphing) which
will only be documented over time.  No one school (let alone teacher) will
have in his/her head all the possible tricks which can be used to 'make
meaning'.

So my thinking is that if a student were to ask (on something like twitter
or IRC) "how do I make rain", there's a better than even chance that
someone will have an idea within a short amount of time.  And it won't
matter if that answer comes from the same classroom or interstate.

Now - can someone please tell me why that's not a good idea?  Or why it
won't work in particular settings (save the issue of internet access)?

As I will be engaged in preparing a 'next generation' of PD and
instructional materials, what I am teasing out in my own mind (and with
some thanks to this list) is whether these materials also need to include
something of IRC (et al), so that students commencing with Kahootz "start"
by thinking they need to have the IRC app open at the same time and to use
it enthusiastically for 'help' as they commence their journey.

Thanks, all.

-- 
Dr Paul Chandler
Research Fellow
'Multimedia grammatical design and authoring pedagogy' (Kahootz) project,
School of Education, University of New England

located at Australian Children's Television Foundation
145 Smith Street, Fitzroy, Melbourne, 3065
e-mail: paul.chandler at une.edu.au
Ph: 0400 198 187
Fax: (03) 9419 0660
Skype: paul.d.chandler