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LaGier: Reflections on Chris Dede
Adrienne LaGier
EDUC 478
Professor Pruitt-Mentle
April 9, 2003
How Not to Commit Professional Malpractice
Chris Dede’s keynote speech entitled, “How Virtual Interactions Deepen Learning for Real Students,” on April 4, 2003 at the Teaching With Technology Conference held at the University of Maryland, College Park campus, sheds light on the structure of EDUC 478 as well as how to structure meaningful learning experiences that successfully use a mixture of media to enhance distributed learning. This paper will explore the contents of Dede’s keynote lecture, the connections I have made to our course content, and the impact it has had on my future work in the field of education.
In the class readings for EDUC 478, we encountered Dede’s 2002 article “Vignettes About the Future of Learning Technologies,” where scenarios of life influenced by technologies like hand held wireless devices is portrayed. Dede’s keynote speech describes what needs to happen before we reach these future scenarios. Until we reach of the time of the “Next Generation” as Dede called it in his keynote where students will be accessing distance experts and archives for knowledge creation, or be in a “world to desktop” era; and until there are ubiquitous computing opportunities where wearable devices are coupled to smart objects for learning – we need to first prepare our students to these technologies’ predecessors. The course he described that uses multiple electronic mediums to engage all students in the learning process is a necessary step to begin the process of introducing these technologies into the learning experience.
The fundamentals of the course that his keynotes speech was based on include face-to-face interaction, video conferencing, wireless hand held devices, group collaboration via groupware, synchronous discussions, asynchronous discussions, and shells for course authoring. When describing the various positive and negative aspects of each of these mediums he stressed that a combination is necessary to address the learning styles of all students. To not do so would “committing professional malpractice” in his words.
Dede’s keynote speech highlights some of the aspects of our current EDUC 478 course. He mentioned that teaching constructivism using a lecture format in a course just does not make sense. He expressed to the academic community in the audience that, “We’re not good at walking our talk.” However, EDUC 478 does just that – it immerses students in an online learning environment while teaching about integrating instructional technology in our schools. Just as Dede mentioned that some of his students didn’t “get it” when it came to experiencing a constructivist course using multiple mediums to instruct, some students in EDUC 478 have expressed the same concerns. Some don’t actively participate in the various electronic mediums that the course supports (a/synchronous discussion), and I imagine the same group at the end of the online class experience may say they didn’t get much out of it. Something that didn’t come up in Dede’s speech, but which is evident in our course, is the phenomenon of students taking online classes regardless of the content it involves, simply because it is online.
All of the students except myself and one other student do not have classroom teaching experience (or plan on teaching) – and come from a variety of majors. I have many times questioned the intrinsic interest of many of my classmates in learning about the content of the course, due to the lack of engaging discussion threads posts. It is difficult to engaged in “distributed learning” as Dede calls it when there is little participation by those involved in the learning experience. I would be curious to be involved in a class that also incorporated video conferencing, wireless handheld devices, and groupware (other than WebCt) – perhaps the mixture of medium being used in EDUC 478 isn’t sufficient enough to reach the learning needs of its students this semester – or maybe the involvement would fail to change regardless if more electronic media were incorporated.
The lessons learned from Dede’s lecture extend to how I plan on utilizing a variety of electronic medium when I get back into the classroom. I believe I have a handle on how to successfully integrate a/synchronous discussions in a mediated environment like WebCt, but still am interested in exploring ways to successful use wireless hand held devices and groupware in my teaching methods. Another lesson learned is the importance of making students active learners and that I shouldn’t assume that since one method may work for me in learning, that my students effectively learn using that same method. Dede emphasized that face-to-face learning is not the “gold standard” and that it should be treated as just one method is a mixture of learning experiences in order to reach all students. Listening to Dede describe how using a mixture of media helps with breaking the tyranny of time, drove home to me the value of utilizing electronic mediums to create active learners that are constantly interacting and thinking about the content material of a course. He also stressed that using a mixture of media to teach fosters the notion of teacher as “guide on the side” rather than the “ sage on the stage” and I definitely believe in being the former rather than the later when it comes to my role in the classroom.
In an informal question and answer forum before the keynote address, Dede fielded questions from various faculty and students on using ranging from “Scaling Up” to how to successfully integrate technology on an international level. During this session, I asked Dede his opinion on Maine’s technology initiative led by Seymour Papert where every seventh grader has been given a laptop for their school and personal use. He replied, “We’re at a time now where kids can carry what wasn’t possible before; where they can invent in a school something that teachers can’t.” He expressed his sheer amazement that the initiative has worked. He said in this session and in previous papers that technology itself does not improve learning – that technology is a “necessary evil”.
In my future teaching and perhaps administrating endeavors, when it comes to deciding whether or not to give every student a laptop if the chance arose, I would definitely support it. He stressed that the “digital divide” isn’t as big as the gap between what teachers do in class with technology versus what the students know how to do with technology at home and/or outside of class – the “didactic divide”. As the nature of what it means to be an effective teacher changes with emerging technologies, the biggest lesson I have learned is the need to stay on top of the latest learning methods to be the most effective teacher I can be.
In terms of how Dede’s keynote lecture and information question and answer session have effected my future research interests and goals, I felt his in his discussion of National Science Foundation (NSF) funded research and research propelled by No Child Left Behind (NCLB) he imported upon me the importance of doing need driven research – of “starting where you are” when designing research models and goals. Asking the question of teachers, “What do you struggle with in teaching” and then following up with creating an innovative learning model that incorporates effective pedagogy and technology innovations when designing a research model, seems like an effective way to proceed. This model seems to promote what Dede aims for; that we “teach people to be empowered to by technology.”
The research behind the keynote speech Dede presented represents real gains in the academic community in the field of learning and technology. His course description of a graduate class he’s teaching with seven forms of electronic medium not only serves as a model, but propels what teaching and learning can look like using technology far ahead. Far enough ahead that perhaps his vignettes and visions of life with ubiquitous technologies are closer to reality that we think.
Bibliography
Dede, C. (June 2002). “No Cliché Left Behind: Why Education Policy is NOT Like the
Movies,” Keynote speech delivered at NCREL’s National Educational
Technology Conference.
Dede, C. (2002) Vignettes About the Future of Learning Technologies,” in
Visions 2020 Transforming Education and Training Through Advanced Technologies. Washington, D.C.: US Department of Commerce, Technology Administration.