Making Technology Relevant

This morning I received an email from my nephew. His wife is a teacher. She has been charged with using a learning management system (LMS)  called Blackboard and he was trying to find information on using this new tool. In the message, he mentions that he went out to YouTube to find video instructions. Brilliant!

I have taught programming classes online and asked questions of the students, and they have the audacity to reply “I don’t know”.  Look it up! My mother used to tell me that all of the time. The only difference is that I was going to a bookshelf and pulling down an encyclopedia.

Now we have WikiPedia. My students were already online since we were conducting class online.  All they had to do is click over and query Google, Facebook, WikiPedia etc for the answer. Not only can you look it up, but also you can look up a video where you are being show a demonstration or perhaps an interview from a world-class expert on the subject.

This is a great way to use the web to seek out knowledge. Bill Gates recently mentioned that in 5 years the best education will come from the web.  I must say I agree. I think this is a great example. My nephew was also surprised by the many educational apps that are available for the iPod touch. My work is about us knowing what is available and taking advantage of it.  These apps have been available since the iPod Touch arrived.  Since he was surprised by the power of these apps, what are the chances that his daughter has been using and benefiting from this technology?

I read an article recently that touted the educational benefits of TV. Digital TV has made that case even more strongly, and after all Bill Cosby’s thesis (Fat Albert) was a study how television could be used to strengthen curriculum.  In 1976, Cosby earned a Doctor of Education degree from the University of Massachusetts. For his doctoral research, he wrote a dissertation entitled, "An Integration of the Visual Media Via 'Fat Albert And The Cosby Kids' Into the Elementary School Curriculum as a Teaching Aid and Vehicle to Achieve Increased Learning".

An iPod Touch is a more versatile, mobile medium and any quality content from a television can be ported to an iPod touch, not to mention the power of educational applications. We are only scratching the surface of what can be done in terms of educational technology. I gave a presentation a couple of years ago at Rust College. My topic was Making Technology Relevant.

It was a spin on what Gloria Ladson-Billings coined in term of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (CRP) in her brilliant book Dreamkeepers. Emerging Technologies have made it easier to make traditional content relevant, and it certainly can facilitate making technology itself more relevant from a cultural standpoint.

We need more African Americans, Latinos and women pursuing careers in STEM. We need to connect their culture with the technology. This is not a new concept. All learning is culture specific. It just so happens it is the culture of the majority group. If content were taught from a Latino cultural center perhaps we would see the majority groups struggle as well.

Why don't we engage everyone and do what is need so all groups thrive!