I find myself largely agreeing with John Seely Brown and Doug Thomas while reading through their book. The premise I keep sticking on, however, is how casually / completely they are willing to wave aside knowledge. Their claim, similar to Wagner, is that with abundant knowledge so easy to access, we no longer should measure acquired knowledge – after all whatever you need is merely a short Google search away. In chapter 7, the authors use a famous geography question to demonstrate this. In a 2006 survey, 63% of young adults were unable to locate Iraq on a map of the Middle East. Turning this question on its head, Doug sat 18 undergrads in front of a computer and asked them to "'Find Iraq.' One hundred percent of the students were able to do so – and more." I think this is an important example to demonstrate a useful paradigm shift, but it also discounts the difference between easy access and knowledge. | Playing and making may be on the upswing, but knowing still matters plenty |
The authors borrow a system of typology from Mizuko Ito to describe how young people interact with new media. While reading the text, I connected the Hanging out and Messing About labels with my own experiences, but then got lost when it hit Geeking Out. The authors explain Messing Around: "...where the personal investment in technology and digital media changes the focus from social agency to personal agency. When that happens, technology and digital media begin to be viewed as an extension of oneself." I can connect to this statement both as a blogger and as a modder. In fact, my post on my transition from visitor to resident of the internet can be interpreted in this light. |
The book finishes with an exploration of MMOs as an example of where the new culture of learning flourishes. Chapter 9 focuses on World of Warcraft (WoW). Since I have several years invested in MMO gameplay (all of it Evony, World of Tanks or World of Warplanes), I kept relating their example to my experiences in those games. So when the authors wrote "When we address a problem like a puzzle or a game, we engage in acts of productive inquiry, where the answers we find become part of our stockpile of information, which can then be used to find better and more interesting questions...", I could relate the the concept of sustained inquiry. However, their description of a perfect raid in WoW, with 25 players in perfect synchronization, seems a bit overdone. My experiences teach me that large group dynamics are extremely difficult to synchronize. | |
This raises an interesting question that I have also pondered in my teaching practice: what is the proper balance between individual learning and group learning? It seems to me that many factors affect this issue. For some students, group learning may be more effective, though I know this is not true for many. For others, group learning is an important method to teach collaboration skills, which will be crucial (but not sufficient) for their future. Group learning also offers those with superior skills / knowledge to further improve through teaching / mentoring. Finally, group dynamics have the potential to create emergent cultures where learning takes on a life of its own. This last point is where the book is focused. I wonder what are the sufficient conditions to create that within our classrooms?