Class Five

Class five will begin with an examination of the Internet in the Clasroom, then will move to a discussion of the paper on globalization by Hall . (to be led by Colin.) That reading is available in pdf format on Garry's website at http://mystuff-gstrick.blogspot.com/ Please download and read in time for class discussion.




Internet in the Classroom

As has been seen, there are not dozens, or hundreds or thousands, but millions of potential websites. Information overload is the term used when information becomes so overwhelming that one doesn’t quite know where to start. One becomes frozen into inaction. The problem can be ameliorized somewhat by considering the metaphoric aspect of the internet. If one focuses on the internet only as a resource or only as a library or only as a communication medium, that at least lessons the potential choices.

In this section, we will consider the internet to be a teacher resource.

Mike Sandbothe argues that the internet will challenge four basic assumptions about education. They are (1) Knowledge conveyed in schools is localized; ie. education requires a physical sense of place (2) Lessons are “live”; communication is f2f (3) Teachers are in authority. (4) knowledge is structured; the structure of knowledge is the basis of curriculum.


Five ways to search a topic.
Search engines search differently. Google is the penultimate choice, that normally comes to mind, so much so that the term has become a verb “to google” in just ten years. But consider a given topic that one wants information on. Let’s take “cyberbullying.” A google search will reveal a grab bag of documents of different kinds. Next, consider a search of “google news” . It immediately becomes clear that the kind of information received here is different, Here we get information that is written ONLY by journalists, and ONLY from newspapers. A third search is google scholar. Now the search is limited to scholarly works.


Questia.com
The above section identified “five ways” to search a topic. The next two are “special” in that they are subscription databases. Questia advertises itself as the worlds largest online library. It is a “real” library that houses only what you find in a physical library. Books, Journals. Magazines. The cost is relatively miniscule: about the cost of a single textbook for a year… about $100.

Questia has several other useful features as well, including assistance for writing papers for students, and lists of significant works in major areas.

If Questia has a problem, it is that it is not quite large enough, and is not always as current as one would like. Still, these issues seem relatively minor.

Questia offers a useful “peek” for non subscribers. The system locks out outsiders only when they attempt to read complete texts.



Dissertation Abstracts
Dissertation abstracts has always been a foundational source for academia. It belongs to a set of subscription databases belonging to ProQuest. Dissertation Abstracts provides “free” abstracts of masters and doctoral dissertations. Complete pdf versions of dissertations can be ordered at less than $50 per title.


SparkNotes.com
Every student knows about Cliffs Notes in the US, Monarch Notes, or in Canada Coles Notes. These detailed summaries for students have often been frowned upon by teachers who worry that students will buy the Coles Notes version of novels, and never read the novel itself. These outlines tend to kick in at the high school and college level or possibly upper middle years. Nevertheless, the online equivalent is Sparknotes, created by graduate students from Harvard University.

Lesson Plans: NewYorkTimes.com
Lesson plans can be found throughout the web. Here, we shall identify one source only, regrettably a US site, but excellent nevertheless. The New York Times provides a free service for teachers that prepares lessons based on current events. Not only does a teacher get ideas for teaching, but the news stories which serve the basis for the lessons are provided as well. If there is a weakness, it is that to transfer to Canada, we cannot expect any Canadian content.


Class reading, presentation and discussion
Martin Hall (2000) The new imperialism of borderless education.

1. The term "imperialism" is a red flag, suggesting that "borderless education" is not all that it is cracked up to be. Synonyms inlcude globalization, internationalization, and ... on another front ... free trade.

2. "How many students can fit into a virtual classroom and still learn." Hall suggests 12-20. This is a stunning contradiction to the current best practices model that sees hundreds of enrolled students in a given online class. It suggests that the "small is beautiful" model is not only beautiful, but eminently practical.

3. "Most of us make our money from thin air. We produce nothing that can be weighed, touched or easily measured...We are all in the thin air business." This comment from Charles Leadbeater suggests a significant and sobering perspective on 21st century productivity.

4. "Space of flows" is a term coined by Manuel Castells. Castells, one of the most significant theorists of 21st century information technology, aruges that we live in a new space that flows from real to virtual and without a centre.

5. The rise of virtual education will increase rather than decrease the phenomenon called "the digital divide."