Summary of Learning

Learning Process

Looking back, it is hard to believe how much content we covered this semester — it sure flew by! I started work on my summary of learning by reviewing all of my notes (Over 40 pages!) and re-reading the Blog Hub. I recorded key take-aways here and condensed these into five pages. From these five pages, I re-organized them into four main themes.

*Use of AI* I provided my five summarized pages to ChatGPT with the themes that I identified, and I asked it to analyze the information and pull its own themes for my comparison. AI ended up identifying six themes from my work, however the way that it sorted the information was much more interconnected and overlapping than my original themes. While I found this to be accurate and noteworthy of the course, I was looking to focus in on specific ideas, so I kept my four themes, and added a fifth:

  1. Fractured Identities and Dualism
  2. Moral Obligation and Mending a Polarized Society
  3. Technological Advancement: Explicit and Subliminal Messages
  4. Hope, Responsibility and the Future (This was the AI Generated title I chose to include based on my notes)
  5. Digital Education Transformation

Artefact

I thought a lot about an artefact that could represent my learning. In the spirit of  Renee Hobbs, I decided to expand my media literacy by trying a new digital way of expression. I like to think in poetry to understand the world (both appreciating the beauty and exploring emotions), so I decided to learn more about digital poetry.

What is digital poetry? It is poetry, but with an additional visual element. The creator uses visual motifs in a way that conventional poets don’t. I used Canva for the graphic components and wrote four mostly free verse poems to represent themes in my learning. My last slide outlines my intentions going forward as an educational leader.

Summary of Learning Poetry

Here is my final product — with a continued post below providing more detail for each overall theme.

 

Theme 1: Fractured Identities and Dualism

Early in the course, and then with our content catalysts Brittany and Josh, we discussed fractured and digital identities. The idea of the palatable self came from a co-authored blog post from Katia Hildebrandt and Alec Couros where it was beautifully stated, “In a world where forgetting is no longer possible, we might instead work towards greater empathy and forgiveness”

Exploring the interplay of online and offline identities, the pressure to conform in both settings, and the idea of dualism (that they are not separate entities) was a key point of self and societal reflection for me throughout this course. While fractured, the identities are reflective of one another.

As with all topics, there is both good and bad. Social media and technology can offer acceptance and rejection — so can regular human interaction. An important consideration is that as we perform what we perceive others to desire from us and balance the risk of speaking our truth, we also run the risk of silencing non-dominant voices.

Reconciling both sides is a path towards authenticity, but it is HARD!

2. Technological Advancement: Explicit and Subliminal Messages

AI was certainly my rabbit hole this semester! From the video we watched featuring Chamath Palihapitiya discussing changed psychology and short-term dopamine loops, to Mo Gowdat’s interview with Steven Bartlett and his speculations about the future of AI, this topic captured most of the class’s attention. There were many complex appraisals of AI’s current and future potential impact on society.

The fear is that AI right now is the worst it will ever be, yet its skills are improving at an exponential rate. The “parents” of AI have utilized it to generate engagement, profit and efficiency at the expense of equity and humanity. Is there hope and potential? Yes. Should we use with caution? Also yes. Critical thinking about mis/disinformation and bias is more important than ever as Chris, Anna and Lisa shared.

3. Moral Obligation and Mending a Polarized Society

The Mcluhans’ work fascinated me. Considering the influence of the medium on society reminded me of feminist material theories of entanglement. “Things” hold weight here. We cannot accept digital devices, social media and information at face value. They are entangled in time, politics, power, relationships, identity and place.

The act of recognizing the complexity of place, and the identity and power associated with is an important point to consider in our own analysis of our ability to generate forward action and the circles in which we have influence.

Marshall Mcluhan said, “the earwig, when bisected fights itself,” with regards to separating subjects of study, such as the arts. In the same way, society when divided, fights itself. Technology appears to exacerbate this division. However, “things” are more connected than they appear and there are many actors working to bring people together. With social cohesion, we can see the whole picture.

4. Hope, Responsibility and the Future

Wes Fryer said, “I absolutely believe everybody needs to understand how to use data, work with data, how data is used to tell a story, how often data is used to manipulate an audience, and it can be used in propaganda, and not only for commercial advertising purposes, but also for political purposes,” in his presentation as a guest speaker.

This is our world now. Technology is not going away; so how will we cope?

With Media Literacy and Digital Citizenship, technology does stull have much positive potential and can serve as a stage for speculative fabulation and new, more equitable realities.

Again, this topic is complex and there are pros and cons for technology use. On either end of the spectrum is a risk, or hope, for a changed society– depending how you look at it.

I personally hope that we can flip the narrative: Hope instead of despair, and designing responsive environments instead of holding onto old deficit theories about society and “kids these days”. As Dean said, kids are just doing their best in the world we create for them.

The most important takeaway from this theme was embracing both sides and leaning into the messiness. I have to credit a conversation with Dean and guest presenter Dr. Bonnie Stewart that helped me to understand this intentional stance in the face of change. Through discourse, debate and continued bridging efforts, we can come out kinder and more connected.

5. Digital Educational Transformation

I wrapped up my fifth theme with a boring old slide to summarize my intentions going forward.
The following categories come from Shane Safir’s book, The Listening Leader on how to achieve equitable school transformation. It has been my go-to guide in my first years as admin and aligns well with the guidance from superintendent Chris Kennedy. I’ve used Safir’s categories, and re-populated them with learning from this course.
A. Awareness
First, there must be awareness. Our learning this semester has provided awareness, not only through topics explored, but also through navigating all of the beautiful and different ways they were interpreted by peers in our blogging interactions and break out rooms.
Kids and society are rapidly changing, and we need to learn about this impact on education. Will we meet changed students and communities with distain or will we change our approach to be more effective in our efforts to engage them?
The most important resource is time. Through time spent in this course, we are equipped with new research about the impact of game based learning for example, or frameworks such Renee Hobbs Media Literacy Framework and Mike Ribble’s Digital Citizenship Framework. Of course we are leaving with all of the inspiration and enthusiasm from Wes Fryer and our other engaging guests.
B. Relational Capital
Dave Cormier stated that, “the community is the curriculum,” and we know this to be true. We need educationally informed multi-sector efforts to help not just kids, but families and communities to develop safe and healthy digital environments. This is no small feat and will require a lot of intentional bridge building. Changing people’s minds is messy business, and recognizing the power of that uncomfortable chaos to move the needle is important.
Building relational capital in school is just as important. To quote Dave again, “Teacher engagement is everything!” Teachers need a positive community with which to explore, take risks and grow. They are safe to do so in an educationally informed community.
C. Complex Change
What has become inherently clear is that strong leadership is required to set direction for change. Chris Kennedy’s presentation was impactful to think about actions that can be taken to create systemic change. I took away the importance of consistency, authenticity and meaningful implementation of new initiatives. His balanced focus on moving forward while still embracing our humanity (ex. the need for physical fitness) is a wholistic model that I think anyone can see value in.
Systemic change is rooted in the ground. As Chris Brennan noted in his post on Synergetic Digital Citizenship, We need to consider our legal obligations and moral responsibilities in prioritizing complex change. As Lisa would explore in her post, Physical Literacy – Whose Job is it?, meaningful implementation requires training, time and an understanding of the realities of the classroom.
Due to time and deep learning, our group is going to be awesome at continuously developing norms of appropriate, responsible and empowered technology use. We have the skills to lead digital educational change in this new tech-rich world.
I’ll close with a quote from Jason: “The biggest challenge lies within us personally. Will we be part of the revolution or part of the resistance?”