| Joost's profileJoost RobbenPhotosBlogLists |  Tools  Help |
|
September 03 Graduated!Last Friday 31 august 2007 I have received my Master of Science degree! Herewith, I've completed the master's examination of the educational programme "Educational Science and Technology, Track: Human Resource Development" at the University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands. Many thanks to all of you who has helped me during the proces of writing my thesis and special thanks to my familiy and colleagues who drove all the way up to Enschede for making this graduation day an unforgetable event! August 30 Colloquium presentationFor the one who can't wait..here's the slideshow of my colloquium presentation tomorrow. More info will be added soon. http://www.slideshare.net/joostrobben/learning-environments-for-netgeneration-learners/1 August 14 Invitation to colloquium: Net-generation learnersToday I received the official green light with regard to my masters thesis! Therefore, I'd like to invite you to come and visit the public presentation of my study at the University of Twente: Date: Friday 31 august Title: "Learning environments for Net-generation learners" Abstract Please send an e-mail to me at jrn@stoas.nl if you'd like to attend this colloquium. August 13 Red light/ green lightI just finished what is hopefully the final version of my paper for the masters degree! I've sended the movie below also to my supervisors, I hope it will inspire them....;) August 04 Can technology change us? A view from a cultural perspectiveThe argument on the "Net-generation" involves that trough the use of digital media and webtechnology, people are changing. Some authors argue that Net-geners evolve certain characteristics through their use of certain digital media and webtechnology. I've read a part of Hofstede and Hofstede (2007), a reviewed edition of Hofstedes famous research on cultural differences with managers at IBM. I'll describe a few interesting things from the first chapter. Hofstede and Hofstede describe 4 layers which represent a culture. With symboles on the surface, and towards the core, heroes; rituals and with values as the core layer.
The authors argue that technlogical developments in our society only play a very restrictive role on the values that are the core of a culture. When youngsters in Russia are drinking Coca-Cola, this doesnt't affect their attitude towards authority. And yes, elder Russians differ in some respect to younger Russians, but thats just like young Dutch people differ from the elders. But at the level of the core values, young russians differs the same from young dutch people as with older russians from older dutch people. "It appears that nowhere, the core values from younger generations from different countries converge". Cultural change can evolve fast at the outer layers of the model. New practices can be learned troughout our lives. People above 70 can learn how surf the web with their PC; they absorbe new symboles, meet new heroes, and communicate through new rituals. But cultural change will evalove slow at the core values.
These are some interesting perspectives, which point us that we have to be carefull of ascribing certain characteristics to the "Net-generation", especially when they concern core values. What Hofstede and Hofstede also describe is that these values are developed in the early stages of our lives. As todays kids are more and more using technolgies at younger ages, I wonder, would this effect the change on their core values? August 01 Teachers want Youtube to shut downThe BBC reports today that teachers in the UK have called for websites such as YouTube "to be shut down as part of efforts to prevent pupils and staff being bullied". I just can't believe this is happening, teachers actually think the solution to their problems is shutting down youtube...?!
In our societies, we send kids to schools to prepare them to be able to function succesfully in that society. Socializing, communicating is a big part of that perceived succes. Experiences with other can be very positive and stimulating, but can also feel very negative at times. Being bullied can be one of those negative experiences but definately is part of society. That is why teachers, some more succesfull then others, are using several methods in their classes to prevent students from bulying others and helping the ones that are being bullied to cope with their experiences.
In our current society, technologies are more and more part of peoples daily lives. Socializing and communication is more and more done through the use of these technologies. Not a very new or odd conclusion i must say... Well, when societies change, schools should adept to that change adequately and thus prepare students for a role in a society enhanced by technologies.
Please, teachers recognize the world is (HAS) changed! You cant stop or reverse that by shutting down YouTube, rather help your students with how do can live savely in digital environments. July 31 I've been liveblogged!At the AHRD 2007 conference in Oxford I've been liveblogged by Jeffrey Keefer. Jeffrey and his research partner Robin Yap are currently doing a research project about liveblogging at conferences.
You can read his post at:
oh and... may i quote:
"This was a very interesting paper presentation."
Thanks Jeffrey! July 01 Terror attacks in London UKAfter having a fabulous experience at the European HRD Conference in Oxford last week, I'm currently visiting a friend of mine in London. He live pretty close to Victory which is right in the center of the city...what a great place to live! But this weekend also some of our terror fellow became active here in London and Glasgow which has resulted in the national threat level being raised to the highest security level. I'ts amazing to experience what that does to the people in the city. Everyone seems to be very relaxed about it, like as they are allready used to their city being under the attack of terrorists. Life just seems to go as usual here in the city.
Well, just wanted to let you all know I'm ok and will be off to Heatrow airport this afternoon, hoping not to get to much of delay by all the security enhancements.
Check out the pics from london as well as oxford here on my blog. April 27 How does technology help us?I came across a post from LeeAnn Prescot, researcher at Hitwise, she talks about 18-24 year olds and their website preferences. LeeAnn says that based on her statistics, these internet users are much more interested in creating and sharing content than the average internet user.
She also said "the activities young people engage in are not that much different now than before the current technology explosion, but the tools are different. For artists, writers, and car aficionados, these sites offer a form of expression and facilitate connections that would not have been possible 20 years ago."
I think this is actually what it is all about. The emerging posibilities on the web and with other digital media have created new posibilities for us (not only youngsters) to connect with others, express ourselfs, reflect on our own and others actions, create all kinds of stuff and maybe even knowledge....
Just to give you an example from my own research endeavors. I am currently in contact with several researchers who are also studying on the topic of the Net-generation. I haven't met them all via the internet, but it do helps me to keep in close contact with their thoughts (via blogs or email), without having to actual meet these people. This way, the internet has helped me to expand my network and to maintain it. Something, i believe wouldnt have happened this fast without the technology. March 05 Article on gamingAllready a while ago I've written an article (in dutch) on the Net-generation together with my colleague Marcel de Leeuwe. It's now published on the web: http://www.ikmagazine.nl/downloads/IK0602p26-30.pdf
January 27 Students: "We want to have more lessons!"A group of Dutch pupils and students are in strike! They are demanding more theoretical lessons and knowledge transfer from good teachers. Latest movements in Dutch education heavily rely on the self constructivistic learning by students. Many school management teams, also in my experience, forget that students also need a lot of guidance to be able to work in a self constructivstic way. As a result, teachers are not available for mentoring students and many feel abandonned and dont know what to do.
Does this mean that we need to go back to more cognitivist ways of education? No, at least not in my opinion, but we need to pay a lot more attention to our students than we do now. That includes helping them to make choices in their learning processes. Today I read an interesting article on the development our brains in relation to how we learn. Jelle Jolles, University of Maastricht, is performing research in this field. His most intersting claim is that our brains develop till we have reached the age of 20. This means that the brains of teenagers, members of the net-generation, are still in development. Jolles argues that the brains of teenagers are not yet able to learn in a large degree of freedom. "Young children and teenagers are perfectly able to choose something thats here and now. Planning, on the other hand, or choosing something of which the consequences become visible at a later stage is much much harder. Students need therefore a lot of guidance from teachers and parent". Jolles' argument is very interesting, especially when we look at the current developments in Dutch education. It at least supports the claim for better guidance. But are students really physically not able to learn independently or can't we just train them to learn in an independent matter? I always look at my own school career in these matters. At primary school we always had to work independently, from first class on. We had to work with a week chart and had to plan our activities throughout the whole week. It always worked very motivating for me as for the other kids in our class. The most intersting thing happend when I entered high school and had to listen to my teachers and had to work so NOT constructive or independtly.....my grades dropped. I was not used to learn in that manner.
I still havent figured out what THE solution would be.... January 25 How to beat your children at video games?Hey digital immigrants! Are you allready frustrated? Wondering day and night just how to catch of with those tech savvy kids of the Net-generation? Here is a great instructional film on How to beat your children at video games.
I've found this movie on VideoJug, a great site thats kind of like YouTube. It contains loads of video's, but the difference is that they are instructional video's. Some of them are actually very helpfull in our daily lives. Just like the other day when my car battery was down, I looked up the video on How to jump start my car. There I was, jump starting my car without help from others. Aint that great (I'm not very much a mechanic...)
But ... eh...let me know when you've beaten your kids with the video game! January 24 Recruitement by CIAIn Wired Magazine, there's an article about the CIA recruiting new talent trough the use of facebook. Very interesting to see how large (government) agencies are realizing there are other (new) ways to find young and ambitious new workers. As the author of the article says:
"Government agencies may be forced to turn to social networks and other web-based means for recruitment in the future. Hundreds of thousands of government workers are set to retire in the coming years, and new talent can increasingly be found on websites like Facebook and LinkedIn."
There is also another interesting aspect to this development, which concers e-portfolio's and students personal use of social software. In a way your personal facebook page instantly has become your showcase portfolio when agencies start using this method. It brings up loads of questions on the fragile line between personal and professional (or educational) use of the internet. It also makes us aware that the information we, and especially the young ones, put on the internet can be used for other reasons than the ones we had firstly intended. It also brings out the question wether educational institutes should continue to provide IT-systems (such as blackboard portfolio) to their students, or do these kids prefer to use their own tools? December 28 Portfolio's: start to focus!I've read a post by Graham Wegner (linked by Stephen Downes) on e-portfolio's. Wegner is performing a research project with the central questions "Are teachers e-portfolio sustainable?". In his post he wonders wether this wouldn't be a wrong question as he says: "So maybe things need to take a step back. Rather than worrying about whether teachers will get into e-portfolios or not, the question should be more along the lines of “How do we get teachers developing an online presence?”"
In my opinion lots of teachers still haven’t caught up with todays online life. But instead of focussing on the technology part, I’d suggest to focus on the pedagocial issues. Lots of teachers, tech savvy or not, still want to be instructors and bring out there knowledge to the students instead of guiding students with their journey of learning. Once teachers (as well as their students...) have made that mindshift and learn that portfolios can be usefull instrument in that process I’m sure that technology isn’t an obstacle anymore. December 22 Proposal for HRD Conference, OxfordTogether with Ida Wogum and Martina Meelissen from the University of Twente, The Netherlands, I've submitted a proposal for a working paper presentation on the 8th International Conference on HRD Research and Practice across Europe, Oxford, 27th and 29th June, 2007.
The paper is based on my final thesis project (Wogum and Meelissen are my coaches) and will be titled "Learning environments for Net-Generation learners".
Somewhere in februari I'll hear if the proposal is accepted.... December 21 I've been tagged!Just finished playing SL (time flies when you're having fun!) and I realized that I was tagged today by Wilfred Rubens!
I've never seen it before but as far as I can tell now it's a great game to explore (digital) communities of practice and to enlarge them. The idea is that you write 5 things on your blog that's not allready known about you and you pass the game on to 5 others.
Here the 5 things:
1. I need vacation...
2. It's just 3 weeks away from now...:)
3. Me and my girl are celibrating our 3 years together at the first day in the new year!
4. I like to play sax and party at Dutch carnival.
5. I was invited today by Ida Wognum (my coach at Uni) to fill in a proposal for the Oxford HRD conference on my Net-Generation research!(submission= tommorow)
I'm passing this on to:
... I realized I need to extend my network of dutch bloggers... December 20 Best wishesI'd like to wish all the best to YOU, person of the year!
My employer has designed a great memory game, if you play it you might be one of the lucky winners.... December 17 Second Life or extended real life???This weekend I've been on an exploration in the world of second life (SL) for the first time. Lately there's a lot of emphasis on second life in the media, primarily because large companies are starting their own equivalents in this virtual world. Also a lot of edubloggers are writing about SL and it's value for use in education.
One weekend living in this virtual world has left me with a great new experience, but also with a lot of questions about the effects this virtual world wil have on our real lives.
At first sight, SL just seemed to be overwhelmed with sex related stuff, most popular places are sex related. Believe me when I tell you that I've seen a man with a dragon's head and his 2 meter johnson playing around with a rabbit at the beach! But when I tried to look around this playground of the sex industry (realizing that all new technologies were first endevoured by it), I realized that SL is in its primary sense a virtual communication tool. Some girl I was sitting next to at a bench in (Virtual) Amsterdam explained it to me as MSN Messenger, but a lot more interactive. In my opinion that is what SL is all about: communicating with others in a virtual world. This virtual world, on the other hand, makes it possible to experiment with whatever you want. You can be anoyne you'd like and you can technically do anything you'd like to do. What I find intersting is in what way you can experience SL as a second life or should you regard it more as an extention of your real life?
Esspecially when companies are starting to mix real life bussiness in the virual world, there will be a point when you can't speak of a second life, but rather should speak in terms of an extention of real life activities. November 29 Worried parrents of Net-gen kidsLast week I have given a presentation (dutch) on a primary school with a group of parents/ teachers. I've learned that most parrents are worried, much more than they (in my opinion) need to.
I've started the presentation with some news messages of everyday in that week of which I thought were relevant to the topic. They really stated the urgency and actuality of the emergence of the online world and what we (as a society) are curently doing to keep the online world under control.
Most of the times when a parent expressed his/her worries I've tried to relate the same example to an ofline event. A lot of parents think 2 hours of gaming is way to much, but when you ask them about reading a book for two hours or watching a movie.... what is the difference? I think the difference lies in the unknown. Parent/ educators, as digital immigrants, mostly don't know what is happening in online worlds.
Children get harressed by other classmates when they are on MSN instant messaging. As a solution, schools and parents shut down MSN. The same children are being harressed on the playground, but is the solution then closing down the playground??? I bet that sound silly to you, the same is for shutting down MSN. Instead, we should be talking with our kids and just simply raise them as we used to do. It's about letting them explore the world and we as educators or parents are there to guide them on their path. Do we therefore need to know all the latest technology? Instead, I think we need NOT to be afraid and have trust in our children/ students, because most of the times they are a lot smarter than we tend to think... November 25 "Knowledge in..patent out"Knowledge in > Patent out. According to Emile Aarts, VP of Phillips Research, that is how we should deal with innovation in the bussines world (SURF 2006).
Sometimes I'm struggling with the ides of knowledge distribution in corporate settings. In many small- mid size company's, knowledge workers need to act in external knowledge networks or communities of practice in order to keep up. But where do we drwa the line, what knowledge is there to share with others (in order to increase your own) and what knowledge do we need to keep to our selfs and within the walls of our company? Phillips measures their innovative succes through the amount of patents in a year by the company, research team or even a researcher. But is that the way to enhance knowledge sharing and improve innovation? I'm sure its beneficial for the business on the short term, but I doubt it to be for long term innovation.
Take a look at how Blackboard is acting currently on the world market. Bussinesswise its understandable to tell other companies: hey! we've thought about this stuff a lot and now we want to protect that knowledge, if you want to use it you can buy it. But is knowledge something you can own and sell???? fuzzy stuff.....maybe it has something to do with the current transistion from a production economy to a knowledge economy and we still haven't find any satisfying ways to act in such an economy in which knowledge is a "production factor".
|
|
|
