Vincent Van Gogh
I am very pleased and honored to be here with you today in Irkutsk and to have the opportunity to speak with you on the topic, "Partnering with the Internet to Enhance English Teaching: Critical Links and Tipping Points." Before beginning in earnest, I would like to thank Bridget Gersten, Regional English Language Officer, for her role in bringing me here, and Elena Lubnina for her valuable assistance. I would also like to congratulate all those at Irkutsk State Technical University who have worked so hard to organize such a wonderful conference. The hospitality and friendship you've shown towards all of us has been truly appreciated.
Though I've never been to Russia before, I know Bridget, Elena and several teachers in this audience very well. That is possible because in addition to my ESL teaching responsibilities in the Academic English Studies department at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, I also teach an online course for the Graduate School of Education called "Integrating the Internet into the Classroom." (Krauss, 1998-2005). I will be referring to this online course often, so let's just call it the "Integrating the Internet" course for short. During the past several months, over fifty Russian Federation teachers as well as a group of English Language Fellows here in Russia have joined me and other teachers from around the world in this online course. Our purpose was to work collaboratively, getting hands on experience using the Internet in the classroom. So, it is no exaggeration for me to say that the Internet is directly responsible for my being here with you today.
Before proceeding, I'd like you to have a look at the words that are listed at the top of your handout. No, it's not a quiz and there will be no grading. But modeling the classroom teacher, I'm going to ask you to predict what you believe to be the meaning of each of the words in that short list as they will be used in this presentation. When my talk is over, you can check to see if they carry more meaning for you than they might right now.
And one more thing before proceeding. I'd like to show you a little "Internet magic trick" called the Virtual Mind Reader. Again, if you notice on your outline, after participating in this activity, you're to write down what you think my purpose was in starting my talk with this demonstration. Also, I'd like you to think about how the Virtual Mind Reader works to read your thoughts. As an incentive, the first three teachers who give me the solution in writing, along with your thoughts on why I began my talk with this activity, can choose one of these three fine books that I have here with me on the podium. So, I look forward to reading your solutions and to giving these prizes away!
OK--enough magic. As classroom teachers, I'm sure you have many ideas about the Virtual Mind Reader Web site. Please keep these in mind as we proceed together.
I am not exaggerating when I say that the Internet has changed my life. It it has given me access to knowledge and the ability to communicate far beyond what I could have imagined a short ten years ago. And this access to information at my fingertips empowers me.
After receiving an email confirming that I was coming to Irkutsk, I immediately navigated to www.google.com, my favorite Internet search engine, and typed in "Irkutsk." Within seconds, the search results gave me access to basic information about the city. I found out that Irkutsk has over half a million residents and is located in southern Siberia, on the Trans-Siberian RR, about halfway between Moscow and Vladivostok. I learned that the city was completely destroyed by fire in 1879 and that it took ten years to rebuild. I was able to view photos of the city so that when I arrived here, I felt that the landmarks were somewhat familiar, even though I had never been anywhere in Russia, let alone to Irkutsk. To be able to access this information instantaneously was empowering to me.
My use of the Internet continued as I began to prepare for the trip.
- I contacted friends and distant family via email letting them know where I was going.
- I looked at maps online to see where I would be traveling.
- I checked the weather in Irkutsk for this time of year.
- I consulted a Web site to find out about time zones across Russia.
- I checked a site on electric current in Russia to find out about adapter plugs for my laptop.
- I researched the Web to decide which books I wanted to use for my research and bought them online.
And when planning this plenary address, again the Internet was my ally.
- I consulted online journals and Web sites on technology enhanced teaching.
- I downloaded Web pages to my computer so I could show them to you and searched for images that I thought would make my presentation more informative and enjoyable.
- When I return home, I will create a Web page and publish this presentation making it accessible to you and anyone else with Internet access.
The list goes on and on, but I'm sure you get the idea. The Internet is indispensable to me in my professional life. And I could make a different list of Internet uses that enhance my personal life, whether it be printing out roadmaps to my son's out of town baseball games, or checking movie reviews to find the best film to see with my wife. I mention these personal uses of the Web because I believe that learning to use the Internet for these personal purposes is the first step towards becoming proficient in using the Internet with students.
Now, it would be
instructive from a teacher's point of view to look at the
language and technology skills that I needed to successfully
complete these tasks on the Internet.
Reading skills would include:
- finding the appropriate information to read by searching the Internet
- evaluating the source of the information found (since there is no guarantee of authenticity or credibility on the Web)
- determining whether to follow hyperlinks forward or back to other Web pages
- deciding whether or not to save or catalogue information for later access.
Writing skills would include:
- incorporating text, graphics and audio into multimedia pages for the Web
- creating and making effective use of hypertext links to convey my message
- tailoring my writing to an Internet audience, which would be hard to predict
- using appropriate pragmatic strategies, which would vary, depending on the electronic forum for which the writing was intended
That's quite a list of skills, I'm sure you'll agree!
And I believe that these are the skills that our students need to develop to be successful in 21st century educational and workplace environments. So the question is how can we best help our students in this endeavor? First, I believe we need to become adept and confident in accomplishing these tasks ourselves. Then we must join with our students, developing meaningful and motivating activities that incorporate these skills so that they can be practiced and ultimately mastered. And this must be done within the context of our English language teaching.
At the outset, I want to state clearly that I recognize that teachers around the world, and specifically in this region of Russia do not have the same level of Internet access or computer resources as we enjoy in the U.S. Currently, approximately 63% of those living in the U.S. have Internet access (Greenspan, 2002), while the figure in Russia is closer to 11%, and fully half of those are living in Moscow or St. Petersburg (Mainville, 2003).
I realize that some of you have few computers either at home or in school, and that your access to the Internet is limited, often slow and expensive. I also understand that learning to use the Internet requires a commitment in time, our most precious commodity, and it also requires you to take a risk, working in a medium that may be unfamiliar to you. Nevertheless, I encourage you to try to use the Internet, first for your personal use, then as a classroom tool, by taking small steps-- to see Internet use as a continuum, with the goal to move forward, at your own speed, but definitely forward.
Victoriya Tuzlukova wrote a comment about her experience taking the "Integrating the Internet" online course with me in November 2003. She reported that the biggest challenges for her in completing the workshop were:
- time conflicts
- computer fatigue
- the quality of Internet connection
- difficulties accessing a computer/printer
- computer and Internet skills
- one's experience with Internet-based teaching
- learning style and
- lack of organizational/management support from her home university
So, yes, there certainly were barriers to overcome for Viktoriya, as I'm sure there are for many of you who want to gain more experience working with the Internet. However, Viktoriya also spoke of the benefits of her experience by saying, and I quote:
- I took a distance course for the first time in my life and I am really delighted that I have completed it . . .
- In the course of three weeks I managed to find answers to many questions. I also got solutions to some of the challenges I faced when trying to incorporate Internet into EFL teacher training programs.
- The atmosphere of the course was very friendly, encouraging and supportive . . . the most useful for me was to learn about Internet-based activities/projects, as well as to learn about other teachers' practice and expertise.
- I was also very happy that I created my own Web-page on EFL writing . . . I am not able to do this without the course.
- The course content was relevant to my teaching needs and was a wonderful, very rewarding experience . . . (E. Lubnina, personal communication, June 1, 2004).
I take the time to tell you about Victoria's experience because I think that it represents what teachers face when it comes to learning new Internet skills, especially in an environment where Internet access isn't the best. There are risks to be taken and barriers to overcome. This is true. But the result is new knowledge and hands-on skills that will enable you to work among your students in new ways.
On the issue of Internet access and the trends in its growth, it is important to realized the rate of growth in Internet users is now strongest in non-English speaking countries. In 1968, 62% of the global online community lived in English speaking countries. This dropped to 37% in 2002 (Dunlap, 2002). And if recent reports prove to be accurate, Russia's Internet growth is poised to take off. By 2005, U.S. $2.5 billion dollars will be spent to develop Internet infrastructure across Russia with the Electronic Russia program. And the current growth rate in Russia for PC sales is 20% per year. In 2003, government sources predicted that the number of Internet users in Russia will hit 20 million by 2005 (Mainville, 2003).
Based on these figures, and also based on the interest shown by the Russian teachers with whom I've worked, I believe that the motivation of teachers in Russia to incorporate the Internet into classroom teaching is certainly on the rise. And much creative work is already being done. I also know that Russian students are becoming more active Internet users and would find it motivating to use the Internet more in their educational programs.
The main thrust of my message today is that teachers are the most critical component in the equation when it comes to successful infusion of the Internet into the classroom. And I'm not here to tell you that the U.S. teachers have got it right and that you don't. That's simply not the case. Up to now, in the U.S., the Internet has not, on the whole, fulfilled its potential as a teaching tool. This is, in large part, because teachers have not had the professional training they need. Most don't have the skills and knowledge needed to use the Internet in pedagogically sound ways that are relevant to their students' lives (Hargittai, 1998).
In the U.S., computers are available in almost every classroom; 98% of schools and 77% of classrooms are connected to the Internet. Over 84% of teachers believe that access to the Internet improves the quality of education. Yet despite these facts, in a 1999 survey by the National Center for Education Statistics, 2/3 of teachers said that the Internet was not being optimally integrated into the curriculum. Only 20% of these same teachers considered themselves well prepared to use technology in the classroom (Cradler, Freeman, Cradler & McNabb, 2002). The majority of schools have not hired a full-time staff person responsible for technology resources or teaching (U.S. Department of Education, 2003).
And what do students think? In a 2003 article, "The Digital Disconnect: The Widening Gap Between Internet-Savvy Students and their Schools," key findings included:
. . . the quality of their Internet-based assignments was poor and uninspiring. They want to be assigned more, and more engaging, Internet activities that are relevant to their lives (Levin & Arafeh, 2003, p.5).
So, if one accepts the premise that teacher training is integral to accomplishment of effective Internet use in the classroom, what kind of training should be implemented? Here is what the studies show:
. . .when teachers are learning to integrate technology into their classrooms, the most important staff development features include opportunities to explore, reflect, collaborate with peers, work on authentic learning tasks, and engage in hands-on, active learning. In essence, the principles for creating successful learning environments for children apply to teachers as well (cited in Kelly & Ringstaff, 2002, p.15).
In other words, teachers should get hands-on practice, in an Internet-rich environment, creating materials in the content areas in which they teach. And they should do so while collaborating with other professionals who can give them support and stimulate creative thinking. This is the model that I have sought to implement in the online "Integrating the Internet" course that I have taught since 1998, and in which a number of you in the audience have participated. I would like to spend the next few minutes with you highlighting examples of activities in this course, which also mirror activities that I use with English language students that I teach in the AES program at Lewis & Clark College.
The "Integrating the Internet" course is offered three times per year and has enrolled from 20 to 50 teacher participants in any one session. Though designed to be best utilized with a teacher as facilitator, the materials are accessible to any teacher or student who would like to make use of them for self-study. (The Web address for those materials is listed in your handout). I encourage you to use them for yourself and with your students, as you like.
The course content in a nutshell is as follows: Week 1 familiarizes teachers with the communication tools used in the course, provides participants with a framework for organizing the content of the Internet, and introduces learning activities such as Hotlists, Subject Samplers, Treasure Hunts and WebQuests. Through the exploration of high quality Internet directories, teachers begin collecting and organizing Web resources in their content specialties.
In Week 2 the focus turns to developing effective Internet search strategies, evaluating Web materials and producing Web-based learning activities that are posted to the Internet. The goal is for teachers to learn to weave Internet materials into their curricula in order to enhance the students' acquisition of content, language and electronic literacy skills.
In Week 3 teachers explore telecomputing projects that are designed to encourage collaboration among students located around the world. And the final activity of the course is for every teacher to design and post to the Web their own home page, complete with links to games, puzzles, and surveys that they create, using free or low-cost Web-based tools. By the end of the course, teachers are much more confident in their ability to find, evaluate, create and integrate Web-based materials, and having acquired these skills in a meaningful context, are ready to work among their students.
Today, the importance of electronic communications in society is undeniable. Email is fast becoming the major form of business communications and has been ranked in some surveys higher than telephone conversations or face to face discussions as the most frequent mode of interaction on the job site (cited in Warschauer, Shetzer & Meloni, 2000, p. 31). However, email is not the only form of electronic communication that is growing in popularity. Web-based bulletin boards and online chat are taking their place in the business and education world. Each of these electronic forms of communication has its own set of discourse and pragmatic rules. And although our students may use email and may chat, they need our assistance in learning how to use these communications modes correctly in different contexts (Warschauer, 2001a).
So one example of how you might move forward on the continuum of Internet integration is to communicate electronically in English more often and for more varied purposes with your students. Have students send you written assignments as email attachments, develop a class email list, and send out assignments to your students electronically whenever possible.
Electronic bulletin boards are another great medium for student communication and are quick and easy to set up. We use Nicenet, a free Web-based discussion board in the "Integrating the Internet" course and I use it every single term with my English language students (Nicenet, 1996-2003). My students and I develop electronic journals. This writing is shared among all members of the class. Teachers can allow free topic selection by the students or topics can be assigned to encourage further inquiry into the content students are studying. Students can also share documents and Web links with their classmates.
Another communication option in the "Integrating the Internet" course is online chat. We use Tapped In, a virtual meeting place that is a forum for educators around the world (SRI International, 1995-2003). Again, a free resource, each member of Tapped In is provided with text-based chat and private messaging, threaded discussion boards in every room, and chat transcripts are automatically emailed to participants. Each member gets a virtual office where students or other visitors can come for chats. There is also a calendar of professional development events scheduled monthly.
Vance Stevens, a leader in Internet-assisted language learning, gave a recent plenary at The American University of Cairo (2004). He describes two communities of language learners, one composed of students called Writing for Webheads, formed in 1998, and the other composed of teachers, Webheads in Action, formed in 2002. These groups regularly use the Tapped In online community Web site for their meetings. The teacher group, made up of language teaching professionals, have been able to enhance their professional development as they learned how an online community could come together and progress.
Here is a quote from Stevens' plenary:
I think that in order for these techniques to be used with students, it is necessary first that you, their teachers, become comfortable with the media involved. . .We (Webheads) are working within our community to scaffold one another into a greater understanding of these tools. Our approach is working. Many of our members have engaged their students in gratifying projects which they say they could not have accomplished if not for their work with Webheads in Action (Stevens, 2004).
I encourage you to visit Tapped In and take a tour with one of the friendly and knowledgeable volunteers at the virtual help desk. Joining the Webhead in Action would be a great way to enhance your Internet education skills.
Many teachers have told me that they hesitate to go to the Internet for materials because it seems overwhelming--information overload. The Web doesn't appear to have any organization or structure. It has been often written that using the Internet in teaching is "like trying to get a drink from a fire hydrant!" I too have had this feeling. This slide captures the feeling for me.
Pull out, Betty! Pull out!. . . You've tapped into the Internet
When I looked up the origin of the "fire hydrant" quote, I found that the original context actually dealt with getting an education at M.I.T. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) rather than getting information from the Internet. A former MIT President, Jerome Weisner, coined the phrase when he said, "Getting an Education from MIT is like taking a drink from a fire hose.'' In 1991, a group of MIT students actually turned a fire hose into a drinking fountain in front of the largest lecture hall on campus. Here is the famous fire hose drinking fountain at MIT (IHTFP Hack Gallery, 1991).
Inspired by the MIT students' efforts, I'd like to present some strategies that should help to control the flow of information from the Internet. Hopefully this will encourage more teachers to make use of Internet resources.
Much of the first week of the "Integrating the Internet" course is dedicated to exploring an organizational structure for the Internet and for locating repositories of authentic materials that teachers can use directly in the classroom or for creation of Web-based activities. Tom March, who some of you may know as a pioneer in Internet-assisted education (and co-developer of the WebQuest format) has developed a framework for classifying information on the Internet (1995-2001). This helps teachers feel more in control and less hesitant to explore the Web. March suggests sorting the content of the Web into seven categories: Enrichments, References, Resources, Lessons, Tools, Projects, and Activities. Teachers already have an idea what these terms mean in the text-based world to which they are accustomed. So, by comparing the text-based resources and Web-based resources that fall within these categories, teachers gain confidence by establishing an organizational structure in their mind they can use as they are surfing the Web.
Teachers often make the mistake of immediately going to their favorite search engine when looking for materials and activities from the Web to use in their classes. This is often not the most effective strategy. Teachers learn to use educational Internet directories as their first source for teaching materials. An Internet directory is a collection of resources, categorized by topic. The Web sites that are included are chosen, categorized, and often rated for quality by human beings. Search engines, on the other hand build their indexes of Web sites through automated systems of computers. Here are three Internet directories that are good resources for materials.
(Knowledge Network Explorer, 1995-2004)
In the Blue Web'n directory, you'll notice that category headings across the top are modeled after the 7 categories of resources in the March article that I mentioned previously. This really helps teachers to locate the types of resources they are looking for.
(MCI Foundation, 2004)
Marco Polo provides excellent content in 7 subjects areas: Arts, Economics, Humanities, Math, Language Arts, Science, and Geography. In addition to excellent Web resources, you'll find lesson plans rated by grade level with step by step instructions for implementation.
(Opp-Beckman, 2004)
The OELP Online English Language Center, sponsored by the the U.S. State Department, is updated often and contains subject matter such as Civic Education, Business English, and American Studies, popular with many Russian teachers. There are also categories of links for learners and teachers of English. So, I hope you will explore educational Web directories like the three I've mentioned in order to support your content teaching.
But finding materials on the Web is not an end in itself; it is just a beginning. It's important to remember that using the Internet in one's teaching does not guarantee good results. As Mark Warschauer has said,
Just as students won't learn simply by being brought to a classroom, neither will they learn by being sat down in front of a networked computer. In the end, it is not the technology itself but the teaching that makes the difference (2000).
And Tom March has warned that the Internet can be "an embarrassment of riches" if not used in educationally sound ways (1995-2001).
Sometimes the Internet is just used to repackage materials that have been traditionally delivered as text. My favorite metaphor for this concept is that of Shovelware, coined by Alistair Fraser, a professor at Penn State University.
Shovelware
http://www.bobsoule.com/
According to Fraser, when new technologies come along, the tendency is always to take the same information that was created using the old technology and to simply repackage and redistribute it using the medium of the new technology. In other words,
Shovelware can refer to any content shoveled from one communication medium to another with little regard for the appearance, ease of use, or capabilities of the second medium.
How can a teacher know if he or she is making pedagogically sound use of the Web or is merely producing "shovelware?" Fraser's quote, which you see on the slide, is useful for us to keep in mind. He states,
The extent to which a student gains the same pedagogical benefit from a printout of your Web resources as from the resources themselves is the extent to which you have done nothing of pedagogical value by using the Web. . . If the materials you are using from the Web do not meet that test, you may have improved the students' access to the information, but not necessarily their insight into it or ability to apply it in a meaningful way (1999).
Please don't misunderstand me. In my view, finding relevant, authentic materials on the Internet and printing them out or putting them on a local computer for your students to use does have merit, especially in a situation where textbooks with the same material are not available. I know from my experience with the Russian teachers that the Internet has been very valuable as a source of texts. I am not denigrating that use, but it is important, I think, to consider this notion of "shovelware" and to take the authentic texts we find and to create activities with them that move beyond what can be done pedagogically with the print materials themselves.
The next concept I'd like to touch on is that of evaluation of Web materials. A major difference between the Internet and traditional information sources has to do with the lack of editors. For the first time in history, every person with Internet access becomes a potential publisher with a world wide audience. Of course, this has huge implications for education, both positive and negative. On the positive side, our students, for the first time ever, have an audience for their work that goes beyond the teacher and other students in the classroom or schoolhouse. However, teachers must also be aware of the pitfalls that have been created as more and more people take advantage of the "writer as publisher" aspect of the Web. One of the major dangers is the inability of students to distinguish fact from fiction on the Internet. Sometimes, this can be funny and we have to laugh at ourselves when we see the lengths to which people will go to test the limits of the medium. Let's go to RYT Hospital-Dwayne Medical Center to observe the first male pregnancy (n.d.).
http://www.malepregnancy.com/
Now, you might say that there is no danger in a site pretending to document the world's first male pregnancy. And I agree with you. But there are real dangers involved when students look to the Internet for information that is critical to their education. Let's take a look at a more sinister example.
Remember that anyone can publish information on the Internet and authors often have their own personal or ideological agendas. Let's take an example that I use in Week 2 of the "Integrating the Internet" course. Teachers read an article by Alan November, "The Web -- Teaching Zack to Think" (1998). What follows is a summary of the opening paragraphs of the article containing a conversation that occurred between a 14 year old student (named Zack) and his teacher. This is a true story. You'll quickly get the point:
Fourteen year old Zack: "I'm working on a history paper about how the Holocaust never happened."
Long pause, and the teacher responds, "Zack, where did you hear that the Holocaust didn't happen?"
"The Internet. It's on a Web page at Northwestern University."
Zack found his "information from a Web page titled "Home Web page of Arthur R. Butz." On his low-key home page, Butz explains that he wrote, "A short introduction to the study of Holocaust revisionism." At the top of the page Butz identifies himself as "Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Northwestern University" (1996-2003).
This conversation between Zack and his teacher highlights the dangers of taking at face value what we find on the Internet. And I think the dangers of misinterpretation are especially great for our students who are not only young and perhaps lack background in the subject they are researching, but also are reading materials not written in their native language. November, in his article, goes on to show several techniques that Zach could have used to find out more information about Arthur Butz that would have made him suspicious (1998). Perhaps then he would not have accepted Butz's assertion that the Holocaust never happened.
We teachers have a responsibility to help our students learn that they must question what they find on the Internet. Students must learn to ask whether the main purpose of a page is to inform or persuade, and then, depending on their answer, they must read the information through different eyes. Additional questions must be asked about the author's authority and the article's accuracy, currency and coverage. There is a checklist as well as other resources and hands-on activities on the "Integrating the Internet" course Web site that you are welcome to modify and use with your students to help them with the issue of Web site evaluation. Once you have the hands-on experience of evaluating Web sites yourselves, are are not only sensitized to the issues, but are better able to teach students those same skills.
A presentation focusing on Internet use in education would not be complete without looking at inspirational uses of the Internet in making the world a better place. Of course educators are dedicated to helping their students learn English and also the literacy skills they will need to be successful in their lives. But educators are interested in the whole person and also have a role in inspiring students to improve the communities in which they will live and work. As Paulo Freire put it,
If education is to be truly liberating, it must focus upon the existing situation of people, allowing them to reflect upon their condition and empowering them to change it.
The two projects I'm going to talk about are partnerships involving the Internet that will help to improve conditions around the world and to empower people.
The Hunger Site (2000-2005) focuses the power of the Internet on the eradication of world hunger. On average, 220,000 people from around the world visit the site daily, clicking the "Give Free Food" button to help feed the hungry. For each click of the button, the value of 1.1 cup of food staples is donated to the hungry. One hundred percent of the funding from sponsor banner advertising on the site goes to provide food aid to hungry people in over seventy-four countries. I have a yellow sticky note on my computer so that I remember to visit the Hunger Site first thing every day. A simple yet powerful humanitarian use of the Internet. Sending students to this site would not only make them aware of humanitarian concerns, but might pique their interest to ask: How is this site funded? How is the distribution of the food determined? What other efforts are being made to alleviate the hunger problem. The possibilities are many.
The second humanitarian technology project I'd like to explore with you arose out of the Digital Vision Program at Stanford University. The goal of this program is to encourage innovative computing and communication activities in the developing world that contribute to humanitarian, educational and sustainable development goals. Launched in 2001, the Digital Vision Program brings technology professionals from around the world to Stanford where they spend a sabbatical for up to one academic year while they work to develop their technology project. (Reuters Foundation, 2003b).
I chose to share with you a project that fascinated me. It's called "Bollywood Jukebox for Literacy." This project makes use of Same Language Subtitling (SLS), which is currently being used on television song programming in India. The objective is to increase literacy skills among the early literate population (Reuters Foundation, 2003a).
Using SLS, it is possible to subtitle the lyrics of song programs shown on television, in the same language as the audio so that what the viewer hears the viewer will also read. The idea is for the viewer to integrate reading and writing processes subconsciously while watching television entertainment. This idea is working extremely well in India where music videos are incredibly popular and where literacy skills badly need to be developed.
During 2002-2003 SLS was implemented on two Bollywood song-based programs telecast nationally in India. Over 150 million viewers, largely in rural areas, are receiving weekly reading practice. Based on a Nielsen's survey, approximately 90% of the people prefer songs with SLS and the ratings of the two television shows that are using SLS have increased substantially. Here's an example of SLS in action--simple yet powerful. (Reuters Foundation, 2003a)
Before bringing this talk to a close, I'd like to reiterate a few points and make one or two additional ones. Though the Internet has not yet reached every part of the world, the infrastructure is growing, and Internet users are increasing the fastest in the non-English speaking areas of the world. Though I know that many of you living in this region do not yet have the Internet access that you would like at a cost you can afford, the trend is towards positive growth and cheaper access. I hope that some of the concepts I've covered today will be useful to you, if not immediately than in the very near future.
I chose the title for this presentation carefully. I used the word "partnering", rather than exploiting or harnessing. Partnering, in my mind, connotes a mutual sharing of responsibilities and benefits. The Internet is more than a computer network. It is a network of people who now, more than at any other time in history, have the ability to collaborate with one another and to create the content and applications that make up the Internet.
And the second part of the title mentions "critical links." Though the infrastructure is important, universal access does not guarantee that the Internet's potential in education will be realized. The critical links are not the computers and the electronic cables, but the human links between and among learners. And what should be the critical role of the teacher? Tom Carroll, director of Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology, states,
I do not like the teacher as the sage on the stage, but I do not like the teacher as a guide on the side either, because it places the teacher outside the learning process. . . We need to get the teacher into the game. The teacher needs to get in there and be part of the learning process, actively engaged in solving the problem with the students and learning with the students - - not teaching but modeling learning with the students by functioning as an expert learner solving problems and constructing new knowledge with the students (2000).
And so, if you look back at the vocabulary list that I gave you at the beginning of this talk, you'll notice that a few words remain undefined. I've left this for the end because I think that there is great potential among our learning community of teachers to bring the effective use of the Internet to a tipping point in the future.
For those of you not familiar with the term "Tipping Point," let me explain. Even though the use of technology is required by teacher education programs and by state education accrediting departments in the U.S., neither the majority of teacher educators (Mitchell, Dipetta & Kerr, 2001) nor practicing teachers (Anderson & Speck, 2001) infuse technology into their teaching. For technology enhanced education to become solidly established into our schools, the use of technology in education must become an integral part of the culture of our educational system (Carlsen, 2003). This is where the Tipping Point concept comes in.
The Tipping Point is an idea proposed by Malcolm Gadwell in his popular book, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (2000). The basic premise of the book is that just as disease epidemics can start with a single person and then reach a point where they spread incredibly rapidly, social epidemics can do the same thing. According to Tipping Point theory, a social Tipping Point can be reached only when there are sufficient or strong enough individuals to initiate the change. Gadwell identifies three critical actors. He calls them Connectors, Mavens and Salespeople who come together to make Tipping Points happen. Connectors are people with special gifts for both bringing people together and for working well in groups. Mavens are individuals who possess special knowledge and are also able and willing to share this knowledge by mentoring those who know less than they do. And finally, salespeople are those who are gifted at persuasion, and take an optimistic and positive attitude when advocating for a product or idea.
In the past few months, over 50 teachers in Russia have joined me in the "Integrating the Internet" course. I know that many of these teachers are sharing what they have learned with other teachers around the Russian Federation. Here are a few examples that I read about in the Umbrella electronic newsletter. Viktoriya Tuzlukova from Rostov On-Don has conducted three workshops with a focus on "Teaching EFL Writing with the Internet." Marina Bovtenko from Novosibirsk presented on "Internet Resources for English Language Teachers" at NOVELTA. I understand that a Special Interest Group on IT in ELT has been formed. Anna Suslova and Olga Korebeynikova from here in Irkutsk have created an online lab for the American Studies Department. Natalya Miximova from Khabarovsk has made presentations at a "Teachers' Regional Conference" and at the "Krai EFL Teacher Development Course." A new departmental Web page has been designed, featuring popular links to materials designed by Jennifer Crandall, one of the EFL Fellows (E. Lubnina, personal communication, June 1, 2004).
These are just a few of the developments that I know about that have grown out of our online collaboration over the past several months and Bridget Gersten tells me that she is receiving more reports every week. In addition, the Department of State continues to sponsor excellent Web-based teaching materials on the OELP Online English Language Center Web site (Opp-Beckmen, 2004), and Bridget Gersten's office supports English teaching resources in Hello Online (National Association, 2003).
I am confident that among the group of 50 teachers, and among the group that is here today, there are prime candidates to serve as connectors, mavens and salespeople. And maybe, in the very near future, we will approach a Tipping Point in the effective use of technology among this community of educators.
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/special/rsjproject/rsjlibrary/car/wtno24_mar1999/
So, I'll leave you with this image of the seesaw--the last of your vocabulary items. I chose this image because it shows people working together, moving uphill along what could represent a steep learning curve, but approaching that Tipping Point when good ideas take hold and spread.
And finally, this quote by Chekhov, which sums things up better than I can myself. Hopefully, what you've seen and heard today will motivate some of you to take a chance, take a risk. Increase your personal experience using the tools the Internet has to offer. And once you have experimented on your own and collaborated with colleagues, join the circle of learners in your classroom to share what you know and to learn from them as well. And remember, your informed participation is critical if your students are to acquire the English language and electronic literacy skills they will need to succeed in the 21st century.
Anton Chekhov
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