Pop coding .... can drag and drop be too easy

I read this interesting article by Idit Harel and it started me thinking, especially now that New Zealand has given the green light to the year 0-15 Digital Technologies curriculum.

I am a huge fan of 'Scratch' and all the other drag and drop coding apps there are out there - marketed well and connected to the current pop culture and interest of children. Yet I also recognise that Idit makes a valid point when she refers to "pop computing" the "light and fluffy version of computer science" as being "a superficial response to the increased need for coders in the workplace."

Idit draws a distinction between "coding tutorials" and "computer science" and notes a difference to "playing with coding apps" rather than "learning to design an app using code." As she points out "building an app takes time and requires multi-dimensional learning contexts, pathways and projects" .... and "it can't be done in an hour or two, with a few simple drags, drops and clicks."

The concern is understandable and real. Knowing how to use 'Scratch' or 'Tynker' is not knowing how to code ... it is a beginning .... and a very engaging beginning which has transformed the role and the popularity of coding but in itself it is not computer science. Too often I hear teachers express that their students ... "know how to use 'Scratch'".

Seymour Papert (Mindstorms, 1980) identified the need for programming languages (used in educational technology) to have a 'low threshold and high ceiling (LTHC)'. This refers to making programming languages easy to get started with but also flexible enough so students can create increasing complex projects as they progress. 'Scratch' also included the term (in addition to low floor and high ceiling) of having wide walls so that a wide range of projects can be created to include all learning styles and interests. 

There is no doubt that drag and drop is an essential tool in a teachers' computing 'tool-box' but not if the original intent from Papert of having a high (or no) ceiling is not embedded in teaching and learning programmes. It is important that, as teachers, we don't let ourselves, or our students, sit inside a comfort zone where they can make an app or game as a simple linear process that may only take one lesson.  Instead we need to push that ceiling as high as it can go, allowing our students to fail and learning from their failures, and including the whole process of prototyping, identifying and solving problems, collaboration and critical and creative thinking - regardless of whether drag and drop or text-based languages are being used. 

Participatory culture ..

Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture - Media Education for the 21st Century

Henry Jenkins describes a participatory culture as being one "with relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement, strong support for creating and sharing creations, and some type of informal mentorship whereby experienced participants pass along knowledge to novices. In a participatory culture, members also believe their contributions matter and feel some degree of social connection with one another (at the least, members care about others’ opinions of what they have created)."

Being able to participate successfully in this culture will have an influence on our students' lives. Many students are already part of this culture - and being able to navigate this culture successfully will impact on their success. So the question for educators is, how can we harness this, exploit it for the benefit of our students and ensure that there is equitable access to this for all students? Alongside this we need to explore how, in this environment we can ensure out students develop critical thinking so the don't just accept popular culture without critiquing it from a variety of perspectives. Helping students to develop an awareness of how media shapes the world they live in, empowers them to be less susceptible to the power of popular culture.

1. Ethics - understanding of ethical issues around the participatory culture is essential as they well might be making, creating and sharing forms of digital media without any background understanding of the ethical issues involved. 

While the ever increasing access to new technologies is great if we don't learn to use these tools in ways that work for us there is the potential for us to be overwhelmed - and the tools to rule rather than the way we want them to work for us. Social media is an example of this - strategies for use - need to help children develop these. We need to support young people  to develop the skills, knowledge, ethical frameworks and self-confidence needed to be full and responsible participants in contemporary culture, and in a range of digital environments that are often not well understood by adults. 

The days of teaching 'safe surfing' are well are truly gone. The issues for young people now are a lot more complex. The need to be guided to take an active role in developing the online participatory culture of which they are a part of, and using this in a positive way both to enhance their learning and their development as people. Children need to be guided in their development of critical thinking and ethical norms in a casual and organic environment which is free of many of the controls and ethical norms that are part of the non-digital world.

New digital literacies do not replace the traditional literacies of being able to read and write as students still need to be able to read and right before they can take their place as part of the participatory culture. It is not a matter of replacing old skills with new, but of supplementing them and enhancing them with the additional media literacies and critical thinking that will enable them to navigate the un-policed environment of the digital world.

In a participatory culture the new digital literacies are also social as they enable people to be able to negotiate the digital world and communicate and create effectively in this environment, identifying what is important and meaningful to them, from the vastness out there.

There is no doubt that the challenges are vast, and as teachers we are teaching for online environments that many of us are unfamiliar with. Yet, it is important we don't let our lack of understandings of these environments create a situation where we ignore the potential educational benefits for our students. 

Future Focused Learning in Connected Communities

Future Focused Learning in Connected Communities

A report by the 21st Century Learning Group

This report recognises that digital competencies are a universal requirement and suggests 10 strategic priorities. Technologies totally change the way people learn, they enable people to take change of their own learning and manage themselves as life-long learners. Digital technologies are one of the enablers that have helped to shift the power from the 'teacher' to the 'learner'.

The ten strategic priorities suggested are:

1. Commit to meeting the needs of 21st century learners; 
2. Achieve equitable access to digital devices for every learner; 
3. Invest in people and innovation; 
4. Create future-focused learning environments; 
5. Invest in high-quality digital content and systems to make content easily accessible;
6. Build regional capability through collaboration; 
7. Build a robust evidence base; 
8. Implement a coordinated, system-wide effort to align curriculum, digital technologies, property, infrastructure, funding and legislation; 
9. Design a coherent, flexible and robust funding structure to support 21st century learning; and 
10. Implement a comprehensive five-year plan from 2014.

This leads to a well-managed approach for the integration of digital technologies to transform how learning happens. Yet, these priorities are still a long way away in many cases, and the challenge is how we can get there, before the goal-posts move even further away from where we are. And the survival of New Zealand in a global and flattened economy is dependant on our education system equipping our young people will the skills and attitudes necessary to thrive in a digital world where they are innovative and inventive creators of content, and collaborative skilled problem-solvers. 

Looking in more detail at the strategic priorities what exactly are the needs of 21st Century learners? Basically they need to be able to be independent and self-managing in a digital world that is constantly changing. They need to be able to communicate, collaborate and be critical and creative thinkers. They cannot rely on knowledge staying static or having other people giving them answers to problems. As educators, we need to ensure our curriculum and pedagogy supports this.

It goes without saying that all learners need ubiquitous access to digital tools and content. This is far from the case in New Zealand with many learners lacking access in their homes. So there needs to be investment in this to ensure we don't have an ever-expanding digital divide. But investment also needs to be in people - devices and infrastructure by itself won't make any difference. It is still the teachers who make a difference and a fostering of connected teachers is extremely powerful as a professional learning tool. No longer does PLD need to be delivered by experts, the power is definitely in the teachers and collaborative learners sharing their practice and learning from each other. This report also mentions the need to support leaders and boards to develop the future focused capabilities of their schools. This needs to be more than providing infrastructure and devices but needs to go to supporting teachers and encouraging innovative practice across the whole of the school. Suggested also, is the need to include digital competencies into the Registered Teacher Criteria and I would say that, 15 years into the 21st Century, this is essential.

I would also like to include here supporting the wider school communities to understand digital competencies and digital tools in education. Such initiatives as BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) can still cause debate among school communities and in the media yet I would regard it as essential (at least for the upper half of primary school and beyond) that students have their own personalised device that they can use at home and school. Why this is important is not always easy to communicate to school communities and families where they may still be on the thought that devices are primarily for playing games and 'screen-time' is not seen as an effective learning tool.

Also mentioned in the report is the nature of Student Management Systems. As someone who has been responsible in schools for the management of a number of different SMS products I don't quite understand why, in 2015, the whole process is a lot more seamless and easy to manage, especially when students move from one school to another. Shouldn't communication between different systems be seamless by now?

Despite the wealth of material on the Internet, quality material can be hard to find and there is a lack of Te Reo Māori and Pasifika content. While I agree that there needs to be quality content I am concerned that if there is too much of a focus on content that there will be a tendency for a content delivery approach to teaching to take place. Rather, I would like to see teachers as skilled creators of content that is able to meet the learning needs of their students. 

Collaborate, collaborate, collaborate. Teachers are natural collaborators and this is hugely important for the development of 21st Century understandings. Networking is one of the best professional development that teachers can be involved in and the more this can be supported, the more effective it will be. Alongside this, it is important to value teachers as researchers. Practitioner research in education is extremely powerful as it provides both evidence upon which decisions can be made, and it enhances the reflective practice of teachers. Given power to the teachers, who are experts in their field, is extremely important.

Lastly, successful digital innovations need to be planned for and funded. The cost of supporting digital learning and infrastructure is extremely difficult for many schools and connecting this to wider curriculum needs can be a challenge. Let's look at what is working and explore ways to make these practices scaleable and sustainable so they are available to all. Many boundaries and structures that currently exist around education may need to change so artificial barriers don't hold back the potential that digital technologies have to transform education.

Finally, let's hope that the goals set out in this report are achieved and within the 5-year time frame from 2014 that is stated.