TECHNOLOGY FOR RADICAL CHANGE

Click the Links Below to get the Nodes and Edges Lists I Created for the 1996 Online Zapatista Support Network

Web 2.0 and Empowering Students?

Can we use the concept of Web 2.0 to imagine a web service that could be used to empower students and address educational inequity? As a concept and a process of doing the web, I think web 2.0 and its infrastructure provide a really interesting case for how one could use technology and the internet to navigate between, circumvent, and co-opt power structures. In particular I'm thinking of the power structures that control the United States education system.

In Tim O'reily's article "What Is Web 2.0 Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software" he discusses at length the history and development of what we now refer to as Web 2.0. In the process O'reily undertook to identify the defining principles and practices of Web 2.0 I was very interested in the principles of "trusting users as co-developers and harnessing collective intelligence". When imagining solutions to the issue of educational inequity and inadequacy I am a strong believer that students must be the ones who work together to address the challenges they find most onerous within their education system. However, in order for students to successfully address these challenges they must feel empowered to do so and supported in their actions.

I think the principle of the web as a platform, that is so fundamental to the concept of Web 2.0, is a really viable way to empower students. The power of the web to give people a voice and platform for your story to be heard is unmatched. It was facebook and twitter that allowed people to circumvent the strict censorship laws put in place by dictatorships throughout the Arab world and empower people to fight for their rights during the Arab Spring. The web is a extremely powerful platform, and I believe it can be used as one that could empower students across the world to circumvent the challenges imposed by government spending, inadequate/bias textbooks, and countless other challenges in education to harness their collective intelligence to create the future that they want for education.

Realistically what I imagine this process looking like would be an open source web service that students would use similar to the way they use google maps or any social networking site. I imagine that any user (most likely students) could get on to this shared map that all users have and they could map/write reviews on places they view as valuable educational resources within their communities or even within their schools. The service would be similar to yelp but the focus would be on schools and education. Students could also map places they see as detrimental to their education or write negative reviews. I imagine it similar to the process of wikipedia harnessing collective intelligence in a free and trusting way.

When discussing Google, one of the most important Web 2.0 darlings, O'reily writes "Google happens in the space between browser and search engine and destination content server, as an enabler or middleman between the user and his or her online experience". This is one of the things that excites me most about technology/the web. There are infinite possibilities to do things, anything that you can imagine. There are so many work arounds, in betweens, and the deep web that I think with the right intention the internet can be used as a truly radical space.

Personal Learning Environments and Easy Knowledge Access

I think my personal learning environment is a perfect example of how to use the internet and its services to work smarter not harder. With the internet we have practically all the knowledge of the world readily available to us, and if it is not readily available to us it is most likely an email or two away. If we think of our personal learning environment as a way to ease the process of accessing knowledge we can make our lives much more rich and simple at the same time.

You might ask "how can one use their personal learning environment to make their life both more rich and simple"? To answer this question I turn to my own personal learning environment. Particularly I would like to focus on YouTube, Slader, Quizlet, stackoverflow, and W3Schools. These are probably my most used services out of all those included in my personal learning environment. I have taught myself nearly 100% of all the content in my computer science classes through YouTube videos. I use YouTube for everything I want to learn; from how to do my makeup and hair, to finding out the new fashion trends, to making vegan curry, to finding a review on the new product I want to buy, to learning how to fix the lock on my door I just broke, to understanding how to draw a circuit diagram, to watching documentaries and news stories. When it comes to learning YouTube is always my first stop, particularly because I am a very auditory learner. Therefore, YouTube allows me to not waste time or money on textbooks I wont read or understand when I can just watch free YouTube videos and learn everything I need to know. This is especially doable for the field that I am in because literally everything you would need to know about computer science has already been published online. If it has not yet been published you probably created something new. stackoverflow and W3Schools are also two great examples of how I am able to easily make my knowledge of computers more rich by simply turning to these websites that have already published everything I would want to know. Slader and Quizlet actually have the answers to almost all of my homework assignments and they often include explanations.

One of the most important benefits of my personal learning environment is the amount of time it saves me. If I cannot immediately find the answer to something on one of the web services I mentioned previously my next plan of attack is to hit my social networking sites to see if someone I know has the knowledge I am looking for. If it is for class I might message one of my classmates or someone I know who is in the same field as me. One time a girl I have never met, but who I follow on instagram posted a story of her struggling with a section of code and I messaged her my entire code for a similar project I had done. Even if it is not an academic question I constantly post on my story for people who are looking to sell me music festival tickets. I'm also constantly learning about fun social events happening or protests/demonstration/fundraisers for causes I am dedicated to from instagram. All in all my personal learning environment just makes the facilitation of my knowledge consumption and production so much easier, which also increases the opportunities I have for knowledge consumption and production exponentially.

Social Media and Education Emancipation

I wanted to highlight the work of Eva Lewis a young and powerful activist from Chicago who has worked on various initiatives to support equity in Chicago communities. Lewis’ incredible activism has taken on the issues of gun violence in Chicago, gentrification and the displacement of Black women, and Education Emancipation. For the purposes of my study on the use of digital tools for empowering students; I would specifically like to highlight the ways in which she leverages her social media and digital identity as a tool to gain support for her Education Emancipation campaign.

On her website for her activism through arts initiative called “The I Project” she has a tab dedicated to the work she has done as a part of her Education Emancipation campaign. Lewis includes a summary of the work her and her team completed as part of this campaign writing “In 2017, The I Project launched its Education Emancipation campaign to provide children in Chicago Public Schools elementary schools with equitable funding, so that they may receive the education they are entitled to. We partnered with Bouchet Elementary, a predominantly Black, low-income, elementary school in Chicago's South Shore neighborhood. Over two years later we have raised over $13k+ to help Bouchet reach their 1:1 Chromebook-to-student ratio goal, and secured resources for the students such as books and field trips”. Lewis also includes incredibly informative infographics and timelines to provide context on this initiative. However, what is not discussed is the way she leveraged her personal instagram, twitter, and facebook accounts to promote the Education Emancipation benefit concert. Lewis consistently and successfully looks to social media to advertise benefits, gofundmes, and to ask for volunteers. Part of the Education Emancipation campaign included canvasing Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood to create a Community Needs and Assets Assessment. Lewis was able to mobilize over 100 volunteers to help canvas for a Day of Action, and one of the main ways she was able to reach people was through social media and especially instagram stories.

Social media and technology cannot alone solve inequity. However, I believe that Eva Lewis is a wonderful example of the ways one can use social media and technology to spread and support their own powerful solutions to inequity. At the age of 20 Lewis has had her own TEDx Talk addressing the issue of gun violence in Chicago, she has been featured on AJ+, she is verified on twitter, she has written for teen vogue, but most importantly she has created a positive impact on so many people’s lives, particularly in Chicago. Eva Lewis is an amazing case for what the future of activism can look like and all of the ways that she utilizes technology are lessons for all of us for how we can make better use of our digital identity to ease the way in which we pull resources to adress inequity. To take part in the future of activism and support Eva Lewis follow her Twitter and Instagram, and please donate anything you can here and here, so that Eva Lewis can continue to do her amazing work.

Demiystifying Strategic Technological Trends in Education

Technology is an incredible tool, and there is so much untapped potential in the field of technology, and how it can be used to improve Education. Strategic Technology Trends are also incredibly important, especially because technology has, throughout history, been a catalyst for societal and social change. Our lives have been completely changed by social media, and that is a fact. I am very interested in how we can use technology to imagine a new world, but one that is ethical and decolonized. However, I am not quick to dismiss all of the harm that technology has caused. Simply the way that technology is produced poses an ethical issue.

“60% of the world's cobalt supply comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), much of it mined by the estimated 40,000 child laborers in that country. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, children in the DRC engage “in the forced mining of gold, tin ore (cassiterite), tantalum ore (coltan), and tungsten ore (wolframite)," and are used “in armed conflict, sometimes as a result of forcible recruitment or abduction by non-state armed groups." Once the minerals are out of the ground, they must be processed and assembled into smartphone components. In two factories in Vietnam, the mostly female workers reported working up to 12 hours a day, experiencing dizziness and fainting episodes, and anticipating miscarriages. In China, workers slice and blast phone casings, exposing themselves to particulate chemicals and the 80-decibel sounds of machinery without the protection of respirators, gloves, or earplugs. Unfortunately, the impact of smartphones on human lives doesn't end at the point of sale. After they are thrown out or recycled, smartphones often find new life in e-waste dumps in China, Ghana, India, Pakistan, and other low-income countries. When a smartphone is recycled (and only around 10% are), most of its components end up in e-waste dumps where workers retrieve the phone's valuable metals. Storing and processing e-waste, which is often done through burning, causes pollutants like lead, tin, and brominated flame retardants to leach into the surrounding environment and, consequently, the bodies of workers.” To read more click here

Consequently, we must be very careful when we think about the consequences of Strategic Technology Trends, because it is not ethical nor sustainable to constantly be pushing for the production and consumption of the latest technological trend. Too often people believe that throwing any form of technology at a problem will solve the issue. A perfect example is the story of the 1.3 billion dollars Los Angeles Unified School District spent on buying each student an iPad. This was a complete failure and a ridiculous amount of money was spent on buying technology that could have been spent on teacher salaries or after school programs, which are investments that have been proven to improve student achievement. Technology is not a substitute or solution to any issue. Technology is a tool and one that humans must be very weary of. The only way that iPads could help students is if they are utilized effectivley by teachers, but teachers in the U.S. are so underpaid and overworked that the technology won’t be effective until we treat our teachers better. What we need to be thinking about is how to get the most bang for our buck when utilizing ethically produced technology.

Professor Jacob Udo-Udo Jacob has a really incredible project that has been utilizing radio to bring broadcasted lessons to students in Nigeria whose school’s have been destroyed by the terrorist group Boko Haram. I think this is a perfect example of how we can use simple technology in really powerful ways to address gaps in knowledge access. Another great example is Dr. Belinda George who is the principal of Homer Drive Elementary school and has been using facebook to live stream herself reading bedtime stories to her students. Dr. George began doing this when she realized many of her students did not pass the state mandated reading test, and since she has started this scores have already increased. I hope the next and final technology trend is ethical technology.

Digital Transformations and Assistive Technology

When it comes to the idea of digital transformation I am a firm proponent of using technology to create change. However, I think that we must also be extremely conscious of the transformations that we are trying create and how we go about these changes. As I have said before I am not a proponent of using technology for the sake of using technology. While I agree that technology can be really useful I also think it is often used in very frivolous ways that often just change problems rather than solve them. For example, there has been a lot a of buzz around virtual reality recently and particularly its possible applications in the world of Education. I personally have spent a lot of time in my position at Occidental’s Center for Digital Liberal Arts testing our virtual reality simulator and the Educational materials it offers. I have helped students use the simulator to go through a virtual tour of the Amazon, I have used it to show students the virtual reimagination of the experience of a refugee traveling by boat to a new country, and the virtual reality simulator has been used to share a 360 experience of Slam Poetry regarding the topic of Radical Digital Media Literacy. While I have found these uses to be very interesting and unique. I have not necessarily found these experiences to have a high educational value for the students participating. I think for the most part virtual reality seems like a game to students and, like a lot of technology in schools, it becomes more of a distraction than an aid.

However, that being said I do think there are a lot of ways in which technology can be very useful and transformative, especially in the area of education. In particular, I think technology is an incredibly helpful tool for students with disabilities. There so many important technologies for students with learning disabilities such as Ghotit, which is specifically designed for students with dyslexia and other learning disorders who have difficulties with writing. The name is inspired by the word “Ghoti,” which is a constructed term that illustrates irregularities in the English language. And since many spellings are counterintuitive — especially for those with dyslexia — Ghotit dedicates itself to assisting children and adults who struggle with writing accurately. It features the ability to learn from the user’s past mistakes, personalizing suggestions for spelling and grammatical errors. Ghotit can predict words, check passages of text contextually, read text aloud using TTS technology and recognize split and merged words. It also includes an integrated dictionary for students to quickly look up a word. There are also so many incredible technologies for students with physical disabilities like Sip-and-puff systems, which are used by students who have mobility challenges, such as paralysis and fine motor skill disabilities. These systems allow for control of a computer, mobile device or some other technological application by the child moving the device with his or her mouth. Similar to a joystick, the child can move the controller in any direction and click on various navigational tools using either a sip or a puff. An on-screen keyboard allows the child to type using the same movements. For students with any kind of disability or special need learning in a traditional classroom setting can be nearly impossible. In a traditional classroom with 20+ students to one teacher the amount of assistance required to keep a student on track who struggles to hold a pencil, or to hear the teacher, or to read the board affects the amount of time other students spend on material they may have already understood. As a result many students with disabilities are segregated in special education classrooms. However, the amazing thing about technologies such as these is that they can be the support students need to be able to learn in traditional classroom environments with their peers. This is the type of transformation I think is important. Technology has continued to push for advancement, but there are still many people with marginalized identities that are being left behind/left out. What we should be doing is before pushing for further advancement lets try and see if we can transform the world into an equitable and accepting place with the help of technology.

Social Media and Knowledge Sharing

I'm really interested in how I can begin to develop a Personal Learning Environment that is focused on harnessing collective intelligence. I think you can learn so much from the people around you and build community through the harnessing of collective intelligence. I truly feel that through the way that I have begun to incorporate social media such as instagram, facebook, and twitter I have really increased the amount I share knowledge with others and learn from them too. Not everyone is able to pursue higher education and consequently academia is very exclusionary. I really want to utilize my personal learning environment to uplift and learn from non academic sources. Just recently a friend of mine from Chile showed me a page on Facebook that is run by a group of Mapuche people in Chile and it shares knowledge and history of the Mapuche people, their cultural beliefs and traditions. The Mapuche do not subscribe to traditional society hierarchies and they have a very close relationship with the earth. Learning more about their beliefs and ways of thinking has really pushed me to reconceptualize the problems I see in the world and the solutions that are possible. I have learned so much from this Facebook page about concepts I could never learn about in a book or class room. In order to be a critical thinker I think it’s really important for to question the things that are normalized in our society. However, it is hard when we're not offered alternatives. Social media is a fantastic way to connect with people who are incredibly different from you and can offer those alternatives through the sharing of their stories.

I also want to utilize my personal learning environment better in a way that also lets me share my knowledge more. I think in order to create truly productive networks for knowledge sharing there must be reciprocity. At this point I feel that I do a lot of knowledge receiving through my use of social media as a tool for my personal learning environment. However, this class really helped me to realize how important it is to share my knowledge with other people. Especially with the websites we made and the constant blog posts really helped me to understand that I have knowledge that is valuable and should be shared with other people. After I put the link to my website on my instagram and twitter I saw that people were actually reading what I posted and it felt great. Not only to have people care about what I have to say, but because I have written about the work of activists like Eva Lewis and I have talked about concepts that I think can be liberatory. I realized that if I want to change the way people think and influence the collective consciousness to value life and sustainability then it is incredibly important for me to share these ideas with the world. Consequently, I want to do a better job of publishing on my website as part of my personal learning environment and as a way to grow my knowledge production.