Alan November’s book Who Owns the Learning?: Preparing Students for Success in the Digital Age is many things, but something I took it for was an idea, plan, and guide to helping students putting their learning in their own hands. In the book, November points out that too often “we teach students to use computers to create papers or do other work that could have been done without a computer” (6). This book is in many ways a rejection to that, and to the idea of a teacher leading the way of education rather than the students themselves. He details this grand idea for a “Digital Learning Farm Model” where students have more control, such as in designing their own assignments, rely more on peer learning, “learn how to learn,” and so on (November, 15). As I read the book, I without a doubt saw benefits that I would like to employ, yet recognized that in many instances there will be restrictions whether it be from district/school expectations, or perhaps more importantly access.
One of the ideas that I really liked was this idea of a student scribe that could effectively keep their peers updated on class notes, and perhaps schedule. I had seen a similar system in college and it seemed to work, but my one concern is access. At my first school site this should be relatively a non-issue since all students are provided Chromebooks, at my current school site we have to get class sets which can be an issue if we want to record every day’s activities. Yet what about school with students who have almost no access? I will likely try and adopt such a system, but those plans can be altered depending on the circumstances of my school and student body.
My absolute favorite part of the book comes from November’s suggestion about teaching students how to research. I personally always try to add an element of multiple perspectives into my curriculum and assessment, thus I am all ears for something that can aid expanding my student’s views. November address this in part through research technique. He noted that “Without some real education about using the Internet for communicating and collaborating with an authentic, global audience, this marvelously rich medium will only narrow--not broaden--our perspective” (66). I too have seen the effects in my personal life as well as in my previous student research of selective, one perspective sources. So how does November address this? He mentions the Root Zone database and the possibility of having students research through websites specifically from other countries, because there are “two-letter codes for every country in the world” (November, 74). This is something I would like to incorporate, particularly if I am covering an event that involved other countries, such as his example, of how the “American Revolution” is being taught in Britain. I even just added the Google Global Search extension after reading this.
In conclusion, I find November’s book and message to be noble. I would like to add some of his ideas into my practices, because he has some great ideas. Yet, I do understand that incorporating some of the ideas expressed in this book will be a process and not always necessarily applicable.
Citation:
November, A. (2012). Who Owns the Learning?: Preparing Students for Success in the Digital Age. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.
One of the ideas that I really liked was this idea of a student scribe that could effectively keep their peers updated on class notes, and perhaps schedule. I had seen a similar system in college and it seemed to work, but my one concern is access. At my first school site this should be relatively a non-issue since all students are provided Chromebooks, at my current school site we have to get class sets which can be an issue if we want to record every day’s activities. Yet what about school with students who have almost no access? I will likely try and adopt such a system, but those plans can be altered depending on the circumstances of my school and student body.
My absolute favorite part of the book comes from November’s suggestion about teaching students how to research. I personally always try to add an element of multiple perspectives into my curriculum and assessment, thus I am all ears for something that can aid expanding my student’s views. November address this in part through research technique. He noted that “Without some real education about using the Internet for communicating and collaborating with an authentic, global audience, this marvelously rich medium will only narrow--not broaden--our perspective” (66). I too have seen the effects in my personal life as well as in my previous student research of selective, one perspective sources. So how does November address this? He mentions the Root Zone database and the possibility of having students research through websites specifically from other countries, because there are “two-letter codes for every country in the world” (November, 74). This is something I would like to incorporate, particularly if I am covering an event that involved other countries, such as his example, of how the “American Revolution” is being taught in Britain. I even just added the Google Global Search extension after reading this.
In conclusion, I find November’s book and message to be noble. I would like to add some of his ideas into my practices, because he has some great ideas. Yet, I do understand that incorporating some of the ideas expressed in this book will be a process and not always necessarily applicable.
Citation:
November, A. (2012). Who Owns the Learning?: Preparing Students for Success in the Digital Age. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.