Our September 22nd event at Foothills Tennis and Swim Club featured a spirited discussion, ranging from the role of technology in education to the combination of trepidation and fascination we have when watching kids connect online.
The conversation moved too quickly to do justice here, but there were several references made that we thought we should share with everyone.
The Kahn Lab School is new personalized education practices that center around the student and focused on mastery.
An iPad can be a game, an artist’s easel, an educational tool, or a life-changing communication device. Even beyond uses for Special Needs education and accessibility, an iPad is defined by the blank screen, the ability for it to be whatever we want.
For more reading:
Sherry Turkle
She’s an MIT professor studying the sociology of technology, and has written several books on how we engage online, and also delivered a great TEDtalk.
TEDtalk: http://www.ted.com/talks/sherry_turkle_alone_together
Books:
Evocative Objects
AloneTogether
Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age (releasing October, 2015)
danah boyd
Another Sociologist, danah is focused on identity formation and sociality of teens, especially where mediated by technology. I first met danah at the O’Reilly Emerging Technology Conference in San Diego in 2004. She’s a brilliant observer of social behavior who digs in to understand why. Her work can be found at danah.org.
It’s Complicated, The Social Lives of Networked Teens – I recommend this book widely, both for parents trying to understand what’s going on, and for anyone else who wants to better understand the emerging social connection dynamics happening online.
Andrew Solomon
He’s a brilliant journalist and writer, and in Far From The Tree, he builds a compelling story showing diversity as both advantage and a conveyance of meaning.
Madeline Levine, PhD.
Her controversial NYT Best-Seller, The Price of Privilege showed us the importance of developing in kids a strong sense of who they are, and of meaning in their lives.