Fourth Friday's Lesson: Info-whelmed - the newest worry

     So I  spent the end of July and the beginning of August at a national conference and working with internationally recognized speakers in school division professional development.  These experiences have helped me feel a new feeling previously only mentioned by others on my Twitter feed.  I have been info-whelmed. 

    Info-whelmed is loosely defined as feeling overwhelmed by the sheer number of information sources and resources put within your reach by digital technology.  In my limited experience, it is definitely akin to sheer overload and loss of focus on how to begin the task of sorting data you have received.  The context in which this is appearing on my Twitter feed is other educational professionals being concerned about how we help kids (and ourselves) deal with feeling info-whelmed.  I can attest to the reality of this feeling; after the 3rd day (of 4) at the national conference, my colleague and I both had trouble turning off our mobile devices and then sleeping because there was so much information presented.  We had become driven to capture ideas in our notes (which were digitized to boot), to resift information for working teams at school, and to annotate everything for either current or future use.  How to remember it all or even where to find it should we need it again?  Yikes!

     I came home and tried to apply this new working knowledge of infowhelm to my littlest learners at home.  They are bombarded daily with tons of information; statistics now say more is discovered in one day of their lives than has been discovered in all of mine!  And, yet, they seem to deal with it all just fine.  Oh, occasionally there is a "I just saw this on TV and have to have it!" moment, but usually they seem unfazed by all that information washing over them.  But I wonder and  worry.  I have seen fifth graders, more sophisticated learners, that I worked with on blogging this past school year begin to show signs of wear and tear just with their 100 co-bloggers on a weekly basis.  Not all, but some, seemed worn out or wide-eyed, overcome by all the information they could find.  My teachers do report that students are having a harder time figuring out "how to start" projects, essays, or presentations...because there are so many choices. 
   
How and when do we help our students (and own kids) work through or against becoming info-whelmed?  What skills does this require?  Are there "safety valve" type structures we can create in learning spaces to support kids who have access to infinite data but are constrained by the finite energy and focus resources of their human bodies?  How do we teach kids how to weed through the data and when to say "I have enough information for now"?  I am not sure.  However, I do know that the first step in working through a problem is to acknowledge and define it.  So info-whelm is real, it can be experienced by anyone with access to vast amounts of data, and seems to be more prevalent in this digital age.  I will keep you posted on solutions we find that work and stategies tried that do not, and I will try to be concise - as not to info-whelm you! 

Third Friday's Lesson: Money is less tangible

My digital natives don't get money.  I mean they see coins or paper currency and identify it as money, but they don't understand how it interacts with people or functions in ther world.  They see a plastic debit card make the purchases in their lives.  There are very few opportunities when my kids witness me pay cash for anything.  My older child is learning about coin and bill values in school and knows that she can collect money in her piggy bank.  However, last week I was jolted into the reality that she totally doesn't understand where money comes from or how and why we use it.

Here was our eye-opening conversation: 
     Child:  "Can we go out to dinner?  I want La Toltecas."
     Me:  "Mommy hasn't budgeted the money to go out for dinner tonight, we are eating at home." 
     Child:  (Pouts with a huge huff) "Why don't you just go to the box and get more?" 
     Me:  "What box, honey?" 
     Child: "Mom!  The big box you drive by at the bank...you know..." 
She was talking about the ATM machine.  I tried to explain that "the box" only gives you the money you have earned, it is not an infinite supply.  No response.  We only get a certain amount of money each month.  No response.  Our bosses put that money at the bank for us when we do our jobs.  Then a strange quiet query from the backseat "How do you know?"  Now the adult is stunned into silence..."Um, well..."

See, I don't know, not in the sense that I knew when I was a kid growing up.  When I was growing up my parents each got a check every two weeks and we took those to a bank, where we stood in line and Mom talked to a bank teller, the bank teller counted out the money Mom requested, and Mom got cash in a cool little enevelope and we got suckers.  I saw the money.  I watched my parents pay for groceries with cash, for gas with cash, for clothes at the mall with cash.  Now, I didn't grow up that long ago, so by the time I was in high school many things had switched over to debit cards, but my parents still don't go out to dinner unless they are paying cash.  

So when my own kid asked me how do I know, it stopped me for a minute.  I utilize several tools of the 21st century; direct deposit, ATMs (obviously), online banking and I recognize how these work in theory.  But do I actually "know" the money is there in the bank?  According to my computer, yes.  According to my upbringing in a cash & carry world, well...no.  This gave me insight into why she doesn't understand how we budget - often digitally - yet.  My child is deveoplmentally tangible, and I am asking her to learn tangible monetary systems in school and live in a totally untangible financial world.  I get why she doesn't get it.

How do we close the very real gap for our digital natives?  Do we try to use more cash so that we value where they are and what they are learning in school?  Do we ask schools to take a critical look at how they teach money and whether or not it is preparing students to use money in a global economy that is no longer based on a tangible currency model?  I think we have to do both.  Our digital natives are often living between two worlds where money is concerned.  I believe that it is our job to build the bridge for them to ensure that they have the solid understandings of tangible currency and digital finance necessary to be successful and solvent citizens in the 21st century. 

Second Friday's Lesson: Visuals are becoming a Verb

This post is a week late...we were on vacation...more time to hang out with my own digital natives and watch them use the technology at hand to capture their experiences.  What I observed was eye-opening and at the same time a confirmation of something I have witnessed in classrooms over the last fifteen years; visuals are becoming a verb.

When I think of visuals, I see images capturing a moment in time.  Something that helps me remember the images in my mind's eye - like a picture of our dog as a puppy - I know how far away we had to drive to get him and that my sister and I wore sandals because I remember the feel of dirt he kicked on our toes when the picture was being taken.  Sometimes the visual recreates a story that I never lived but have heard time and time again - a picture of my grandparents on their wedding day - I know the dress was deep blue even though the photo is black and white because my grandmother speaks of (and her mother spoke of) it so vividly.  These are triggers that drive my thoughts through the maze of memories my brain holds and I use them daily, actively, to remind myself of the ideas I hold from the past, savor in the present, and envision for the future. 

I have often wondered in recent years if digital natives see images differently.  These kids seem to be so tied to visual input and they are bombarded with it daily at a level unimaginable even twenty years ago (When my parents were postive that my brain was rotting out of my head over the summer from watching MTV at friends' houses).  My own children, children of colleagues, and our students will watch and rate commercials, scan YouTube videos for the "best one" of something as simple as a cartoon opening sequence, watch countless hours of shows and movies looking for the best visual effects, and vehemently reject ideas, experiences, and instruction because it doesn't immediately engage them visually.  Does this mean they are not paying as much attention as digital immigrants? Are digital natives as a group addicted to images to a point that may stop them from becoming productive citizens? Well, no, I don't think so. 

What I have observed is that digital natives use visuals not as memory triggers, but capture groups of visuals as part of the memory itself.  They are so used to visuals that images are an integral part of every story or event, not just those special enough to be saved.  This is, at least in part, because capturing visual images has become so easy and common place.  Even the youngest digital immigrants grew up in an era where many families had one maybe two cameras and possibly a videocamera, and all images were captured using film.  Film was moderately expensive and more expensive to process, plus until it was processed you had no idea about the quality of images you had recorded.  Often images were not seen until days or weeks after the recorded event.  Digital natives have easy and affordable access to technology that records images instantly, no processing required for playback. They take and retake visuals to recreate their feelings about the experience.  Part of their memorable experiences IS the capturing of visuals and viewing them while they are still at that special place or event.  Summer vacation has morphed from "I went to the Grand Canyon!" to "Look at the video I shot at the Grand Canyon and threw on my YouTube channel this afternoon!" 

This two part transformation of our world - easy & accessible visual recording technology and visual image input being at an all time high - has led to digital natives embracing the process of imaging as part of who they are as learners and citizens.  Even as young as my preschooler, they want to control the images they capture...capturing visuals has become both a form of learning and entertainment and sharing images for feedback is part of this process.  My digital natives and I look at and use visuals differently, but as I watch my kids I understand why they are so drawn to recording and replaying the visuals they do capture...a picture - whether drawn on a cave wall, faded in a guilded frame, or seen in an iPhone slideshow - still paints a thousand words. 

First Friday's Lesson: Moderation is changing

This week I really mulled over what I saw with my sweet, little digital natives last Friday and what to post, which is why it has taken so long to get this post up.  (That, plus I have learned that blogging while two children are running around your computer is hard!)  I spent some time reflecting on if the day was different because of technology. I kept coming back to one word, moderation.  Don't get me wrong - I knew that I wanted to post about how digital natives moderate or self-regulate their technology use; it just took me a little longer to reflect, then reflect some more about what I was truly witnessing with my own kids.


I am a digital immigrant, my technology as a kid was moderated by definition; television stations went off air, tapes and records had to be flipped over, video games ended either because you won or your time was up, phones had cords and busy signals, and computers were in a lab that you got to venture into one day a week at school.  There was not the opportunity in my home or our city to be using technology independently as a young child.  Access to every technology was controlled by a grown-up or outside media supplier. 

My children, digital natives, do not share this reality.  There is programming on a children's channel at 2 am should they be allowed to view it, radio stations play 24 hours a day, and we have 6-7 hours of music even in the car without a repeat due to our trusty CD changer - not to mention hours more on an ipod that they can select by song, organize, play, replay, or delete with the swipe of a finger.  Phones go everywhere and act as our camera, calendar, gameboard, internet access point, alarm clock, and communication command center.  And computers?  My kids rarely walk into an environment without computers, they are so common place my kids are more interested or awed by places that don't have computers - always referred to as "olden times places" by my older child.

So we spent our first Friday doing the activities of summer - morning at a local history camp, lunch with friends, read alouds with Momma, long naps, chocolate milk (a delicacy to small children!), watching a thunderstorm roll across our neighborhood, and staying up late.  I let the kids have pretty free reign with the ipod, ipad, computer, and phone.  I felt like the only times my kids disagreed or got cranky was when they couldn't control their own environment (developmentally appropriate for their ages) or technology use.  We practice what we are taught, and I was beginning to worry about my need and/or ability to control technology for my kids. My first response was to take all the technology away (digital immigrant ways die hard), but I stuck to my guns and let them use technology when they wanted - secretly thinking naptime and bedtime were going to be a nightmare of techno-induced stupor and blue-screen fever.  However, as the afternoon waned, so did the need for technology.  My kids put the ipad down and joined me willingly for an extra long read aloud.  My oldest took pictures of friends who are leaving for 2 years overseas and then asked me to put the phone and its camera away for safe keeping.  There were more requests for card games, cooking together, and building sofa forts.  The technology did come back out Friday evening, but got repurposed quickly - by the kids - for an impromptu all family dance-a-thon in the kitchen.


I do worry about digital natives needing technology to the point of shutting out human contact, but my kids surprised me in their ability to self-regulate or moderate their own use even as very young learners.  With a few simple guidelines (no tech at the meal table, during read alouds, or when friends are over to see you) they are reassuring me that human contact will survive, I will not have to detox them from technology on a regular basis, and they still will need and want loving people around them give guidance, hugs, bandaids, and tell tales of "olden times places."  My digital natives are helping me change my view of how moderation is learned or relearned in a digital world. 

The Tools

Every grand adventure requires a little packing, and My Nine Fridays will too.  We will be using the technology most available to us (and what my kids try to take control of) most of the time.  I have included pictures but because I am not a "picture paints a thousand words" photographer I will give you a few words on each device.

Tool 1:

A Smartphone, mine is an iPhone, but we will probably borrow my husband's Droid from time to time too.  This tool has a few uses that amaze me and entertain my kids. First, it connects to the internet without a wireless or corded connection so we can research anything from almost anywhere.  Second, we downloaded a QR reader so that we can scan QR codes where ever we may find them - my older daughter can spot these from a mile away and already understands that more information - maybe even an audio or video file -  is "hidden" in each of those black and white mazes.  Then we have some standards apps that make everybody's life easier - the weather app ("Mom!  How hot, how cold?  What should I wear?"), the map app (we live in a beach bound community - alternate routes are a way of life), and timer/alarm app ("How long can we play at the playground?  Is it time to go swim, yet!?"); we use these everyday just to get around our world.  Finally, the phone has a great camera that is easy to use and even easier to send photos or video from.  I discovered this ease when I realized my younger daughter is so well versed in using the camera that last night I deleted 237 pictures of our living room floor, her nose, and my husband's knees.  All of this happens on a touch screen that is easier for small hands (and bigger mulit-tasking hands) to manipulate than a mouse.

Tool 2:

An iPad, which in theory is for work purposes, but seems to have an increasing number of videos and apps that include Max & Ruby or dressing princesses and their pets and less with titles like Notes, Spreadsheets, TED, or Hoot Suite.  To be fair, I do work in an elementary school and I am not above making my children do test runs on educational apps before we roll them out to teachers and students.  I do love the educational ease of this device.  I can look up answers to questions we have about books while we read the books, I can watch content with a child sitting in my lap anywhere...not just in our living room, we can plan our day efficiently by looking up hours/events with the swipe of a finger.  Plus, my kids love the instant and non-judgemental feedback that an app gives...you either get it or you don't...and no one says no (with or without a frowny face or hidden sigh).  Ours is the original version which means no camera, but after deleting about 237 more pictures from the smartphone, that is okay!  

Tool 3:

A web camera, the least mobile of our devices, as it is attached to our home computer.  We use it mostly for Skype video-chats to family and friends.  This is an awesome technology that keeps our extended family (especially mine, who live 1900 miles away) close in a way not available to previous generations.  Both of my kids love to "Skype Mimi's house" and tell about their days and then show the physical evidence of who or what might be included in their adventures.  Otherwise the web-cam is under-utilized and figuring out how to use it more may become one of my ideas for a Friday.

Now, I am off to take care of the next thing that every grand adventure needs, snacks!  

The Vision

"So I work 12 months a year as a school administrator and 24 hours a day as a mother of two young kids..." 

     This is how my story starts, how my plan hatched, and how this blog began.  I am a twelve month employee for a mid-size school division and I work summers - in a school - a weird concept in and of itself.  However, because I work in a traditional elementary school, on a traditional elementary school calendar, summer time hours offer me an interesting proposition:  work 4 ten hour days and you get Fridays off.  This means that I have nine Fridays to spend with my kids.  Nine extra days that I don't normally get.  Nine extra days to play with them, learn with them, occasionally be goofy-crazy-over-the-top with them, and nine days to delve into their world on a level that is usually reserved for weekends.

     This year my vision is to take in as many moments of those nine days as I can (or they let me) from my kids' technology perspective.  I am going to strap myself into digital native mode and run with them (or after them hollering if history serves) and then try to record as much of what I find in this blog and using my mobile technology as my digital immigrant fingers will allow.  We will use technology together, and probably more often I will find them showing me all they know that I don't.  I hope you will join us - I don't know every place we will journey yet - but I know it will be a wild ride!