Early Adopters

It has been an interesting year for tools in the classroom. We have gone from blogs to wikis, to new blogs to a brand new Suprglu page. Video games have come and gone and podcasts have been around when we needed them. Bloglines accounts have been filled up and drained over and over again. We have watched videos, made videos, and laughed at the attempts we've messed up.

Thinking about the kids in my classroom, I've been dividing them up in my head into early adopters and the kids who are following behind. I've tried to make sure that I've shown them lots of tools and given the kids a lot of options about how they get their information. I stand firmly by the philosophy of choice and allowing kids to learn to use the tools which help them to make meaning out of the information swamp they exist in. I believe that if I show them 5 - 6 tools and each student chooses the 2 - 3 which help them the most, they are learning to use those which work best for them.

But I've noticed a split occurring. The kids who are most excited about technology, who are the ones downloading Skype after we talk about it in class and are putting in the most time designing their blogs and supporting information on our wiki are the girls who seem the least "technologically adept." These girls are not the gamers, the hackers, the "tinkerers." They are the communicators, the writers, the readers. This group likes to talk, think, revise, re - write, and re - visit. They have quietly gone home and set up Skype accounts, websites, wikis of their own, and subscribed to podcasts. They like the information coming in to them from all directions and are appreciating new channels to get it from. They are subscribed to class blogs and kids from classes around the world, but they like Gizmodo for the new ideas it gives them, and they like Ourmedia to dip into the lives of people around the world.

It is about communication. It is about the light it gives them into the lives of others and their ideas. This changes how we use technology with kids. The user friendliness of these tools has democratized who uses them, who has a voice, and who we get to hear. When computers were hard to use and the tools were complex, we heard from geeks and hackers, now we hear the voices of teenage girls. Wait until technology penetrates into places it isn't right now. When we hear from more African girls, and the voices of young boys in South East Asia, I'll know that we are getting somewhere. It will be their lives, their stories, and their hopes spilling into blogs, podcasts, and wikis. They are the next line of early adopters.

technorati tags: early adopters, change, learning

Comments

[John Pederson]

Wow. With the exception of the "school aged girl" part, I see a lot of myself in what you are seeing and describing. You wouldn't know it right now, but as a high school student I was actually farther behind in the technology world than others. I got into it through writing. I used it in college as a communication piece with friends. Before I knew it, people were pegging me as a "technology expert". I had no idea what they were talking about. I just used this stuff. I was one of those girls. Or something. :O)

[John Pederson]

Wow. With the exception of the "school aged girl" part, I see a lot of myself in what you are seeing and describing. You wouldn't know it right now, but as a high school student I was actually farther behind in the technology world than others. I got into it through writing. I used it in college as a communication piece with friends. Before I knew it, people were pegging me as a "technology expert". I had no idea what they were talking about. I just used this stuff. I was one of those girls. Or something. :O)

[Jeremy]

Fascinating! I love it when the stereotypes are wrong. You're giving these communicators great gifts, methinks...

[Graham Wegner]

Clarence, in my own small way, I am seeing what you are saying is true. We're in our first week of the school year and I've introduced a class blog and borrowed Darren K.'s idea of a daily scribe to get the posting going. The kids who want to volunteer to get the process going are the girls - you are right, it's the communication that is attracting them. I also did a technology survey which showed the girls were more likely to use e-mail, chatrooms, instant messaging compared to the boys who wanted to get game cheats or wrestling pics. The tools will only get better.