A model for permeable classrooms
In today's post, I'd like to piggyback a bit on David Jakes' post from yesterday, "Semi-Permeable." I like the concept of a classroom being on a continuum as a learning community: from opaque, to semi-permeable, to permeable. In David's conception of permeable classrooms, the term refers to "how open and closed they are to their members, and potential members."
This conception of a classroom and a learning community is immediately challenging to a "traditional" paradigm of School, since it acknowledges that members of the learning community can and SHOULD include people who are not physically present during the regular class meeting time. These members can include:
- Students in other classes.
- Teachers in other classes.
- Parents accessing student and classroom websites from home and/or work.
- Guest speakers and content 'experts' invited into the learning environment via live audio or videoconferences, asynchronously recorded and shared audio or video podcasts, digital photos, or digital texts.
- School administrators and board members invited to participate in classroom conversations.
- Other community members, or interested parties participating in classroom conversations via blog, podcast, or digital story comments shared in textual, audio or video formats.
The essential question which David posed in yesterday's post was, how can we broadly help larger numbers of teachers (as well as administrators) become more comfortable with the dynamics of semi-permeable and permeable learning environments, so they will embrace "permeability" as an essential characteristic of the 21st century classroom.
I'd like to add to this analogy by discussing Gore-Tex, which was a semi-permeable fabric developed in the mid-1970s by W.L. Gore & Associates. Gore-Tex was revolutionary as a "breathable" fabric in clothing because it allows smaller sweat molecules to escape and pass through the fabric into the outside air, but prevents larger water molecules (like rain and snow) from passing through the same fabric. If you've ever sweated inside a nylon poncho or jacket during a summer rain, you've experienced the reason breathable fabrics like Gore-Tex are so popular with outdoor enthusiasts. Waterproof-breathable fabrics ARE revolutionary, and have become mainstream in outdoor pursuits thanks to advances in technology coupled with the imaginative innovations of smart and motivated people. This diagram from WikiPedia shows how the different layers of Gore-Tex interact with interior and exterior molecules to provide waterproof breathability.
Similar to Gore-Tex, our classrooms need a revolutionary learning fabric which permits the exchange of appropriate information, ideas, comments and feedback, but prevents inappropriate content from entering the classroom. Of course it is not possible to ENTIRELY prevent ALL inappropriate content from entering a semi-permeable learning environment, but safeguards need to be in place (particularly in our litigious culture in the United States) to prevent egregious types of objectionable content and feedback from entering the formal learning environment of the classroom. With this analogy in mind, I remixed the above schematic of Gore-Tex and created a schematic for a permeable 21st century learning environment:
As David and commenters to his post pointed out, several basic, foundational layers are essential in permeable or semi-permeable classrooms. These include computer hardware and networking infrastructure, as well as supportive administrators. These are depicted as the lower two layers of the permeable classroom schematic.
The outermost layer, or the layer with which people outside the classroom have first-contact, is a learning culture supportive of collaboration and sharing. As David pointed out, this instructional model has to begin with TEACHERS and their personal conceptions of what teaching and learning looks, feels and sounds like.
Read/write web tools are the second layer of the permeable classroom. These include blogs, wikis, social bookmarking tools, and moderated digital storytelling tools permitting immediate web-publishing like VoiceThread.
The layer in the middle of the permeable classroom is the teacher. Not only does the teacher moderate content which passes through the varying layers of the classroom learning environment, s/he also facilitates the interactive exchanges which take place along and through these layers. The teacher is not a rigid, strict gatekeeper of ALL content which is published and shared in the permeable classroom, but rather a catalyst for appropriate content consumption and publication.
I did have to add one arrow to the Gore-Tex schematic which was not present in the original. Shown in red, this line represents the content, feedback, and participation of "other" classroom community members who are not in the traditional, face-to-face classroom.
These, then, appear to be many of the essential ingredients of the semi-permeable and permeable classroom. What am I leaving out?
Comments
Jen Wagner posted some follow up thoughts to this over on her blog, and I responded there:
http://technospud.com/blog/?p=152
This was my reply to Jen:
Jen: I think part of the answer lies in empowering students to create media with digital tools. For too long we have “waited for the teachers” to use these tools and pass on the fire of engaged digital tool use to the students and each other. That is flawed model. I agree with David that the teachers are an essential focus, but I am coming to realize that focusing on STUDENTS and their skills is just as important, and may be even more important. Alan November referenced the Israelites in the desert during our opening panel discussion at Learning 2.0 in Shanghai, and talked about the necessity of a generation passing away before a change could be made and they could move into the Promised Land. I think there is some wisdom to that analogy. We are in the midst of huge changes, which will require generational shifts to fully realize. I’m not saying older people can’t become digital learners, we both know they can, but the fact is many teachers are COMFORTABLE and don’t want to change. There is also the entire political side of this concerning AYP, accountability, testing, etc. I agree that needs to change as well, so we can have educational politicos actually encouraging rather than discouraging digital literacy.
I’m working more with students these days and asking school PD folks to let me. If I can show students possibilities and empower them to create and share appropriately online, with sites like VoiceThread, that is a key ingredient. Teachers need to realize they don’t have to understand/know it all, but they CAN invite students to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding in different ways. I think a great deal of power and energy to change learning lies with our students, even more than it lies with the larger body of teachers in our classrooms. This is one reason I am very enthused about the idea of including more student voices in educational conferences next year, including K12Online.
Posted by: Wesley Fryer | December 28, 2007 1:17 PM
Wesley-
Like you, I've started to do more work directly with students over the past year or so. In my role as a middle school instructional technology coordinator, I'm trying to show them tools that will make their lives as students a little easier. For the problem of moving files between school and home, we've introduced google docs and wikis. For the challenges of collaborating with a small group on a multimedia project file, we've pointed students in the direction of voicethread and the presentation component of google docs.
I have a hunch that some of the students that I work with have developed their own informal learning networks. These networks mostly include other students from school but I'm aware of some students that are doing some things involving individuals outside of our region in the US. For example, I was wowed earlier this year when an 8th grade student showed me a writing forum that she and a handful of her peers maintains...this moderated writing forum serves as a space where writers can submit samples for peer review and feedback.
Looking back on my last 10 years in educational technology, I am sometimes saddened by the fact that students were not more of a direct focus of mine...I spent way too much time conducting isolated teacher training sessions and working on implementing new administrative functions (eg-new grading programs and web delivery of report cards)...however, with students now as the central focus, I am much more invigorated and excited about what is happening.
Posted by: Matt Montagne | December 28, 2007 3:32 PM
Matt: I'm glad to hear about your experiences. I don't think I've really read anywhere or "been told" by others that the focus of edtech related PD should be on students more than teachers, so I don't know that we should blame ourselves for this. I think it is more something that I've just figured out, and it sounds like your learning journey has been similar. The other thing I didn't mention which certainly IS in the literature with regard to teacher PD is follow-ups, expectations for work/evidence of application of the workshop, and learning in cohorts. I'm trying to incorporate those three ideas into a 3 day summer workshop I started last year with Karen Montgomery in St Louis, and we are going to repeat this summer twice.
http://edtechgourmet.pbwiki.com/
We need to think about ways students can be integrated into our workshop model, however, and maybe the follow-up sessions can include and involve them. I need to learn more about educational research related to student use of educational technology, and the most effective professional development which supports them. Sylvia Martinez and Gen Yes have published a helpful document on students presenting at conferences:
Sharing Student Voice: Students Presenting at Conferences
http://blog.genyes.com/index.php/2007/09/10/sharing-student-voice-students-presenting-at-conferences/
I'd like to see more resources related to PD which targets students, however. I know the last year I worked with the Floydada, Texas 1:1 project they had their first PD workshop explicitly for students focused on iMovie and digital storytelling. It was a big success from what I understand. I'll follow up with them and see what else they've done along that line for student PD.
Posted by: Wesley Fryer | December 29, 2007 1:33 PM
I think it's hugely important for students to have interactions with the outside world when they're learning about it. It's interesting to discuss the theories of permeable classrooms, etc., but also realize that students are fully exposed when on myspace or facebook at home.
Posted by: Nick Pernisco | December 29, 2007 10:59 PM
Wes,
I love your illustration and analogy and they make a lot of sense. I present workshops for BER and meet with a wide range of teachers, many of them not using any WEb2.0 tools at all. My biggest concern is that everytime I use the word "download" as in Google Earth or participatory or blogging, podcasts, etc. - any permeating into the classroom - I hear from a majority that the "blocking" or "filtering" or the non-permissive nature of downloads always prohibits many of the ideas that I am presenting to the teachers. Starting with the total blocking of the ability for anyone to use Google Images to an absolute "no-no" to downloads such as Photo-Story, these teachers are totally frustrated. They love the ideas I pose, they just can't use them at their schools. Do you have any suggestions for me or can you point me in the direction of others who have discussed this lately? Thanks so much,
Judi Wolf
Posted by: Judi Wolf | December 30, 2007 3:31 AM