I have been a fan of your webquests from “back in the day.” I, too, find myself surfing late in the night. But I don’t assume that nothing comes out of it. Somewhere in my subconscious, these nuggets are stored to be reactivated when the time is right.

Having said that, I do agree with the idea that students need to be called into action for deeper learning. I believe that a teacher’s greatest role is to inspire that into action by providing students with an authentic challenge and the tools for tackling that challenge.

“How?” Here’s one example from my latest blog post. QuantumShift TV’s student contest! In this authentic challenge-based activity, students create two three minute videos. The first is to present how they plan to be the change in the world that they would like to see. The second is to report on their results. Students compete with others from around the world in a social action learning project with real-world consequences and real-world prizes.

I think it provides a great example of how late night surfing can lead a teacher and his/her students to strive toward greatness.

All the best,

Gregory Louie
Efland, NC

http://samccoy-n2teaching.blogspot.com/2008/01/relevance-and-rigor-ongoing-struggle-in.html

Many people that you may not even know have been blogging about philosophical content similar to that you describe, so all we have to do is join the 1’s and 0’s into coherence.

Here are some related threads on a few blog postings:
http://samccoy-n2teaching.blogspot.com/2008/01/walk-mile.html
http://googtweetblog.edublogs.org/2008/01/07/support-is-everything/
http://googtweetblog.edublogs.org/2008/01/08/learning-to-share-part-1/
http://injenuity.com/?p=48

Thanks for your very thoughtful replies.

Here are some quick ideas to add to the mix before we head out for a little holiday:

Ric - you said: “what can be done from a school standpoint that will give students experiences that matter?” You’ve hit the core issue. What I’m going to work on this year (since I’m back in one school more often) is to help teachers develop ClassPortals. Remember the Child Slave Labor Network? Students have made a huge contribution. I’m thinking that if I can help a teacher and group og students get excited about a main issue, then we can create a portal around it. The students could serve as sort of a Snopes.com investigating things like “What really happens when hundreds of thousands now buy a goat through charities at Christmas? - Does it really help? Are some scams? Do the goats get treated more poorly because of increased demand? Is a smaller scale, distributed approach better?” etc. I’ll keep you posted, but this is the kind of concerted effort I’m thinking of. For instance what if we each helped a teacher a group of students get into real solutions to global warming? We’d then have a great point for international collaboration, wikis, podcasts, videoconferences, etc. - all that could be really meaningful. Your input on Does the Tiger Eat her Cubs is great and a signal that meaning matters.

Lucie - your podcast playlist is a great thing. Is there a way to harvest and package a set of rich audio/video podcasts in a way like we can with a hotlist of links? What have you found is the best way to share these so students can whack them right onto their iPods? I’m still burning CDs, but is there a better way?

Tim - I’m looking at phones and the lowcost laptops (ASUS / XO) plus cheaper, ubiquitous broadband as helping in a lot of the areas you mention, but my experiences lead me to beileve that changing the way people think of education to be the biggest challenge. People seem to “get” the coolness and power of technology, but the weight of media and culture (and habit?) seem to funnel into amusement and diversion, not intrigue and achievement. Taking the “school” out of the “learning” is something tech is good for. What do you think?

Cheers all and thanks again.
Tom –

Thanks for including me in your conversation. It’s good to see Tim here too, with his big time hit from last summer.

I think the CEQ*ALL approach might just lead to “intriguing ourselves to becoming educated.” I do believe there is that “basic level of knowledge” all should know, but somehow we must be able to agree on what the basics are, so we can then allow students to pursue their intrigue.

One thing I have rolling in my head, and it has been for some time, is the role of student experiences, in congruence with their knowledge base, has toward “doing something” that will “amount to something,” that “matter[s].” Going a step further, what can be done from a school standpoint that will give students experiences that matter?

Example: This past weekend my son had friends over to play XBox, eat pizza, and catch up with each other while they were on break from college. One girl, now a Sophomore at Vanderbilt University, who was a 7th grade student of mine was here. As she collected empty water bottles and soda cans I recalled a video she created in my classroom. It was The Lorax: Part 2 - where the boy plants the seed he is given at the end of the Seuss book. I asked her if she remembered making the claymation video. She said, “Not really, but I have always recycled since your class.” Later she recalled the video, and now it is posted at TeacherTube.

The she said, “I remember the Web thing we did on the Children of China [Does the Tiger Eat Her Cubs WebQuest]. It changed my life. I don’t know what I want to do yet (occupationally), but I know it has to be something to help people, probably children.”

She was intrigued by the Dying Rooms section in the WebQuest. She continued to learn more, on her own. Now, seven years later she remembers and may seek to spend her life trying to make a difference in the lives of people because of it.

So, back to my hope for experiences to coincide with knowledge, I hope to discover a way to make experiences a reality for my students next year. If I cannot, then the WebQuest and CEQ*ALL processes will be my substitute.

First of all, we are leaving the techno-illiterate behind.
Secondly, we are leaving the economically disadvantaged behind.
Thirdly, we are leaving behind those that may be of different ethnicities. (How many of the web 2.0 gurus are middle aged white guys like me?)

TIm
El Paso Texas