Final blog post-thoughts on pioneering a new landscape...

On Saturday I drove home from Calgary to Winnipeg. For those who have never had the pleasure of doing this trip, I can tell you that it can feel like a very long 14 hours!  This drive is often said to be quite boring, because the land is so flat and there isn't much to look at along the way. Given that I was alone in the car, I had lots of time to contemplate all that I had learned over the last two weeks. Interestingly, I found myself insipired by the metaphor the prairie landscape offered as a way to make sense of our 'inquiry into digital content' course.

Whenever I cross the prairie, I can't help but be amazed by the vastness of the land- the endless horizons- the countless miles of fertile soil...  I found myself wondering about the pioneers who arrived here at the time when North America was becoming settled by Europeans.  What must have it been like for these adventurous people to come to this country and to have to figure out what their life meant in this new space? Surely they must have stopped and looked around in awe of all that was around them- the wild and untamed wilderness that held so much potential.
This thought reminded me a little of the Carl Sagan poem  we viewed in class about us being 'but a speck in the universe'; one feels very small indeed in the middle of the Canadian prairie.

In a way, this course has made me feel like one of those pioneers. It has given me a chance to actually pause and ponder the new landscape in which we now find ourselves as educators. In our context, the Web 2.0 and 3.0  technology has caused us to be like pioneers in this digital habitat in which we teach.  Just as the early settlers must have stood in awe of the amazing resources that this new world had to offer, I too sometimes have difficulty grasping all the potential that technology holds for teaching and learning.

Building a new civilization creates interesting challenges in terms of communication. In this context, the newcomers must learn to relate to the natives. As teachers, our students have grown up in the digital age and their ways of doing things and the codes they use to understand one another may be quite foreign to us. In order to communicate effectively with these young people, however, we need to learn their language.  Moreover, learning to live and thrive in any new habitat takes time. Some will completely embrace the newness while others will reluctantly join in, holding on to their former ways of getting things done as long as possible. This phenomenon can arguably be seen in any immigrant population. Some newcomers might be unsure of how to control their new environment and how to control themselves within this new context, hanging on for dear life to their traditional ways, despite the struggle to fit in to the new context.   Still, many are excited at the prospect of innovation and enthusiastically try to get others to take a risk and learn something new. As teachers, we see this happening in our schools with regards to technology. Some teachers have moved into the digital habitat and never looked back- while others are slow or reluctant to make the shift. Navigating such changes demands sensitivity and patience.

Regardless of how quickly and completely we all integrate into this new world, the one commonality is that we all something valuable to contribute to our new habitat.  Back in the day when the settlers arrived, they quickly realized that they needed each other and that together, they could accomplish much more than they could alone.  By networking with one another, we can all contribute to a bigger picture.  I look at my home city of Winnipeg as an example. What was once a small  First Nations trading post on the fork of two rivers that snake through the untamed prairie,  is now a modern, thriving, multi-cultural city with three quarters of a million inhabitants.  This didn't happen overnight or as a result of one individual's effort; rather, it was a gradual, continual, and  collective effort. Our digital landscape has also encouraged that same spirit of sharing and collaboration through on which our ancestors relied.  The shift in education towards constructivism, constructionism and social-constructivism mirrors this- the technology just makes it easier.

I imagine that life for the pioneers was not easy. Learning to content with the harsh realities of the new environment and learning to negotiate the norms of a brand new society- otherwise unwritten until this point- was no simple task. In the same way, we have become part of a new world in which we must redefine the rules of engagement and for which, there is no 'instruction manual'. The discussions we have had in class attest to some of the ethical and logistical dilemmas we digital pioneers face as we make sense of our new habitat. For example, how much do we share of ourselves- just because we can?   How do we protect the vulnerable individuals in this new milieu? As teachers, how do we successfully leave behind our former role of 'sage on the stage' to become an effective and inspiring 'guide on the side' ?

Teaching in today's digital context is arguably more complex that it was in the one room schoolhouses of the pioneer days. While life in general might have been harder back then, the business of teaching and learning has become a lot more complicated today because the way we regard knowledge has changed.  There are so many ways to access and present information. Knowledge has become much more elusive and fluid than it used to be- yet it remains as powerful as ever before.

In the same spirit as the settlers who came many, many years ago, this course has taught me to embrace our new digital landscape with courage and a sense of adventure. It has been seven years since I taught in a classroom and much has changed in this time, but in the fall, I will go back to work and start over in a new position. This time, I have more resources at my disposal- more confience in using them and more tools to help my students tell their stories and make sense of the world around them. I look forward to this challenge and feel prepared to take it on.