Review of "Student as Contributor: The Digital Learning Farm"

I really connected with Alan November's article "Student as Contributor: The Digital Learning Farm". History DOES have a way of coming full circle - but in an upward spiral kind of way - where we progress and evolve to eventually find ourselves in a place we think we've been before, only this time we're either better off, better equipped, or at a minimum more knowledgeable about how to handle it because we have experience (history) to draw upon. In this article, this concept is related to a child's role in life, and more particularly in the classroom, as a contributor.

The "Digital Learning Farm", as November calls it, affords us the opportunities to give the children in our classrooms "jobs" so they can fulfill the fundamental human need to make contributions to our community - in this case, our classroom. He lists six core jobs that can be facilitated with digital tools and cites numerous examples of impressive web offerings in support of executing these jobs:

• Tutorial Designers - record students problem-solving and publish to increase engagement
• Official Scribes - build online "textbook" by assigning official note takers daily and publish
• Researchers - put that "one" computer in the classroom to use each day
• Collaboration Coordinators - reach out beyond the walls of the classroom
• Contributing to Society - add a social cause to teach social studies, finance and investing
• Curriculum Reviewers - podcasts facilitate flexible, scalable content access

Tactically, this article gave me great ideas and numerous examples to investigate for potential use in high school math classes. I particularly like the Tutorial Designer and Official Scribe jobs and will seek to include these concepts in my classroom one day.

Strategically, this article really inspired more thinking from me about the role of the student these days and how maybe we've lost some of the core work ethics and values exhibited in early American history on the farms and in the fields, before technology and before our society became so complex. We must engage our students as contributors and actively manage the risk of internet tools. We cannot simply block access to many of these powerful tools and lose collaboration opportunities in favor of eliminating internet risk.

My purpose when I become a teacher will not be to just teach math or business & marketing, it will be to simply teach, coach, and mentor. The technology tools referenced in this article can support this bigger effort if managed properly and smartly. I will role model their use and convince our administration of their value. This rings true in November's concluding statement - "If we do not teach students social responsibility and ethics, then our worst fears of children abusing these tools will come true."