The Rights of the Child

The public realizing the impact that the media has on children has tried to protect and at the same time empower them. In David Buckingham’s book, The Death of Childhood, he explains current beliefs regarding children and media, and the responsibilities of adults to nurture and educate children in this more media related adult world.



Buckingham cites the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted in 1989, continually updated to remain current, and ratified differently by individual countries, as evidence that adults want to protect children from anything that can be “injurious to their well-being” (Buckingham, p 200). While the premise of this convention is to protect children from violence (prohibiting children from military involvement) to the sale of children (as slaves or child prostitutes), it also includes youngsters’ exposure to violence, sex, and the evils of advertisers. Some countries also focus on the importance of giving children a voice to express their views.
As a parent I understand the need to protect, but like Buckingham, I also understand the importance of informing children to allow them to make their own decisions.

Kids Will be Kids
Children tend to not be as delicate and gullible as many believe. Experts who link childhood violence (the 1993 murder of a two-year old by two ten-year olds) to violent films and television (Child’s Play 3) neglect to point out other factors (psychological of the individuals) to fully place blame on media itself. Most children that view violent films, do so out of the thrill they get being frightened, much like riding on a roller coaster. The older you are, the more you can handle.

Although children can be savvy consumers and critics of advertisements, one area of concern is the creation of cartoons, to sell merchandise, developed early on by the Disney corporation, and is now common place. Many shows on Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and the Disney channel currently produce programs for the “tween” consumers (with disposable income), merchandising Hannah Montana, iCarly, and Star Wars the Clone Wars clothes, backpacks, lunchboxes, and even literature. Buckingham points out that children admit to buying items to express their identity and to keep pace with their peers, not because of the advertising. Maybe the program-length commercial is duping them into an alternative identity that involves the characters of the show. Educating the young consumers about advertising and commerce would help them to understand the businesses motives and become even more astute shoppers.

Media education is essential to the growth of children today. It creates opportunities for children to create their own communities and their own learning experiences. Educators and parents need to have open conversations about the uses and dangers inherent in any community, and give them the tools and strategies to comprehend the information and situations, as well as how to deal with them.

Michael Jackson and ID?

So what does Michael Jackson have with Instructional Design? Well, according to David Buckingham, in the book, The Death of Childhood, "Jacko" represents the morphing of the child and the adult, which mimics the vision that media and technology give of childhood. His asexuality, and ambiguous age reflects the way the media portrays children both as innocent, but sexy, and adults that are child-like. Media obscures the lines between adult and child, as well as confusing literacy and media. Most of this is blamed on marketing literature based on media and vice versa. Commerce is to blame for the disparity between the haves and the have-nots.

Historically Speaking
After reviewing the historical changes in the world of children, Buckingham points out the commerce of youth. Buckingham discusses how the family unit went from a traditional nuclear family to smaller single parent families occasionally supported by extended family. Children spend less time with parents, but are involved in more organized activities, or in private pastimes. Consequently, affluence influences the free time of children. Families that can afford after school programs, sports, and educational software benefit, while poorer families cannot afford theses leisure activities, thus creating a wider gape between the socio-economic levels. Schools have become more structured due to governmental and economic foci. But teaching styles have become more constructivist than behaviorist. Additionally, more students are choosing higher education, but less are involved in the workforce at a young age.

Commerce of Kids
Kids have always been drawn to the adult world, now the adult world is drawn to the economics of children. This text questions how much media influences children and touches on how children, a viable consumer via their parents, impact media. The video discusses how children become consumers when they can focus their eyes, and how advertisers market products for all ages.
CBS News with Katie Couric and Susan Gregory Thomas

Prescription for ID
Prescribing instructional design to this young and gullible audience may seem like easy money, however this relationship needs to be approached cautiously and with consideration. The effects of media must be considered, as does the discrepancy between socio-economic levels. Children's social lives, and how media fits into their lives, can enhance their learning. Over-stimulation and cognitive overload is another consideration that IDs need to think about, and even focus on. With the abundance of media at children’s fingertips, parents, teacher, and instructional designers, must help kids deal with the abundance of information out there. Additionally, these groups need to impart ethics in dealing with appropriate and inappropriate material that the kids may come across.

Corruption or Completion

After the Death of Childhood: Growing up in the age of electronic media, by David Buckingham, discusses the destiny of the youth in the 21st century. Buckingham describes the changes in how society views childhood, and how technological advances influence those views and the children themselves.

Juvenile Justification

Chapter 1, “In Search of the Child,” explains how society classifies childhood, and the ambiguity of those classifications. First of all the definition of childhood depends on the society and shifts in relation to the opposition to adulthood. Buckingham notes how the media historically portrays contradictory images of childhood, both as child-like adults and adult-like children. Technological advances throughout history influence how childhood is viewed by society and how children fit into that culture.

Hurrying Down

As Alice ventured down into the rabbit hole, children of the era were taking steps into new worlds through literature. Children’s literature became more popular, and reading levels were the censors to the adult world of literature. Movies and television removed that censorship.
Buckingham painfully goes on, in chapter 2, to review literature regarding media and children, and how media is the cause of the decline of civilization. Most literature focuses on the “lost” youth, and a reminiscence of childhood.

David Elkhind believes that children are being “hurried” through childhood by dealing with family stress and the pressure to succeed, in his book, The Hurried Child (1981). Elkhind emphasizes the need for children to progress slowly through developmental stages.
Elkhind also feels that the media breaks down the “intellectual barriers” and exposes children to material that they are not intellectually ready for. In the book, Children without Childhood (1984), Marie Winn, Children without Childhood discusses how social problems affect children and how media allows children to enter the secret life of the adult world. The decline of society is the result of permissiveness.

With the advent of computers, children are exposed to additional material and responsibilities. Barry Sanders’s book, A is for Ox, and Neil Postman’s text, Technopoly, explain the detriment computers have on the development of children. They are even more in danger because there is less monitoring and more access to a variety of media. The video “The Perversion of the Childhood by New Media” mimics much of their beliefs.



The Light at the End of the Tunnel

All this gloom and doom is challenged by more optimistic views that the “electronic generation” can unlock knowledge for children who are undaunted by technology. Digital technologies are inevitable, as Don Tapscott reveals in his book, Growing Up Digital. Technology creates a society that is more democratic and collaborative, that will develop into a “generational explosion” that will overthrow current echelons of power. John Katz expresses, in Virtuous Reality that adults, and governments, attempts to police and control what children are exposed to violate their rights. He also suggests focusing on how to deal with media, appropriate or not, instead of just blocking it.

As instructional designers we need to take into consideration not only the varied ability levels of the learners, but also their belief system. Fears, anxieties, and comforts need to be realized in designing learning environments and materials. A learners digital-age could be used to determine the best methods of developing learning systems.

The Future of my ID Loves

I am addicted to helping, enthralled with energizing people young and old to learn, and captivated by expertly designed systems and products. I am an instructional designer. Instructional designers of the future will need to use research to influence the choices they make in the instructional design process, use current theories in a blended way, and not get caught up in the hype of new tools that may hinder learning.

Compulsively Competent
My daughter calls me a compulsive helper, I see it as a way to make systems work better. As I make my way through the grocery store I see a customer blankly gazing around the shelves, so I secretly work through the best way to approach this customer and help her out, and how could the store make it easier to find what we need. Why does the traffic bunch up at this intersection and how could traffic engineers rectify the situation. Instructional design models like ADDIE are helpful to a compulsive helper like me. The layers of the theory guide me through decisions that I make.















The future of instructional design will include research as part of this theory (Roark, 2005). In the years to come the abundance of information and ideas will overwhelm the Instructional Designer, and through research the instructional designer will be able to validate claims of effectiveness and justify the myriad of choices out there.

Based on Theory
As a mom and a teacher, I love sharing what I know and encouraging others to learn on their own. My children’s questions, “What kind of bird is that? Where does the rain come from? are answered with, “What does it remind you of? What do you think? Let’s find out.” Allowing my kids and my students to construct their own learning encourages them to be in control of their own learning. As a teacher, I have learned that in order to be successful, I need to put effective learning theories into practice. John Keller’s ARCS theory or Gagne’s theory of the nine-events of instruction start out as a structured formats that over time become instinctive to the instructional designer, because they makes sense and they work. Therefore designing learning systems based on these theories will also work. Many futurists believe that the future of instructional design in moving towareds individualizing the learning experiences using Learning Management Systems (Saba, 2009). While I feel that differentiating learning for students is essential, most students thrive in a community learning experience. Blended Learning experiences will provide opportunities for whole-group interaction, small-group work, and independent efforts. Teachers can impart information, facilitate problem-solving activities, and guide students.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp2h6USnCaE

Managing the Load













Going through the Web Pages That Suck site is like walking down a beach littered with trash. I get apprehensive. I need to do something about it. There is no excuse for it.
Websites that feel right, are easy to read, pleasant to look at, effortless to navigate don’t happen by magic. It takes careful planning and design. As the Internet becomes flashier and faster, efficiency of learning models will support decisions that instructional designers will make. Managing the cognitive load for learners will be essential for the instructional designers of the future. The will evidenced-based guidelines to maximize the learning experience and minimize cognitive load as Clark, Nguyen and Sweller recommend (Clark et al., 2006).

Clark, Ruth C., Nguyen, Frank, and Sweller, John (2006). Efficiency in Learning: Evidence-based Guidelines to Manage Cognitive Load. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer.

Ruark, Benjamin E. (2008). ARDDIE: The Year 2013 ARDDIE is in, ADDIE is Out. ASTD, p 44 – 50.

Saba, Farhad (2008). Learning Management Systems of the Future: A Theoretical Framework and Design. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 4 (2), 158 – 168.

Healing the Habit of Habitual Teaching

Imagine walking into a teacher development session and having your students sitting at the table with you. What would you think? Would you value their input? Would you ask their advice? Including students in the planning process of educational programs is what some futurists are suggesting.

We no longer live in an industrial society where dictator-like teachers teach children to conform, stand in a straight line, and speak only when called on. Our society is moving towards more of an individualized one - differentiating instruction to meet all students’ needs. On the other hand, there are the state standards and the standardized tests to contend with. So is the differentiation just to get all of the students standardized?

Where is the educational system going?

Now some Futurists suggest that we ask the students what they want to learn and how they want to learn it. They contrast the money spent in the corporate world to develop systems, programs, and products based on the consumers’ wishes, to the money spent in education on systems, programs, and products with complete disregard of the students’ desires. Mark Prensky believes that if schools, administrators, and districts, make a concerted effort to get students’ input while developing their educational plans, it will decrease dropout rates and student violence (Prensky, 2008). In his article, “Young Minds, Fast Times: The Twenty-First-Century Digital Learner - How tech-obsessed iKids would improve our schools,” he states that the educational system, which is run by experienced intelligent “old folks,” is in jeopardy if we don’t “invite them [the kids] to the party.”

The party he refers to is the staff development trainings and educator conferences, which he has already put into reality. Prensky invites a panel of students to participate in his presentations so that educators can understand and hear what students think of the educational system. Giving children a voice empowers them, but it also becomes apparent that what students want in their education differs greatly from what they are getting. Many students agree that they are bored in school. Students want real-life situations to deal with, projects where they can work together and deal with questions and share ideas. Students want to be considered as equals, which contrasts with the lecturing and the sitting quietly and listening lessons that they are being provided.

So can it work?

The website, Sound Out – Promoting student voice in school, focuses on providing “meaningful student involvement.” They list ways to involve students as Education Planners, which includes designing, planning, and participating in curriculum design, individualized learning plans, classroom activities, budgeting, and new school design. They lay out how to make the "party" accessible to kids, which includes training for both adults and children. This site also devotes space to share examples of how students are involved in their educational planning from first-grade up to high school. Involving students in the planning process meet state standards while making the learning experiences more purposeful.

What about me?

Many teachers have experiences where student input in creating rules or making educational choices works. They get that sense of euphoria that comes when everything falls into place, students are engaged, and standards are met. Why then do teachers get sucked back into the vortex of dictatorship? Get in a straight line!! Stop leaning in your chair! Listen when I am speaking! Yikes that sounds like me!

Teachers teach the way they were taught. And the educational system supports and reinforces that in the form of state adopted textbooks that align with the standards and the state tests. The state adopts textbooks for all students that meet the standards. They get professional development on how to use the textbook. The textbooks must be used because they align with the state test. Hmmm. Now it seems like the publishers are making the decisions.

The educational system does need to be in the hands of those who are directly affected by it. San Diego School District is currently implementing Proposition S, a 2.1 billion dollar plan to modernize school sites to prepare the students for the 21st century. The Citizens’ Oversite Committee is made up of adults. None are students. $2.1 billion is a lot of money to spend on technological tools that evolve so quickly. The measure does not address how teachers will be trained to implement technology, nor does it ensure that these tools are what the students want and need. Providing WiFi for all schools is essential, however how schools will use it is not being addressed.

Educators, parents, and especially students need to push for educational reform that blends the top-down reform with bottom-up (students’) input. Educators need to remember how to engage students, not dictate, but they also need support from the top and pats on the back to motivate them as they go through this change. Child-centered education should be developed with the students.

Whole-System Change Does it Work?

Chula Vista Elementary School District was one of the participants in a research study by Learning First Alliance in 2003, who looked at how they approached whole-system change. According to the case study, "Decentralization and System Reform", by Wendy Togneri and Lisa F. Lasarus, the school board hired Dr. Libia (Libby) Gil as superintendent in 1993, hoping to stimulate change and promote better performance through inspiration and support (Togneri and Lasarus, 1993).
This change was based on the theory of decentralization, and included decreasing the district level staff and projecting a new sense of purpose. The Ball Foundation was one of the consultants that they used to improve their literacy achievement.

• Built a collective vision among stakeholders
• Developed a district-wide system of accountability to insure that measurement tools to assess goal outcomes were consistent.
  
• Set expectations to support principals as key to school-level reform.
• Began school-level reform.

The research study explains how they developed a systemic redesign process to support principals, teachers, and students. But I wanted to know how it is going now? Do they evaluate their system? What progress and benefits do the stakeholders see as a result of the redesign?

I chatted with my friend and former colleague, Christyn Pope, an Instructional Focus Specialist at Chula Vista Learning Community Charter School (CVLCC), about how the district changes benefit her learning community. She discussed how the district currently re-evaluates in order to continually improve the system. They work with Targeted Leadership Consulting and The Ball Foundation to ensure that the coaching and strategic planning reflect the districts goals and evidenced-based instructional practices. Chula Vista Elementary School District currently employs a Community of Practice Cohort which ensures that communication between the schools and the district is reciprocal and that collaboration and support is valued.
Leadership teams within schools include the principal, administrative leads, and grade level representatives. These teams have open lines of communication. The teams are organized into school leadership teams, which meet in cohorts monthly. The cohorts meet to foster communication through professional development, standards based planning, networking, and developing action plans for schools. These cohorts allow for continual evaluation of their system and foster motivation.
Christyn seems satisfied with the way the district works now. As a former San Diego City Schools administrator, who worked under the top down iron-fisted redesign in early 2000, she appreciates the consistency of language and goals that CVESD has and the management system allows cross-level communication. She said that many of the stakeholders, teachers, students, parents, principals, board members, are encouraged and value the change in the schools.

If the current SDUSD were to develop a district-wide change policy, they should look to their neighbors, CVESD, for inspiration.

A New Hope

The educational bureaucracy is like The Republic and I, and a few of my Jedi comrades, try to bring technological balance to the educational Force. We, Jedi strive for what we know is right, engaging students and promoting creativity and learning, as the video “A Vision of K – 12 Students Today” communicates. Educational Jedi are guardians of peace, justice, and using “engaging technologies in collaborative inquiry-based learning environments” (Nesbitt, 2007). There are colonies in far reaching systems that are effective. Look what guardians of quality education are doing in Kansas

There, teachers and administrators have the funding and the Republic behind them. They teach the Padawans (technological Jedi in training) and support them along the way.

However, many of us live in the realms of Republics where the empirical bureaucracy resists change. What ever the reasons, lack of funding, lack of knowledge, lack of motivation, change still needs to happen. If 76% of teachers have never used a Wiki (Nesbitt, 2007) how can us Jedi encourage, support, and inform our Padawans. Society has changed from appreciating sameness (clones) to learning about and valuing differences. Our educational system needs A New Hope.

Jedi are not in control of systems, they support and protect them. Therefore, if technological Jedi are passionate about their tools, sites, and powers, they will need to take Younglings and Padawans under their wing to train and support them. Adding more Jedi to the Force.