Privacy, Projects, and Skepticism

This week I received two articles from my Google alerts that were not related, but equally compelling. The first article I read was from the Borneo Bulletin and it concerned project-based learning in L2 classrooms. The main argument presented was that student-centered learning promotes language acquisition because students are engaged with the language via creative expression and multimedia. This is a current trend in education that doesn't seem to be going anywhere; the idea that the teacher is merely a facilitator of learning while the students direct their own exploration, guided by rubrics and feedback (aka Differentiated Instruction). The article also makes the argument that teachers as a "guide on the side" are more impactful and important to students than a "sage on the stage" because students are directing their own exploration and need guidance to reach the goals or rubric requirements. I am a little skeptical of using project-based learning too frequently because some students will take much more time than others to meet the common goals or standards and might miss out on some concepts because they are working through a self-selected project with separate goals. I think more work needs to be done to understand differentiated instruction. It would be useful for teachers to have a resource that compiled DI project ideas for different content-areas that focused on particular standards. It is overwhelming to think about differentiating every lesson that I teach for an entire school year and managing/facilitating hundreds of different projects at the same time. I think this would be even more of a troublesome task if L2 students were introduced into the mix because they may have separate language learning goals that they are trying to reach while completing these content-based projects. This is definitely something that would need to be introduced slowly over several years before it could become effective.

The next article that I read discussed Google's new "Interland" project which aims to teach children online safety. Interland is an online game that teaches children about digital citizenship through a series of activities like creating strong passwords and avoiding hackers. Google has been under fire recently for its lack of transparency with its sharing of user data and many people are skeptical of how effective this program really is in its goals of teaching children how to navigate the online world. The Google logo is plastered all over the game, which leads many to think that this is more of an advertisement than an educational tool. As mentioned in the article, the game also does not address the issue of corporate data mining, which Google has been doing for years to match ads to specific individuals. I definitely think we need more programs like this for students, but they need to be created by impartial companies that do not rely on profits from advertising. L2 students especially need these resources because many of them are using new technologies that they (or their families) have never used before. They are prone to falling for scams because of their lack of skill with the technology and the language gap. Hopefully programs will be developed with these students in mind to teach them digital citizenship and online safety skills so the technology that they use to enhance their learning experience does not become a risk factor.

Resources:

Projects help students become independent: Teacher. (2018, October 25). Retrieved October 25, 2018, from https://borneobulletin.com.bn/projects-help-students-become-independent-teacher/

Singer, N., & Maheshwari, S. (2018, October 23). Google is teaching children how to act online. Is it the best role model? Retrieved October 25, 2018, from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/23/business/google-kids-online-safety.html