Technology at Linden is not only integral
to the core curriculum, but also increasingly pervades our
lives in so many ways. We therefore thought it was high time
we shared some thoughts on this subject with Kat Goodale,
who leads Linden’s computers and technology department.
Linden: Can you tell us a little about
how you became interested
in computers/technology? Please tell us how your career path
brought you to teaching at Linden?
Kat: Looking back, even to high school,
I can see that I was drawn to computers. In 1979 my school
was one of the first in the district to get a “personal
computer”. I don’t remember much about it, except
that the screen was two colour (black and orange),and I did
anything I could to work on it. In college, I took Business
Administration, but the only course I really excelled at was
Computer Programming.
Unfortunately, I totally missed all the
clues and “whittered” away a lot of time in various
jobs. It wasn’t until 1995, when I bought my first PC
through a purchase plan at work, that I really became drawn
to the potential of personal computing. With my 2400 baud
modem I talked to people on bulletin board systems around
the continent. And when the World Wide Web (W3) came on the
scene it opened up even more possibilities for communication.
Around this time I volunteered with Toronto
WebGrrls, a non-profit organization that was put in
place to help women learn about and have access to technology.
The W3 was still relatively grassroots then, with very little
corporate involvement. There I was able to be both student
and teacher as the W3 became more prevalent as a communication
tool and new technologies emerged.
Using Internet contacts, I was able to gain
work in the print design
industry, and so learned how traditional layout methods were
transformed by new software. I maintained my knowledge with
web-based applications and began to develop a sideline business
doing website design.
In 1998, I began to run my business as a
full time venture providing
IT and design solutions for small businesses. I also continued
teaching part time at the International Academy of Design
and Technology in their E-Commerce and Web Development curriculums.
Finding my way to The Linden School was
a bit of a fluke. I remember seeing the email from the school
on one of the Women in Technology mailing lists, and remember
my cursor hovering over the “Delete” button. I don’t
know what impulse prompted me to hit “Reply” instead
and send off my resume, but the rest is history.
Linden: How are women contributing to the
technology workforce? Do you find that gender is a factor
in this field?
Kat:Gender has always been a factor
in technology. Historically speaking most of the jobs women
performed in IT have been low level – data entry and
the like. There have been some women pioneers in the field,
such as Grace Hopper and Jean Sammet, but for the most part
it has always been a male dominated field.
Statistics show that fewer than 30% of students
taking Computer Science and Information Technology at a post
secondary level are women. Many studies attribute this to
the “nerdy” reputation that computers and IT still
have. There’s also research that shows that girls and
women are more interested in the design aspects of computers,
and prefer working with a graphic interface rather than with
programming code.
There were many discussions about gender
and technology at an Educators in Computing conference
I attended. Most computer teachers talked of difficulties
motivating high school girls to remain in Computer Studies,
and asked how I was able to maintain enrollment in the higher
grades. Studies have shown that when in single gender classroom,
girls are more openly interested in technology. At Linden,
I think it comes down to taking a constructivist approach
to Computer Studies by using as many relevant and emerging
technologies as possible, and using real world examples.
At Linden, I work with teachers in other
disciplines to create as many cross-curricular projects as
possible to show the students that the computer cannot be
relegated to just a class on its own, but must be integrated
with other classes and projects. Last year for example:
-
the Grade 6’s created a podcast
MP3 audiobook for their study of the book Harriet’s
Daughter
-
the Grade 7’s used PhotoShop to create
their own “culture jamming” advertisements
-
Grade 9’s developed their own business
by creating a product in their art class and using the
skills learned in the business technology class to create
the support materials such as business cards, cost analysis
spreadsheets and presentations.
Linden: Suddenly we’re hearing more
and more about blogs, Wikis and podcasts. In order to stay
current, how has Linden incorporated these new communications
into the curriculum?
Kat: Again, this relates to using
the technology in a constructivist manner. The students in
the Grade 11 and 12 design technology course are currently
learning how to create podcasts (a downloadable audio file
that people can listen to on their computers or MP3 players).
Each will be working with teachers and students of all grades
to create informational podcasts on a variety of topics that
will be added to The Linden School’s website and shared
with the Linden community.
Blogs, or web logs (an online digital diary
of sorts) have been found to promote critical, analytical,
creative thinking. The interactive nature of a blog, with
the ease that is provides students to publish reflections,
comments, links, images, and files make it ideal for collaborative
space. They have been used most effectively in literature
discussions, class portals, and individual e-portfolios.
Wikis are another example of a web-based
collaborative space. They have been called an “open source”
encyclopedia as writing can be changed and edited by anyone.
While some may argue that this makes them unreliable as a
source, nonetheless I think it they are an important teachable
unit in information source analysis. The reader must become
less passive and more thoughtful, learning to look at the
information from the angle of “it might be wrong”
rather than “it’s in print so it must be right”.
Entries in Wikipedia have been compared to the Encyclopedia
Britannica and have been found to be only slightly less accurate.
Will Richardson writes in his book, Blogs,
Wikis, Podcasts and other Powerful Web Tools for the Classrooms,
(2006) “…each of Wikipedia’s more than
840,000 (now 1.4 million) entries has evolved from the hands
of people just like us, with the concept that everyone together
is smarter than anyone alone.” It’s all about collaboration,
on a global scale.
Linden: Rumor has it that you are excited
about the many shifts in technology. Can you tell us about
your interests and how it relates to Linden?
Kat: Over the last year, I have used
each of these technologies to become part of a collaborative
group that spans the globe. I started a blog as a strictly
personal online discussion for one of my hobbies, one that
I am passionate about. I gradually found blogs of others with
the same interests, and linked to them and added comments
to posts/entries on their sites. We shared information with
each other, each of us both teaching and learning. We created
a wiki and began using online conferencing tools to have real-time
conversations. Although we are from very disparate backgrounds
and locations, we have become a close group of over 100 individuals
(and growing) who now meet IRL (In Real Life) two or three
times a year. This provides me with a social network which
I would have been unable to access by reading a book or working
on my own on the Internet.
Linden: Understanding that girls excel
in relationship-based environments, has the internet opened
up new avenues for this sort of expression? How?
Kat: It’s been established that
girls learn best in a collaborative environment. The W3 has
opened up the lines of collaboration and the possibility of
creating relationships through the technologies I’ve
already mentioned, as well as social networking and bookmarking.
At Linden we teach the students how to use technology:
-
Thoughtfully – to analyze who is
saying what, and why.
-
Appropriately – to think about
what is the right tool for the job, the right software
or search term.
-
Safely – to understand what the
difference is between personal information (birthday,
nickname,
etc.) and. private information (full name, address, etc.).
-
Legally – to appreciate intellectual
property and copyrights, and to understand the effects
and consequences of plagiarism and copyright infringement.
Linden: What do we have to look forward
to at Linden?
Kat: There are so many things - new
computers in the lab, computers in every classroom and wireless
access for those who use laptops. Students can now create
their projects not just as a text essay, but as a PowerPoint
presentation, a Flash animation, a podcast, digital video…the
possibilities for expanding the students’ learning experience
into something unique is almost limitless.
The term “digital native” has
been coined to describe today’s youth. They have been
born into a world filled with technology and “online”
communities - this is not new to them, it’s their way
of life. They are so familiar with technology and are able
to make leaps and connections on how to use it, that frankly;
I’m running out of ways to say “wow, that’s
cool!”
However to fully utilize computers and to
reach the students who use them, educators need to reexamine
the ways in which we think about content and curriculum. The
explosion of information and online technologies demands a
more complex definition of what it means to be “literate”
in our digital society.
Will Richardson identifies what he calls
“Big Shifts” in education:
-
Open Content. Information on the Internet is more abundant,
more accessible, and more up to date, rendering many textbooks
passé.
-
Many, many teachers and 24/7 learning. The W3 allows us
to connect with not just other teachers, but biochemists,
poets, artists and other varied experts.
-
Social, collaborative construction of meaningful
knowledge. It’s no longer about finishing
“your own work”, but about creating and publishing
information in wider social context.
-
Teaching is conversation, not lecture. The students learn
that their voices matter, that people are listening and
responding, and that their ideas count.
-
Readers are no longer just readers. Readers must now learn
to be critical editors; and with the opportunities to converse
and interact that these technologies provide, they must
also be writers.
-
“Writing” is no longer limited to text. We can
communicate in audio and video, in music and in digital
photography, and we can publish it all for extended audiences.
-
Contribution, not completion as a goal. Each of these
technologies allows us to contribute to the larger body
of knowledge.
Even for me, as someone who has tried to
be on top of new and emerging technologies, this can get a
bit daunting. We will be having a Technology Night each year
where we can go through some of this in greater detail, and
can answer any questions that parents and other members of
the Linden Community may have. I hope to see you there!
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