Man or Machine ?

Pre-destination and Free Will in an Educational Context

I have recently started my Masters Research on Communication, Education and Technology at University of Manchester. One of my first assignments was to watch and write a critique about a 1960's series, The Prisoner.

For those not familiar with this 1960's epic (I was hooked from episode 1!) it is half Truman Show, half The Island, with a bit of conspiracy thrown it. The basic plot is this: an undetermined number of professionals are trapped on an island-prison known as The Village. Although not incarcerated in any traditional sense, the prisoners' lives are controlled in every single minute detail by The General (who in an ironic twist of fate, turns out to be nothing than a super-computer who rules all of the village).

After the first few minutes, it is clear that the villagers are not only manipulated, stripped of their free will; but also victims of the most bizarre mind altering experiments, including what is referred to in Episode 6 as "Speed Learning - A University Degree in 3 minutes!". Every day the villagers are subjected to a 15 second "lecture" where their minds are shamelessly manipulated and data is literally inputted into their brains - and they are able to reproduce every single fact, detail and date with frightening precision. However it is quite obvious from the beginning that they have no idea what their are talking about - the "15 second lectures" are nothing but a brainwashing exercises - and God knows what the "transmitters" put in their brains over and above the simple facts they are supposedly "teaching".

Yes, "teaching...." brainwashing, rote learning, drilling.....

Hands up, those of you born in the 70's, who still remember citing the mathematical tables, from 1-12, every day in class ? The periodical table ? Capitals and countries of the world ? And those who learnt how to write specific words in the infamous "Look and Say" method and not understanding a fig about what that word really did mean ? 

I once had a perfect "Idiot Savant" Autistic child in my Grade 2 class: He could reproduce whole documents from memory, but of course he didn't understand a word of it or why he was compulsively writing them all in the first place...a perfect photographic memory if I ever saw one...But to what intent ?

The truth is, no matter how many super computers are invented, no matter where technology takes us, no matter what study methods we embrace in order to cram as many facts as possible into our already over-stretched brains - none of the above can be classified as learning. To learn is to look for facts with pure curiosity for knowledge, by sifting through the information overload that we are burdened with, to question and to be critical, to look for alternative solutions. To seek, to never be satisfied with one answer, to have an opinion, to make your thoughts become actions.

Because that is what differs us from machines - even the most advanced of computers, are, in fact, stupid. Sure, they can compute, look up millions of articles in a fraction of a second, make the most complicated of calculations....But do they feel ? Do they think, unless we instruct them to ? Do they really do our work instead of us, or just react to what we feed them ?

Maybe what really marks a difference between humans and machines is that humans have free will. I do not for one minute believe in pre-destination. Because that is just another way of saying we cannot go forward, we cannot change things, we would essentially be stuck. I refuse to believe that that is what we are in this world for - to follow our destiny. In Doc Brown's words at the very end of Back to The Future Part 3 - "Your future isn't written on a piece of paper". 

Oh and by the way, do you want to know what happened to the supercomputer in "The Prisoner ?" Went up in smoke...because it couldn't find an answer to a simple three lettered word. "WHY".

eTwinning: Towards Information Literate Students

It's not about the Tools, it's about the Skills

In our so called "Digital Age", incredible as it may sound, I still come across instances where (well-meaning) teachers practise what is known as "Library Instruction". In layman's terms, Library Instruction refers to teaching through the use of access tools such as catalogues, abstracts, encyclopedias and similar tools for reference - (Grafsetein, 2002:197).  More recently, use of the Internet, as well the "teaching" of other  techniques to enable students to become information literate - came into practice (Andretta, 2005:6).

Neither the first, and most certainly not even the second statement above bear any resemblance whatsoever to the real "Information Literacy" definition. Just because we thrust these new fad tools in the lap of our students - new technologies, new tools and research methods - does not automatically imply that our students are becoming information literate. It is the just the case of same old, same old - same methods using different media - but still subject oriented, not skills-oriented.

For the students, the mere task of copying and pasting information for their tasks or assignments is not inductive to learning. Rather it creates a generation of students (and adults) who are great at retrieving information, but this is of little use to them as they have never been encouraged to ask questions, to be critical, or scrutinise their source. The tools may have changed - from catalogues of library books to Google results - but sadly sometimes the end results are the same.

Proper Information Literate students, on the other hand, are full of questions. They want to know how and why things are the way they are, they want to pursue information further, they want to be active learners -  pursue their own learning wherever they can. They know how to check their sources, they know how to-cross reference with different texts and articles; in a nutshell, they know how to THINK.

eTwinning, as an educational practice on its own, certainly plays a part in equipping students and educators with essential 21st Century skills - including Information and Media Literacy - however this is just the tip of the educational iceberg.  The action actively promotes peer to peer learning, a student centred approach with emphasis on critical thinking, and ultimately, a culture of life-long learning.

And that is, in a nutshell, what Information Literacy is all about. It is not about the tools, it is about the attitude - of students and teachers alike. Let us, as educators, encourage our students to question and not accept everything as de-facto. Let's allow our students roam freely with their minds, think for themselves, and be content creators themselves. Let our students become active citizens of tomorrow, for their sake, and for the sake of a better future for everyone.