Tag Archives: #edtech

Agency, Complex Systems, Connectivism, Embodied Mind, Library Management, Multiliteracies, Participatory culture, Proxemics, Technology

Proxemics and The Embodied Mind: The hidden dimension of learning.

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(1500 words)

img_6512There are two fields of study that I would like to bring together to create a deep but accessible framework to examine the impact of the environment on student learning. Of particular interest to me is the impact of the presence books on learning in combination with other technologies however this framework could be applied to many other aspects of the learning environment.

  1. Proxemics
  2. The Embodied Mind.

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Library Management, Publishing, Technology

Future libraries : what publishing trends and book sales tell us about the future of libraries

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Why understanding trends in publishing and book sales matters to school libraries.

A few weeks ago I wrote a post titled “The Post Digital Library: Toward the Hybrid Library” that was aimed at challenging the assumption that print is becoming increasingly irrelevant in an increasingly connected world. I would like to take this idea a little further to dig deeper into the data that underpinned this initial post. I fully recognise that the moment this post is published that the data will be outdated however the big idea is that we need to beware of our assumptions when making decisions about the future of our libraries. Up until this point, this is data that has not been brought into discussions about the role of the library in the school setting. This is a profound oversight that we can begin correcting now. While much of the data I present is based on the Nielson Bookscan research the initial prompt to find data about book sales came through information feeds I follow from a broad range of sources in the publishing sector that seemed to be indicating that the digital revolution has not changed publishing in the way we may have expected a decade ago. The more I read, the more I came to realise that the digital and print information landscape is far more nuanced than I imagined. This spurred me into searching more deeply to find definitive information to determine if the general impressions I was detecting were in fact real. The Nielson research I present therefore represents a concise summary of the trends in publishing and book sales that I have noticed both in my own experience within our own school library and within reports from around the world.

One important caveat is that to extrapolate the data I present too far would also be in error. I hope to simply present the numbers as published from a range of sources to challenge the assumptions we may have and cause us to reconsider our understandings about the role of the library. There are endless methodological issues, causal factors and compounding elements that account for the details of the data I present however it is not my intention to critique the data, simply to present it. If you find some of the data particularly interesting, the links provided will give you the opportunity to dig a little deeper. This post will also deliberately steer away from a discussion of the nostalgic features of print that these conversations will often include because, while I could write much about this (see my post on books as concept manipulatives), in management discussions where budgets are on the line and big decisions about the development of the school library are being made, appealing to emotional arguments can (rightly or wrongly) undermine the credibility of a proposal for further investment in the library.

My hope is that you will find this data reassuring but also challenging and inspiring. By presenting data that makes us stop and think for a moment, I hope that this post will stimulate a vibrant discussion about the role of the library in schools. Let’s begin.

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Connectivism, Library Management, Technology

The Post-digital Library toward the Hybrid Library

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Finally the world is beginning to move beyond concept that the digital technologies are the answer to everything. Finally the dust is settling after the onslaught of new digital technologies & we are able to glimpse a new future. The digital revolution has most certainly been a revolution but not quite what we had envisaged in science fiction films and books. Certainly there were elements of truth but we are a long way from the worlds of “Back to the future” or the “Blade Runner” of 2019 (disappointing in some ways, I was really looking forward to the hover board). We only need to pick up a design website, an arts magazine, a science magazine or a picture book to see that the world is moving beyond digital toward a hybrid world. A post-digital world. A world where the analogue and digital coexist, neither one is replaced nor entirely fills the role of the other yet both are heavily influenced by each other through complex interactions. Neither one works entirely independent of the other. How often does it happen that you start reading a magazine, then jump to a website to find out more, then click on a link to go further, watch a video, then go back to purchase a book written by someone you have just discovered through their online presence, then return to that magazine to read another article? It is a hybrid connected experience. Similarly in the library we are finally able to envisage a world where digital resources coexist with print and more traditional analog resources such as the beanbag in a quiet dimly lit corner. Libraries that have gone entirely digital have pre-empted a world that does not exist, the digital has not replaced the analog but has transformed it, changed it and now it has evolved and will continue to evolve. Evidence for this can be found in looking at trends in book sales. Book sales on the whole, including digital and print, are going up. Digital sales particularly in areas like mass appeal  paperback fiction are rapidly increasing – the book, the narrative text is still just as engaging as it ever was. While in the print world sales in children’s picture books are growing rapidly but so are other areas such as graphic novels. What we have are patterns of publication that are changing but nevertheless still growing. Print is showing no signs of disappearing – only changing. As a result our library has moved from attempting to be a deposit of all knowledge sufficient for an inquiring student, to providing a boutique collection of unique print titles that inspire a different response than a website or an e-book. We can now expand our resources into the electronic world particularly in reference resources through databases & e-books so that now I don’t need to stock those specialty titles in print for future reference, my students can now access resources electronically where-ever they are, when ever they need it. This means that when they come to the library they expect a different experience. And that is really what the library offers, an experience. That experience may include and often does include digital components however this all occurs in the context of beautifully bound books that inspire and create an atmosphere of creativity and exploration. So in the post-digital world, the post-digital library, we find a hybrid world where digital technology & analog technology mingle together. For this to continue the library environment needs to be nimble, flexible and adaptable yet open and carefully designed to maximise the benefits of both print and digital resources. The post-digital Library is a space and an idea that reflects the complex and connected world that we live in. This may change in the future but right now there is no indication that the near future will be any different. This is so exciting for me because I have been able to collect some of the most beautiful and inspiring books I have ever seen. I am not sure if this is reflective of the publishing industry producing more interesting texts or if I am just getting better at finding them. Which ever way, the library is filled with a never ending supply of unique, boutique creations. This is a great time to be in the world of library and information management.

additional resources, Uncategorized

Book Review : “The App Generation”, Howard Gardner & Katie Davis

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The App Generation : How today’s youth navigate identity, intimacy and imagination in a digital world by Howard Garner & Katie Davis, 2014 (complete with all my bookmarks).

We can always be assured that when we pick up a book by Professor Howard Gardner, we are holding some very carefully considered and powerful ideas in our hands. I am not familiar with the work of Professor Katie Davis however after reading this book, I will certainly following her research in the future.

Visit the book website [here] for a summary & video from the authors. Although not directly mentioned, his book approaches participatory culture and connectivist theory through the lens of “app-dependence” versus “app-enablement”. These ideas are expanded upon by considering three areas of adolescent life: identity, intimacy, and imagination.

From the outset, this book sets a high standard for academic writing. The scope of the subject is clearly defined & methodologies set out in detail. The appendices further expand the transparency of the research behind this work which leads me onto a first general observation. The research draws heavily on the American cultural context which places significant limitations on how far findings can be extrapolated to other cultural & geographical contexts. Don’t get me wrong, the questions asked within the theoretical constructs the authors use to frame their discussion are extremely important & certainly caused me to think deeply about the “App generation” in my context. Suffice it to say that the cultural backgrounds, historical & technological contexts that the students I see everyday at an international school in remote South East Asia could not be more different from the subjects of the studies based in Harvard. There are most definitely commonalities but the temptation to extrapolate the research presented in this book to students outside these studies must be vigorously resisted.  For example, the technological history outlined on page 52 is distinctly western (if not American) & most certainly not paralleled by the vast majority of the world’s population particularly here in Asia. How the students I see each day have come to this technological space is so diverse that we must guard most ardently against assuming we understand their perspective. I would go even further in saying that we can draw little value from describing a “generation” in any way for fear of drawing conclusions based on stereotypes rather than the lived experience of each individual student we encounter. This may sound like I oppose the premise of this book but not so. Instead, we should apply the same inquiring mind that Gardner and Davis have applied in their context to challenge our own assumptions about the “App Generation” present in our classrooms. Their rigorous & deeply reflective approach that seeks to draw information from multiple sources to make sense of a notoriously enigmatic topic such as technology & youth is refreshing in a field such as education which is rife with myths, unchallenged assumptions & scant methodology.

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