Mark Federman LCPP and 4Cs

In the words of Mark Federman those much younger than I, i.e. less than 25, truly live in a world of UCPP; Ubiquitous Connectivity Persuasive Proximity .When I consider the chasm between my own parents and myself, not to mention with my 10-11 year old students and even my own two children the gap is V-A-S-T. I’m caught half-way between my parents’ generation of virtually no technology to my children’s generation who are 100% tech-savvy! With i-phones, i-pods, amazon.com, e-bay, and online-banking, long queues, in fact any queues at all, when shopping/buying, paying bills, banking, booking travel etc are a thing of the past. I remember my young 3 year old son asking my Dad ‘Grandpa, what was your favorite video when you were young’ and my Dad replying “We didn’t even have color TV -only black and white then- let alone videos. Now, and for years, my kids don’t even watch videos, with youtube, DVD’S etc! This video-clip has really made me think and it’s true that with the deft touch of a pad, click of a mouse or button, the world is at our doorstep. Time and space pose no problems, everyone is instantly and continuously connected, and every corner of the world truly is at our - and especially our young ones’ – fingertips, for them it always has been! For e.g. snail mail is something they never have to contend with, unless they so choose, a Thank You for the gift which Grandma appreciates receiving. When my children travel they pack their world and take it with them via i-phone, i-pod or camera-attached wireless laptop. Or they can simply take a virtual tour to anyplace in the world. Coming here I experienced party lines- which I had never even heard of in Sydney, Australia-as well as many frustrations waiting for painfully S-L-O-W dial-up connections, while my kids on the other hand have instant wireless internet, and using SKYPE and text messages, they happily chat to friends and family all around the globe. With Blogs, Face-book, Twitter, Google Talk, they are instantly and constantly connected. They have never experienced cameras with film- waiting for anything, it’s all there here and now; with all the tech tools available now- even one small i-phone in their hand- they have all the technology they need to learn, and stay totally and continuously connected in the 21st century. If they want to find an answer to a question, it takes them only an instant to find it, not the long treks to libraries to find suitable resources, as in the past.
I wholeheartedly agree with Mark Federman’s contention that, as a result of the vast changes the internet/technology has brought to the way students communicate and interact, educational institutions, if they are to remain relevant in the 21st century, must move from being education models that are skills-based to models of education that are much more focused on connectivity. We need to reform as our educational institutions are out of touch with student needs, currently there exists a wide gulf between what schools offer and students’ experiences in the real world. The role of educational institutions and educators must change; we need to implement the 4 C’s- to keep up with these vast changes. Our children are the UCPP generation – like fish in water- they have become our educators, we MUST change. In our high tech, mass-media, ever-changing world we too need to implement and apply the 4 ‘C’s: Connections, Context, Complexity, and Connotations, which matter so much.-and not CONTENT like the 3R’s of yesterday! Our child educator educates us in true Life-Long Learning!