Friday, March 26, 2004
Texting reaches across the gulfs
I'm fascinated by new technology and how it changes the ways we interact. Moreover, I find it particularly rewarding to look at how these same technologies can be used to reach across the gulfs that can separate us. These gulfs can be physical, like distance or time, they can be social, like nationality or age, and they can even be something more intangible than that, like the generation gap, or the gulf that separates disengaged students from their education.
I heard some inspiring stories recently at a workshop organised by ALT about how SMS text messaging had reached across this 'engagement gulf' and brought students who were in danger of slipping through the educational system back into touch with their classmates and teachers. This wasn't about sending out learning material by text, or by offering them homework support, but about including them in the educational environment. A few texts from their teacher "changed [his] relationship with them overnight".
This is particularly close to my own interests: I'm looking into using text messages to enable wide-area learning games with the aim being to increase participation and engagement. What I'm doing however is about explicit engagement; it looks like something much more implicit can go on as well. I've heard anecdotal evidence of children and young adults resisting attempts to join in with their social communications - it seems they view things like texting and instant messaging as something only for the young 'uns. But if we do reach, it looks as if they respond. If anyone reading this has any other success stories about texting in this context, I'd be very interested to hear about it: p.lonsdale@bham.ac.uk
I'm fascinated by new technology and how it changes the ways we interact. Moreover, I find it particularly rewarding to look at how these same technologies can be used to reach across the gulfs that can separate us. These gulfs can be physical, like distance or time, they can be social, like nationality or age, and they can even be something more intangible than that, like the generation gap, or the gulf that separates disengaged students from their education.
I heard some inspiring stories recently at a workshop organised by ALT about how SMS text messaging had reached across this 'engagement gulf' and brought students who were in danger of slipping through the educational system back into touch with their classmates and teachers. This wasn't about sending out learning material by text, or by offering them homework support, but about including them in the educational environment. A few texts from their teacher "changed [his] relationship with them overnight".
This is particularly close to my own interests: I'm looking into using text messages to enable wide-area learning games with the aim being to increase participation and engagement. What I'm doing however is about explicit engagement; it looks like something much more implicit can go on as well. I've heard anecdotal evidence of children and young adults resisting attempts to join in with their social communications - it seems they view things like texting and instant messaging as something only for the young 'uns. But if we do reach, it looks as if they respond. If anyone reading this has any other success stories about texting in this context, I'd be very interested to hear about it: p.lonsdale@bham.ac.uk
(c) 2003-2005 Russell Beale
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