Dr. Yong Zhao: Keynote Address 2012 ISTE Conference

Photo courtesy of: http://zhaolearning.com/

Scholar, author and speaker Dr. Yong Zhao researches and analyzes the impact of globalization and technology on education. In his keynote address given in 2012 at the International Society for Technology in Education conference, Zhao indicates United States standardized testing results, which often rank far below a number of countries especially in Asia, may not tell a complete story of how successful American education is and can be.



Zhao's argument is that the United States ranks high globally in entrepreneurship statistics.  He claims such success requires creativity, confidence and technology. 

Image courtesy of: http://zhaolearning.com/2012/06/06/test-scores-vs-entrepreneurship-pisa-timss-and-confidence/

"The results shocked a lot of researchers.  American students are basically mathematically ignorant but they are very confident," joked Zhao.  "American kids look at I cannot do I but I think I can do it."

Over the course of the Fairmont State University Teaching in the New Media Age class, we've read and analyzed a number of publications indicating technology and digital media have an important place in the classroom.  Those arguments, coupled with Zhao's beliefs, indicate our students can excel and succeed in a global world with the incorporation of non-traditional teaching methods.

"How come certain areas become more prosperous than other?  Technology, talent and tolerance," said Zhao.

Authors Rachael Adlington and Diane Hansford referenced an educator who implemented technology, tapped into specific talents and tolerated a non-traditional approach for an assignment.  He and his students enjoyed a successful curriculum outcome.  In the publication Digital Spaces and Young People's Online Authoring: Challenges for Teachers, Adlington and Hansford wrote, "Walsh (2007) discovered his 12 and 13 year old students were much more familiar with creating blogs than writing essays, and capitalized on this experience by setting a homework assignment to create a blog on the humanities topic being studied.  Walsh observed that the online blogging environment provides creators with the ability to upload and integrate multimodal objects.  He required his students to move away from print-only responses and include ‘and orchestrate images, written text, sound, music, animation and video into their designs’.”

Traditionalists argue students are becoming disconnected with formal writing, correct spelling and appropriate grammar by relying on technology to communicate, learn, and share ideas. Zhao argues important lessons can be taught even if it means meeting students in the middle - or incorporating some of those talents they use at home in the classroom.  He said, "Education is about enhancing human capacity.  Every talent is useful.  The curriculum should follow the child."  

Guy Merchant, author of Imagine All that Stuff Really Happening: narrative and identity in children’s on-screen writing, found, "Digital media and the new forms of communication provide rich possibilities for redefining interaction, and establishing participation and production that reach out beyond classroom spaces."  In his research, he indicated students who are digitally and technologically aware use online resources to become critical thinkers and in-depth communicators.  Those are skills Zhao might say cannot be taught by traditional means.

Those traditional ways of teaching, especially teaching literacy skills, are also challenged by Jennifer Roswell and Anne Burke.  They wrote, "When one comes to understand the design inherent in digital texts, one comes closer to bridging this gap between the digital realm of literacy and the traditional. More importantly, without this understanding, educators are only scratching the surface of their students’ learning capacities."  In their publication,

Reading by Design: Two Case Studies of Digital Reading Practices, the two met with youngsters who enjoy online anime.  One is drawn by Naruto. The other prefers Webkinz. 
They found both teenagers were using intricate reading and literacy skills while navigating their favorite sites online and keeping up with characters of choice.

Zhao did not aggressively say he is opposed to standardized testing to measure student and teacher success.  But, he strongly encourages more than a question/answer learning environment.  The idea supports his belief that the United States' entrepreneurial spirit is a result of a successful education system.  But, further strives could be made.  "With technology, we need to turn our children in to makers and creators and entrepreneurship not only consumers. Through making and designing, they learn how to do it."

A National Council of Teachers of English report from 2009 also emphasizes the importance of students learning to produce in schools as opposed to simply completing projects and assignments. The authors wrote, "Research shows that newer forms of assessments, such as portfolio and performance-based assessment, can motivate student learning. Portfolio-based assessment fosters reflection which, in turn, enhances student awareness of and engagement in learning. Performance-based assessment reveals how students can apply their knowledge in real world settings."

Whether using Minecraft, Xtranormal or Tikatok, or any other source that could be turned into a multimodal lesson plan, educators can see results and academic accomplishment through the digital products their students create.

References:

Yong, Zhao. "Global, Directive and Entrepreneurial: Defining High Quality Education." International Society for Technology in Education. San Diego, 26 Jun 2012. Keynote. 

Hansford, Diane, and Rachael Adlington. "English Literacy Conference." Digital spaces and young people’s online authoring: Challenges for teachers. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Jul 2013. <http://www.englishliteracyconference.com.au/files/documents/AdlingtonHansford-Digital spaces.pdf>. 

Merchant, Guy. Imagine All that Stuff Really Happening: narrative and identity in children’s on-screen writing . N.p., 03 Nov 2004. Web. 28 Jul 2013. <http://www.wwwords.co.uk/pdf/validate.asp?j=elea&vol=1&issue=3&year=2004&article=2_Merchant_ELEA_1_3_web>. 

Roswell, Jennifer, and Anne Burke. "My Learning Spaces." Reading by Design: Two Case Studies of Digital Reading Practices. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Jul 2013. <http://mylearningspaces.com/docs/ReadingbyDesign.pdf>. 

"www.ncte.org." Literacy Learning in the 21st Century A Policy Brief produced by the National Council of Teachers of English. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Jul 2013. <http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Magazine/CC0183_Brief_Literacy.pdf>.