Digital Youth Portraits

                              Get out of their way and let them learn themselves.

I've always believed that these days, it is possible to learn, or to do anything through the technology available to us, without actually stepping outside of our house. We live in a digital world, and this generations picks up on it really fast. My nephew is only a 3 year old child, and  he knows how to use a computer, an  iPad, iPhone, smart phone or any other device, you name it.
 I expect that this generation will be more technologically literate than my generation, however, it was still quite impressive to see  all these kids developing their own skills, being self taught, finding ways to learn in most creative ways and so proficiently.

What struck me the most was not the young age of all these kids who managed to develop their skills through technology but the level of the proficiency and performance in using the technology, their achievements and high standards, their expectations and willingness to change something in this word, to be the change themselves. As I noticed from the videos these children  were from a different  ethnical background and belonged to  different social classes: rich, middle, poor, however all  of them were very competent in using the advanced technology and even helped their own teachers, adults who were distinctively less tech literate than them. All those children were introduced to the computers or technological devices at their very young age, and the outcome was that they taught themselves, explored and found the answers for themselves, rather than being provided. That is worth admiration.

• Digital youth portraits: What struck you most in these stories? What do these stories teach you? What do they mean for you as a TEFL professional in Armenia?

It was interesting to see how the teacher can use the technology to engage students in her class and make it more useful and  fun. Cameron, for example, who was more of a visual learner,  made a video that helped the class and himself understand math better. In the Cameron's video, the teacher's perspective was not to be afraid to assign students  different projects, allow them to come up with assignments themselves, and be as creative as possible. As Cameron's father stated in the video " Get out of their way, let them learn, just give them the tools, let them think and figure out things". Giving  children freedom of choices on how to  work on their projects, without limiting their minds, would bring some great outcomes in terms of their creative approach and further learning experiences.

I really liked how Dana's parents had a little guideline to follow. " Be responsible and do what's appropriate, and if you are not sure, come and talk to us". There has to be a parental discussion and a guidance  in how to use the internet. Internet literacy is our future. Given this opportunity of being Internet literate  enables our kids  to not only know how to use it but also be able to apply their knowledge in education, creating or understanding the new tools, and advance on further. It was quite astonishing to see how Sam, the 13 year old girl self-taught how to play the piano. 

All these kids might have given an impression of being some isolated tech. nerds, but as we see all six of them were very sociable, musical, very creative, curious, sophisticated people different in their ways. Through technology we can help our students individualize who they are, discover more things. 

The advantages of providing these hi tech tools to our students are immense.

Aside from learning all sorts of new things, it boosts their creativity, curiosity, teaches them collaboration, problem solving. As a TEFL specialist in Armenia, I see a growth in teaching through technology and a future in Armenia, however we are in the phase, where not every school  is equipped with computers or has an access to the Internet. Children might have computers or other technological gadgets at home but the lack of computers and Internet makes the TEFL professionals' work harder and slower. I believe this will lead us to another phase of online teaching in Armenia, which I believe is not widespread but will soon, since most of us  have  the internet access at home.

• What flatteners discussed by Thomas Friedman do you find most amazing and why? What kinds of implications does this idea have for teaching and learning?

Frankly speaking, the whole discussion of flatteners in Thomas Friedman video was very interesting. I find every single flattener amazing in its way. The most interesting flatteners that caught my attention  were outsourcing and the UPS -which does the insourcing. I lived in the US and I remember how shocking it was for me when I discovered that AT&T, or Amazon employee who was on the other end of the line was in India.

I will bring the Lous Pasteurs quote from the book "The World is Flat": " Fortune favors the prepared mind". I think because of these flatteners many people started to think bigger and took advantage to make things happen for less.  

I was really surprised to learn that the UPS doesn't actually deliver the broken item to be fixed to the country it came from,  but it sends it to the UPS hub, where their own employee fixes the broken item for you. That was very surprising that items never leave the country. So the UPS is inside of hundreds of companies and does all the services for them: picking, packing and collecting the goods. All the companies do is to advertise their product.

The implication of these flatteners is that  connectivity enables us to have access to everything including education. One can work as an online teacher or be a distant learner never leaving their country or even their house for that matter. 

• What connections do you find between the Hole in the Wall project by Sugata Mitra and the other two sources above: Digital Youth Portraits and Thomas Friedman's "The World is Flat"?

They both carry the same message in regards of technology being another flattener and facilitator in digital style education. The implication is  that through technology we can create a self organized learning environment by providing tools and guiding students  and they will teach and learn themselves and will be more autonomous learners. This is a digital world, digital generation,  and educators need to create necessary and sufficient learning conditions to support learners enhance their skills. Technological literacy makes students more capable of learning themselves, be global citizens, "think bigger, act globally".