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TLDR 50

Too Long; Didn't Read Issue 50

Published: 2016-06-18 • 📧 Newsletter

Welcome to issue 50 of the TL;DR Newsletter!!! This week we discuss trust and distrust of the source.

You can review archives of the newsletter. Alternatively you can also check out TL;DR on Medium.

Please send me an email (wiobyrne@gmail.com) and let me know what you think.

This week I worked on the following:

🔖 Key Takeaways

📺 Watch

I'm a bit of a YouTube addict. I like finding videos to use in class or to express a point. I especially love finding new channels and people to watch. KaptainKristian is a relatively new channel, but it's great. It's a definite subscribe in my book if you like pop culture, technology and societal commentary.

This video focuses on the elements that make Calvin and Hobbes great. The commentary explains Bill Watterson's belief in focusing on art while tackling thorny topics.

📚 Read

This post from The New Yorker is a reprint of the commencement address at the California Institute of Technology on June 10th, 2016 by Atul Gawande. Dr. Gawande is a surgeon, writer, and public health writer.

The address is a beautiful examination of the intersection between science, truth, argumentation, and examination.

He closes:

The mistake, then, is to believe that the educational credentials you get today give you any special authority on truth. What you have gained is far more important: an understanding of what real truth-seeking looks like. It is the effort not of a single person but of a group of people—the bigger the better—pursuing ideas with curiosity, inquisitiveness, openness, and discipline. As scientists, in other words.

Even more than what you think, how you think matters. The stakes for understanding this could not be higher than they are today, because we are not just battling for what it means to be scientists. We are battling for what it means to be citizens.

This past week, the World Economic Forum introduced their identification of the 8 digital skills we must teach our children. We collaboratively annotated this post using hypothes.is during our workshop at #niuslc16.

The link above is from Doug Belshaw's critique of the work presented by the WEF. I worked with Doug and the Mozilla community during the initial framing of the Web Literacy Map. I agree with Doug's points that we should be able to provide learners with a "view source" or identification of the origin and revisions of these literacies, standards, and competencies.

Educators and learners should know who is writing these elements, and what discussions have happened as they've been developed.

Research from Martha Hoff in Digital Culture and Education. The paper conceptualizes "trust" and examines the intersection of this as students create and connect online. This provides insight into the habits and mindsets students utilize as they engage in these spaces.

I work with educators and students to have more of a presence online and not only read, but write the web. In this work we often come around to the questions about challenges as learners design, contribute, and participate online. This study examines six, low income urban youth from 16 to 18 years of age who self identify as active users of mobile technology.

Results suggest a sophisticated framing of "trust" as participants negotiate social spaces (social networks, text messaging, online communities). The results identify opportunities to discuss aspects of trust, friendship, and online interactions with students as they create and connect.

Post from Doug Peterson sharing a recent sketchnote from Silvia Duckworth about the 10 reasons why every educator needs a PLN.

In this post, Doug examines his own PLN and their various roles. I value the questions that Doug uses as he shares insights about his PLN and Silvia prompts.

How many of the reasons identified by Silvia have you addressed with your own PLN?

I've been writing and sharing a lot of posts recently as I explore and develop my own podcast. I've also shared several of the podcasts that I listen to religiously to keep my brain fueled up with ideas.

After the last issue of TL;DR, good friend and internet rock star Verena Roberts sent me a note and asked what podcasts teachers just getting started with the medium should listen to. My response was that you should start by exploring and finding content that piques your interest. I'd rather have educators fuel their own creative juices as opposed to all listening to what I find interesting.

The post above serves as a good indicator of some of the best stuff that is currently available.

🔨 Do

Here in the Make section of TL;DR I try to share ideas for ways in which you can hack, play, and make in different aspects of your life. This may involve tech, coding, makerspaces, art....or food. Previously I shared my recipe for cold brew coffee (before Starbucks starting offering it) and many of you wrote back in after you tried it.

I've also been experimenting with cold brew tea as the weather gets warmer and I have to say it's a big hit in my house. I use either black or green tea leaves and our OXO cold brew coffee maker.

I cut open the tea bags and let the leaves steep in the coffee maker overnight (about 12 hours) and then drained. Whereas the coffee comes out super strong (and super awesome) the tea was not too strong...and didn't need to be watered down.

The end result is a refreshing beverage during hot summer days. Paired with some lemonade or some mint from the backyard and you're all set.

Keep making and tinkering.

🤔 Consider

"Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none." — William Shakespeare

This week: trust and distrust of the source.

Workshop at #niuslc16 moving educators from consumers to curators to creators - I had a blast. KaptainKristian on Calvin & Hobbes - definite subscribe for pop culture and commentary. Atul Gawande Caltech address - beautiful examination of science, truth, argumentation. How you think matters more than what you think - battling for what it means to be citizens. Doug Belshaw on view source for literacy frameworks - I agree we need to know who writes these elements. Martha Hoff research on trust in online engagement. Doug Peterson on PLN - how many reasons have you addressed? Educational podcasts - I'd rather have educators fuel their own creative juices. Cold brew tea for summer days.

Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.

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Part of the 📧 Newsletter archive documenting digital literacy and technology.