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Using Technology to Generate Class Discussion

Thoughtful dialog on current events provides an opportunity to explore history in context. Scarcely a day goes by without some headline event worthy of deep class discussion. The beauty of engaging students in conversations on current events is that they see the reason for exploring history. As Mark Twain reportedly once said, "History may not repeat itself, but it sure rhymes a lot."

While global turmoil is always ripe for discussion, even lesser events merit exploration. For example, the recent decision by the recording industry to launch a flurry of lawsuits against the parents and grandparents of young people who are using the home computer to download MP3 files of recorded music is a topic of great interest to many students. (As I understand it, the suit is against the computer owners, whether or not they have been the ones doing the downloading.)

This topic is a great one for class discussion because it is germane to the lives of today's students, many of whom are familiar with iMesh, Kazaa, and other file sharing programs. The topic offers a variety of conversations ranging from ethics, to the ability of the recording industry to respond to the desire of individuals to acquire songs, not albums.

The question is how best to proceed. You can, of course, just open the topic for conversation based purely on a scan of the morning news. I think, though, that this approach is less likely to have long-term value than one which focuses on background research as a pre-requisite for classroom discussion. In fact, you can have it both ways by starting a class with a quick overview of opinions from students on the topic being explored (file sharing), followed by their in-depth study of the topic, and a follow-up discussion. In this follow-up discussion (held a day or two later), have the students note if their research reinforced their original thoughts, or caused them to re-evaluate their positions. This meta-cognitive task helps students understand the power of informed dialog as opposed to knee-jerk reactions. It makes them more thoughtful, better informed, and far more likely to develop lifelong skills in information assessment. And, note that the goal is not to have everyone hold the same opinion, but instead to be able to document and support whatever position they have taken on the topic.

Once you move beyond the knee-jerk phase, the role of technology in exploring current events can be tremendous. First, a quick online trip to any of the daily newspapers and weekly news magazines can yield the latest articles on the pending lawsuits. Students who want to create their own reports on the subject can "clip" graphs, images, or text from these online documents (being sure to cite all their references). I recently found a subscription service (Zinio at www.zinio.com) that lets you download complete magazines to be read, searched, and archived on your own computer or tablet PC. Other tools, like my online subscription to the New York Times, places the headlines in my e-mail every day, and grants me access to the full paper any time I want. In addition to online versions of print journals, pure web-play news sources are also great to work with (www.news.com from CNET, for example).

Next, a historical view of the topic of file sharing (or anything else for that matter) can be found using Grokker (www.groxis.com) to build a contextual map of the web on the topic. Some of the sites revealed through this Grokker map can highlight the technologies behind file sharing, sources of sharing software, appraisals of damage to the recording industry, and even rants against the way the recording industry treats the artists who record for them. This level of research can, in less than an hour, provide far greater breadth and depth than a day spent purely in a paper-based library.

But at this point what has been accomplished? Not much more than the hunting and gathering phase of research. The student has acquired plenty of data, and perhaps turned some of it into information, but is still a long way from maintaining a classroom conversation based on knowledge or understanding. If the worlds of data and information are largely built from impersonal content, the worlds of knowledge and understanding are based on highly personal and contextual treatments of this information.

How does one move from data to understanding, especially in the context of classroom discussions of current events?

I think part of the answer can be found by exploring causality. It is one thing to know that something happened, but altogether something else to know why it happened. The shift from "what" knowledge to "why" knowledge can be facilitated through the use of causal maps, first introduced to me by a colleague, John Cradler. Using a tool like Inspiration (www.inspiration.com), a student builds a graphical map that starts with the event under discussion. Next, one layer down, the student explores the multiple causes for this event by asking "why did this event occur?" The process gets repeated as deeply as you want to go, with the goal of building understanding each step of the way.

For example, the starting event might be the recording industry lawsuits. Why did these occur? One reason is because CD sales have dropped and the industry feels this is because of file downloads. At this point there are two obvious branches going even deeper. The first explores why the CD sales dropped (maybe it is because there are no compelling CD's being produced these days), and the second is why people are downloading individual songs without paying for them.

At this point, these two branches have branches of their own. For example, why are people downloading music without paying for it? Is it because the industry has steadfastly refused to listen to the desires of customers to purchase single songs online? This could lead to a branch exploring why Apple's iTunes became an instant hit, and so on.

The point here is that technologies already available to most students can facilitate thoughtful classroom conversations on current events. By making sure that students have both the tools and strategies in place to build a basis for informed dialogs, we can help our young people become better thinkers who know how to express their thoughts with conviction and clarity.

In closing, I'd like to make a personal comment. This is the last of my monthly commentaries for awhile. It is a delight to share views with educators through PBS. Without PBS it is not at all clear that free expression on a variety of topics would be sustained in our culture. It is an honor to have been associated with them. I thank my good friends for making this forum available to me, and look forward to sharing views with all of you in the future.

Above all, as you think about technology and education, continue to put the learners first in your hearts, and know that, if you do, they will be just fine.

For PBS, I thank you.

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