What "WWW" means for our students' future...

           

March 12^th marked the 25^th anniversary of the World Wide Web.  Computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee proposed the concept to CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) in 1989. More than one news outlet mistakenly used the term Internet in reporting the anniversary. While, today, we might consider the terms interchangeable, twenty-five years ago, the difference between the two terms was an essential way of distinguishing between the scientists who created the first computer-to-computer messaging system (Arpanet) in 1969 and the every day user who, 44 years later, would use the internet via the ”WWW” acronym for tasks as mundane as directions to a high school soccer game. Berners-Lee’s concept translated arcane computer “language” (code) into user-friendly symbols that made it possible for you and me to communicate with each other on-line without having to earn a degree in computer technology. The World Wide Web not only made it possible for us to do our Christmas shopping on-line, it also democratized the Internet so that anyone, regardless of economic status could access communications channels that were heretofore unforeseen since the day Alexander Graham Bell uttered those immortal words in 1876: “Mr. Watson,  come here, I want to see you.” Email, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are now more commonly used by teenagers and adults alike than the post card or handwritten letter. Where folks of my generation would spend hours on the (rotary-dialed) telephone each evening, today’s teenagers use various “social media” tools for the same purpose. It was ever thus.

            Today the Internet is accessed by more than a billion users monthly. As the US Postal Service and print journalism have become painfully aware, there is no escaping this future…which is why schools across the United States have inexorably embraced the “1:1” environment (one computing device per student) in their classrooms.  And, while I have often noted, La Salle will be “the second school in” on any educational innovation, we are about to do the same.  It has been a challenging task. The first Monday of each month has been a half day schedule for students so that teachers can take the time to learn the basics of a 1:1 environment, engage in curriculum mapping exercises (a technology tool that will enable teachers to see how common educational skill sets can be supported across disciplines) and master the opportunities of “Blackboard” software which will facilitate teacher-student-parent communication regarding educational progress in a real-time environment.

            All of which is exciting and intimidating at the same time. Parents have a right to expect teachers to be experts in their discipline and its delivery; yet we are experiencing a transition in educational technology which mirrors William Goldsmith’s famous observation about Hollywood: “Nobody knows anything.” When we put iPads in our students’ hands next August, we will get many things right and some things wrong (unfortunately, we won’t be able to predict the latter). We won’t, however, make the mistake of assuming that the fact of a 1:1 environment is superior, in and of itself.  What we will assume is that all of us can learn by doing in this brave new world.

            One of the benefits of the technological horizon that is upon us, not unlike Bell’s transformative imperative of 1876, is the recognition that how we will communicate, going forward, will be unlike anything we relied upon in the recent past. This dynamic will change how students learn, are held accountable and collaborate with their peers in a world where knowing information will be less important than the skill of producing information that is relevant to the task at hand.

            In his commentary on the 25^th anniversary of the World Wide Web, one technology expert noted that the Internet is still in its adolescent phase - meaning that today’s teenagers will encounter a technological horizon beyond our comprehension by the time they reach our age. The best we can do, now, is to give them the skills - and the values - to leverage those opportunities to fashion a better world than the one we will leave them.