Roundtable Project- 2009 AECT Convention (Oct 27-31)

Topic: Learning Information Techologies as Empowering Tools to Narrow the Class and Gender Gap in Rural-Urban Spetrums- A review from Global to U.S. Perspective.

Presenter: Li-chin (Crystal) Huang, 10/30/09 , Louisville

Abstract

Information technologies are rapidly reshaping the world, but the digital divide has been a growing concern both in the domestic and international discourse. Generally speaking, the poor and the disadvantaged tend to live in the remotely isolated rural areas. Gender plays a role in this scenario. This paper provides a review of learning technologies as empowering tools for rural low income women from global and domestic perspectives.

Though information technology (IT) is no longer considered a luxury in many affluent societies, the digital divide continues to be a major concern both in domestic and international discourse (NPA Report, 2002; PEW, 2004). Statistics shows a significant gap in access and knowledge of IT among the rural, urban and suburban areas where socio-economic status, gender, and racial background distinguish such disparity (World Bank, 2002). Issues with accessing opportunities and resources relating to IT imply the increasingly marginalization of low-income rural mothers. As Dean (2000) remarks those who with lack of access to information technologies will become the second class citizens of the future.

Rural low-income women are disproportionately burdened with task loads, and have the least social mobility to access resources and services such as health care, child care facilities, social supports, education, and job opportunities. Many government policies, including U.S. Welfare Reform in the 1990s intend to support low income mothers’ independence by providing job and skill training, education opportunities and other relevant self-sufficient strategies. Learning technologies have been deemed as powerful tools to transform many aspects of human lives (Brown, et al, 2009). The following are some practices gleaned from different regions of the world.

At the global level, in its Gender and Development Plan of Action, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations recognized the power of IT in transforming both natural and human capital development. It pointed out that changes could accelerate progress through gender equality. It calls for policymakers, practitioners and communities to give attention to the risks and burden that women bear and suggested that unless women have access and use new technologies, the inequality could be exacerbated (FAO, 2002). We reviewed several countries across different continents regarding their conditions and practices.
With this brief glance of gender and technology in developed, developing and underdeveloped countries, we focuses on the conditions in the U.S and reviews research related to IT use and needs from a project on rural low income mothers. The data of this research were generated from the Rural Families Speak (RFS) - a multistate longitudinal research project focusing on the well-being of rural low-income families in the context of welfare reform. The original project began in 2000 across 17 states, targeting on mothers with at least one child under the age of 12 living at home and with an income at or below 200% of the federal poverty line. Data were collected from 413 families in rural counties (with population centers of less than 20,000).

Questions regarding low income mothers’ job training, educational opportunities and family life revealed serendipitous information relating to computer and the Internet usages. These face to face interview results provided an opportunity for investigation of IT use in the rural low income mothers’ lives. Based on this discovery, we formulated our research question to probe into low income mothers’ relationship with IT - “What are rural low income mothers’ perceptions, experiences, barriers and supports relating to computer and Internet usage?”

We read through original transcripts several times. A search through interview texts for the words ‘computer” and “Internet” via software Maxqda2 revealed 165 cases with segments containing the searched expressions. To examine the salient themes from computer usage and Internet access, we tabulated the collected segments to extract the essences that potentially contribute to a theme. All the proper segments went through thematic reduction process and qualitative analysis techniques (Miles & Huberman,1994; Strauss & Corbin, 2002).

After several readings of the extracted texts of 165 cases, 33 were identified with meaningful segments related to perceptions and experiences with information technologies. Based on the above criteria, the similar statements of participants’ expressions were grouped into categories which were then clustered into sub-codes and codes. Through back and forth inductive, deductive, and abductive reasoning processes, similar segments were clustered into three primary themes: general usage, barriers, and supports.

Results

The primary and sub-codes were organized and explained as follows:







Figure 1: Primary Codes and Sub-codes of Rural Low Income Mothers’ Using IT
(The inter-rating validity was done with Dr. S. Walker, U of M).

General speaking, rural low income mothers revealed the uses of IT, primarily for family and employment purposes, which encountering barriers to access and relaying on family and friends, community and employment resources as supports. Cost was the largest barrier, and most mothers reported not having the Internet in their homes. Based on mothers’ comments, many did not have computers at all due to the cost of purchase or maintenance. Using computers in public places and at work were resources for mothers’ use. Family and friends also were supports, letting mothers use their computers, or giving them old computers. This issue resonated Hargittai’s (2002) the double levels of digital divide: the first level of computer ownership and the second-level of multiple effects on digital divide, which extend to broadband access; machine vintage; connectivity; online skills; autonomy and freedom of access; and computer-use support (Hawkins, Rudy, & Nicolich, 2005). Horrigan (2004) also pointed out that solving the availability problem would get higher IT adoption in rural areas. Broadband technology is the ideal mechanism to narrow the divided gap. Practical uses of technology in diverse learning environments, in particular, the remote rural areas, the distant killers can conquer the distance barriers.

Having access to broadband Internet means that rural low income mothers obtain new kinds of support systems to provide the communication mechanism for their children, schools, teachers and other stakeholders. It opens up new ways of exploring resources and opportunities, which has impact on children’s well being. Such learning environment includes local libraries, community centers, and K-12 schools where all members of the community have access to meaningful programs and providing useful lifelong knowledge and skills.

Domestically, many non-profit organizations,[1] promote a wide range of free broadband for everyone and Internet neutrality issues. They have been organizing grass-root movements to raise the consciousness and to persuade policy makers. For example, Socialfreenet advocates free broadband Internet access to low-income families that are in need of high-speed access to attain financial, educational and employment goals. Other organizations such as Geekcorps, EduVision and Inveneo also help to overcome the digital divide through the use of education systems that draw on IT. The technology they employ often includes low-cost laptops/subnotebooks, handhelds tablet PCs, Mini-ITX PCs and low-cost WiFi-extending technology as cantennas and WokFis. Other well-known projects like One Laptop per Child and 50x15 offer a partial solution to the global digital divide; these projects tend to rely heavily upon open standards and free open source software. The OLPC XO-1 is an inexpensive laptop computer intended to be distributed to children in developing countries around the world, to provide them with access to knowledge. Programmer and free software advocate Richard Stallman has highlighted the importance of free software among groups concerned with the digital divide such as the World Summit on the Information Society.

As of today, Finland is the first country to announce every Fin citizen to access a 1 megabit-per-second broadband connection in next year, and a 100 megabit-per-second broadband connection at the end of 2015. This move inspires other countries to start perceiving broadband as citizens’ inalienable legal right, akin to part of the First Amendment.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is set to vote Dec. 18 on whether to auction off the so-called AWS-3 spectrum, an unused chunk of airwaves. The winner would have to agree to use at least 25 percent of the spectrum to build a free, national broadband network which would reach 95 percent of the U.S. population, especially those in rural areas where broadband is less accessible, We suggest that US federal government play a more active role to shorten the digital divide in broadband access. This means investing and renovating IT infrastructures at local public organizations, such as community centers, child care facilities, transportation agencies, job centers, libraries, schools and churches can open up wider opportunities for learning, training, and guidance to low income mothers.


[1] Such as Freepress ( http://freepress.net/media_issues/internet), SaveTheInterent (http://www.savetheinternet.com/), Finding Dulcinea (http://www.findingdulcinea.com/guides/Technology/Internet/Free-Use-Media.pg_05.html,) , and Socialfreenet (http://socalfreenet.org/mission).
This project was completed under the team leader Dr. S. Walker's guidance.

AECT 2009 Louisville International Convention (Oct 27-31)

Presenter- Topic: What is the Lived Experience of Designing and Teaching Multiple Delivery Methods -Live Meeting, Hybrid, Online, and Face To Face (f2f) within a Semester at a Technical College Setting?

http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/lchuang-276649-102909-situated-teaching-experience-new-entertainment-ppt-powerpoint/

The 25th Annual Conference of Distance Teaching and Learning Brief Report (Aug. 5-7, 2009 at UW-Madison)

Dr. Moore, Mary, and Crystal --------T. Arina, Crystal, and Dr. Kamau

Aug. 5 (W). I participated in FD-3 whole day Workshop

Topic- Imagination Engine: Visual Concept Design process for Interactive media development
It is about creating instructional materials via software tool in the 2nd life environment.
Summary-Distance education professionals continue to evaluate and discover new ways to combine and apply new information discovery and visual design tools to produce educational content. Following an overview of the steps in the Imagination Engine process and a demonstration of the tools used to develop scenario content. We worked in group to:

1. Develop a digital media design using the Imagination Engine process and the latest software tools
2. Brainstorm, visualize, storyboard, and produce imagery for use in interactive instructional content
3. Review and evaluate group experiences.
Comments- Our school has not officially emphasized 2nd life as a teaching and learning tool.
This area can be developed tailored to 2-year colleges' needs.

Aug 6 (R).
11. Creating online learning communities using Web.2.0 technology
Comments- We have done some part of it at our school. But I listened the whole session patiently.

25. FD Model; Overcoming attitudinal and infrastructure barriers to enfranchise remote faculty
My reflection was how 4-year colleges work hard to provide online courses, but bureaucracy and barriers still exist in their specific environment. The presentation provides a model (similar to ADDIE, intending to recruit more pure online faculty for program instructions).
Comments – I was interested in how they render the “Quality Assurance” issues.

14. Enhancing student persistence online: Retention and reporting a multi-dimensional approach In the second part Mr. Ice provided research data regarding retention which is beneficial.

Aug 7 (F).
43. Studio e: A professional development model for e-learning
Comments- Our school has done the contents of this presentation.
Good to know how other schools tackle problems.

Conclusion:
Generally speaking, I feel that 2-year colleges are still a little bit ahead of general 4-year universities in terms of mobility and adaptation, except some cutting-edge Tech research institutes such as MIT, Nova, and proprietary universities. The Conference has more focuses from general 4-year colleges’ perspectives. The characteristics of student population, faculty, and the edu-ecology between 4-year vs. 2-year are quite different. These can be my personal bias.

Overall, in addition to Michael G. Moore's presentation, two events stood out as my favorites – Teemu Arina’s Keynote and the fascinating E-Poster sessions in the Exhibit Hall.

# For the E-Poster sessions, I would like to share my thoughts:

Ideas- School can purchase wide Plasma (HD Koisk, twice or much larger than the ones we have currently ) screens installed in different campuses for each division, department, or program. Projects from faculty, students or other kind of collaborative works presented in the e-poster format can be instantly shown on the Wide Screen high density of Plasma around all campuses.

Doable conditions- Encourage each department, division, or program to provide teaching&learning relating project plans, work-in-progress, or completed projects on E-Poster with “specific incentives” as rewards.

Match the Green sustainable cores: E- poster saves the project materials (such as paper, tripartites, color, paints and other presenting items…etc.) The whole product-process activity relating to Green Initiatives is pedagogically and economically sustainable (except time spent on projects).

Potential impact- showcase individual and collaborative work via e-poster presentation in an omnipresent fashion to share information and recognize participants’ endeavor and contribution. Promote 2-year college type of scholarship.

Crystal Li-chin Huang Handouts 082709

Small Minimum Wage, Big Structural Hurdle

Our union (CVTCEA) president Ms. Peck emailed faculty members regarding a blog site for sharing ideas. The latest issue was about "minimum wage". See the following Tech Blog site: http://www.weac.org/multimedia/blogs/wtcs_blog/09-08-07/Minimum_Wage.aspx

I agree with the author's "...But while it is easy to point to education and training as a solution, it’s much more difficult for low-wage workers to attain the skills that will lead them to family supporting employment." But I would also like to go back to President Eisenhower’s 3 old principles on the philosophy of labor as a background understanding.

The first principles – he states, “the ultimate values of mankind are spiritual; these values include liberty, human dignity, opportunity and equal rights and justice.”

The second principle, he speaks of the economic interest of the employer and employee being a mutual prosperity.

It is the last principle that we have seen a great skepticism as well as modification . He stated: “labor relations will be managed best when worked out in honest negotiation between employers and unions, ‘without Government’s unwarranted interference’.” History tells us that improving the lives of workers through education, job training, and consciousness raising can never be enough.

Capitalism has been spearheading with a double-edged-sword wielding its blessings and curses in the U.S. for more than a century, while other countries such as England, France, Germany, Australia , and countries in the Scandinavian regions have historically developed strong Labor Parties , Socialist Parties, and various kind of third parties that played a prominent role in strengthening the unions and general well being of their citizens. Two party system – is not the norm, which may take on unicameral functions.

Though labor union laws vary from country to country, immersing in a broader International framework could provide a mirror to reflect on the accolades and criticisms of unions of what we have practiced - if change is not a phantom or rhetoric!

Big Carrot, Invisible Stick - Think about the good will - $9 billion grants

Recently Federal Government announced that there would be a $9 billion block grant for improving 2-year colleges. With such an amount of grant, the high expectation is inevitable.

To Achieve the Dream, U.S. House of Representatives laid out a series of benchmarks that colleges and states would have to meet to receive the grants. Though still under the floor action, suggested goals such as program completion, work-force preparation, and job placement and so on are familiar anticipations to the interested parties.

I have an ambivalent perspective toward this grandiose event as an instructor at a two-year Tech college for six years. The aid can be an edu-political good will with turbulence run deep underneath this unique educational system. It can be a high time to diagnose the accumulated problems and controversies with systematic/systemic approach instead of the habitual piece-meal work.

In terms of access vs. success, 2-year colleges are not exactly FOR the under-served, OF the less-prepared, and least BY the under-privileged. As the saying goes, it is much more a unique hybrid entity of socio-politics, industrial-business compound, and rhetoric than that of the concern of what teaching and learning actually happens to improve the “human capital”.

I am still baffled by the long term “sacrosanct”(sacred cow?) state imposed on the 2-year colleges. What I am looking for is a systematic and theoretical based of this multifunctional and controversial system to be tangibly understood by the majority of stakeholders, like that of the K-12, or at least the 15+ systems.
This lost child (13-14) educational setting shall not be an edu-business-political hot potato as it used to be! I am embarking on piecing together for this missing link.

Here is my tiny step- http://cvtcscholarship.wetpaint.com - a developing wikiblog invites your input.

Sacred Cow vs. Multifunctional Economical Cow

A letter-to-the-editor fingerpointing (as this writer's usual tone) 2-year colleges were "Sacred Cow" of the state in terms of the funding issues shown up in the local newspaper yesterday.

Here is my point, published on June 10 (W), 2009 in the local Dunn County Newspaper. Share with you.

"Public 2-year colleges account for close to fifty percent of higher education institutions. They have been commonly portrayed with the image of a “step or foster child” of the pk-16 educational system due to the historical necessity of openness to non-traditional students, their key role in vocational training, and the democratic notion of access to higher education. Given their centrality to higher education while not yet reaching the status of the “multi-functional cow”, 2-year colleges play crucial roles for extending college opportunities in a systematic and cost-efficient way.

Teaching at a Tech College reminds me of the experience as an adjunct at 4-year colleges where a full-time teaching of 6-12 credits plus scholarship is the norm. Though 2-year colleges have not specifically emphasized scholarly endeavors, they require an “18 to 21” credit teaching load under “economic” and efficient infrastructures to produce well-reported high educational engagements among students, faculty and staff, in addition to the reputable job placement rate.

Here is a vivid example of 2-year Colleges’ playing myriad roles in the democratic capitalist society - GM’s mass laid-off of approximately 1,800 employees in Janesville that created a major social issue resulting from the downturned economy. Fortunately, it was Blackhawk Tech College strategically and effectively absorbing the displaced workers into job retraining relating educational programs.

We have not yet heard of any 4-year institutions providing that mobility and flexibility to partake in the similar unexpected consequences of societal operations. Chippewa Valley Technical College has been functioning in similar way to educate and train many locally needed professions and adapting to the fast changing society’s needs.

Engaging with a wide spectrum of students with less advantaged backgrounds in a tech college on a daily basis, if it is not for a noble calling, then it is a call of challenge as an educator.

Learning Technologies and Me

My role as an academic in the LT community

Within the LT community, I am a believer that innovation and responsibility go hand in hand. Being one of the digital immigrants of this information technology revolution, I would consider myself to be an enthusiastic, caring, and conscientious teacher-researcher. Focusing on the need to be at the forefront of educational change and innovation has been an important part of my academic endeavors.

Inspired by the power of multimedia technology as an art student in1995 began my life-long journey with learning technologies. I started integrating multimedia technology into Art curriculum as a grad student and teaching assistant, and later into my Social Science teaching both at two and four year colleges. I perceive myself as a rational and zealous LT educator with an adventurous quality to cross cultures and to immerse in multiple ways of teaching and learning.

My current career goal is to be a diligent educator- researcher. I have been designing and implementing curriculum and instruction for six years at my current work setting. I am also one of those who “dare to teach-research-serve, never cease to learn”. Thus, learning and teaching become an important part of my life. For example, the curiosity and desire to learn have led me to a multi-disciplinary background through three previous Master’s degrees and the current Ph.D. program. I ended up having five majors and four minors.[1] Fortunately, Learning Technologies weave my previous multidisciplinary teaching and learning experience into a holistic tapestry. In this sense, I would also perceive myself as an artistic and versatile educator and learner, who actively participates in many scholarly activities and productions at my previous wrokplace, UW-Stout, and currently - Chippewa Valley Technical College, as well as at University of Minnesota -Twin Cities.

In connection to technologies, Marshall McLuhan once pointed out that we shaped our tools, but then our tools shaped us. The dramatic change of information technology since 1960s with the PLATO system along with today’s Web 2.0 provides myriad teaching and learning possibilities for more facilitators and learners than ever before to access knowledge. With this constant advance in computer and communications technologies, research in educational technologies has undergone a paradigmatic shift toward a new horizon: enhancing the fluid mobility between theories and actions. This new horizon focuses on merging the study of learning in complete, complex, and interactive learning environments with the use of emerging technology to advance the integration of contents, pedagogy, and technology.


Those Who Can, Teach – Creatively, And Responsibly. – Crystal

My teaching philosophy

In a differentiated teaching methods seminar, I found an inspirational message - “When we identify a student who doesn’t understand, louder and slower won’t do it. We need to be more creative than ever; when we identify students who already understand, doing it again isn’t acceptable. We need to be more creative than ever”. Students learn in different ways and paces under various circumstances. This is what I consider to be the most challenging issue in the digital age. The key solution is “we need to be more creative than ever” which I emphasized at the beginning of this statement – Innovation and responsibility go hand in hand.

At the individual level, being a cross cultural learner and educator, immersed in this best and the most revolutionary period of time, teaching has always been a challenging yet highly rewarding profession. At the collective level, this sense of challenge is particularly acute for educators today. Educators have been facing increasingly diverse student population and the demands of accountabilities. At the same time, education in the digital age is endowed with an environment of unprecedented opportunities. Learning technology is a gift to practitioners with golden opportunities that open windows for the further engaging with students’ learning, communicating with parents, building learning communities, advocating the future of learning technologies, convincing policy makers, and empowering the human capital, just to name a few positive functions.

These opportunities demand all stakeholders reshape and reflect on the goals and purpose of education. The technology affordances of the Internet and the constant innovated interactivities make it feasible both in access and delivery of interactive/
differentiated methods tailored to diverse students’ needs. Thus, it is imperative for educators to be innovative, responsible, and insightful in designing, implementing, and assessing the affordances of technologies in enhancing student learning.

As a conscientious educator, I don’t take any available opportunities to engage my educational environment for granted. I value every interaction with students, colleagues, Union, administrators, and the whole edu-ecological system. I deeply believe that the well informed citizens are the currency of democracy. I envision the digital citizenship prevailing in every corner of human societies. And this democratic reality has been growing fruitfully via the omnipresent NGI super Broadband accessibility. But for learning to happen effectively, it needs seamless hardware and software interface. It needs the innovative integration of contents, pedagogies with technological affordances. It needs a conscientious educator to take on her/his catalyst role to make it happen effectively and efficiently.

Personally, I benefit from rich media technology’s affordances that assist my teaching philosophy and pedagogies toward fruition. During the last ten years’ college teaching experiences, I was a recipient of the outstanding contributor to UW-System and Color of Woman Award in 2001 representing UW-Stout, and Teacher of the Year in 2007, representing my district for Chippewa Valley Technical College. Educational technology is one of the key scaffolds supporting my pedagogical success.

An Integrated Research Approach

My Research Agenda

In the Educational Technologies field, many disciplines have assisted in building the knowledge foundation necessary to understand human learning and interacting with the aids of technologies. For example, Behavioral-cognitive-Psychology, Neuroscience, Computer Science, and numerous renowned learning technology scholars’ endeavors have contributed immensely to this understanding from a wide range of perspectives.

Having come originally from a Sociology/Social Psychology background, I envision sociological perspectives well integrated into the mainstream research trends. I am interested in the social forces shaping daily reality in the digital age from the micro and macro aspects. These approaches such as structure and functionalism, symbolic interactionism, social conflict perspectives and their combined methods have generated several strands of research agenda that guide my current and future studies.

The macro structural-functional perspective sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability. During the last decade, research in the field of human capital management (e.g., HPI or HPT) and organizational cost-effectiveness research tinted with the flavor of this perspective. Tied to my teaching philosophy, to keep the currency of democracy up-to-date, educator-researchers have to confront the issues of empowering human capital and enhancing the quality of access and application of information technology in the digital age.[2]

One of the concrete examples of this research orientation is my interest in studying e-learning in a technical college setting. My last ten years’ teaching at a four year poly-technical university and current two-year technical college provides me rich information regarding how different structures and functions of educational ecology and potential changes affect teaching and learning pertaining to learning technologies.

Though most two year technical colleges, comprehensive community colleges, and four year colleges tend to be lumped together as the post-secondary educational system or “higher educational” institution,[3] they are fundamentally different in many aspects. These include educational missions, climates, diversity of student body, specific roles of faculty and staff, funding, infrastructure and the overall ecological configuration, just to name a few, comprise the uniqueness of two-year technical colleges that stand out as a special and controversial educational entity. These two-year colleges play a crucial role in American economic, political, and educational reality. But there is limited amount of research focusing on the complex educational ecology of two year colleges that affects the daily teaching and learning, in particular, when relating to learning technologies. This is a field that I would like to focus on.

The social conflict perspective is a framework for building theory that sees society as an arena of inequality that generates conflict and change. From this aspect, I focus on social stratification[4] both in domestic and global domains tied to digital equity and quality, as well as the potential systematic/systemic change. For example, digital-divide is one of established fields of research tackling the gaps and effects of race/ethnicity, gender, social class, disabilities, as well as others relating socially constructed reality in the digital era. One of my previous studies of this approach was the last semester’s collaborative “Rural Families Speak” project (2007-8). It was a longitudinal multistate research focusing on rural low income mothers’ well being. My team narrowed down to study what the role of the Intent playing out in these low-income (intersections of geo-social class and gender) mothers’ lives.

The micro symbolic-interaction perspective sees society is the reality that people construct for themselves as they interact with one another. The cyber phenomena have been constantly created and re-created by different digital generations through their daily interactions. The formation of learning communities, TPCK integration in classrooms, and quality assurance in the online learning are the three fields that I would like to investigate in the higher education setting within this perspective. Hermeneutic phenomenology, ethnomethodology, virtual and auto-ethnography are applicable research methods for this approach. A real life case to illustrate this perspective is that I am documenting my daily interactions with my four course delivery formats within current semester – online, hybrid, Live Meeting, and face to face with web-enhanced curriculum.

Generally speaking, my research agenda is based on a framework integrating sociology and learning technologies to examine different aspects of digital reality shaped by multifaceted social forces.

Individually, We Are One Drop. Together, We Are An Ocean

My role-model within the LT field

All effective and conscientious scholars, practitioners, educators, policy makers and individuals with rational enthusiasm serve as my role model. A visionary role model, who is a resolute social change agent and leader, whose passion for learning, teaching and research envisage educational technologies as a positive transformative mechanism that democratizes human societies. A rational and enthusiastic innovator who foresees the potentials of learning technologies that can lead to an authentic democratic society guides my enthusiasm and energy to the common good.

They are many of role models in our field, exemplifying tenacity and unwaveringness, so I learn and have the courage to select the road less travelled.

If Technology Is Not Used For Enhancing Humanity, Then For What?

The future of Learning Technologies

We are witnessing the accelerated effect of cybernetics which is all about humans and technology interacting to form the foundation of human infrastructure. In this cyber-structure, the high tech and high touch can be mutually complementary. Different digital generations are constructing ways of facilitating multi-generational and global communications. The current Web 2.0 is such a transformative tool reshaping the educational experience. The line between space and time is rapidly becoming blurred and may cease to exist in the foreseeable future. E-learning in both “virtual” and “real” worlds simultaneously creates “inter-reality“ phenomenon that implies more options available to effectively merge teaching and learning in a seamless way.

I envision one day the “cutting edge” and “innovative” is no longer the nick name of the business world or industrial-military compounds. Those who can, teach – creatively and responsibly, are the catalysts to the systematic and systemic change of our society. Learning technologies will be the hardest science that requires robust digital engagers to take on studies that are dynamic and contingent. In such a profession, only those stakeholders who tackle the challenge as a way of conscious living will reshape the future of our society.

I envision an omnipresent and mobile environment for all learners to create the -world-is-flat phenomenon. A new term of Blog 2.0 encapsulates the idea of the proliferation of interconnectivity and interactivity of the e-effects. It opens up sky-is-the-limit possibilities to transform learning to defy various digital divides in domestic and global domains.

The optimism and challenge are co-existent in this unprecedented epoch. Learning Technology is a gift as well as a social responsibility to the educators and relevant stakeholders. It is a golden opportunity to reach diverse learners to optimize human capitals and shorten the digital gaps. It is time to redirect such powerful capacity of learning technologies into the humanitarian change.

It is a goal, an action, a commitment, and most importantly, a responsibility!

[1] My majors are: Sociology/Social Psychology, Socio-political science, Studio Art, Art Education, Learning Technologies. The minors are Computer Science, Women’s Studies, Journalism, and Military Education.
[2] I expanded three extra current digital populations into the original categories: the “digital elite”, the digital native, the digital immigrant, and the “digital behind”, and the “digital deprived”.
[3] Technical colleges play a key role to bridge PK-12 and 15-16 educational settings. Yet, most people consider two year colleges being only a peripheral part (a step-child or child out of the educational wed-lock) of the collegiate system, or a “catch basin” for those few students unable or unwilling to enter “regular” colleges.
[4] Such as race/ethnicity, gender, social class, disability and various types of intersectional theories .

他的名子叫 被割割

他的名子叫 被割割。這個名子犯不著對范蘭欽有任何自由聯想或對他有畫蛇添足之 "閒"。

被割割很認命與守舊。深信書中自有外交屋，書中自有謙忠恕。中學作文得數獎，大學聯考歷史考了個一百分。算是個左腦 (右腦是在媒國啓蒙的) 有開發的人。被割割一心一意想拼個謙忠恕外交官以報家國養育之恩 (真是顽固迂腐到極點!)。首度赴特考戰戰兢兢, 然而慘遭敗北 - 這科國際公法雖非本行, 也不該考個如此無能的分數。捲土重來信心十足。不料晴天闢靂高分落選。

回想多年前時的被割割並非輸不起那一分，而是被割割 那不識字的母親滿懷疑問 "那ㄝ安內生? 歷哪目賙放ㄎㄨㄟ ㄎㄨㄟ去考，歷史也不會考二十五分!!!" 一輩子沒機會上一天學的老母卻苦苦巴望她十個苦命兒 中能有一兩個有出脫當個像包清天那樣的”官"，一如歌仔戲 (忠孝節義封建承控機制) 中那十年寒窗一舉揚眉顯親的莘莘學子鬆口氣 地說， ”此後不再受虐於猛逾虎的苛政”。 然而複查成績的結果是白紙四大黑字- "查無錯誤"。

被割割只好安慰老母: “媽，您的每日清晨夜晚虔誠欽天敬祖，燒好香做好待， 祖宗神明會原諒我的失誤。” 然後被割割嬉皮笑臉地對媽說 “可能是真的， 想當官要燒三代的好香做好事呢! 媽， 一定是前兩代阿公阿祖香沒燒夠!” 私底下，被割割卻無奈地想著那報考的履歷表上的確是要你提及祖宗三代。不過不是有關燒好香做好事，而是祖宗們的學經歷背景。被割割的兄妹們倒是黃家頭一代出產的識字人。在台灣，這是一件很值得誇耀的事。

言歸正傳，這 “ 二十五分的歷史教訓 ” 從此深深烙印在這個社會學没讀透的狂狷青年心頭。

話說山不轉路轉、當不了駐外人，被割割 倒也扛轎周旋於幾個小型官場，看了幾齣現形記 (時當解嚴天蠶劇變之際，於國府殿堂)。厚黑與薄白戲碼趁機上演，看得眼花撩亂，做得澎湃洶湧 。 說得遲那時快，一個有份量的獎學金使被割割覺悟一切有為法，如夢幻泡影 - 痛心地空遁到海外, 專心投入百年樹 (媒國)人的工作 (不夠格樹本國人，只好退而求其次)。 所以, 從一個當了七年親愛精誠的丘八官與抬轎人如今成了個 “住” 外的樹人。

如此一來，被割割時而仰天長嘯壯懷激烈一番, 時而自我調侃自我阿Q，自封個背 "彩虹旗" 的人 (有綠， 有藍， 有紅，有黑，更有白)。如果你要為被割割駐個名 (不論是加罪或加封)- 這嗎 騎牆騎得太離譜??

不過看官要是知曉這荒唐辛酸個中味， 說真的，這種旗也真重得難扛。 試想被割割對著大鼻混眼的媒國學生唱著 望你早歸，梅花，雨夜花，易水寒, 與 高山青以解說社會階層和族群理論時，卻無法用那美麗的母語的精神分裂折騰?! 被割 割的自 我流放，值得反省, 值得三思...