Our life in the information society
Information technology opens up a new world of information, not only databases but information from people who would not normally be within reach. Both adults and children can share information through Internet and build knowledge in which different points of view are brought forward. The books used by students are often written by authors who live in the same culture as themselves and therefore give a limited perspective. Talking to different people with differing views on various subjects goes to make a bigger picture.
The KIDLINK project is for children between ten and fifteen years old, in which more than thirty-five thousand children from sixty-five countries have participated. One day a child from the USA talked about Columbus day and of how he had found America. Another, from Norway, protested at this and said that a Norwegian - Leifur Eiriksson - discovered America long before Columbus. This caused an Icelander to point out that it was Leifur Eireksson's father who came from Norway not Leifur Eiriksson himself. Leifur Eiriksson was actually an Icelander as he was born there. Then a letter came from Peru that asked: "What did they find? We were here already and had a culture and society no less than them. What Columbus and Leifur did, was to accomplish the task of sailing over the ocean, and coming for a visit." Who was right?
Hearing different opinions can help to make our youth more able to understand each side, and more capable of figuring out for themselves what they think of the events in question. So often there isn't just one side that is right, things are rarely completely black or white but are of the different shades of grey between them.
Another example of this is Viking era history. This is a critical part of the history of the Nordic countries, and in that of many others. Wigo Skramm a history teacher in Norway, and David Morley in Scotland established "The Viking Network." Students aged eleven to seventeen take part in Skramm's project by collecting information about the Vikings between 800 and 1000 AD from their own areas. They have collected material from Silkeborg in Denmark, York in England, Reykjavik in Iceland, Amsterdam in Holland, Vestfold and Oslo in Norway, Portugal, north-east Scotland, California USA, The Faeroe Islands, Ireland, and Estonia. In Iceland when we teach history we portray the Vikings as heroes. Do Irish students learn the same? If they don't how are the Vikings portrayed in Irish history?
Information technology has many possibilities for education. Not all these are obvious and it is important that we find and make use of them. One such possibility is offered by the Nordic School network (ODIN). In ODIN the Nordic countries co- operate in organising the use of computer-based communications for education. People in these countries have a common cultural and linguistic background and can now also share their beliefs and lives using computer-based communication. Having a group of people from all the Nordic countries sharing information in this way gives us the opportunity to increase the store of information for adults and children alike. It also increases the level of co-operation among us. As ODIN is Internet-based it also opens up the possibility of contacting people all over the world.
Teachers cannot know everything, but they need to help their students seek information and evaluate it. Seeking, finding, and evaluating information is how much of life will be, and every human being will have to take responsibility for their own knowledge. If students are told "this is how things are, your sole task is to get it right and score highly in tests." Then there is no guarantee that they will be able to cope with using information later. They need know that there might be more information available to help them take decisions about their education, work, or health.
Computers and communications can also help people who have not got full control of their bodies. Four years ago when Viðar Gíslason was nineteen years old, he developed cerebral thrombosis. Today he can't talk, and can only move his right arm and the little finger of his right hand. Using that he points at a character card to communicate. This one movement lets him use a computer. His previous interests were chiefly sports in which can no longer participate, he needed an interest, so he started to use a computer. Soon it became more than a toy, he now uses it to talk to his friends and relatives in Iceland and abroad. Viðar feels that it is very valuable to have this ability as he doesn't need someone to help him when he wants to communicate. He can write what he wants to say; by himself. Slowly he has begun to study at an upper secondary school and to continue the learning that he had to stop four years ago.
Three teachers in Menntaskólinn við Hamrahlíð (upper secondary school) who taught history, literature, and sociology gave a course in native North American anthropology. The books that they had were old and mostly written by whites. To get more accurate information the students contacted some native Americans and got information on their culture. Bjšrn Bergsson one of the teachers says that the students got closer to the subject, and learned more by using computer communications. The teachers in this course also collected information on-line so that they could give their students up to date information.
Of itself the technology doesn't do much. Just connecting a school to a network doesn't do very much either. Teachers with the skills to implement the technology are key persons in developing educational information technology. Teachers who can find the right data and use it to create information are also very important. There is so much data available - much of it invalid - that the ability to find and extract the right data, and then use it to create information is a very important talent for a teacher in an "information society." The ability to pass on these skills is even more so.
To understand both our differences and what we have in common it is important to know people from different backgrounds. If our students learn to listen, and to learn from people all over the world it will increase their understanding. Greater understanding can lead to fewer conflicts between nations and hopefully ensure more peace on our earth.
© Lára Stefánsdóttir. 1995. Our life in the information society. Nordic-School 1995. Nordic Council of Ministers. Copenhagen.
Box 472, 602 Akureyri, Iceland. Tel: 354-896-3357 (also voicemail). E-mail: lara@ismennt.is
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Thanks to Rita Birmans for background and line
Last update December 27th. 1997.