Okay, think back with me for a second. What are
your earliest memories of using a computer? Maybe
that old dial -up sound or a big clunky monitor.
I remember thinking it was magic just, you know,
looking up movie times online back in the day.
Fast forward to now, wow, we're sharing videos,
working on the same document from different countries,
even attending events virtually. It's a completely
different world, isn't it? The way our relationship
with computers and information has changed, it's
just... It's kind of mind -blowing. And this
evolution, it's had a huge impact, especially
in education. So today, we're doing a deep dive
into exactly that. the journey of computer -mediated
communication and what it means for, well, how
we learn and teach now. We're looking at a really
interesting article for this one. It's called
On Computer -Mediated Communication in Schools
by Gary Ackerman. It was posted on hackscience
.education back in January 2024, and it maps
out this whole path from early PCs to, well,
today's interactive digital world. Our mission
really is to unpack that journey, understand
the big shifts and what it means for preparing
young people today. Okay, let's get into it.
So Gary Ackerman, the author, he actually started
teaching way back in 1988, and his tech, an Apple
Ike. Wow, an Apple Ike. Yeah, that really dates
it, doesn't it? Right. And back then, what were
computers for in school? Primarily individual
work. Ackerman talks about using his first computer
mainly for, you know, creating stuff like word
processor files, think reports, and manipulating
info, like in spreadsheets or making basic graphs.
standard stuff for the time. Exactly. And then
CD drives came along, which was a step up. You
could consume, maybe create slightly fancier
things, like multimedia stuff. But it was very
much about you and your machine, right? Your
output, what you could get off a disc. Pretty
isolated, really. Yeah, absolutely. If you wanted
to share something, you'd probably just print
it out. What's fascinating, looking back, is
how computers started as these powerful but fundamentally
personal almost solitary tools. Yeah. They boosted
individual productivity, sure, and let you manage
data or consume things from local sources like
that floppy disk or CD. The information flow
is pretty limited from the disk or your keyboard
to the screen or printer. That was basically
it. It was revolutionary, no doubt, but yeah,
very contained, like you said, solitary. Definitely.
a foundational step, but limited to the classroom
or maybe the home office. But that solitary phase,
it was really just the beginning, wasn't it?
The big change started happening mid -90s. Right.
That's when things get really interesting. The
internet arrives. Yeah. Ackerman mentions that
in the mid -90s, he started getting his computers
connected. He'd played around with bulletin board
systems, BBSs back in 85, apparently. Oh yeah,
the precursors. text -based communities. Exactly.
But the internet was his first real taste of
this massive networked information source. And
by the late 90s, he describes computer labs just
full of internet -connected machines. Students,
teachers, everyone was just constantly consuming
information from the internet. They were creating
things too, websites and such. But not really
sharing it widely online yet, or interacting
around it much. Precisely. It was still mostly
about information retrieval, pulling stuff down,
and then maybe creating things internally, still
kind of a one -way street in a sense. And if
you connect that to the bigger picture, I mean,
that was the pivot point. Moving from isolated
processing to accessing this gigantic shared
public library of information, the scale just
exploded. Compared to a floppy disk or even a
decent library, it was, well... almost infinite.
Like going from your personal bookshelf to the
Library of Alexandria overnight. Exactly. And
it wasn't just more information. It was that
potentially any information from anywhere was
reachable. The focus was still mainly on consuming
the sheer volume and accessibility. It completely
changed the game for learning, challenged everything
we thought about finding information. That's
a great way to put it. But even with all that
information, something was still missing, right?
What was the next leap? Well, it was moving beyond
just finding information to actually doing something
with it together, interacting around it. Right.
And that really took off around the turn of the
century. Ackerman talks about how those old bulletin
boards evolved. They became discussion forums,
blogs, wikis, all these Web 2 .0 tools. Web 2
.0, yeah. The key there was user -generated content.
Exactly. These platforms weren't just for reading
anymore. They were built for users to create,
to publish, to connect. They made interacting
over the internet central, not just consuming.
It flipped the model. And then, of course, social
media platforms arrived and just, well, they
transformed everything again. How we interact
personally, professionally, all of it. And this
raises a really important point, especially for
education. What did this shift mean? It meant...
That line between consuming information and creating
it just got incredibly blurry. People weren't
just reading articles anymore. They were sharing
them, commenting, arguing about them, adding
their own perspectives. It stopped being a one
-way street. Or even just two -way. It became
this constant multi -directional conversation.
Suddenly, everyone potentially had a voice, a
platform. We weren't just accessing knowledge.
We were starting to build it together. Online
and you see that reflected directly in schools
today. Just like the article points out students
are discussing work online They're collaborating
on documents sharing edits instantly. They're
part of online communities sometimes local sometimes
global Yeah, it's completely woven into the fabric
of learning now and the article nails this point
Today, in the second decade plus of the 21st
century, we probably use our computers as much
to interact as we do to consume or create information.
That balance, that dual nature is critical. It's
not just an information machine anymore, it's
a connection machine too. Okay, so we've seen
this explosion in digital interaction. What does
the research say about why it works so well and
why it spreads so fast? Well, the article points
to a pretty clear consensus in the research findings.
First off, it's effective for communication in
pairs, diads, and also in small groups. Great
for collaboration. And it's really flexible.
It works for many -to -one situations, like Q
&A sessions or polls, and also one -to -many,
like a teacher sending out an announcement or
lecture notes. Right. That makes sense. Versatile.
And beyond that, it seems to encourage more participation
in what they call ad hoc groups. Ad hoc, like
temporary groups. Exactly. Groups that form quickly
for a specific task and then dissolve. Think
quick project teams. But it also boosts engagement
in long -term communities, like ongoing class
forums or clubs. That flexibility is huge for
learning, isn't it? being able to jump into quick
collabs or stick with a long -term discussion,
much harder to do offline. Definitely. And the
article highlights two big underlying factors
that really drove this rapid expansion, things
we almost take for granted now. OK, what are
they? First, the near zero marginal cost. Meaning?
Meaning, once you have internet access, sending
one more message, joining one more video call,
posting one more comment. It costs practically
nothing extra. Ah, right. Unlike, say, making
lots of phone calls back in the day or sending
letters. Precisely. It removed this huge economic
barrier. Interaction became almost effortless,
financially speaking. It just democratized the
ability to connect constantly. Okay, that's a
big one. What's the second factor? The second
is the wide availability of multimedia functions.
This just opened up way more ways to communicate.
We now create digital info with our voices, with
pictures, with videos we capture. And those files
instantly become part of the conversation. Yeah,
think about students explaining something. Right.
A student can record a quick audio explanation
or share a short video clip, showing their work
just as easily as typing out text. This richness,
this ability to use different modes, audio, video,
images, text, makes the interaction more engaging,
more nuanced, often just, better than text alone.
That resonates so much with how we all communicate
daily now, doesn't it? Sending a voice note,
sharing a picture, a GIF to make a point. It
feels completely natural. Exactly. So those two
things, the near zero cost and the rich multimedia
options, they've fundamentally reshaped how we
connect and collaborate. Made digital interaction
feel almost instinctive. So we've traced this
amazing path from these isolated machines to
these global multimedia conversation platforms.
The big question then becomes... What does this
completely changed landscape mean for schools,
for the institutions that are supposed to prepare
kids for this world? Well, the reality is, youngsters
starting school today, they've spent their entire
lives learning, doing things, interacting within
this digital information and connection ecosystem,
as the article puts it. This isn't new to them.
It's their normal. It's the environment they
grew up in. It's their natal habitat, basically.
Pretty much. And that puts a clear charge on
schools. They have to prepare these young people
to participate fully, critically, and effectively
in this ecosystem. Okay, so how do they do that?
Well, the good news is this ecosystem isn't just
a challenge. It actually offers tons of functions
that are incredibly useful for education. Right.
But, and this is the core takeaway from the article
for schools, the planning, the technology strategy.
It must support both sides of this ecosystem.
Both sides, you mean? The information side. accessing
it, creating it, managing it, and the interaction
side, collaborating, discussing, connecting.
It's not an either situation. You need to leverage
both. They're intertwined and equally vital for
learning today. You can't really separate them
anymore. That makes so much sense. It's not just
about giving kids access to information. It's
about helping them navigate the conversations
around that information, too. Exactly. That dual
nature is key. And for anyone listening, whether
you're an educator, a parent, anyone involved
with young people, understanding the balance
is crucial. It's about seeing the whole picture,
the integrated potential. These tools aren't
just for delivering facts. They're for building
connections, sparking discussions, and developing
those collaborative skills everyone needs now.
It's been quite a journey we've mapped out today,
hasn't it? From that solitary, Apple -like Gary
Ackerman started with in 88, to this buzzing,
interconnected world where creating content and
having conversations about it are just completely
blended together. It's incredible, really. And
I think what's often still missed, even now,
is that while we first got excited about computers
for delivering information efficiently, the truly
revolutionary part, the real power, as Ackerman's
experience shows, wasn't just the information.
It was the way technology enabled this dynamic,
almost free and incredibly rich human interaction.
Yeah. That shift from a personal tool to a global
conversation platform. That's the real story
here. So maybe a final thought for everyone listening
to take away. Given that young people today have
literally always lived inside this information
interaction ecosystem, how can you maybe in your
own life, your work, your family, how can you
better leverage both sides of that digital coin,
both the information tools and the interaction
tools to help foster deeper learning or better
connections or maybe just more engagement? What
new possibilities open up when you consciously
think about balancing both information and interaction
in how you use these tools every day? Something
to think about as we all keep navigating this
ever evolving digital world.