Article Reaction- Student as Contributor-The Digital Learning Farm

Perhaps it is my overall interest in all things agrarian that contributed to my fascination with this article. I thought the author was heading in the right direction immediately when he spoke of how the “work of children had been replaced” as machines took the jobs of humans on farms. I feel that many students like the feeling of self-worth he describes because until they get their first job at 14 or 15 they make little meaningful contribution to society. Not only does this hinder their self worth but also the development of their social skills and responsibility level. Having student contribute in a “techie” manner is something I had not considered as a solution to the problem but his argument was convincing and I immediately found myself thinking of ways I could adapt his idea in my classroom.
By adapting some digital jobs into my classroom I would, as the old saying goes, kill two birds with one stone (not a very high-tech weapon-sorry). First of all, I would have students working on assignments for the “real” audience that you hear so much about in reference to best practice. Secondly, I would be solving problems that hinder progress in my classroom. For, example, if I combine his examples of filming tutorials and posting notes I have the perfect solution to the my ongoing problem of keeping prolific absences from thwarting progress on module investigations in my 8th grad classroom. Students could film (and maybe edit) key parts of investigations to show their absent classmates some of the main ideas from an investigation. Having students add notes or scan lab sheets might enhance the video. Perhaps learning to use Movie Maker could help me with this undertaking- I think it might be too much for Flickr?
I wholly agree with his idea that this provides a means by which students can make “important and rigorous contributions” however, I am not sure that it equates perfectly from the lessons learned from a day of back-breaking labor….. Students should see a share of both worlds, which might be where the Kiva.com plays into the picture.