Monday, July 21, 2008
The End Of The Beginning
It has been several months since I presented on the Multichronic Classroom at the College Art Association National Conference, however I have finally managed to get the Slidecast/Podcast of the presentation together.
As outlined in the presentation, the term 'Polychronic Classroom' no longer sums up the ideal intentions of my research. So, I went and invented a new term: Multichronic. This new term is intended to accommodate both the polychronic and monochronic students. With it comes a new blog at The Multichronic Classroom.blogspot.com.
After a long hiatus from blogging about technology, web 2.0, and virtual worlds in pedagogy, I will now resume blogging at the new address. Please change your RSS accordingly.
As outlined in the presentation, the term 'Polychronic Classroom' no longer sums up the ideal intentions of my research. So, I went and invented a new term: Multichronic. This new term is intended to accommodate both the polychronic and monochronic students. With it comes a new blog at The Multichronic Classroom.blogspot.com.
After a long hiatus from blogging about technology, web 2.0, and virtual worlds in pedagogy, I will now resume blogging at the new address. Please change your RSS accordingly.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Web 2.Ideology
In my Web 2.0 Learning Community meeting this morning, I mentioned some of the driving ideas behind those web 2.0 apps we're finding so useful in our classes that are actually changing the way we teach and learn. I believe they are important elements in the foundation of a polychronic classroom and any assignment or project that uses this technology.
- Creation
- Collaboration
- Community (Space/ Time)
- Interaction (Fun)
Collaborate with students. Share experiences. Contribute to the collective conscience - share your knowledge. Add value, add purpose, add something! We are at a key point in history where every individual has the ability to contribute to a larger goal. Ideas, knowledge, and opinions are being shared without a price. Add a letter, a word, or a page... We're building - and your students should be too. My students should be working together to give me PowerPoints, not the other way around.
Web 2.0 is about Community. About connections, about Space: Virtual space, private space, myspace, your tube. Mine, yours, ours. We learn what we know from WHO we know. Time online, in RL, on the road, on the phone, the polychronic! Responsible users are questioning the spaces we exist in, the space we release our information into - Is it private? Who can see it? We set permissions based on community relationships and establish relationships based on our level of interactivity. We move very fast on some things and extremely slow on others. Some of my students could probably move through one semester's worth of content in one month. Others may need a few extra months. We must reevaluate our semester/quarter system and install something more individual - more Multichronic! We must not confine ourselves to learning in one place. Connect the dots between spaces by blurring those boundaries.
Interaction is Fun. The value of our time on earth is measured by our pleasure, pride, accomplishments... satisfaction. These things drive our games. We play to have fun, to be pleased. To win, to brag, to be better, to win again. To be satisfied with and share our research, productivity, outcomes, goals, and levels. We block our most miserable experiences out and cherish those that we enjoyed. Your students will do the same. Challenge them.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Paid to Learn
AP ArticleI was blown away when I heard about this! The grading system as economy... think about what that would do to a scholarship system. As it is now, you have to keep a certain grade point average to maintain your scholarship. What if scholarships were awarded post-results? What if students were actually paid for their grades... paid in scholarships.
Learning is supposed to be its own reward, but when that doesn't work, should students get paid to do it?That's the question two Georgia schools are asking in a 15-week pilot program that is paying high-schoolers struggling in math and science $8 an hour to attend study hall for four hours a week.
The privately funded "Learn & Earn" initiative, an idea from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, is touted as the first of its kind in the state and one of a few similar programs nationwide.
"We want to try something new," said Jackie Cushman, Gingrich's daughter and co-founder of the group funding the initiative. "We're trying to figure out what works. Is it the answer? No. Is it a possible idea that might work? Yes."
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
OLN Week 3: Learning Communities
This year, I have been involved in two learning communities - one is the OLN Second Life Learning Community in Northwest Ohio and the other is a Web 2.0 LC hosted by BGSU's Center for Teaching and Learning Technology.
As co-facilitator of the SLLC (blog here) we've discussed such things as virtual field trips, office hours, group projects and virtual visiting lecturers - some of which I was able to bring into the classroom. For example: I held regular virtual office hours last semester and was also able to have a artist from Japan speak about his work in Second Life.
I have used my Web 2.0 LC as a springboard for new innovations regarding this technology in the classroom. I've used blogs and wikis for both resource and assignments (remember, I teach 2D art) for several semesters and this semester I've decided to create a Facebook group for my class. So far, we're only using it to keep up to date with what is going on in our School of Art, in our classroom, and with each other.
I would love for my students to be involved in a learning community. The style of exploring, sharing, and understanding that comes from the different levels of experience of everyone involved in an LC is so much different than their regular classroom study. Perhaps many of them would even learn better in such an environment (what works for us might work for them?). However, a lot of my students lack the time and/or motivation to do something beyond their already heavy class/work load.
Perhaps, the polychronic classroom would require and give college credit to student learning communities? If each student was given the chance to participate in an LC for credit, they might be able to investigate other topics of interest. Of course they have clubs for these things (like Martial Arts Club or the Comics and Cartooning Club) but learning isn't stressed or even focused. Upper level students might even be given credit for leading a learning community.
Is this happening at your school?
As co-facilitator of the SLLC (blog here) we've discussed such things as virtual field trips, office hours, group projects and virtual visiting lecturers - some of which I was able to bring into the classroom. For example: I held regular virtual office hours last semester and was also able to have a artist from Japan speak about his work in Second Life.
I have used my Web 2.0 LC as a springboard for new innovations regarding this technology in the classroom. I've used blogs and wikis for both resource and assignments (remember, I teach 2D art) for several semesters and this semester I've decided to create a Facebook group for my class. So far, we're only using it to keep up to date with what is going on in our School of Art, in our classroom, and with each other.
I would love for my students to be involved in a learning community. The style of exploring, sharing, and understanding that comes from the different levels of experience of everyone involved in an LC is so much different than their regular classroom study. Perhaps many of them would even learn better in such an environment (what works for us might work for them?). However, a lot of my students lack the time and/or motivation to do something beyond their already heavy class/work load.
Perhaps, the polychronic classroom would require and give college credit to student learning communities? If each student was given the chance to participate in an LC for credit, they might be able to investigate other topics of interest. Of course they have clubs for these things (like Martial Arts Club or the Comics and Cartooning Club) but learning isn't stressed or even focused. Upper level students might even be given credit for leading a learning community.
Is this happening at your school?
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Question of the week - Week 2 - OLN Learning Communities Initiative
"What's the most useful lesson life has taught you? And if you could pass one lesson on to the class of 2020, what would it be?"
I think being a father AND a teacher and finding the connection between the two was extremely important for me. I was told, 'You never really learn something until you teach it.' I believe this to be very true. I wold suggest that the class of 2020 become educators - and not necessarily in the occupational sense. Share your knowledge... Contribute to the greater consciousness we are building and in turn you will be rewarded by having more help than you will ever need.
What this means to you may differ... Perhaps it means adding or editing Wikipedia or checking the creative commons box when uploading to Flickr. Maybe this means something different - volunteering your time as a tutor or coach, mentoring and sharing your experience; being a role model. Anyway you choose... share.
I think being a father AND a teacher and finding the connection between the two was extremely important for me. I was told, 'You never really learn something until you teach it.' I believe this to be very true. I wold suggest that the class of 2020 become educators - and not necessarily in the occupational sense. Share your knowledge... Contribute to the greater consciousness we are building and in turn you will be rewarded by having more help than you will ever need.
What this means to you may differ... Perhaps it means adding or editing Wikipedia or checking the creative commons box when uploading to Flickr. Maybe this means something different - volunteering your time as a tutor or coach, mentoring and sharing your experience; being a role model. Anyway you choose... share.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Q&A at OLN Ning
The Ohio Learning Network has an online learning community of sorts at Ning.com (it's private for OLN members) and has began a series of "Weekly Questions" on their forums that will no doubt deal with some of the issues I've been thinking about with the Polychronic Classroom. Perhaps I will start posting them here on this blog:
What new advances do you see educational technology making in the next 5 years? 10 years?
What a big question for week 1! I've been thinking about this question a lot at my blog: The Polychronic Classroom. To keep it short and sweet:
5 years from now we will be going to some - not all - of our classes by pulling out the hand held computer in our pocket (which will be a phone, laptop, textbook, virtual world browser, etc...). Our ideas about testing, productivity, and assessment will have changed radically. The essence of the classroom with one teacher and a body of students will be long gone, but probably still upheld by the majority of educational institutions unwilling to adapt. A new model of teaching and learning will have evolved, not by design, but by trail, error, and innovation. Much the same way this Ning community voiced it preference for communication and ended up with this weekly question! :)
10 years... Let's see 1998 to 2008. Wow! Could anyone really have predicted that much change? Classes in virtual worlds.... without goggles! Textbooks written by students... and free for all! At some point in time, if we end up keeping any idea of 'individual accomplishment', it will no doubt be measured by the contributions to the 'digital collective' we are building. Students will probably be out contributing Professors by this time, but will still need guidance and authority. After all, I still hope to have a job in 10 years. Now, 20 years... with advancements in AI, that's another question.
What new advances do you see educational technology making in the next 5 years? 10 years?
What a big question for week 1! I've been thinking about this question a lot at my blog: The Polychronic Classroom. To keep it short and sweet:
5 years from now we will be going to some - not all - of our classes by pulling out the hand held computer in our pocket (which will be a phone, laptop, textbook, virtual world browser, etc...). Our ideas about testing, productivity, and assessment will have changed radically. The essence of the classroom with one teacher and a body of students will be long gone, but probably still upheld by the majority of educational institutions unwilling to adapt. A new model of teaching and learning will have evolved, not by design, but by trail, error, and innovation. Much the same way this Ning community voiced it preference for communication and ended up with this weekly question! :)
10 years... Let's see 1998 to 2008. Wow! Could anyone really have predicted that much change? Classes in virtual worlds.... without goggles! Textbooks written by students... and free for all! At some point in time, if we end up keeping any idea of 'individual accomplishment', it will no doubt be measured by the contributions to the 'digital collective' we are building. Students will probably be out contributing Professors by this time, but will still need guidance and authority. After all, I still hope to have a job in 10 years. Now, 20 years... with advancements in AI, that's another question.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Sustain the Matrix
I'm sitting on my exercise bike, typing on my computer. That's right... I have a desktop on my exercise bike that allows me to pedal for hours while working (it's the only way I can find to keep in shape and stay "jacked-in" to my computer all day.
Anyways, I'm supposed to go into my office today to get some work done. However, I'm a commuter, it's a snowy day outside, and I'm thinking about the gas I'm going to burn going to and from work. I'd like to say I'm environmentally friendly when I can and besides, it's the post-xmas time of year when my wallet hurts a bit. If I'm right, the root "Sustain" will be the most used word of 2008! Sustainable market, credit, growth, environment, progress... So, don't I want to sustain?
I ask myself, do you want to help sustain the environment? Would you drive to work and waste the gas when what you need to get done can be done from the warmth of your own home? Are you ready to abandon the peace and quiet of the office (and possibly the productivity) and try to find a quiet corner of the house away from the noisy (very, very noisy) toys Santa got your daughter for xmas?
If I don't go to the office, well then they don't have to heat the office. Those are resources saved too right? My home will stay heated whether or not I'm here. In fact, with a virtual office, I can abandon that room altogether.
One of the biggest concerns I've dealt within my area this last semester is, "How does art fit in a virtual world?" Now there is someone teaching drawing in Second Life! So maybe I can start teaching drawing from home. Poof! My classroom no longer exists. More resources saved!
How far do we want to take this? Perhaps the idea of humans living in small spaces pedaling away on their bikes like hamsters on the wheel while using virtual worlds to live and work (escape?) isn't such a bad one? I'm already doing it! And I feel good about it!
Wasn't the idea behind the Matrix supposed to be evil? What if the world came to a point where every resource was calculated to the point of precision.... Or absurdity! How much oxygen does the grass in my yard produce? Might I plant something else that may yield a better carbon dioxide to oxygen conversion ratio? Do I fill my yard with trees?
Now if only my bike powered my computer... Perhaps my body heat energy could be harnessed too. Am I sounding strange? Ask yourself this: If all the people trapped in the Matrix were released at once, could their world have sustained them? Wouldn't they want to go back in? Wouldn't they want to survive? Live? Sustain?
Anyways, I'm supposed to go into my office today to get some work done. However, I'm a commuter, it's a snowy day outside, and I'm thinking about the gas I'm going to burn going to and from work. I'd like to say I'm environmentally friendly when I can and besides, it's the post-xmas time of year when my wallet hurts a bit. If I'm right, the root "Sustain" will be the most used word of 2008! Sustainable market, credit, growth, environment, progress... So, don't I want to sustain?
I ask myself, do you want to help sustain the environment? Would you drive to work and waste the gas when what you need to get done can be done from the warmth of your own home? Are you ready to abandon the peace and quiet of the office (and possibly the productivity) and try to find a quiet corner of the house away from the noisy (very, very noisy) toys Santa got your daughter for xmas?
If I don't go to the office, well then they don't have to heat the office. Those are resources saved too right? My home will stay heated whether or not I'm here. In fact, with a virtual office, I can abandon that room altogether.
One of the biggest concerns I've dealt within my area this last semester is, "How does art fit in a virtual world?" Now there is someone teaching drawing in Second Life! So maybe I can start teaching drawing from home. Poof! My classroom no longer exists. More resources saved!
How far do we want to take this? Perhaps the idea of humans living in small spaces pedaling away on their bikes like hamsters on the wheel while using virtual worlds to live and work (escape?) isn't such a bad one? I'm already doing it! And I feel good about it!
Wasn't the idea behind the Matrix supposed to be evil? What if the world came to a point where every resource was calculated to the point of precision.... Or absurdity! How much oxygen does the grass in my yard produce? Might I plant something else that may yield a better carbon dioxide to oxygen conversion ratio? Do I fill my yard with trees?
Now if only my bike powered my computer... Perhaps my body heat energy could be harnessed too. Am I sounding strange? Ask yourself this: If all the people trapped in the Matrix were released at once, could their world have sustained them? Wouldn't they want to go back in? Wouldn't they want to survive? Live? Sustain?
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
YouTube Channel: Classroom
From Vlog Blog:
There is an interesting article over at Adweek about how universities are leveraging YouTube by putting PR videos, classes, and even entire semesters of classes online at the video sharing site.
The article concentrates mostly on the efforts of UC Berkeley, which has set up its own channel. Under the current agreement, YouTube has agreed not to put ads on the Berkeley channel. Instead, they have traded the space for the extra cachet they hope to gain.
While there is no “outside advertising” on the channel, and there is indeed a lot classroom material, the Berkeley channel is obvious meant to be one giant advertisement for Berkeley itself.
In the article, Ben Hubbard, co-manager of Berkeley’s Webcast program, explains: “You can put together a one-minute spot that markets the university in a certain way, but there is nothing like showing the real thing.”
And so, is it working?
The article states:
Within three weeks of launching the YouTube partnership last month, Berkeley had 1.3 million views on the three channels it runs on its page. “When you really boil it down, the size of the YouTube audience is mind-blowing and it shows how hungry people are for this type of content,” he (Hubbard) says.
I'm not sure if putting my classes up on YouTube is a good idea. However, I recently gave my students a list of 5 classroom innovations to see which they'd take most advantage of. Downloadable podcast or vodcast lectures and collaborative blogs (as opposed to individual blogs) ranked the highest. Starting a Facebook group or supplying supplemental podcasts (interviews with artists, extra information about an element, principle, or concept) ranked lowest. Of all things I was surprised the Facebook group ranked lowest because in the same survey 70% of them said they use Facebook daily.
The above article is an obvious example of how the media or the web is driving innovations in education. I wonder if this issue is addressed in the new book by Edward Castronova: Exodus to the Virtual World in which he tries to project the medium-term impact of virtual worlds on daily life in the real world, especially in regards to politics and policy. I hope to include Exodus into my Winter Break reading list (which seems to grow daily!)
From: Terra Nova - RE: Game Time
Terra Nova: CFP: Breaking the Magic Circle: "One of the classic theories of games and play was presented by Johan Huizinga in his work Homo Ludens (orig. from 1938). Huizinga wrote about the free and voluntary nature of play, how it is 'an activity connected with no material interest' and how it 'proceeds within its own proper boundaries of time and space', involving and absorbing players utterly into a separate world set off from the 'ordinary' life, while being created and maintained by communities of players."This idea that play 'proceeds within its own proper boundaries of time and space' is very much in line with Ed Hall's ideas of Polychronic time. I would also extend this idea of 'play' to many other online activities such as surfing, blogging, and even reading. I know I get on a Wikipedia reading kick and hours will pass.
Monday, November 12, 2007
The power of mobility
Communities Dominate Brands: Putting 2.7 billion in context: Mobile phone users:
"Now we have context. 800 million cars, 850 million personal computers, 1.3 B fixed landline phones, 1.4 billion credit cards, 1.5 billion TV sets. How many mobile phones in use today? In use today, yes, 2.7 billion (technically 2.7 billion in January, not December). They sold 950 million phones last year and the total worldwide mobile subscriber base grew from 2.1 billion to 2.7 billion. Three times as many mobile phones as automobiles or personal computers. About twice as many mobile phone owners as those of fixed landline phones or credit cards. And almost twice as many mobile phones in use as TV sets.
Phones are very aspirational. We project our personalities via the interchangeable covers, various decorations, stickers, and the massive industry of ringing tones. We customize our phone services further with ringback (waiting) tones, welcoming tones and background tones. Young people assign the same kinds of value to their emerging personality, their own perceived coolness etc, through their mobile phone, like older generations did with their first car."
This isn't surprising to me. My daughter will be getting a hand held learning device made by leapfrog this Christmas which will undoubtedly begin her lifelong relationship with hand held devices... which, at some point in the future will all meld into one device: phone + PC.
What is being done right now in education for the mobile phone or hand held device? Just recently my campus instated a text messaging program for emergencies on campus. The program allows you to register your cellphone and receive a text message if there is a campus shooting or fire, etc...
I've recorded lectures and provided them as mp3's for my students to listen to on their iPods. And now most holiday phone commercials tout the ability to play mp3's on the device. (Sidenote: the lecture's I provided were recorded live from the classroom, hence longer in length. I would not recommend this. Instead, cut the lecture down to 5 short minutes of important points. Or better yet, provide a podcast of supplementary material for the lecture. The students will be more likely to take advantage of these rather than a 20-30 minute lecture.)
I have a friend who recently graduated with a degree in Video Game Design. His first three interviews were for gaming companies developing games for the mobile phone platform. I was also excited to see that last February, Comverse Technology cracked a mobile phone to run Second Life.
It will only be a matter of time before my students are using Facebook from their phones (some already are) instead of their laptops and my the wiki textbook for my class will be carried in their pockets (disguised as a phone no less!).
"Now we have context. 800 million cars, 850 million personal computers, 1.3 B fixed landline phones, 1.4 billion credit cards, 1.5 billion TV sets. How many mobile phones in use today? In use today, yes, 2.7 billion (technically 2.7 billion in January, not December). They sold 950 million phones last year and the total worldwide mobile subscriber base grew from 2.1 billion to 2.7 billion. Three times as many mobile phones as automobiles or personal computers. About twice as many mobile phone owners as those of fixed landline phones or credit cards. And almost twice as many mobile phones in use as TV sets.
Phones are very aspirational. We project our personalities via the interchangeable covers, various decorations, stickers, and the massive industry of ringing tones. We customize our phone services further with ringback (waiting) tones, welcoming tones and background tones. Young people assign the same kinds of value to their emerging personality, their own perceived coolness etc, through their mobile phone, like older generations did with their first car."
This isn't surprising to me. My daughter will be getting a hand held learning device made by leapfrog this Christmas which will undoubtedly begin her lifelong relationship with hand held devices... which, at some point in the future will all meld into one device: phone + PC.
What is being done right now in education for the mobile phone or hand held device? Just recently my campus instated a text messaging program for emergencies on campus. The program allows you to register your cellphone and receive a text message if there is a campus shooting or fire, etc...
I've recorded lectures and provided them as mp3's for my students to listen to on their iPods. And now most holiday phone commercials tout the ability to play mp3's on the device. (Sidenote: the lecture's I provided were recorded live from the classroom, hence longer in length. I would not recommend this. Instead, cut the lecture down to 5 short minutes of important points. Or better yet, provide a podcast of supplementary material for the lecture. The students will be more likely to take advantage of these rather than a 20-30 minute lecture.)
I have a friend who recently graduated with a degree in Video Game Design. His first three interviews were for gaming companies developing games for the mobile phone platform. I was also excited to see that last February, Comverse Technology cracked a mobile phone to run Second Life.
It will only be a matter of time before my students are using Facebook from their phones (some already are) instead of their laptops and my the wiki textbook for my class will be carried in their pockets (disguised as a phone no less!).
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Academia 2.0
Again... very convincing, yet so generalizing. To make the assumption that thousands of students from all across america, from different racial, ethnic, class, genders, etc... are all the same and are all going to learn the same is just too far fetched.
Everyone is different! Yes, things are changing. Yes, we as educators have to change too. Yet we have to accommodate for those students who still come to class with a pencil and notepad and CAN listen to a lecture for 90 minutes and those that come with a laptop and can reduce your lecture to a 200 word blog post.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Santa gets cheap
Some students may be able to afford their own holiday gifts this year as Wal Mart will be offering a $199 Linux desktop (no monitor) with an 80GB hard drive. Of course, to me this seems like a typical Wal Mart product... buy it cheap, throw it away in a year (wasteful, right?). But even still, you have to admit it's a solution that wasn't there last year. I'm not sure if it will be capable of running Second Life, but with all the tools you need for classes being free or online (Open Office, Google Docs)... this computer rivals the cost of some textbooks.
Speaking of textbooks, I've been waiting since the 1980's for my hand held digital book. Finally, it seems like Amazon has one that will be affordable ($50) and (most importantly) real! The Kindle was supposedly going to hit the shelves last week but has been delayed until the end of the year. Why am I looking forward to an digital bookreader? All selfish reasons, of course. Bedtime reading is tough with a laptop... which is also too heavy to hold like a book. Comics. I want to read/make/distribute comics digitally. Wikis. My students have made a 2D Foundations wiki textbook... now I want that textbook to be downloadable onto a bookreader.
The problems so far I'm foreseeing with the Kindle: 256mb? I have a 2gb micro sd card the size of my fingernail. I think Sony can do better than 256mb. Just words? I need pictures too. PDFs as well. And why can't it play music while we're at it. Also, is it durable? Can I drop it on the floor after I fall asleep reading? Apparently I will be able to buy and download books straight to the Kindle... Can I rent books? Free? Like I do from the library? They can tell me Harry Potter drinks Coca Cola if they let me download the books for free.
In fact, if somebody combined the above two products... I'd pay $100 for one. A flat, hand held bookreader, web browser, IM chat tool, that could download and play music, video, and pictures but NOT be bogged down by all the other apps my laptop has to run. That's what I want Santa to bring me. Can the elves make that?
Speaking of textbooks, I've been waiting since the 1980's for my hand held digital book. Finally, it seems like Amazon has one that will be affordable ($50) and (most importantly) real! The Kindle was supposedly going to hit the shelves last week but has been delayed until the end of the year. Why am I looking forward to an digital bookreader? All selfish reasons, of course. Bedtime reading is tough with a laptop... which is also too heavy to hold like a book. Comics. I want to read/make/distribute comics digitally. Wikis. My students have made a 2D Foundations wiki textbook... now I want that textbook to be downloadable onto a bookreader.
The problems so far I'm foreseeing with the Kindle: 256mb? I have a 2gb micro sd card the size of my fingernail. I think Sony can do better than 256mb. Just words? I need pictures too. PDFs as well. And why can't it play music while we're at it. Also, is it durable? Can I drop it on the floor after I fall asleep reading? Apparently I will be able to buy and download books straight to the Kindle... Can I rent books? Free? Like I do from the library? They can tell me Harry Potter drinks Coca Cola if they let me download the books for free.
In fact, if somebody combined the above two products... I'd pay $100 for one. A flat, hand held bookreader, web browser, IM chat tool, that could download and play music, video, and pictures but NOT be bogged down by all the other apps my laptop has to run. That's what I want Santa to bring me. Can the elves make that?
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Friday, October 26, 2007
Synthetic worlds – real community, real money
Synthetic worlds – real community, real money
"The membrane is allowing not only economic factors to seep through, but social and cultural ones as well. People all over the world are connecting in new ways through the technology moving from a calculation model to one of communication. Our children will grow up knowing people in Africa, Asia and Europe and see it as the norm. They will lose sight of geographical distance and explore cultures and people my grandfather had no chance of meeting. The new world offers limitless expanses of both digital and analog connection and understanding, and brings the world closer together. New social connections can overcome geography, culture, and sometimes even language. Most companies find a team of 25 unruly on a project, but in WoW guilds take part in raids every night creating a sense of group connection and goal achievement. The identities that form in these communities allow people to explore and play with their own identities. The world might not recognize your leadership skills, but you can learn and mature them in a virtual world and then apply them to the real world. All this can create a close, strong bond of friendship and community."
I think it's about time that the media began to also cite the usefulness of virtual worlds, besides the usual hype and sensationalism (thanks Mark!).
Another article in my own campus newspaper also cites the usefulness of the Second Life virtual world in education.
Edward Castronova and Mark Bell
Exodus to the Virtual World: How Online Fun Is Changing Reality will be published shortly by Palgrave Macmillan.
Exodus to the Virtual World: How Online Fun Is Changing Reality will be published shortly by Palgrave Macmillan.
"The membrane is allowing not only economic factors to seep through, but social and cultural ones as well. People all over the world are connecting in new ways through the technology moving from a calculation model to one of communication. Our children will grow up knowing people in Africa, Asia and Europe and see it as the norm. They will lose sight of geographical distance and explore cultures and people my grandfather had no chance of meeting. The new world offers limitless expanses of both digital and analog connection and understanding, and brings the world closer together. New social connections can overcome geography, culture, and sometimes even language. Most companies find a team of 25 unruly on a project, but in WoW guilds take part in raids every night creating a sense of group connection and goal achievement. The identities that form in these communities allow people to explore and play with their own identities. The world might not recognize your leadership skills, but you can learn and mature them in a virtual world and then apply them to the real world. All this can create a close, strong bond of friendship and community."
I think it's about time that the media began to also cite the usefulness of virtual worlds, besides the usual hype and sensationalism (thanks Mark!).
Another article in my own campus newspaper also cites the usefulness of the Second Life virtual world in education.
Synthetic worlds – real community, real money
Synthetic worlds – real community, real money
"The membrane is allowing not only economic factors to seep through, but social and cultural ones as well. People all over the world are connecting in new ways through the technology moving from a calculation model to one of communication. Our children will grow up knowing people in Africa, Asia and Europe and see it as the norm. They will lose sight of geographical distance and explore cultures and people my grandfather had no chance of meeting. The new world offers limitless expanses of both digital and analog connection and understanding, and brings the world closer together. New social connections can overcome geography, culture, and sometimes even language. Most companies find a team of 25 unruly on a project, but in WoW guilds take part in raids every night creating a sense of group connection and goal achievement. The identities that form in these communities allow people to explore and play with their own identities. The world might not recognize your leadership skills, but you can learn and mature them in a virtual world and then apply them to the real world. All this can create a close, strong bond of friendship and community."
I think it's about time that the media began to also cite the usefulness of virtual worlds, besides the usual hype and sensationalism (thanks Mark!).
Another article in my own campus newspaper also cites the usefulness of the Second Life virtual world in education.
Edward Castronova and Mark Bell
Exodus to the Virtual World: How Online Fun Is Changing Reality will be published shortly by Palgrave Macmillan.
Exodus to the Virtual World: How Online Fun Is Changing Reality will be published shortly by Palgrave Macmillan.
"The membrane is allowing not only economic factors to seep through, but social and cultural ones as well. People all over the world are connecting in new ways through the technology moving from a calculation model to one of communication. Our children will grow up knowing people in Africa, Asia and Europe and see it as the norm. They will lose sight of geographical distance and explore cultures and people my grandfather had no chance of meeting. The new world offers limitless expanses of both digital and analog connection and understanding, and brings the world closer together. New social connections can overcome geography, culture, and sometimes even language. Most companies find a team of 25 unruly on a project, but in WoW guilds take part in raids every night creating a sense of group connection and goal achievement. The identities that form in these communities allow people to explore and play with their own identities. The world might not recognize your leadership skills, but you can learn and mature them in a virtual world and then apply them to the real world. All this can create a close, strong bond of friendship and community."
I think it's about time that the media began to also cite the usefulness of virtual worlds, besides the usual hype and sensationalism (thanks Mark!).
Another article in my own campus newspaper also cites the usefulness of the Second Life virtual world in education.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Is Multitasking More Efficient?
Is Multitasking More Efficient?:
"New scientific studies reveal the hidden costs of multitasking, key findings as technology increasingly tempts people to do more than one thing (and increasingly, more than one complicated thing) at a time. "
"The researchers say their results suggest that executive control involves two distinct, complementary stages: goal shifting ("I want to do this now instead of that") and rule activation ("I'm turning off the rules for that and turning on the rules for this"). Both stages help people unconsciously switch between tasks."
"Rule activation itself takes significant amounts of time, several tenths of a second -- which can add up when people switch back and forth repeatedly between tasks. Thus, multitasking may seem more efficient on the surface, but may actually take more time in the end."
"Understanding executive mental control may help solve "fundamental problems," says Meyer, "associated with the design of equipment and human-computer interfaces for vehicle and aircraft operation, air traffic control, and many other activities in which people must monitor and manipulate the environment through technologically advanced devices.""
This article, and the study that goes with it, seems a bit slanted if you ask me. When I was first told about this piece a sweeping statement was made like: "Oh, kids aren't multitaskers! Ha, ha! They're wasting time... Haven't you seen the new study?" Yet the study only proves that we polychrons are wasting milliseconds... yes, "tenths of a second"... as we switch from task to task. I think the overall assumption or argument that says multitasking wastes time needs more than just milliseconds to convince me.
However, the idea that we can cut out even those few tenths of a second by better understanding our executive controls and innovating our UI now becomes even more appealing to me. I mean... isn't that the idea behind the dashboard widget and the firefox plugin? To bring the functionality of one thing to another and yet keep the same interface?
"New scientific studies reveal the hidden costs of multitasking, key findings as technology increasingly tempts people to do more than one thing (and increasingly, more than one complicated thing) at a time. "
"The researchers say their results suggest that executive control involves two distinct, complementary stages: goal shifting ("I want to do this now instead of that") and rule activation ("I'm turning off the rules for that and turning on the rules for this"). Both stages help people unconsciously switch between tasks."
"Rule activation itself takes significant amounts of time, several tenths of a second -- which can add up when people switch back and forth repeatedly between tasks. Thus, multitasking may seem more efficient on the surface, but may actually take more time in the end."
"Understanding executive mental control may help solve "fundamental problems," says Meyer, "associated with the design of equipment and human-computer interfaces for vehicle and aircraft operation, air traffic control, and many other activities in which people must monitor and manipulate the environment through technologically advanced devices.""
This article, and the study that goes with it, seems a bit slanted if you ask me. When I was first told about this piece a sweeping statement was made like: "Oh, kids aren't multitaskers! Ha, ha! They're wasting time... Haven't you seen the new study?" Yet the study only proves that we polychrons are wasting milliseconds... yes, "tenths of a second"... as we switch from task to task. I think the overall assumption or argument that says multitasking wastes time needs more than just milliseconds to convince me.
However, the idea that we can cut out even those few tenths of a second by better understanding our executive controls and innovating our UI now becomes even more appealing to me. I mean... isn't that the idea behind the dashboard widget and the firefox plugin? To bring the functionality of one thing to another and yet keep the same interface?
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Lifestream - Classstream?
Google recently bought Jaiku, a micro-moblogging site (that's micro-blogging like twitter + mobile blogging) that also keeps track of when you post to your blog (via an RSS feed) and when you post to your flickr. It also posts a timestamped record of what you listened to on iTunes or Last.fm and what you last bookmarked on Del.icio.us. So they take all that info and put it into a feed or "lifestream."
Now, I teach 2d Foundations and Drawing... which aren't necessarily heavy on computer use (all my students keep blogs, use a textbook wiki, photoshop, that's about it). But I was thinking about how great it would be if I did have a feed, or if we all had access, to a "classroom feed" or Classstream that would work something like this:
10:14pm Allison finished 15 thumbnails for homework
1:42am Anthony posted link to article on Fred Wilson
9:37am Bob posted to blog: Principles of Gestalt
12:00pm Johnny needs feedback on sketch for assignment - visit blog
3:30pm Anthony posts picture from Toledo Museum of Art
and so on...
How could you see this useful in your class? In an online class?
Now, I teach 2d Foundations and Drawing... which aren't necessarily heavy on computer use (all my students keep blogs, use a textbook wiki, photoshop, that's about it). But I was thinking about how great it would be if I did have a feed, or if we all had access, to a "classroom feed" or Classstream that would work something like this:
10:14pm Allison finished 15 thumbnails for homework
1:42am Anthony posted link to article on Fred Wilson
9:37am Bob posted to blog: Principles of Gestalt
12:00pm Johnny needs feedback on sketch for assignment - visit blog
3:30pm Anthony posts picture from Toledo Museum of Art
and so on...
How could you see this useful in your class? In an online class?
Friday, September 28, 2007
Second Life and Machinima Resources
For anyone interested in Second Life Education (SLED) I urge you to join their respective listserve mailing lists. The SLED community has been thriving for several years and can provide a great bit of knowledge. Have a question about Second Life? Search the archives!
SLED listserve: https://lists.secondlife.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/educators
SLED Archives: http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=001010425210852223575%3Ajldmgpuier0
SLED Wiki: http://www.simteach.com/wiki/index.php?title=Second_Life_Education_Wiki
Machinima listserve
SL has recently started a listserve for anyone making or interested in machinima.
Machinima listserve: https://lists.secondlife.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/machinima
SLED listserve: https://lists.secondlife.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/educators
SLED Archives: http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=001010425210852223575%3Ajldmgpuier0
SLED Wiki: http://www.simteach.com/wiki/index.php?title=Second_Life_Education_Wiki
Machinima listserve
SL has recently started a listserve for anyone making or interested in machinima.
Machinima listserve: https://lists.secondlife.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/machinima
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
