Tag Archives: history

A Goomba’s Perspective

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I came across this Super Mario Brothers video on Youtube today. It’s a wonderfully produced, short animation written from the Goomba perspective. As I watched it, the former social studies teacher in me thought that this would be a great video to introduce topics like historical perspective, bias, and propaganda within the social studies, history, or even English curricula.

Sharing this tidbit is nothing huge, and I could have probably just let it go as this tweet. However, as I’ve become increasingly concerned about the ownership, longevity shareability, and development of my own thinking, I’m trying to be more conscious about where I’m sharing ideas. In other words, I’m hoping to get back into the habit of sharing more in this space – my space. We’ll see.

For now, enjoy First Person Goomba.

Edit: I thought afterwards that this video also relates to the concept of empathy. If you are interested in a fantastic video on the importance of empathy, check out “The Power of Outrospection” (especially this video) from Roman Krznaric.

History of Educational Technology (pre-computer) by Schwier & Wilson

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Dr. Richard Schwier and Dr. Jay Wilson were our guests in EC&I 831 on the night of January 13, 2009. They gave a wonderfully entertaining and informative presentation on the history of educational technology before the introduction of the computer. Below is the captured video of the presentation, taken from Elluminate. The full Elluminate session is also available here.

Video thumbnail. Click to play
Click To Play

A couple of my favourite insights voiced in the comments during this presentation were (a) where did teachers get the time to do things this way?, and (b) the idea that teachers often hoarded the resources they created. The first point is quite interesting as I find it still the most frequent complaint from teachers using technology today. The second point interests me as I feel that the hoarding mentality may have been necessary at an earlier time in history, but I am not sure education in general has really adjusted to this perceived “age of abundance” in relation to resources and information. Or, perhaps I am just being naive.

Also related, do check out Dr. Schwier’s presentation from last year on the history of educational technology where he takes a different approach, and focuses on the people of educational technology vs. the tools.

Rick & Jay - History of Edtech

WELL Party, 1989

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The WELL is one of the oldest online virtual communities. This video from 1989 features interviews from WELL members. It is an interesting look back at the experiences of pioneering virtual network participants. One could replace “the WELL” from the audio with Twitter (or another popular social network tool) and it would hardly be noticeable.

Music History With Nana

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I’m beginning to review many of the old projects that my undergraduate students have produced for me in the past. Many of these are large video projects and I was hoping to share them online.

After looking at several video services, I’ve chosen Viddler to do this. Viddler has some nice features, produced average to above average video, has tagging and commenting features at any point in the video, allows for large uploads and doesn’t have the 10 minute limit that Youtube has.

Here is one of my favorite although lengthy student video projects:

Basically, the video is based on the adventures of Nana, and older woman who quests to find her Music History textbook. As she looks for it, you’re presented with a music history experience. Although it takes a few minutes to pick up, it’s enjoyable if not for the music alone. Simple but fun.