Tag Archives: Change

Stephen Downes on Personal Learning

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We are all delighted to have had Stephen Downes speak to our EC&I 831 class last Monday, March 11, 2008. Stephen framed his presentation around personal learning and we received a first-hand look at how Stephen manages an immeasurable amount of information through his own customized software approach.

The presentation is available as a recorded Elluminate session, and the slides are available via Slideshare (below).

You can also download the recorded audio podcast (thanks Rob).

Note: In order to be responsive to constructive feedback, we will be releasing all of the presentation audio from EC&I 831 in audio-only, podcast format. Watch for this.

Thanks so much Stephen! You’ve added an invaluable contribution to the course and to the students of EC&I 831.

Stephen Downes on Personal Learning Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The Anti-Connectivist?

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This was recorded last June, but it is new to me. There are actually three separate videos of the same event, along with some materials this “crazy lady” was handing out.

At the local AT&T Store in Santa Barbara this crazy lady came up to us and described a conspiracy that the iPhone is going to destroy our minds.

Part 2, Part 3.

It is a bit strange to watch this as there was something a bit too familiar. In my mind, I edited out the fantastical stories of aliens and conspiracy theories, and somehow I was reminded of a couple of teachers I have worked with over the years. I believe that critique is a fundamental piece when using/adopting any technology. However, critique combined with ignorance can lead to unhealthy paranoia.

How Does the (US) News Shape the Way We See the World

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Alisa Miller or Public Radio International (PRI) is speaking at TED this week. PRI has set up a page for this TED talk which aims at helping citizens become more aware of international news, the limitations of existing news structures and the importance of global journalism. The video below is very well done and makes these previous points through statistics and visualizations.

Our society is becoming more globally interconnected each day. In our increasingly interdependent world, events taking place in distant countries can be of vital significance to Americans; in turn, the choices and actions we take here at home can reverberate around the globe. Yet, Americans seem to know less and less about the world around them, their many connections to it, and the complexities and interrelationships between major issues such as peace and security, energy, sustainability and the environment, economic development, health, and the arts and culture.

This is important because how we comprehend our world shapes how we live in it and what actions we take.

While the target audience is American, I do not get the sense from my contact with high school and undergraduate students that Canadian youth/adults fair much better in their understanding of the global context. Sure, we could blame US news sources and tout the differences evident in our beloved CBC. I know it is not enough. So, what do we do? How do we get our children to better understand the global context? How do we get our kids to see the importance of global perspectives? And more importantly, how do we get them to care?

Low-Cost Laptops and Industry Change

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From CNet News

… if mainstream PC buyers start to find their needs met by a lightweight, simply featured, inexpensive portable, it’s likely to impel all of the major players in the industry to pile on by lowering their prices. And that’s in an industry with already low margins for retailers and manufacturers.

If the Eee PC just catches on with Linux developers, enthusiasts, and the tech-savvy early adopter crowd, that’s fine by him. “But if mainstream buyers buy it, then, whoa,” Abary said.

This is becoming a win for Gnu/Linux and for consumers. As for OLPC and the benefits to Africa? I still need to be convinced.

Shares(ki) Tells His Story

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Dean Shareski was our guest in EC&I 831 this past Tuesday. Dean did an incredible job of sharing his story of virtual and face-to-face experiences with his “personal research team”. This team includes many well known educators, Dean’s colleagues, his students, family and probably you … the person reading this. Dean’s presentation was engaging, there were several lessons learned, and my students have reacted very positively in their own blogging spaces.

Dean’s Slide Deck:

You can also experience the entire presentation through the recorded Elluminate session.

Thanks again Dean. This was a terrific presentation, and you have represented yourself very well within the growing list of amazing EC&I 831 presenters.

Wisdom of the Chaperones

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A recent Slate article describes the reality behind user-generated content champions such as Wikipedia and Digg.

Social-media sites like Wikipedia and Digg are celebrated as shining examples of Web democracy, places built by millions of Web users who all act as writers, editors, and voters. In reality, a small number of people are running the show. According to researchers in Palo Alto, 1 percent of Wikipedia users are responsible for about half of the site’s edits. The site also deploys bots—supervised by a special caste of devoted users—that help standardize format, prevent vandalism, and root out folks who flood the site with obscenities. This is not the wisdom of the crowd. This is the wisdom of the chaperones.

Why is the view presented in this article important to you? If you are touting sites like Wikipedia as proof of a social media utopia and someone (say, a Luddite-type administrator) confronts you with data like this, it is important that you have done your homework. Seek better examples for your arguments. They do exist.

Rules for Teachers

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Here are some rules for teachers from the beginning of the 20th century.

Rules for Teachers 1

It’s interesting to see how clearly the social expectations for women were laid out in the form of explicit rules. Thankfully, times have changed, although we always have more work to do. It would be interesting to pose rules like this with that of our contemporary schools, rules that are not always made so apparent.

See also.

Possible Suspension for Student Who Created Proxy Site

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This is an interesting story that brings up important questions around school jurisdiction on student activities and on the rights and responsibilities of students. This American student writes that he is facing possible suspension from his school for creating a web proxy service (as part of his job/business) that was used by other students at his school to get around school network restrictions. He is allegedly accused of “violating (his) rights as a student, and intentionally attempting to disturb the learning environment of students in (his) school.”

Worst part is that now I’m tagged as being a ‘computer hacker’ and a ‘potential threat’ to the school system. A mass email was sent out from the administrator who accused me of this to all the teachers, administrators, librarians, etc in the entire school, which basically says I’m a criminal and I need to be watched when getting within a 10-foot radius of a computer.

I find it unfair that Fairfax County Public Schools feels they can impose this kind of totalitarianism on me, I’m now a criminal for making proxies. For making a website. A legal website. On my private server. Outside of school. Great.

Read the article to get a better sense of this situation. Thoughts?

Robot High School

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via Boing Boing.

Robot High School is a music video directed by Roel Wouters with music by My Robot Friend.

Despite how it may appear, the video was shot in a single take with no significant computer-generated effects added, just some minor post-production cleanup.

Robot High School allegorically questions what happens when our perspective and views of reality are manipulated by those in authority without any moral concern for the outcome.

Interesting video and message.

And sorry for this space taking on the link blog/Tumblr approach lately … beginning of semester is always so busy.

Teachers Caught Cheating

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I remember reading about this problem in the book Freakonomics by Steven Levitt. Teachers have been accused of rigging the results of standardized tests so that schools are not penalized for low performance, as legislated by the No Child Left Behind Act

Cheating among teachers has become epidemic in America’s schools, with cases from New York to California, Florida to South Dakota, Tennessee to Maryland. “It’s more prevalent than anyone wants to admit,” says UNC-Chapel Hill professor Gregory Cizek, an expert on cheating in schools. “Teachers are paid to be role models. It sends a really destructive message to kids.”

Many experts say this disgraceful behavior has surged due to the 2001 No Child Left Behind law, which annually tests academic performance and can punish struggling schools that don’t show improvement. Feeling this heat, some teachers resort to showing students test questions in advance or—if you can believe it—changing their answers after the fact.


Source.

Big Party – The Interview

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There was some news this week about the “Australian kid” that threw a big party (500 people) at his parents house while they were out of town. The fallout from the party resulted in a lot of damage to neighboring vehicles and homes. Here is a video of the boy’s first television interview.


Funny Kid Isnt Sorry About Huge Party – Watch more free videos

This is interesting to me, not so much in the sense that the kid has little regret about the incident, but more so in the way the news host attempts to discipline and force the child to take off his glasses and apologize. It felt familiar. I have witnessed this before in the disciplinary approaches of many teachers and administrators, and almost always, it has a similar result.

Seem famliar to you?

Digital Advertising Right To Your Grocery Cart

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It looks like Microsoft has plans to test a new technology known as “Mediacart” in some grocery stores in the US.

Customers with a ShopRite loyalty card will be able to log into a Web site at home and type in their grocery lists; when they get to the store and swipe their card on the MediaCart console, the list will appear. As shoppers scan their items and place them in their cart, the console gives a running price tally and checks items off the shopping list.

The system also uses radio-frequency identification to sense where the shopper’s cart is in the store. The RFID data can help ShopRite and food makers understand shopping patterns, and the technology can also be used to send certain advertisements to people at certain points – an ad for 50 cents off Oreos, for example, when a shopper enters the cookie aisle. Microsoft said it is still working on how it will present commercials and coupons.

If this is successful, grocery shopping as we know it may be very different in the years ahead.