Darren Kuropatwa got my attention with this video and I'm not sure what I think about it. Neurosky is only one company developing this type of human/machine interface - gracious me oh my!
CyberLearning Technology is already marketing systems for home use, targeting among others, those who have trouble focusing. Will this "game controller" help my students learn to concentrate in a world that is so full of 30-second sound bytes?
Just as we train our bodies by focus and repetition, doesn't it make sense that we can train our minds by focus and repetition? Will this "mind control" lead to solutions for students who have great difficulty keeping their minds on the task at hand? Just because the kids might be using the device to play a game doesn't mean they aren't learning to stay on track.
As always, in the Art of Teaching we must help our students transfer the skills they have learned in one area to another. How many times has the Math teacher heard, in response to a request to read a particular article, "But this isn't Reading class!" And when the Reading teacher suggests that students calculate their current grade averages by themselves, the cry rises up, "What do you mean? This isn't Math class!" Perhaps we are moving from an era of using sports analogies to inspire our students to an era of using gaming analogies? I can hear them now... "Miss! You're too old to be a gamer!"
I don't know what impact this technology is going to have in the next five years, but this is what our students will be living. How do I prepare them for a world I have trouble imagining? I'll have to think about it while I maneuver my dwarven mage to his next level in Last-Outpost!
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Friday, August 24, 2007
Champing at the bit
The official start date for classes is Monday, the 27th, but one class has some lessons posted and I'm already at work. Well, my computer is at work...it took over an hour to install Adobe's CS3 Web Standard, and now I'm playing around while hoping my textbook arrives soon so I can really get started.
While I've got a minute to reflect, before the deluge of teaching and learning and living all hits on Monday, I'm trying not to feel frustration that two out of two courses are application specific. I guess I've gotten so accustomed to using 2.whatever and FOSS applications that I'm startled by professors insisting on grad students purchasing expensive mass-market software. At least I don't have to purchase MS Office 2007 (but that's only because the text has a limited trial version included).
The degree I am seeking is in Instructional Design with an emphasis in Education. Is it realistic, in today's tightly-budgeted schools, for teachers to expect to teach web design using high-end software when NVU would serve the same purpose? Is it essential that my students know the specific application, or should they learn the principles which underlie the application?
I'm not advocating a return to DOS, don't get me wrong. I'm just wondering ... am I as a student being asked to learn what my teachers are familiar with? Do I make that samemistake decision with my own students as a teacher? Am I teaching from my world rather than to their world?
Then, too, I was startled that both courses will require me to keep a physical notebook and mail it to the professors at the end of the semester. My first reaction was, "What?!?!?! In this era of instant communication, twittering, blogs, wikis, podcasts, you want me to keep a notebook?"
I'm still trying to puzzle my way through this notebook requirement, as I create a wiki for my students to use as their major class resource. They will work collaboratively, true, but they will also have responsibilities to discuss what they are working on, I can track who has contributed what, and we will have an organic work which we can share with others. They will have a resource which they can access again and again as they move on in their education, and continue to contribute to it for the benefit of other students who will follow them. I guess the oddest part for me is that I will spend time creating a resource for myself which I will then send off, perhaps never to be seen again. It just feels odd, that's all.
Have I been a teacher too long, and forgotten how to be a student?
While I've got a minute to reflect, before the deluge of teaching and learning and living all hits on Monday, I'm trying not to feel frustration that two out of two courses are application specific. I guess I've gotten so accustomed to using 2.whatever and FOSS applications that I'm startled by professors insisting on grad students purchasing expensive mass-market software. At least I don't have to purchase MS Office 2007 (but that's only because the text has a limited trial version included).
The degree I am seeking is in Instructional Design with an emphasis in Education. Is it realistic, in today's tightly-budgeted schools, for teachers to expect to teach web design using high-end software when NVU would serve the same purpose? Is it essential that my students know the specific application, or should they learn the principles which underlie the application?
I'm not advocating a return to DOS, don't get me wrong. I'm just wondering ... am I as a student being asked to learn what my teachers are familiar with? Do I make that same
Then, too, I was startled that both courses will require me to keep a physical notebook and mail it to the professors at the end of the semester. My first reaction was, "What?!?!?! In this era of instant communication, twittering, blogs, wikis, podcasts, you want me to keep a notebook?"
I'm still trying to puzzle my way through this notebook requirement, as I create a wiki for my students to use as their major class resource. They will work collaboratively, true, but they will also have responsibilities to discuss what they are working on, I can track who has contributed what, and we will have an organic work which we can share with others. They will have a resource which they can access again and again as they move on in their education, and continue to contribute to it for the benefit of other students who will follow them. I guess the oddest part for me is that I will spend time creating a resource for myself which I will then send off, perhaps never to be seen again. It just feels odd, that's all.
Have I been a teacher too long, and forgotten how to be a student?
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