2/19 Class

Link to our (Alex + I) podcast assignment from last week: http://alex.podomatic.com/entry/2009-03-18T01_09_50-07_00

Reflection from last week:

Started off class by attending a lecture on the role of gaming in civic engagement. Over I thought there were some interesting points, but felt like much of the discussion wasn't very constructive in getting at what most of the audience seemed to want: ideas about WHY we should focus on gaming to teach people civic engagement, among other things. The speaker did state that he did not feel that gaming was anymore able to engage us than a really good lecturer (amongst other things), which I would defintely not agree with. I would have probably enjoyed a live demo of a group playing Simcity or something of that nature.

The second part of class the LMS/CMS group did their presentations. I was part of this group and showed everyone my www.gaginang.org website which was built out on Joomla. Unfortunately the keyboard/computer was having trouble with logins (for all presenters).

3/12 Class Reflection

Last week's class was spent breaking up into two groups and recording our thoughts/takeaways from Ellen Wagner's presentation. Our group had technical difficulties multiple times, with the result that the soundbytes of Alex and myself were chopped from the group file. We ended up making our own at home and are working on our shared file at the time of this writing. During, we got to hear from our peers on virtual worlds - which is right along the lines of my holodeck obsession. Viewing learning as a human enterprise, if and when we get to the technologically advanced stage of having a holodeck, the lines between reality and virtuality (I just coined that!) will be blurred ala Matrix. Now, after msging with Alex, I think I've been too negative about the potentiality of all that. Holodecks will lead to a new stage of human existence, virtually(!) unfettered by limits. If you read the writings of popular futurists, you might become overwhelmed. But it can also really be heartening to see what humanity may create.

Ellen Wagner Class

Script:

- What did you learn?

3D learning, haptics, Wii IS going to be the future (see my voicethread from the last post). Web 4.0 - the ubiquitous web.

- What are your takeaways?

Designers should design for today - designing for the needs of now - that is the sweet spot.

- What keeps you up at night?

Feeling like technology and ID will end up the way it will end up, even without my participation/influence in/on it. Feeling overwhelmed with the possibilities of technology and neglecting the natural joys of life.

Reflection:

I really liked Ellen's "Hype Cycle". It's a great way to view trends and how people take to new ideas. Maybe we can get a copy of it? Also, web4.0 idea sounds a little scary. Actually it's like giving a certain level of consciousness to tools and objects. The dark side of this of course is when super villains command armies of robots and tanks to attack from their neural implant blue-brain. =)

Kurt Bonk

I appreciated having the opportunity to hear from Kurt Bonk and getting an overview of his book The World is Flat. Definitely a lot of information crammed into about an hour and half. One thing that stuck out to me was when Kurt showed the picture of the family who took went on a Carribbean boat trip and their three kids were still able to have class. If WE truly ALL LEARN, then these sorts of things should be more possible. Also the example of kids having a little tutoring device was great to see as well. One topic that I'd see to see more discourse on IS exactly that, attitudes of the general public to how learning actually takes place outside of traditional ivory towers. In fact, I sometimes wonder about our very own ITEC program... hmmmm ;) If I've learned anything, its that ITEC has provided me with access of knowledge to tools and contacts. There is a lot of content in the program, that's for sure, but I feel like I'm not fully utilizing the information/skills/tools. I think a lot of this has to do with the constraints of having to work a f/t job and also because I'm not much of a night person. Perhaps I should take advantage more of HyFlex. =)

Oh and here is my 1 minute (It's gotta be at least 2 mins I think) response to Kurt Bonk. More about me having fun with Star Trek I think. =)

Seems like the screen is too thin to show the thing so here is the link as well: http://voicethread.com/share/379697/