Sci-Fi and Role of Tech

Category: , , By Matt Cronin
Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

As I abhor watching parades in general, I switched my TV this morning to the 1966 movie adaptation of Fahrenheit 451. A pretty good movie in its own right, although the special effects definitely date the movie. The movie got me thinking about the science fiction genre in general. The characteristic I really love about science fiction is not all the high tech gadgetry (which is odd because I tend to be gadget obessed). I love how authors use the lens of the future to put our humanity on display. Ray Bradbury, Orson Scott Card, Philip K. Dick, H.G. Wells, all use the genre to display the best and worse of human nature. This struck a chord in my mind connected to a presentation David Warlick gave at MassCUE conference. David stated that education isn't about the technology, but information and communication. The book people in Fahrenheit 451 understand that information and the ability to communicate / understand it is at the core of our humanity. We need to be able to see and understand the experiences of other people.

Some worry about technology beating down our humanity. With millions of people with iPods plugged into their skulls, it may appear that that future is well on its way. While on the white (now black, red, green, and blue) face the iPods may look all alike, beneath the plastic and metal is content that is unique as its owner. This gives me hope.
 

FW: Cruising though the Ted Williams Tun

By Matt Cronin

Had some extra time in the tunnel so I thought I'd snap this pic
 

Wikiworld

Category: By Matt Cronin
I've been playing around with several wiki options the last couple of months. I started with PBwiki which is a great entry point for using wikis. I've also been working with MediaWiki and Tikiwiki. I like TikiWiki for the integrated features like blogs and test that are useful in the classroom.
 

Using a widget

By Matt Cronin
I am using the Blogger widget on the Dashboard of my Powerbook. This could be an awesome tool to update blogs more quickly. No logging in, no navigating to web sites; just hit f12, type, and post. Lets hope it works. Now if they only had a spellchecker like the one in Safari, I'd be all set. Although the dictionary widget is just a few pixels away. . .

Ok after the first run through, just one snag, there isn't a way to put in a title, at least as far as I can see. Oh well.

Round 3, I'm an idiot. Ok maybe I should have checked on the backside of the widget and checked off the "title" box. It's a good thing I'm put in life or death situations on a daily basis.
 

My Wikibook

By Matt Cronin
I just participated in an interesting discussion on Worldbridges' EdTechTalk. The discussion sounds like the death knell of textbooks. I was reminded of my experiences with textbooks as a student. I remember how many sections of the textbook were left untouched by the instructor. This was blunt (and boring) an instrument. I imagine being able to bend and twist content to fit the needs of my classroom and students. I want a world history wiki where I can have student access artifacts from around the world and use current scholarship to further explain the foreign object in front of them. I want a wiki that matches the content in my classroom. I want to have spaces where students can contribute their acquired knowledge with their peers. I want time to be able to piece this together for my classroom.
 

Trouble on the Discussion Board

By Matt Cronin
I recently had trouble using one of the services the students use to maintain online discussions. A student posted a rather inappropriate comment towards another student. A fake name was given, but I did get an IP address and blocked that user. I have contacted the ISP and unfortunately received a form letter from them saying they might check it out. I am worried that my students see online spaces as free-for-alls where anything goes. I need to work harder to show my students that they need to be responsible for their actions offline and online.