Computers are excellent at solving problems… that is as long as the problem can be reduced to an algorithm (artificial intelligence researchers are working to change this, but most folks who use computers solve such reduced problems with them). Reduction to an algorithm requires rules to be clearly and completely defined. If the problem reflects Read More
I was recently cleaning out some digital files, and found some materials I had developed for secondary students focusing on Douglas Rushkoff’s 2011 book Program or Be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age. The work arrived on bookstore shelves a decade ago, but the rules for digital life seem as relevant today as back Read More
While I am a distance learning professional and I spend most of my time working at a computer and encouraging educators to use computers, I am an educator before I am a technologist. Teaching decisions must be made to benefit students. For much of my career, it has been easy for many individual educators to reject all technology-based and distance learning options categorically. They were justified in reasoning they could Read More
A friend and I were recently discussing John Perry Barlow’s “Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace.” Barlow’s ideas resonate with both of us. We were wondering if we (as a culture) had achieved what Barlow had envisioned. We challenged ourselves to compose a brief summary of what we have observed in the last few years. Read More
We all experience circumstances that we know cannot be due to coincidental. We see things on our digital devices that we interpret as evidence our devices are “spying,” as they “know” what we want. I had such an experience earlier this week. I needed an address… a real address where I was sending a piece Read More
The idea of affordances has been used in the last few decades to capture the idea that the environment allows us to do certain things. Some environments afford some actions, other environments afford different actions. In this post, I consider the characteristics of virtual classrooms and what they afford students and teachers. First, technology has Read More
The global computer networks that we have at our finger tips in the third decade of the 21st century have been attributed with creating a “global village,” and that seems a appropriate metaphor as many have had the experience of communicating with individual at the next seat or thousands of miles away using ICT. The Read More
Business and Industry Educational Organizations Competent users(generally adults have the general aptitude and literacy skills necessary for their jobs) Users with emerging competence(especially in primary and elementary schools, many users have emerging skills) Predictable skills(technology planners can be sure they know the skills and competencies of groups in the workforce) Unpredictable skills (planners Read More
I’ve been thinking about Mishra and Kohler’s (2009) TPACK, the framework for understanding teaching in the digital world. Over time, the tools that provide educational relevant capacity have expanded. Today, we include: Computers: The desktops and laptops with Windows or the Macintosh OS installed. Applications: The programs used on computers. Your profession probably has “industry Read More
With the rise of writing, and then print, Walter Ong noted that communication became a process in which, “The mind interacts with the material world around it more profoundly and creatively than has hitherto been thought” (Ong, 1982, p. 172). Reference Ong, W. J. (1991). Orality and literacy: The technologizing of the word. London ; New Read More