CT09: Opening Keynote: Emerging Interactive Media: Implications for Teaching and Research

Chris Dede, Harvard Grad Education; http://www.gse.harvard.edu/~dedech/

Digital Life Outside of Class.

all information is instantlyavailable distance available

distance and tine do not matter

multi-tasking

machines have inteligence

options are abundant

change is constant and rapid

Amusing ourselves to death – written in 1985. Entertainment is so pervasive.

-web 2.0

-Emerging Educational Technology. Taught in Harvard.

-Uses wiki in class. Gives 10 web 2.0 topics, students discuss and come up with definition and examples

-Sharing (social bookmarking, photo video sharing, social networking, writers workshops and fanfiction)

-Thinking (blogs, podcasts, discussion forums)

-Co-creating (wikis, collaborative file creation)

-edtags.org (made in Harvard) (speaker helped create)

-User Profiles. On the back end. It opens up possibilities with tags and mental models that they are using to collect their information.

http://www.edtags.org/

-Jenkin’s Framework for New Literacies

-Web 2.0: Easy to learn to use; hard to learn how to use WELL

-Each tool has its own rhetoric

-Takes year to use each one effectively.

-Similar: to video cameras being used early on to video tape Plays. Similar to what we are doing now. We have not figured out how to use them correctly.

-Not having to learn the useless info. Like state capitals. do not need to waste time learning that kind of useless stuff.

-Many undergrad still contains tons of useless information.

-Other things that are not bullshit. Still eed to be looked into deeply. Like the periodic table. The number line.

-Missing piece: professors shying away from current curriculum.

-The epistemology of knowledge has changed. Where we ask for information has changed.

-Wikipedia is completely different from Encyclopedia Britannica.

-Things are ready for ‘prime-time’ when people stop arguing and discussing about it.

-Some things will never be stopped arguing about: evolution, etc.

-Web 2.0 challenges the definition and epistemology of knowledge.

-Cell Phones.

-Augmented Reality.

-Alice in Wonderland interface.

-Combining real world and augmented reality world.

-Overlay device.

-HARP: Handheld Augmented Reality Project

-Dept of Ed wanted to raise test scores. They were deficient in Greek and Latin languages. Used aliens to help students learn the ‘alien’ language.

-Interviewing virtual, collecting data.

-Different roles.

-The students must collaborate and piece together their information.

-Students had handhelds.

-They walked outside their middle school and collected info.

-They would encounter different math and English challenges. If they solved it correctly, they would find out the aliens intentions.

-Developed augmented reality curriculum.

-Jigsaw pedagogy.

-Dependent augmented reality. Like following the Freedom Trail. Not using independent augmented reality that can be used anywhere.

-By 2020, the hardware will advance as much as it did during the last 35 years.

-Simulated chemical spills. Nature trails. Civil War history.

-Alice in Wonderland. You become an avatar in a digital world.

-MUVE. Sims, Second Life, America’s Army.

-www.ecomuve.org

-http://ecomuve.org/

-Virtual Eco system.

-Multiple User Virtual Environment.

-This is useful for those in desert areas like Arizona that do not have access to different eco systems.

-You can take pictures and the environment changes and talk to different virtual experts.

-Collect data on temperature and Ph.

-Twitter hahtag #ct09

-Experiences central, rather than information as pre-digested experience

-Walking the Tightrope between simplicity and complexity

-Knowledge is situated in a context and distributed across a community

-Educational Improvement: Assessment

-NSES Model of Inquiry.

-Multiple choice and short answer tests are not capable of measuring the sophisticated knowledge of the 21st century.

-Immersive Assessments.

-Authentic Environments.

-A challenge on which every student has roughly equal familiarity.

-National Science Inquiry.

-Student can walk around Bay. The virtual scientist will walk you through challenges.

-Student can save date in Virtual Notebook.

-Students has different tasks assigned.

-Capturing students timestamps in-obtrusively.

-Able to give students a task, instead of a question.

-You can really observe the sophisticated behavior the student is displaying.

-Within a period of an hour.

-Complex Student Work product in recorded as XML, which can be tokenized.

-http://www.virtualassessment.org/

-Web 2.0 is a stepping stone.

-Cyberinfrastucture.

-Implications for Professional Development.

-Biggest obstacle is the people involved and their creativity.

-UN-LEARNING

-We are good at learning, not very good at un-learning.

-Wellness. I know I should eat better. I know I should sleep more, exercise more.

-There is no educational disconnect here.

-Need to apply.

-Sea Change: -Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Ariel sings to Ferdinand.

-Most teachers think he is crazy. Canceling face to face courses and using blended and virtual environments.

-We have to make it come alive for them.

This was the opening Keynote for Campus Technology Conference 2009 in Boston, MA. It was given by Chris Dede, from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. You can see his bio here. I took quick notes which I will try to make sense of them here. If you have any questions or need me to clarify anything, let me know. Here are some the topics he covered in the hour-long talk.

• Students have a ‘digital life’ outside of the classroom.
• They are used to having information instantly available. Distance and time do not matter.
• Multi-tasking is what students know.
• They are used to having machines that have intelligence and options are abundant. Change is constant and rapid.
• He referenced the book ‘Amusing ourselves to death‘  – written in 1985. The book talks about how entertainment is so pervasive.
• He currently teaches a course in Harvard called ‘Emerging Educational Technology’. Course syllabus is here.
• He uses  a wiki in class.  He gives 10 web 2.0 topics and the students discuss and come up with definition and examples for each.
• Web 2.0:
• Sharing (social bookmarking, photo/video sharing, social networking, writers workshops and fanfiction)
• Thinking (blogs, podcasts, discussion forums)
• Co-creating (wikis, collaborative file creation)
• He helped create edtags.org
• User Profiles are really excellent for both Users and instructors on the back end. It opens up possibilities with tags and mental models that instructors use to collect user information.
• Web 2.0 is very easy to learn to use, but hard to learn how to use WELL.
• Each web 2.0 tool has its own rhetoric. It takes years to learn how to use each one effectively.
• It is very similar to what happened when video cameras were invented. Early on, video cameras were only being used to video tape plays. It took years for those individuals with vision to learn and master the video camera to start filming movies and incorporate special effects and so on.
• This is what’s going on now with Web 2.0 tools. We have not figured out how to use them correctly or to their fullest capacity.
• He spoke about some of the useless stuff he had to learn when he was a student. Stuff like the state capitals.
• We now know we do not have to learn the useless information that can be accessed within seconds from mobile devices, etc.
• Many of the undergrad courses still contain TONS of useless information.
• There are still many items that DO need to be looked into deeply. Like the periodic table. The number line.
• Missing piece: professors shying away from current curriculum and useless information.
• The epistemology of knowledge has changed. Where we ask for information has changed.
• Wikipedia is completely different from Encyclopedia Britannica. A bunch of editors don’t sit around a table and collect information from Harvard professors and decide what is ready to be published. In Wikipedia, things are ready for ‘prime-time’ when people stop arguing and discussing about it. Some things will never be stopped arguing about: evolution, etc.
• Web 2.0 challenges the definition and epistemology of knowledge.
• Cell Phones and Augmented Reality.
• Combining real world and augmented reality world. Overlay device.
• HARP: Handheld Augmented Reality Project. Department of Education wanted to raise test scores. They were deficient in Greek and Latin languages. Used aliens to help students learn the ‘alien’ language. Interviewing virtual, collecting data. Different roles. The students must collaborate and piece together their information. Students had handhelds. They walked outside their middle school and collected info.They would encounter different math and english challenges. If they solved it correctly, they would find out the aliens intentions. Developed augmented reality curriculum. Jigsaw pedagogy. Dependent augmented reality.
• Like following the Freedom Trail. Not using independent augemented reality that can be used anywhere.
• By 2020, the hardware will advance as much as it did during the last 35 years.
• Simulated chemical spills. Nature trails. Civil War history. Alice in Wonderland. You become an avatar in a digital world. MUVE. Sims, Second Life, America’s Army. http://www.ecomuve.org
• http://ecomuve.org (Virtual Eco system)
• Multiple User Virtual Environment.
• This is useful for those in desert areas like Arizona that do not have access to different eco systems.
• You can take pictures and the environment changes and talk to different virtual experts. Collect data on temperature and Ph.
• Twitter hahtag #ct09
• Experiences central, rather than information as pre-digested experience
• Walking the Tightrope between simplicty and complexity.
• Knowlege is stuatied in a context and distributed across a community.
• Educational Improvement: Assessment
• Multiple choice and short answer tests are not capable of measuring the sophisticated knowledge of the 21st century.
• Immersive Assessments. Authentic Environments. A challenge on which every student has roughly equal familiarity. National Science Enquiry. Student can walk around Bay.
• The virtual scientest will walk you through challenges. Student can save date in Virtual Notebook. Students has different tasks assigned. Capturing students timestamps in-obstrusevely. Able to give students a task, instead of a question. You can really observe the sophisticated behavior the student is displaying. Within a period of an hour. Complex Student Work product in recorded as XML, which can be tokenized.
• http://www.virtualassessment.org/
• Web 2.0 is a stepping stone.
• Implications for Professional Development.
• Biggest obstacle is the people involved and their creativity.
• UN-LEARNING
• We are good at learning, not very good at un-learning.
• Wellness. I know I should eat better. I know I should sleep more, execise more. There is no educational disconnect here. Need to apply.
• Sea Change: -Shakespear’s The Tempest. Ariel sings to Ferdinand.
• Most teachers think he is crazy. Cancelling face to face courses and using blended and virtual environments. -We have to make it come alive for them.