The second week of our EDC 15 course has ended and we further delved into cyberculture and how it relates to education.
A very interesting video I found this week was “This Will Revolutionize Education” by Veritasium, a popular educational channel on YouTube. It explores reasons for why despite the hype surrounding Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) the revolution in education simply has not happened yet. Thinking about Sian Bayne’s article on the problematic nature of the term TEL I proposed a term I find more appropriate – Digitally Facilitated Education.
The theme of transhumanism and cyborgs continued to follow me this week. If things turn out to be as they are envisioned in Dr Michio Kaku’s interview humans will be able to telepathically communicate with each other on the brainnet – the successor to the internet. I cannot even begin to fathom the drastic implications such technologies might have for human education.
Continuing to explore last week’s theme of biohacking I found incredibly fascinating documentaries about the current state of biohacking, both within the DIY movement as well as in the corporate world. If we are all cyborgs now, as the article suggests, what is the distinction between cyborgs and humans? Perhaps cyborgs are simply the next step in human evolution and drawing a line would be an arbitrary act, the same way as someone cannot pinpoint exactly when the early hominids became humans.
The future is definitely exciting, however, as demonstrated this week by Microsoft’s HoloLens technology. Augmenting reality with holograms will allow us to learn and teach in much more immersive ways. Their promotional video shows someone getting instructions on where to tighten a new trap under a sink by seeing a virtual pair of arrows projected onto the real trap. I am curious about the many innovative use cases for education that will surely be developed for this technology.
This is an excellent lifestream summary Mihael – you have reflected on specific content from week 2, and related these choices to the course themes, keep this up!
In really enjoyed the Michio Kaku’s interview…
‘I cannot even begin to fathom the drastic implications such technologies might have for human education.’
Go on, give it a go! I thought the comments about memory were fascinating, and the predictions made about the kinds of ‘artificial’ remembering that we could create in the future – some interesting implications for education here. If so much of our assessment strategies are based on the ability to recall information, so where might such enhancements leave us? Is there a link to the Bayne (2014) paper here, with regards to our assumptions about ‘enhancement’ and ‘learning’?
‘I am curious about the many innovative use cases for education that will surely be developed for this technology’
Yes, this kind of augmented reality technology seems to be progressing swiftly. However, what if we compare this corporate promotion with the first video you mention, “This Will Revolutionize Education”? Where might the ‘no significant difference’ stand here?
If so much of our assessment strategies are based on the ability to recall information, so where might such enhancements leave us? Is there a link to the Bayne (2014) paper here, with regards to our assumptions about ‘enhancement’ and ‘learning’?
Having further looked at possible future scenarios this week, such as us being one day able to download information in a pill form, with nanobots attaching to our brain’s synapses and uploading information straight into our memory I would be willing to concede that this, for all intents and purposes, could be considered “technologically enhanced” learning. The big differentiator of such technology compared to a Moodle platform, for example, would be its passive nature. Current learning technologies, no matter how sophisticated, are still only able to facilitate the active act of learning and creating understanding within the mind.
Yes, this kind of augmented reality technology seems to be progressing swiftly. However, what if we compare this corporate promotion with the first video you mention, “This Will Revolutionize Education”? Where might the ‘no significant difference’ stand here?
From what I’ve been learning from other MSCDE courses people learn better the more you engage them emotionally and the more senses you involve in the act of learning. I presume that holograms will allow for many novel use cases that make use of these principles. If students can interactively see and manipulate things right in front of their eyes it is much more likely to involve their spatial centres in the brains than if they were to learn about these things from a 2D textbook. Again, it’s not so much about teaching a topic via a new medium, but rather about utilising technology to create the right conditions that allow for a student to be more involved with the topic which will in turn allow learning to happen.