Note: image of unknown origin, not covered under this site's Creative Commons license.Tag: self
Technology=Idiots?
There is plenty of speculation that technology is making us less intelligent. Certainly, in the classroom, I am seeing evidence that it is hindering the development of social skills, especially in boys. As per usual, it seems like Einstein knew exactly where we were headed:
Note: image of unknown origin, not covered under this site's Creative Commons license.
Note: image of unknown origin, not covered under this site's Creative Commons license.Digitally Driven Cultural Evolution
In the 19th-century, the Ludittes famously objected to steam-powered manufacturing, the technology of the day: they made their feelings clear by breaking mill machines. Of late I have started to think of this as representative of something that every generation goes through at some point …
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Me vs Me
I am planning projects for the year to come, and as part of a unit on Digital Citizenship I am trying to get students to think about the way they project (or create identities) for themselves. I will be asking them to compare their identity within their own family to their identity online. This is what I call "Me vs Me" (a nod to the old Mad comic "Spy vs Spy"), and students will be asked to create a visual representation of these two facets of themselves. To make it clear what I mean I put together the following example work...I hope no one takes it seriously:
Thanks to Bbpics on Wikimedia Commons for the image of the model.
Normal, Old & Fat
Face transformation software is a great way to get students thinking about how they will change during their lives, and what that might look and feel like. I use the above image as a stimulus to get my students to laugh at me: I find …
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Press Pause Play
Press Pause Play is a feature-length documentary that is part inspiring, part demoralising and all stunning. Using a patchwork narrative, it explores the constantly evolving landscape of digitally-empowered creativity. A lot of amazing new work is set against the views of industry veterans, who spend a lot of time bemoaning the demise of creativity as the domain of the cultural elite. A typical tale of freedom and choice pitched against the profitable machine. The juxtaposition of hope and inspiration played against maintaining the status quo, was extremely powerful. In my opinion, creating, as an active endeavor, is generally more fulfilling than consuming, and I see nothing wrong with a world full of individuals and groups creating in earnest. In the end, the best talent will still rise to the top, as there will always be plenty of consumers with an ear and eye for what is great. After all, being a producer does not prevent me from consuming: rather, I think it makes me a more thoughtful, engaged consumer.
Thanks to David Dworsky and Victor Köhler for producing such an entertaining and thought-provoking piece which will hopefully lead to a lot of interesting conversations within education.
High Tech Stuff Visualisation
I created this visualisation for my students as an example of how their work on the High Tech Stuff unit might come out. Feel free to use it under the Creative Commons license.
High Tech Stuff
I just put the finishing touches on a new ICT unit looking into the past, present and future of ICT, and how technology made us the species we are today. My aim is to get students away from the idea that high-tech is the only …
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Networked Society ‘On the Brink’
Ericsson, having been partly consumed by Sony, are no longer the mobile handset powerhouse they once were. However, they are still a force within other areas of the telecommunications industry, and as the video below shows, seem to have developed a powerful understanding of what high technology is doing to us as a species:
Magazine Cover Analysis
I created this simple worksheet the other day, and it seemed to really get my ICT & Media students thinking about the issue of how they respond to media, and in particular, how magazine covers are designed to manipulate our thoughts and emotions in order …
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Songs As Poetry
Although song lyrics often seem to be superficial or even nonsensical, there are some artists out there whose work is extremely poetic. I was struck today by the following lyrics in James Blunt's song Same Mistake:
And so I sent some men to fight, and one came back at dead of night. Said he'd seen my enemy. Said he looked just like me,