Johnson Module 4 Blog Links

I commented on the following blogs this module:

Brandi Renfro

http://ballinteach44-atl.blogspot.com/

Vida Martin

http://vidamartinfuturist.blogspot.com/2012_07_01_archive.html

Johnson Module 4 Blog

Thornburg defined disruptive technology as what happens when something is being done one way and something brand new comes along that “knocks it out” or replaces it (Laureate Education, 2010).  The new technology that disrupts the status quo meets a need more efficiently than the technology it obsoletes; costs less, and so forth.  Second Life is a disruptive technology because it is replacing what was previously done and how it was done with what it offers.

Rosedale said Second Life is making the web obsolete (TED, 2008).  The two main ways it is doing that is by replacing the web’s text and graphics (text to text) method of obtaining information from the Internet.  Second Life uses symbols or images rather than words, and it allows users to interact with each other in real-time.  Rosedale’s example of shopping on Amazon.com in the traditional web text to text sense does not allow for interaction with the millions of other shoppers who are probably on their website at the time.  With Second Life, users represented by avatars can interact with other users, thereby making Second Life more social than the web.

Second Life reminds me of the virtual war game my son plays with other players around the world via his PS3.  Though they are not literally fighting in a war, their avatars in Battlefield represent them as soldiers that move about and interact with each other in an exact simulation of actively fighting in a war.  Sometimes when I hear him talking on his blue tooth headset with his teammates who are logged on from within and outside the United States, I think he has company over until I realize I can’t hear who is speaking back to him.  Watching him interact and move about on the screen while planning tactical maneuvers with his partners is so lifelike and realistic.  A promotional description of Battlefield states “Battlefield 3 delivers superior visual quality. In this video game the player feels the massive destruction, the highest quality of audio and lifelike character animations. It is an action packed realistic game where you feel the bullets whizzing by, the walls crumbling and the explosions throw you to the ground. The battlefields of this video game feel more alive and interactive than ever. The player steps into the role of the elite US Marines and they experience missions and combat. There is also a competitive multiplayer option ranging across diverse locations around the globe” (Studica, 2012). 

From the date of Rosedale’s presentation (2008) to now, I think technology such as the virtual war game Battlefield, has already emerged that will eventually replace what Second Life was/is capable of doing.  Rosedale himself said that Second Life at that time was not a replacement for online games (2008).  I believe the game my son plays is a refinement of Second Life and that more virtual world technology has already emerged that will eventually replace it or refine it until it is unrecognizable in its original state.

The ability to interact with people from around the world in real-time in a virtual world would expand the reach of continuing and higher education for instructors and students.  Being able to share information or collaborate on projects or research in the same place, looking at the same tools or information using virtual world technology would benefit my students, but would also benefit instructors.  The possibilities are endless. It would make it possible to research a project, shop for parts to build a component or put a project together, look at the same things at the same time and discuss it just as if you were in the store or library together is a fascinating concept and presents endless possibilities for learning, research, and so forth.

Reference

Laureate Education, Inc. (2010). Disruptive technologies. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_967488_1%26url%3D

Rosedale, P. (2008). Philip Rosedale on second life. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/the_inspiration_of_second_life.html

Studica (2012). Battlefield 3 for PS3. Retrieved from http://www.studica.com/us/en/EA-Video-Games/battlefield-3/19728.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=ppc&gclid=CIH74Lnlu7ECFUkbQgod7mYAig

Johnson Module 3 Blog Links

I responded on the following blogs this module:

Jessica Green

http://jygreensblog.blogspot.com/

Rachel McCullough

http://emergingandfuturetechnologie.blogspot.com/

Johnson Module 3 Blog

I watched a repeat of an episode of the television series Undercover Boss where the Chancellor of the University of California at Riverside (UCR) spent part of his time undercover assisting Professor Catharine Larsen (photo below) teach a chemistry class.  The class was state of the art, almost like an online class in a brick and mortar classroom.  The technology fascinated me.

In this episode the professor delivered her lecture interactively with students using whiteboard technology.  They were reviewing for a chemistry exam, the professor wrote the sample questions that were reflected on the whiteboard, the students selected their multiple choice response by clicking it on their hand held device that was connected to the whiteboard program, and the program then tallied the responses and gave statistics such as what percent of the students got the correct answer.  When the percentage of correct answers was unsatisfactory, the professor reviewed the materials/lesson and students then clicked in the answer again.  The end result of the one example that was televised showed the percentage of correct answers had improved to an acceptable level.

The embedded video (access via link below) - Designing Lessons for Interactive Whiteboards Part 5 Clickers - is an example of interactive whiteboard technology that demonstrates how the clicker actually works.  Kelly (2007) said that in the next 5,000 days of the web “We have to get good at believing the impossible”, because technology has already done what no one imagined it ever would, and it will continue to do so.  Clickers and interactive whiteboard technology are examples of the impossible coming to fruition in elementary, secondary and higher education classrooms, like I saw on the television show and as was demonstrated in the YouTube video. 

The rhymes of history, according to Thornburg, are “the affect or impact of new technology that rekindles something from the past” (Laureate Education, 2009).  Interactive whiteboard technology using clickers is revolutionizing instructor/student interactions.  This technology rekindles the long ago days when instructors lectured for hours, wrote on chalkboards and handed out tests on boards or paper, and students wrote answers in chalk, pencil, crayon or pen and ink.   

I was taken with how engaged a class of 250 students was throughout the lesson the instructor at UCR delivered.  Part of that engagement, I believe, was the inclusion of the interactive technology that was used to instruct, deliver course materials, and assess student mastery of subject matter. 

References

Kelly, K. (2007). Kevin Kelly on the next 5,000 days of the web. Retrieved from

http://www.ted.com/talks/kevin_kelly_on_the_next_5_000_days_of_the_web.html

Laureate Education, Inc. (2009). Rhymes of history. Retrieved from

https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_967488_1%26url%3D