Speaking For All Mankind

Elizabeth Corcoran gives a great argument in the ongoing debate about technology’s effect on our minds.  She makes an important point- “I keep wondering why we lump all “technology” into the same basket. By doing so, we ignore the most important distinction of all: whether we are sponges for absorbing other people’s ideas, or whether we’re making our own.“

She gives an example of how children learn more when they are given tools to create content rather than tools that just deliver content.  Now, she talks about technology in the classroom but this equally applies to technology in the workplace.  Think of the training that consists of delivering content (lecture, PowerPoint, brown bag talk, etc.) versus the training where people are encouraged to play with the new software program or tool.

I consider the basis of learning to be the creation of mental models.  You cannot just transmit your mental model completely to me; I have to create one unique to my own mind.  You can give me information to build the model and you can create experiences that will shape the mental model but the final product is still through my unique mental processes.  But every mental model starts with engagement.  Thus, this is why allowing people to make content rather than absorb content is the key to effective learning.

This article from Edu.Blogs reminds me of a presentation that I gave at a conference where I advocated using SimCity to teach introductory Public Administration.  Game based learning seems a natural way to have students quickly learn a number of complicated skills and in-depth knowledge.

I spent Sunday afternoon brainstorming how to incorporate HTML5 and CSS3 into my online web class.  Is it too soon?

The major intellectual influence in my life was Carl Sagan’s Cosmos.  I remember reading the preview for the series in Science Digest and seeing the very first episode.  I must have checked out the Cosmos book hundreds of times and I spent weekend afternoon devouring the science magazines down at the public library. I watched all the  NOVA programs and hung out with other kids in high school who were science and computer enthusiasts.  I was a geek and quite proud of it.

So it was with a bit of sadness when I read the following in Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum’s Unscientific America:  How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens Our Future:

“Arguably, the most important news-oriented science communication today occurs via Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report, popular public-affairs-slash-comedy programs that manage to integrate a surprising amount of scientific content and treat it very sympathetically overall – as long as the scientists who go on air can laugh at themselves, and their profession, a little.”

I like Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert but a seven-minute science segment is no substitute for the effect Cosmos had on a generation.

I’ve always liked Roger Schank since I read his Tell Me a Story back in 1991.  In fact, he’s the impetus for my interest in mental models.  His insights in teaching and learning are well-grounded in his experiences in teaching college classes and his consulting work to many large companies.  That’s why his latest opinion on being realistic about the effects of technology on learning.  “Learning is learning and technology is technology. The two are related if and only if the technology makes it possible to learn something that can be learned in no other way.”

Nineshift is reporting on the Brookings Institution educational conference sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.  According to Nineshift, the conference has some interesting initiatives but the participants are missing the bigger picture:  the shortage of knowledge workers.  According to Nineshift, by 2015 there will be a shortage of 14 million knowledge workers.  Nineshift argues that instead of trying to solve the problem with the inexpensive way of encouraging two-year degrees, that the US needs to promote universal education with the goal of increasing the number of four-year degree-holders.

 Other nations have realized the value of universal education and its power to revitalize the economy and well-being of the citizens.  Ireland is the most notable example and one can argue that the rise of India and China is due to their emphasis on education.  American politicians claim to advocate education but after thirty years of concentrated effort, the US still lags behind other countries.  Clearly we need to rethink our approach and commit to bringing about universal education.