WEBVTT 00:00:04.245 --> 00:00:05.616 For the session this afternoon 00:00:05.616 --> 00:00:06.485 I have the distinct pleasure 00:00:06.485 --> 00:00:07.421 To introduce two of my good friends 00:00:07.421 --> 00:00:08.590 Gardner Campbell, from Baylor University 00:00:08.590 --> 00:00:12.267 and Jim Groom from the University of Mary Washington. 00:00:12.267 --> 00:00:15.175 They require absolutely no introduction beyond that. 00:00:15.175 --> 00:00:18.618 That's why we'll let them get on with the show, so 00:00:18.618 --> 00:00:24.735 please help me welcome these two guys 00:00:24.735 --> 00:00:26.005 Thank you, Cole 00:00:26.005 --> 00:00:28.245 Thanks everybody for being here after lunch 00:00:28.245 --> 00:00:30.016 This is always the great deadly zone 00:00:30.016 --> 00:00:31.955 where your blood sugar and my blood sugar 00:00:31.955 --> 00:00:33.626 the biochemistry, the neurons 00:00:33.626 --> 00:00:36.300 but we're going to force through this 00:00:36.300 --> 00:00:38.039 we're going to make it 00:00:38.039 --> 00:00:39.509 I have a good feeling about this 00:00:39.509 --> 00:00:43.554 every presentation I've been in 00:00:43.554 --> 00:00:45.693 has something very striking in it for me 00:00:45.693 --> 00:00:46.963 sometimes it has been ideas 00:00:46.963 --> 00:00:50.038 sometimes it's the level of innovation 00:00:50.038 --> 00:00:51.843 just the sheer energy of innovation 00:00:51.843 --> 00:00:56.891 sometimes it's a little more close to the bone 00:00:56.891 --> 00:00:58.963 the session that Leigh Blackall did 00:00:58.963 --> 00:01:00.200 I don't know if he's in here now 00:01:00.200 --> 00:01:02.540 but the session he did before lunch 00:01:02.540 --> 00:01:05.949 really struck me with the sense of frustration 00:01:05.949 --> 00:01:09.325 that I feel...a lot...maybe you do... 00:01:09.325 --> 00:01:12.668 that we live in an age of marvels and wonders 00:01:12.668 --> 00:01:14.105 that don't seem to be making 00:01:14.105 --> 00:01:15.643 a substantial difference 00:01:15.643 --> 00:01:17.648 in the most serious activities 00:01:17.648 --> 00:01:19.085 we engage in as human beings: 00:01:19.085 --> 00:01:20.957 Education 00:01:20.957 --> 00:01:23.565 There are a lot of reasons why that's no-one's fault 00:01:23.565 --> 00:01:26.406 There are a lot of reasons why that's everyone's fault 00:01:26.406 --> 00:01:28.612 and there's a lot of people 00:01:28.612 --> 00:01:29.982 we can point at and blame 00:01:29.982 --> 00:01:31.754 sometimes justifiably so 00:01:31.754 --> 00:01:35.163 but rather than round up the usual suspects 00:01:35.163 --> 00:01:37.770 I have this sense of 00:01:37.770 --> 00:01:39.542 What a waste! 00:01:39.542 --> 00:01:41.247 Why is this not happening? 00:01:41.247 --> 00:01:42.450 We've had the Internet 00:01:42.450 --> 00:01:43.353 We've had computers 00:01:43.353 --> 00:01:46.461 We've had all these amazing conversations 00:01:46.461 --> 00:01:47.798 at conferences like this 00:01:47.798 --> 00:01:50.573 about the possibilities 00:01:50.573 --> 00:01:51.575 Is this making a difference? 00:01:51.575 --> 00:01:52.511 I mean we can say: 00:01:52.511 --> 00:01:53.815 Sure, we have success stories 00:01:53.815 --> 00:01:54.651 but we keep thinking 00:01:54.651 --> 00:01:56.389 when does the tide turn? 00:01:56.389 --> 00:01:58.461 when do we get to the place 00:01:58.461 --> 00:01:59.464 where we can say 00:01:59.464 --> 00:02:05.414 Yeah, we're on the upswing 00:02:05.414 --> 00:02:09.010 Clay Shirky in 2008 wrote: 00:02:09.010 --> 00:02:10.026 " We are living in the middle of 00:02:10.026 --> 00:02:12.600 the largest increase in expressive capability 00:02:12.600 --> 00:02:15.475 in the history of the human race." 00:02:15.475 --> 00:02:18.216 I think that's true 00:02:18.216 --> 00:02:19.987 except that probably we're at the beginning 00:02:19.987 --> 00:02:23.397 and not the middle. 00:02:23.397 --> 00:02:25.125 But this increase in expressive capability 00:02:25.125 --> 00:02:26.906 and the history of the human race 00:02:26.906 --> 00:02:28.544 ought to be the abiding 00:02:28.544 --> 00:02:34.895 transforming concern of all education. 00:02:34.895 --> 00:02:37.034 Higher Education is the place 00:02:37.034 --> 00:02:40.410 where we train people to be able 00:02:40.410 --> 00:02:42.048 to take advantage of this to the fullest 00:02:42.048 --> 00:02:43.820 and surprise us with things we have not discovered 00:02:43.820 --> 00:02:46.487 about what this can mean 00:02:46.487 --> 00:02:48.199 but whatever it means 00:02:48.199 --> 00:02:49.536 we may disagree about what it means 00:02:49.536 --> 00:02:51.073 Look at that! 00:02:51.073 --> 00:02:53.246 I believe that that is true 00:02:53.246 --> 00:02:55.961 It makes me do what I do 00:02:55.961 --> 00:02:57.926 and yet it is as if 00:02:57.926 --> 00:02:59.095 day after day 00:02:59.095 --> 00:03:01.669 I sa: " I have a bag of gold. 00:03:01.669 --> 00:03:02.973 Would you like a bag of gold?" 00:03:02.973 --> 00:03:04.310 and people say: 00:03:04.310 --> 00:03:08.588 "Where do you find time for bags of gold?" 00:03:08.588 --> 00:03:13.235 "Oh, no ..another currency to master." 00:03:13.235 --> 00:03:16.577 "Gold, is that sustainable?" 00:03:16.577 --> 00:03:17.881 Like: "No, you spend it..." 00:03:17.881 --> 00:03:19.017 Well..."What would you spend it on?" 00:03:19.017 --> 00:03:20.342 "What would you like to spend it on?" 00:03:20.342 --> 00:03:26.037 "I don't have time for your philosophical questions, Gardner". 00:03:26.037 --> 00:03:27.240 It's a bag of gold 00:03:27.240 --> 00:03:29.045 What part of that do you not understand? 00:03:29.045 --> 00:03:31.485 I love this 00:03:31.485 --> 00:03:35.028 This is the Cortex A9, 00:03:35.028 --> 00:03:36.867 a chip that is in production, 00:03:36.867 --> 00:03:38.571 and I'm afraid that the audio here 00:03:38.571 --> 00:03:39.942 is not going to be sufficiently loud 00:03:39.942 --> 00:03:42.382 so I'll just tell you what Adrian Cockcroft says 00:03:42.382 --> 00:03:44.454 but if you really wanna to get the full spooky ride 00:03:44.454 --> 00:03:46.928 go to the IT conversations podcast. 00:03:46.928 --> 00:03:50.156 Have any of you heard him talk about Millicomputing? 00:03:50.156 --> 00:03:52.209 He defines millicomputing as a computer 00:03:52.209 --> 00:03:53.981 that consumes less than one watt 00:03:53.981 --> 00:03:54.847 and it'll fit in your pocket 00:03:54.847 --> 00:03:58.426 and it will not burn your leg 00:03:58.426 --> 00:04:00.559 This chip is in production 00:04:00.559 --> 00:04:02.270 It will appear in devices probably the next year or so. 00:04:02.270 --> 00:04:05.145 It has four graphical processing units 00:04:05.145 --> 00:04:07.618 each of which independently can process 00:04:07.618 --> 00:04:11.295 a full H.264 high definition stream 00:04:11.295 --> 00:04:13.301 and coding, decoding 00:04:13.301 --> 00:04:15.674 He talks about the way we're not going to carry 00:04:15.674 --> 00:04:17.078 computers in our pockets. 00:04:17.078 --> 00:04:19.485 We're going to carry web servers 00:04:19.485 --> 00:04:22.225 in our pockets 00:04:22.225 --> 00:04:24.164 we're going to walk in to a context 00:04:24.164 --> 00:04:25.969 and wirelessly link-up 00:04:25.969 --> 00:04:28.276 with the things we want to do in that context. 00:04:28.276 --> 00:04:30.114 There's usually where I stop 00:04:30.114 --> 00:04:32.287 when I play this for faculty 00:04:32.287 --> 00:04:34.827 because the next part is even spookier 00:04:34.827 --> 00:04:37.401 in which he talks about the way these milling computers 00:04:37.401 --> 00:04:39.800 will allow us to be in constant contact 00:04:39.800 --> 00:04:43.551 with a society of avatars and a virtual world 00:04:43.551 --> 00:04:45.289 who will be able to, 00:04:45.289 --> 00:04:46.693 because of our wearable computing, 00:04:46.693 --> 00:04:47.830 to tap us on the shoulder 00:04:47.830 --> 00:04:49.935 and have a conversation with us 00:04:49.935 --> 00:04:51.339 while we are here in real space as well. 00:04:51.339 --> 00:04:56.119 Now to me that can be a real bag of gold 00:04:56.119 --> 00:04:57.791 or maybe we don't have time to 00:04:57.791 --> 00:04:59.395 amplify our beings that way 00:04:59.395 --> 00:05:01.869 I'm not going to say this is going to be easy 00:05:01.869 --> 00:05:03.540 or that's not going to have problems 00:05:03.540 --> 00:05:06.047 or be fraught or spun a whole new wave of 00:05:06.047 --> 00:05:13.334 milling cyber computing crime. 00:05:13.334 --> 00:05:14.804 But if it's going to happen 00:05:14.804 --> 00:05:16.476 and there are great possibilities it will 00:05:16.476 --> 00:05:18.214 why doesn't it make a difference? 00:05:18.214 --> 00:05:20.286 why hasn't that made people 00:05:20.286 --> 00:05:21.556 stop and say 00:05:21.556 --> 00:05:23.495 I guess I could recapture a sense of wonder 00:05:23.495 --> 00:05:29.345 under these circumstances 00:05:29.345 --> 00:05:31.450 What do we believe? 00:05:31.450 --> 00:05:33.690 "Today's technologies and their consequent environments 00:05:33.690 --> 00:05:35.294 succeed each other so rapidly 00:05:35.294 --> 00:05:38.369 that one environment makes us aware of the next. 00:05:38.369 --> 00:05:41.512 Technologies begin to perform the function of art 00:05:41.512 --> 00:05:43.684 in making us aware of the psychic 00:05:43.684 --> 00:05:46.024 and social consequences of technology... 00:05:46.024 --> 00:05:48.564 We are entering the new age of education 00:05:48.564 --> 00:05:50.536 that is programmed for discovery 00:05:50.536 --> 00:05:52.758 rather than instruction." 00:05:52.758 --> 00:05:57.322 We could, especially if we were an English faculty, 00:05:57.322 --> 00:05:59.862 wordsmith this 00:05:59.862 --> 00:06:01.400 tinker with it 00:06:01.400 --> 00:06:03.706 if this were a faculty senate, it would not get out of committee. 00:06:03.706 --> 00:06:08.018 Probably we all believe some variety of that 00:06:08.018 --> 00:06:12.564 some version of that 00:06:12.564 --> 00:06:14.403 or to put it another way from the Renaissance, 00:06:14.403 --> 00:06:16.408 which is my favourite place to hang out 00:06:16.408 --> 00:06:18.046 in the virtual space in my head 00:06:18.046 --> 00:06:21.255 it's like the Music of the Spheres 00:06:21.255 --> 00:06:23.327 in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice 00:06:23.327 --> 00:06:25.199 the young Lorenzo woos his sweetheart 00:06:25.199 --> 00:06:27.706 with talk of the stars 00:06:27.706 --> 00:06:31.015 Is that scalable? 00:06:31.015 --> 00:06:33.522 Well, never mind. 00:06:33.522 --> 00:06:35.661 "There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st 00:06:35.661 --> 00:06:39.071 But in his motion like an angel sings, 00:06:39.071 --> 00:06:41.578 Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins; 00:06:41.578 --> 00:06:44.452 Such harmony is in immortal souls, 00:06:44.452 --> 00:06:47.527 But whilst this muddy vesture of decay 00:06:47.527 --> 00:06:51.037 Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it." 00:06:51.037 --> 00:06:53.678 Melvyn Bragg , In Our Time, 00:06:53.678 --> 00:06:55.266 in the episode of Music of the Spheres 00:06:55.266 --> 99:59:59.999 "This is the music of the spheres 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the idea that the stars and planets 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 as they travel through space 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 make beautiful music together 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The Music of the Spheres 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 played out of the classical world 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to the Medieval period 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and into the Renaissance 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it affords us a glimpse into minds 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for whom the Universe 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 was full of meaning 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of strange correspondences 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and grand harmonies 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I would like to graduate 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a generation of students 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 who will help ME here 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to strange correspondences and grand harmonies 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that I have not yet imagined 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that's what I'm in it for 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But oh well, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 how you are going to protect privacy? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is a time of wonders 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Usually the printing press is introduced as an example 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of a disruptive technology 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 on the order of what we're seeing now. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 No small disruption 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The printing press started wars 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 overturned religious orthodoxy 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The printing press meant that any fool 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 with a piece of machinery 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 could say anything 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and how would you know? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Well, I think that the disruption is on a bigger scale 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I think that the disruption we're witnessing today 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is the disruption on the scale 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of the development of the written alphabet 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of the phonetic alphabet 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This was a huge deal 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This was a technology invented to communicate 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 with the Dead 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so it's not like a tool 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's a meta tool 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's an alphabet 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What will I say with that? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What do you want to say? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I don't know... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 just tell me what you want me to write 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's a great book 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Marianne Wolf, Proust and the Squid. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 She talks about the science of the reading brain. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the fact that learning to read 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is something we do deliberately 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to re-arrange our minds 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We make new connections 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 among the various perceptual centers in our brains 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that are not programmed in there 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we seem to have a speech center 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 as part of our revolved neuro anathomy 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but not a reading center 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we have to do things that do not happen naturally 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but once we do those things 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we find... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a bag of gold 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Clay Shirky wrote a blog post 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that really rocked me back on my heels 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 back in March, on Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 did anyone of you see that blog post? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Yeah..he talks about the ways in which newspapers 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 essentially played Nearer my God to thee in the Titanic 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and they thought they could nibble at the edges 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because nibbling at the edges 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 well, you know you don't have to take a big bite 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you don't have to worry of indigestion 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you don't have to worry about anything 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you just take a little nibble 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 well, newspapers were nibbling at the edges 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in the 1990's 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they stopped being a viable business model 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 this is Shirky's argument 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 his argument is not that journalism will go away 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but that the coincidence of journalism and newspapers 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 was historically conditioned 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and can go away historically 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but the newspaper folks 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 like the professors, maybe like the edtech folks 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 maybe like any of us in the room 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 tend to believe that we're in the domain 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because we're in the best of all possible domains 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 this is the way it has to be 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 not so much 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and Shirky coined the term 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 which really scared me to death 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "the digital facelift" 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for what newspapers try to do 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we'll just do what we did before 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but we'll put it on the web 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but it'll be what we had before 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we'll have some hyperlinks 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but it'll be what we did before, etc... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "The Digital Facelift" 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Can that stand up against 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 these items of belief? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "As the means of input increase, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so does the need for insight or pattern recognition 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 your mileage may vary 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I think that's true 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The school drop-out situation 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 will get very much worse 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because of the frustration 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of the student need for participation 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in the learning process 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 which is not a new need 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but it's a need 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that had to take some pretty distorted forms 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 during the industrial age 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 as we tried to figure out scaling 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and sustainability 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we did the best we could 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but if we find that maybe 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that's not the way to go forward 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 change has to happen 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but it's not happening yet 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 instead we're getting the digital facelift 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Now, I have to tell you first of all 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 this is from Brazil, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a film by Terry Gillian, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 which I saw for the first time 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 when it came out 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I saw again it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's probably ten or so years since I've seen it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but under the intoxicating effect 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of the Reverend 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I knew I would have to make a pilgrimage to see Brazil again. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I found that it told the story 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of my life today, maybe yours 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Here's the thing that I didn't remember 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 about this scene 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 She is loving this experience 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 To us it looks grotesque 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to her...well..she's getting off 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 She has multiple opportunities 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to continue to examine 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 her increasingly grotesque self 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in the pursuit of an illusion 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and she's deriving intense pleasure from it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because see how it's framed 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 this is great! 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What I'm doing to you is 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I stretch your features out of recognition is great 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in this digital facelift you look marvelous 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You can't see it because of the light 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but he's got these clips 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 he's holding her face back with 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 this is where she really gets excited 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and finally to make sure it stays the way it should 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 he puts surround wrap around it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I assure you there are no further problems 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that digital facelift. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Problem solved 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or perhaps the digital facelift 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is like this poor lady in Brazil 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 who has immense faith in her doctor 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 who is a maverick 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He's an innovator 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He doesn't go along with the flow 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He has a special chemical process. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Now it's taking a little while 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 as she is very delicately skinned 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so her results are not coming out exactly 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the way she had imagined 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Notice the lovely seepage 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 around the bandages 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the eye V 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the fact that she is now in a wheel chair 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and blind apparently 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 some kind of support for her chin 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 she's not in very good shape 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but she's hanging in 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 she's a believer 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 maybe she's got the wrong guru 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because eventually this is what happens 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 with her digital facelift 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they have a memorial service for her 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's a relatively gruesome affair 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because that's what's happened 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in the end 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's just coming apart 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's a nightmare 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm not saying that the LMS will necessarily 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 get us to this 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm just saying 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So what do we do instead of having digital facelifts? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I propose three recursive practices 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 These practices feed on each other 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They're what we do in education anyway 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but they can amplified 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 by information and communication technologies. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 One is narrating 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 having the students 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 having the teachers 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that's the real trouble 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 thinking aloud 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 willing to tell the story 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of the process of the learning 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of the investigation 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you could call it blogging 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Curating 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 how do you take care of your stuff 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 not to protect it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 not to even make sure you can transcode it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 those things are important 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but how do you arrange it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for the people who will come to see it? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for yourself as you contemplate it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Now as scholars 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we're pretty used to the idea of curation 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and this has to do with dissertations 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and scholarly articles and so forth 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Many students in my opinion come to college 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 believing they have nothing to curate 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and they will generate nothing to curate 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 during their time in school. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They'll have transactional exchanges 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 with professors who mark their work 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and those pieces of paper get put in a box 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'd like students to think 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that they began their life's work 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 when they come to school 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and finally sharing 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Now that I have done it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Now that I've arranged it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Now that I've thought about it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm going to put it out there 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because it may be valuable to someone 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because I may find the unmet friend 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because as it was said 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so memorably by John Todd in his presentation 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "Meaning happens when the two people connect" 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Very important 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Much of the way education is set up 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 militates against each of these 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 let alone all of them together 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and yet we all know 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that one of the great things 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 about the technologies that we use 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 these information and communication technologies 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is that they not only allow these things 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they amplify them, they augment them 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they turn them up to eleven 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they make that feedback happen 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and when I try to explain this to my students 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I inevitably go to Jimmy Hendrix 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 playing the Star Spangled Banner 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 at Woodstock 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and they say: "Why are you showing us this?" 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I say: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because he knows how to control feedback 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He knows how to play feedback 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and that's what you need to know 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The effects that get unleashed 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in this recursive practice 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I think are most powerful 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 on the open web 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 using Web 2.0 affordances 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or whatever the web is going to be 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 as it goes forward 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because the Web is not just a platform 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for these things 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it is the natural outgrowth of our desire 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for these things 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That makes the web itself recursive 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And students have an intimation of that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you know, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they have a feeling about that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 from their own use of social media 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but they think that's somehow 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I don't know 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that couldn't be right 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and they get to college and they find 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that no, that really isn't right 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we have a template for you, young man 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but I think their intimations are correct 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so what's the answer 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I don't have it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 however, here's a framework 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for thinking about what... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 this is what I use when I try to dream 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 as big as I can 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I try to think about 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 helping students understand cyberinfrastructure 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and how to build one for themselves 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to be able to be architects of their own digital lives 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 which will mean as we go forward 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that they need to be worrying about 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the things we worry about 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but productively together 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 narrating, curating, sharing 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is a definition of cyberinfrastructure 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 from the American Council of Learned Societies 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in their report on cyberinfrastructure 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 called "Our Cultural Commonwealth" 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Cyberinfrastructure is something more specific 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 than the network itself, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but it is something more general than a tool 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or a resource developed for a particular project, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a range of projects, or, even more broadly, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for a particular discipline." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's the sweet spot 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's not just the network 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's more specific than that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 yet it's not so specific 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that it's simply the tool you use 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for a particular project or a domain 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Something like an alphabet 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Anybody here play Little Big Planet? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Little Big Planet people raise your hands. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 OK, good 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Little Big Planet people grab into the little sponge 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Little Big Planet is a game done 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 by a company called Mollecule 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for the Sony Playstation 3 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So it's commercial 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's proprietary, etc... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That said, Little Big Planet is not the only game 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to build authoring tools into the game 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but it's one of the most conspicuously successful 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 at doing this 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so when you buy Little Big Planet 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you buy the game 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and within the game 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the tools to make more levels for that game 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in other words 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you're able to be within that environment 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and be both a participant 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and a producer if you choose to be 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 when you make the new levels 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you can upload them 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to the media Mollecule server 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Oh yes, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they're getting great business advantage from this 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but look at the way they're framing it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You upload it to the server 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 then people can find you by author's name 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they can find you by ranking 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you can tag them 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 ingenious, fun, creepy, boring, brilliant, wow 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 right? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you can favourite the ones you like best 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in about a year and a half 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 one million levels 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 have been uploaded 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to the Little Big Planet server 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 at Media Mollecule 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 one million 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 let's say that the Theodore Sturgeon's Law is true 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 90%of them are piffle 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 there are still 100.000 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and because my son is very patient with me 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 as a learner 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 though I am slow 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the bonds of love mean that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 he's going to be there for me 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 he has taken me through 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 some of these user-generated levels 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and you know 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they're really diverse 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and they're really cool 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and they're really interesting 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they're examples of an outpouring of creativity 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in what James Gee calls "the producerly mode" 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in a subdomain of a larger domain 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you could call it undergraduate research 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you could call it service learning 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you could call it situated cognition 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you can call it any number of things 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's cool 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's fun 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's work 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it involves the whole person 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 there's gotta be a way 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that we can make it happen in education 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 more consistently than it does 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or at least to think about it in these terms 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so kids don't lose hope 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Here's a Little Big Planet 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's the graphical user interface 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 called cPannel 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for the hosting service 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 at Bluehost 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 which is where I've got my stuff 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and my stuff is there 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I have backups of my stuff 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you know, I trust no-one 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 be a little skeptical 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and yet I'm committed 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Here are the things I can do with 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the graphical user interface 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 at the level of systems administrator 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or someone who plays one 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 through a GUI 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Here are the things that I need to think about 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Now look at this 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 this allows me to be producerly at the level of the server 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for my own digital life. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's a getting started wizard 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 okay that's fine 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I need to know about changing passwords 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I know sometimes my students think about 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 changing languages 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that would be really cool, etcetera 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 email, managing your own email 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you can have a thousand, two thousand email boxes in here 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 your file system 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they've got to know about that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 these are not terribly difficult things 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but they are important 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and taken as a system 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they become more important 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I like my students to have a digital presence 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 where they can track who comes to see them 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's an important part of the narrating, curating and sharing 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and it can all be automated of course 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and you've got a choice among several 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 security - we'd want our students to think about that, right? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but I'd want them to think about it as digital citizens 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 architects of their own cyberspace 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 not as people who have to find the website 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that tells them what safe computing is all about 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 at our school 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That should go without saying 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because they're thinking about this already 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They're going to have multiple domains 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or they should. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Data? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Data Literacy is vital 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Can they have a nodding acquaintance with databases? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Sure 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and then the software down here 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 this is kind of interesting 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 software and services 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 one click: which blogging platform would you like? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 try out several 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 groupware, livechat, utilities, content management, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 client management 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 do we have to do all of those? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 No 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Do they have to read all the books in the library? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 No 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Do they have to take all the courses in the catalogue? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 No 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Why do we have more there? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 To amplify the possibilities 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 To give them some room to roam 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Some room for discovery 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 A place to play 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I mean, those of you who've heard 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 either Jim or me or Martha Burgess talk about 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The Bluehost Experiment 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in Washington 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 where we essentially let the staff loose in this environment 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is the next step for that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in my Little Big Planet 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 put the students in this kind of sandbox 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 let them play, let them innovate, let them discover 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 what if you give it to 4000 students 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and there are only 100 works of staggering genius emerging 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 oh well, that would be ok 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 more scripts, e-commerce 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 marketing, photo galleries 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 webmails, website builders 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a couple of wikis 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and you can get in there and install your own 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they don't have a one click install for me wiki 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 which is a regrettable omission but 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you can get in there 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that's pretty outlandish 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 when we were South by Southwest 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 somebody very some high I'd say 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 at the end of the presentation said: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Are you saying that our students 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 need to be system administrators? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I thought about it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and my first impulse was: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Oh No, not at all..that would be extreme 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and than I thought twice and said 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Yes, actually that is what I want them to be 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 system administrators 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 if it is easy enough to do 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 which the graphical front makes it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and if system is understood 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 not just as a particular installation 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but as a metaphor for their digital lives 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they'll have to be system administrators 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for their digital lives 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 what are they going to do when they graduate? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 what are they going to do when 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they're raising children? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 None of this is going to roll back as we move forward 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Every book will be digitized 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Every journal will be digitized 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's a good thing potentially 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but only if people are able to think about this 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in this personal way 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "When radar was new it was found necessary 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to eliminate the balloon system for city protection 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that had preceded the radar. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The balloons got in the way of the electric feedback 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of the new radar information. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Do you get that? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The advanced defensive capability 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 was stymied by the old defensive capability 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Such may well prove to be the case with much 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of our existing school curriculum... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I think that's true 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Let's talk about openess a little bit 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What does it mean to be open? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 When we talk about openess we usually think 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to be open to the world 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Everyboy can see it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's where you're going to be exposed to 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the most massive network effects 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So I like this, obviously 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I think a lot of us here do 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 although there have been 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 some really good interrogations of the idea 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but there are other levels of openness as well 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or to put it another way 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 places that are closed where we can't see 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the things are closed 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What about being open to each other in a learning community? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What about the teacher to the learner? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and the learners open to each other? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 To what extent does the Blackboard discussion forum 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 make the participants actually open to each other 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 To what extent are learners 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 ready to talk about their vulnerabilities to the teacher 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and oh, maybe they're not willing to do that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because the teacher is not willing 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to talk about his or her vulnerabilities to the learner 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Vulnerabilities are fine 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's actually where the learning happens 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 To know as we are known requires identity markers 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 this is a non-trivial factor 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Any adult that says this is a trivial factor 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 has forgotten what is was like to decorate a locker 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or is denying the fact that they actually agonized 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 over the choice of the Welcome mat for their front door 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 These are non-trivial factors 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and finally open to ourselves 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 To what extent do the learning experiences 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we co-create or impose 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 open us up to self-awareness or meta-cognition 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The thing about the personal cyberinfrastructure 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is that once the students have begun to build it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it can then be the object of 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 narration, curation and sharing itself 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 at a meta level 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 let's get together and talk about 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the cyberinfrastructure you built 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 why did you build it that way? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 what does that represent about you as a learner? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or as an architect? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 what the one I built? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 what if we modularize 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and start swapping it among ourselves? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 like levels of a game. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 where we can rank the efficacy of the various modules 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we built on our own and together 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 then you learn something about yourself 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that would be ok 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is a discussion forum in Blackboard 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it looks like email 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Why does it look like email? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's a rethorical question. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's perfectly transactional 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It moves data from one point to another 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The trouble is that's not a learning community 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Where's the decorated locker? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Where's the doodle on the notebook? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Where's the marker of identity? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Well, it's here. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 phpbb 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 one click install 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 from cPannel 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Oh, you can have an avatar 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Oh, you can choose a username 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Oh you can have a SIG file 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a non-trivial marker of identity 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it looks nicer 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 oh yeah, this post was Wednesday January 16th 2008 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 January 18th 2008 while the class was going on 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that forum kept active for about 6 months 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 after the class was over 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Why? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I set it up but I did not choose the templates 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for their expressions of themselves 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and their identity in that space 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 there was enough openness 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that they could decorate their lockers 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 some of the forum belonged to them 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Well, that was kind of interesting 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This thread belonged to them too, BTW 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but that's another story 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What do we believe? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "The aspiration of our times for 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 wholeness, empathy and depth of awareness 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is a natural adjunct of electric technology... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The mark of our time is its revulsion 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 against imposed patterns. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We are suddenly eager to have things 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and people declare their beings totally. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There is a deep faith to be found 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in this new attitude 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 - a faith that concerns 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the ultimate harmony of all being." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Strikes you as Utopian? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Strikes you as over-stated? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Is it the Music of the Spheres? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I think some kind of faith 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Something like this underlies education 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Unless we think we are just training Pavlov's dogs 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We want people 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 who will find those strange correspondences 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and make them audible 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to each other and to us 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Can a personal cyberinfrastructure do it? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I don't know 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I've never got any chance to try that out 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I know what happened 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 when the staff did it at Mary Washington 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It was not uniform 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and the story that doesn't usually get told 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is that it took 2 1/2 years 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of kicking, screaming, biting (that's a metaphor) 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There was actually some screaming 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of people saying: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 How many minutes a day 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 do you want me to blog, Gardner?" 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I got that, absolutely 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I had to bite my tongue because 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I was about to say 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You know, I get that questions from my students a lot 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but that would've been bad 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that would've been very, very bad 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but it's the same idea, it's like 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Can I turn this into a transaction yet? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Can I make this job into just a job of work? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and you know, beneath all of that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 there are all sorts of anxieties 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they may be principle resistances 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 there could be a lot of things 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so there was a long way to get there 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but when we got there 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 well, we got there 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and there are five more 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 sent back 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 who got there too 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Perfect? No 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Decisively different? Yeah 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So is this our default? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Is this critical thinking? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I don't know 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We live in a risky, dangerous environment 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 full of people who are trying to manipulate us 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and pick our pockets 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's undeniably true 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It is true that people acting in what they will say 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 will be your best interest. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so hoping that at some point 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Stockholm syndrome kicks in 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you identify with your capturers and go willingly 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 enjoying the digital facelift or whatever it is 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but this for me can't be the default 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and part of why it's so exciting 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for me to be at this conference 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is that there is another way to think about this 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 there's another way to think about confidence 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Maybe narrating, curating and sharing 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 breeds confidence 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "Western man acquired from the technology of literacy 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the power to act without reacting... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Not a bad thing 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 as the write points out 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's important that the surgeon 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 not be overwhelmed when performing the surgery 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 In the electric age 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 when our central nervous system 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is technologically extended to involve us 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in the whole of mankind 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and to incorporate the whole mankind in us, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (and make that human kind) 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we necessarily participate, in depth, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in the consequences of our every action 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's what we all fear, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 its what we all long for, I think. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that's somehow even the small things 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 can be meaningful 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Anybody who watches a Twitter stream 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in, during and on election, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 wants to feel this way 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It is no longer possible to adopt the aloof 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and dissociated role of the literate Westerner 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Overstated? Sure 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Extreme? Maybe. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Aloof and dissociated role of the literate professor 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Westerner? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Such is the faith in which this book was written 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It explores the contours of our own extended beings 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and our tecnologies 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 seeking the principle of intelligibility in each of them. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 For me the idea of the personal cyberinfrastructure 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is about the search of the principle of intelligibility 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in our technologies 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What the personal infrastructure would be 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is a representation. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 A creative representation 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of that intelligibility 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 maybe of that search as well 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 In the full confidence that it is possible 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to win an understanding of these forms 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that will bring them into orderly service 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I've looked at them anew 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 accepting very little of the conventional wisdom 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 concerning them." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm glad that a Canadian did that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Aside from Clay Shirky, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the quotations I read 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 were from Marshall Mc Luhan 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in Understanding Media, 1964. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I don't know what you knew about Marshall Mc Luhan 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 when you were going through school 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 what I knew about him was 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 how he had a cameo in any hall. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I was cheated in my education 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Along with some genuinely bizarre things 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 there were genuinelly prophetic things 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in this book 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I think they aligned very well 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 with some of the sense of urgency 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and some of the scope of ambition 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that we all feel, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that we all share 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 at a conference like this 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The personal cyberinfrastructure 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 may not be the only way to learn this alphabet 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but I'd like to try sometime. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Jim? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Rather than bore you with any of my details 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 let's not lose some of this thread to this 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 does anyone have any questions for Gardner? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Yes, please 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So I was wondering 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 some of the examples of software that you 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that's easily installed that you provided 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 are forums and things like that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 if everybody has their own 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 some of these become more useful in agreggate, right? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so, have you thought about sort of 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 certain things being sort of you know, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 individual elements of a presence in cyber insfrastructure 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 others aggregating or working across federation 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Excellent question 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 In my dream world the student... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Bryan Alexander is a champion 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I do not want your bread right now 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but when you are well again, I'd like it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So the idea would be 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the student's Baker Club gets together 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and they talk about how they're going to organize 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and of course something is going to be online 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because it needs to be 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because of these affordances 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 One student says: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I could put a phpbb forum 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Another student says 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Yeah, and actually did you know 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 there was this add on? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and then as a group they agree 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 1) it would be better to have one forum 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 rather than multiple forums 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 2) they aggregate their knowledge about 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 what would be the best instance of that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 3) they put it together 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and by doing that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the lights will go out, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the tables will rise 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we will join hands and sing 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 In doing that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 what they will be doing is discussing 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a particular scripting affordance on a server 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but they will be doing it strategically, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in terms of communication needs 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and organizational excellence 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Doing something other than on a surface level 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's the one of the way I imagine it , yeah 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to a certain degree, yeah 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in my experience IT departments 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 will not have thought in a sophisticated way 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 about how a blog or a discussion forum differ 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 rhetorically 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or how they may be able to shape 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 student communication 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and that's okay in a way 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 as long as they don't prescribe the tools 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or limit the tools 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I have an IT department at bluehost.com 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and they're very good at keeping, you know, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 things up to date and the backups 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they're usually very good at that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and so forth 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that's their work 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but what they have done is to provide me affordances 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that I can explore 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so, yeah, I mean I think there is 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 ideally there would be some interest 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in the rhetorical questions in the IT shop 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and by building a cyber infrastructure 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the students would begin to understand 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 something of what goes on mechanically as well 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 there would be a greater opportunity for conversation 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you know, I think it would be ok 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 if the students made something that broke 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They would learn from that, I think 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I also think that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 building on what Gardner said 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 as a response to your question 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that the actual cyber infrastructure 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 as posed by an individual, a domain and a space 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 allows IT departments 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to re-imagine this question 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of aggregating, syndicating information 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 as it is happening 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 around space 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so it does not mean like 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the IT department disappears, or somehow the enemy 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but it allows them to re-imagine this notion of flow 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and this kind of property of electricity 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that McLuhan is talking about so beautifully 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and if we are talking about electricity and flow 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we're talking about a new property 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 by which we can start to imagine space 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 through the students having their own 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and so IT departments 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 should be as much excited about 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the possibilities for this 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 rather than ....ing an age old against them 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's not, I mean 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's a kind of matter of us working together 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to re-imagine the space 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I think that's why the immediate call back to that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 doesn't capture, I think 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 what that model sets up 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 as a notion and a mode of aggregation 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to kind of build into the syndication 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You have your own cyber infrastructure 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and then you re-imagine it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and then IT department think about 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 what that means 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 right, and 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 okay..how much time do we have? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 okay 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Great talk. I'm reminded of Larry Cuban's book 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Teachers and Machines 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 which sort of talks about resistance 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that the educational system has 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to introductions of technology 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and changing actual educational practice 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 wondering if you might comment on 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 your thoughts about how 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the open educational resources movement 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 might make a difference 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in overcoming that structural resistance 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and well, this kind of loops into the IT question as well 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's very easy to paint faculty as stodgy 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 faculty as vilains 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and sometimes it's true 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and you know it's easy to say that IT is 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the enemy because they can't think outside the box 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 sometimes it's true, you know 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but there are plenty of people in both domains 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 who, if they are able to see compelling examples 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of fresh thinking 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 will say wow..that's cool 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'd like to do that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I think that would have addressed 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 what I was thinking about with my students 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 just last semester 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that would have gotten me past this point 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 where I wasn't able to get them 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to read carefully 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 before they come to class 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and this is one of the great sorrows for me 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 as a faculty member 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 with regard to Learning Management Systems 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 aside from all the other sorrows 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I can't see what my colleagues are doing 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I mean seeing it on the Web 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so I can look at it carefully 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and speak to them intelligently about it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Why did you design it that way? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What did you learn from it? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I think the same thing is true for IT folks 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 when they go to..I've been to some IT conferences 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and , you know, a lot of times 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 what they are hearing about 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 are anecdotes of spectacular catastrophes 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or whatever 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but you're not able to actually... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and there may be some good reasons for this 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to some extent 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but they're not able to see 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 dazzling examples of innovation 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in a very easy and accessible way 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so I think that open educational resources 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is a lot more than about exposing content 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's about exposing these compelling examples 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of other ways to do it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's like being able to see multiple 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 performances of Shakespeare 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Oh..never thought of reading the line that way 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so the play transforms 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I don't know if that answers your question 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but, yeah...ok 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So Gardner, is it too late for them to become curators 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 once they get into Higher Education 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So, you know, cPannel for me 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I could do that..I'm an IT guy 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I think I think critically about affordances 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but at the same time 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is it too late? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I mean..my daughter's eight 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 she has a blog, domain of her own 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 shouldn't be starting there? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we get them for four years here, right? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 maybe seven 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 how do we drop down? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 somebody said it's too late...too late 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I mean I don't know what that idea 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of what too late means 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I mean we're always in midias res with this stuff 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we're always coming into it and imagining it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and Gardner, to refine Gardner, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in that whole of the IT is like 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so many people that I have talked about it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and inspired back are right here at UBC 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Andrew who is coming from an IT perspective 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 was just blowing my mind again and again 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and Scott Mc Millan, I mean 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 These are people who are in that space 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 who are seeing these examples 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and you're kind of rip and remixing it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 from this space to kind of think about 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 wow, we can actually play with these modes 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and re-imagine them 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I think, wouldn't students also experience that? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 at any given point in that kind of narrative? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 excuse me, how much further we would be pushed, right 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in the academy, if our students were coming to us 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 thinking critically about it? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Yeah, that's right 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so there are a couple of things I want to say 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in response to that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 One is that there is 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a developmental aspect in education, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 which is fine with me 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What it means is that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 at every point along the learning continuum 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it will be advantageous for 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a mentor, a guide, an expert, a teacher 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to be there to coach the student 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to their zone of proximal development 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that's fine 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 another way to say that is 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that I do not believe that students will make 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 automatically on their own 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to their own innate drive for self-improvement 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 all the best, you know, choices 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I think there is a role for teaching 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Now, there's also the developmental capacity 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of the human mind, you know 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 kids at a certain age are able to distinguish 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 like varying levels of volume 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and different sizes of containers 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and at an earlier age, they're not able to 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so something actually happens in the brain 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that makes that next thing kick in 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 ahm, so there's always going to be 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it seems to me 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 some way in which 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the particular developmental moment 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 will impose certain kinds of constraints 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That said and if anybody knows about 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Jerome Bruner's idea of the spiral curriculum 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that's where it comes from 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 there's an authentic version of any concept 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that can be taught to any child 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 who can read and write 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you pitch it to the appropriate level of development 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and you keep coming back to it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 spiralling upward and upward and upward 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 until that magic hand off moment 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 which I think often happens and should happen 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in the upper grades of high school 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 if it doesn't happen till college 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's still not too late 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's part of the great jolt I got when I got to college 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I felt like they had handed the spiral to me 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's like okay - we've brought you around 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we've brought you around, we've brought you around 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's your spiral now, you know, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 keep finding the level of the concept 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that gets you to the next spot 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Be your own coach to your own zone 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of proximal development 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and this is something I left out 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I should put before you before we're done 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This won't work until it's built into the curriculum 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I don't want you to think that what I'm proposing 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is that kids just get assigned these web spaces 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and that's it and that they will magically 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 through tinkering come up with good stuff 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This would be an amazing meeting ground 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for digital experts in the discipline 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 librarians, advisors, student life people, edtech folks 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 instructional designers 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Can you imagine? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 My feeling is students would come in 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and their whole first year experience 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 would be digital fluency 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 by means of building out 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 this personal cyber infrastructure 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the first iteration of it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 then at the end of your first year 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 let's have a ceremony 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 let's have a party 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 pick the domain that's going to be your domain 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for the next three years 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and make a decision there 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's all coming of age 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's an occasion 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you have to have these rites of passage 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but for that whole first year 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they're thinking about narrating, curating and sharing 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for the rest of their lives as learners 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I think it could be pretty neat 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you know, a pretty interesting thing to do 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I want to be on that team 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that works with students 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to say, hey..you're about to do work 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that you ought to be able to care about 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for the rest of your life 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 if you haven't done it already 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and, I, to get back to your original question 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 one of the most gifted students that I've run across 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in my career is a fellow 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I just taught at Baylor last spring 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 he's got his own YouTube channel 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you know, Stop Motion Lego Animation 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 its most popular stuff gets 40 - 50.000 views 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that's been going on since he was 13 or 14 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so yeah, what if that was baked into the curriculum? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in high school? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 then they would push us, absolutely 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Yeah, ok thanks