Three major concepts arose from this class.
Globalization is a phenomenon which deserves close scrutiny. It is a term fraught with difficulty, and is easily dichotomized into a positive/negative split. Globalization in the classroom is opposed by localism. Do we teach the world? Or do we teach “our own backyard.” Problems of globalization include the breaking down of borders, the potential disappearance of local cultures as “stronger” cultures take over. Today that means American culture. In education, globalization is evidenced in online universities and courses. The autonomy of the university as being grounded in a “sense of place” is challenged. The entrepreneurial aspect of education takes over from the academic. This negative side of globalization is expressed in phrases such as “the McDonaldisation of society, ” a term which is relatively self explanatory
The second paper was grounded in three simply and provocative questions.
Does the web make learning more accessible? Does it improved learning? Does it reduce cost? It may well be that the answer to each of these questions is “No.” In spite of evidence to the contrary, the common perception is to answer “yes.”
AT THIS POINT, I NEED HELP. I LOST THE REFERENCE THAT SUGGESTED THE OPTIMUM CLASS SIZE FOR AN ONLINE COURSE IS ABOUT 20. CAN ANYONE HELP ME?
To conclude the class, a portion of the video series Nerds 2.0: A history of the internet was screened. Most interesting perhaps, was the overarching theme of entrepreneurship. The raison d’etre of the internet seems to be to make money and become rich. And to be a millionaire is not enough. One starts counting at the billionaire level. This stands in stark contrast to the idea the the internet is something useful and needed for education, for pedagogy, and to enhance our culture.
To review. What are the three concepts covered in class: (1) globalization. (2) Key questions to ask re the educative value of the web: accessibility, learning, cost. (3) focus of the internet, as per the video, is metaphor #3 in the survey question, ie. to make money...the web as marketplace.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Class Six Summary: from museums and galleries to Benjamin
October 17, 2007
Focus: expanding the domain of internet pedagogy to museums/galleries
There are many ways we educate. First we think of schools. But there are also museums and galleries. There is also the internet. How do these relate? Are they independent “silos” that don’t speak to another? Or does Castells “network of flows” apply here?
Museums and galleries often consider themselves to be primarily educational institutions. Their stated goal is often “to educate”. But they do it differently than the classroom.
Lisa Robert’s study is called from knowledge to narrative. She distinguishes four functions: entertainment, empowerment, experience and ethics. Interestingly, her chapters are not "museums as …" but "education as …" Under the heading of “experience” she discusses the culture of imitation, of authenticity and of simulation.
The internet, too, focuses on these same dimensions.
We need to expand the concept of education beyond the classroom walls. The museum and gallery do this as stand-alone institutions. The internet also teaches as a stand-alone phenomenon...with or without the input of the formal educational establishment. But these can also relate. Museums and galleries can use the internet to enhance their image and to promote their programs. This is the idea behind Croft’s analysis of museums in the 21st century, To highlight just one of Croft’s comments (from Lucille’s presentation) “Looking at a screen is a chore; Looking at the real thing becomes a rare treat in comparison.”
Antoinette led us through the complex classic paper by Walter Benjamin (1936) provides a challenging and theoretic position. His title “the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction: is critical. Today we have gone beyond “mechanical reproduction.” Perhaps it should be “electronic reproduction” or “”the network society.” But his work is remarkably contemporary.
He is chronicling the move from a world of real objects to a world of copies. The internet is a world of copies and inauthentic objects. One does need to be clear… that is not necessarily bad; it simply is. Indeed, Benjamin likes the new media: technology (film in his case) “extends our comprehension of the necessities which rule our lives.” On the other hand, what is lost is “aura”. There is an almost spiritual reverence towards the real thing which disappears when everything is a copy.
In today’s world, the original has lost its power; indeed often there may not be an original any more. Everything is a copy. This moves towards the postmodern theories of Jean Baudrillard.
[The following did not come up in class, but is added here. An interesting move from Benjamin in 1936 to today can be found in two works. Patrick Geary's Phantoms of remembrance: Memory and oblivion at the end of the first millennium discusses the transition from orality to the written record. Sophie Simons follows this with her analyses and review of The Jerwood Photography Project at the British Library. She writes :
Other essays in the book present case studies examining the multiple identities given to or created by photographic objects as they move between different domains: from private to public, from commercial commodity on the art market to the confines of an institutional home in museum, gallery or library.
AND
“A photograph might be invested with an aura of sanctity.”
And finally…
"The concluding essay by Joanna Sassoon illuminates many of the preceding discussions by contrast. It is a sharp critique of the negative impact on photographic materiality, as she sees it, caused by the huge and ongoing wave of contemporary institutional digitisation projects. While not denying the benefits to public access and preservation, Sassoon interprets digitisation as a process that changes the meaning of photographic objects. She argues that it is often the materiality of photographs which is lost in the process of creating 'digital ghosts' and considers the impact of this loss on photographic research. She warns that 'institutions that manage photographs as digital image banks shift the way photographs are understood and likewise limit the origins of photographic meaning from being contextually and materially derived to being content-driven.'"
Sassoon asks:
Is the original different from its digital surrogate? Can context change meaning? Does digitization serve us well?
This leads to what must be a significant question for us today: Is the internet (google) the collective memory of the 21st century?]
…all of this is heady stuff.
-------------------------------------
The last part of the class moved towards one of these unique internet constructs in which the idea of an original is stretched to the limit. Wikipedia created by Jimmy Wales is such an object. Its ideal is an encyclopedia in the hands of everyone. We previewed Wales at TED, explaining his concept. The strengths of wikipedia are (1) its currency (2) its democratic nature (3) its volunteer base. Its weaknesses are (1) lack of credibility (2) unsigned articles (3) open to vandalism.
AJ Jacobs is one journalist who has explored the co-operative nature of wikipedia entry creation. (See his latest just released book The Year of Living Biblically.
Best advice at this point: Use wikipedia for gaining a quick overview of a topic … but don’t tell anyone. Don’t reference wikipedia in a paper. (You cannot reference it anyway, because there is no author.)
Wikipedia also has implications for the concept of “constructivist learning” and indeed may be the quintessential example of constructivism operationalized. And pushed to the limit. What happens when “everyone” is the author of a paper? Gilbert and Sullivan wrote in the Gondeliers “When everyone is somebody, no one’s anybody.”
We concluded the evening by examining two interesting websites with a pedagogic potential: Sparknotes.com and nytimes.com. These were both listed in my day five notes (one of the five research sites noted), but we ran out of time to complete that. Both are useful resources, though the latter is heavily American in content and should be used with care.
Next Class: Please read assigned articles. (See previous blogpage)
Focus: expanding the domain of internet pedagogy to museums/galleries
There are many ways we educate. First we think of schools. But there are also museums and galleries. There is also the internet. How do these relate? Are they independent “silos” that don’t speak to another? Or does Castells “network of flows” apply here?
Museums and galleries often consider themselves to be primarily educational institutions. Their stated goal is often “to educate”. But they do it differently than the classroom.
Lisa Robert’s study is called from knowledge to narrative. She distinguishes four functions: entertainment, empowerment, experience and ethics. Interestingly, her chapters are not "museums as …" but "education as …" Under the heading of “experience” she discusses the culture of imitation, of authenticity and of simulation.
The internet, too, focuses on these same dimensions.
We need to expand the concept of education beyond the classroom walls. The museum and gallery do this as stand-alone institutions. The internet also teaches as a stand-alone phenomenon...with or without the input of the formal educational establishment. But these can also relate. Museums and galleries can use the internet to enhance their image and to promote their programs. This is the idea behind Croft’s analysis of museums in the 21st century, To highlight just one of Croft’s comments (from Lucille’s presentation) “Looking at a screen is a chore; Looking at the real thing becomes a rare treat in comparison.”
Antoinette led us through the complex classic paper by Walter Benjamin (1936) provides a challenging and theoretic position. His title “the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction: is critical. Today we have gone beyond “mechanical reproduction.” Perhaps it should be “electronic reproduction” or “”the network society.” But his work is remarkably contemporary.
He is chronicling the move from a world of real objects to a world of copies. The internet is a world of copies and inauthentic objects. One does need to be clear… that is not necessarily bad; it simply is. Indeed, Benjamin likes the new media: technology (film in his case) “extends our comprehension of the necessities which rule our lives.” On the other hand, what is lost is “aura”. There is an almost spiritual reverence towards the real thing which disappears when everything is a copy.
In today’s world, the original has lost its power; indeed often there may not be an original any more. Everything is a copy. This moves towards the postmodern theories of Jean Baudrillard.
[The following did not come up in class, but is added here. An interesting move from Benjamin in 1936 to today can be found in two works. Patrick Geary's Phantoms of remembrance: Memory and oblivion at the end of the first millennium discusses the transition from orality to the written record. Sophie Simons follows this with her analyses and review of The Jerwood Photography Project at the British Library. She writes :
Other essays in the book present case studies examining the multiple identities given to or created by photographic objects as they move between different domains: from private to public, from commercial commodity on the art market to the confines of an institutional home in museum, gallery or library.
AND
“A photograph might be invested with an aura of sanctity.”
And finally…
"The concluding essay by Joanna Sassoon illuminates many of the preceding discussions by contrast. It is a sharp critique of the negative impact on photographic materiality, as she sees it, caused by the huge and ongoing wave of contemporary institutional digitisation projects. While not denying the benefits to public access and preservation, Sassoon interprets digitisation as a process that changes the meaning of photographic objects. She argues that it is often the materiality of photographs which is lost in the process of creating 'digital ghosts' and considers the impact of this loss on photographic research. She warns that 'institutions that manage photographs as digital image banks shift the way photographs are understood and likewise limit the origins of photographic meaning from being contextually and materially derived to being content-driven.'"
Sassoon asks:
Is the original different from its digital surrogate? Can context change meaning? Does digitization serve us well?
This leads to what must be a significant question for us today: Is the internet (google) the collective memory of the 21st century?]
…all of this is heady stuff.
-------------------------------------
The last part of the class moved towards one of these unique internet constructs in which the idea of an original is stretched to the limit. Wikipedia created by Jimmy Wales is such an object. Its ideal is an encyclopedia in the hands of everyone. We previewed Wales at TED, explaining his concept. The strengths of wikipedia are (1) its currency (2) its democratic nature (3) its volunteer base. Its weaknesses are (1) lack of credibility (2) unsigned articles (3) open to vandalism.
AJ Jacobs is one journalist who has explored the co-operative nature of wikipedia entry creation. (See his latest just released book The Year of Living Biblically.
Best advice at this point: Use wikipedia for gaining a quick overview of a topic … but don’t tell anyone. Don’t reference wikipedia in a paper. (You cannot reference it anyway, because there is no author.)
Wikipedia also has implications for the concept of “constructivist learning” and indeed may be the quintessential example of constructivism operationalized. And pushed to the limit. What happens when “everyone” is the author of a paper? Gilbert and Sullivan wrote in the Gondeliers “When everyone is somebody, no one’s anybody.”
We concluded the evening by examining two interesting websites with a pedagogic potential: Sparknotes.com and nytimes.com. These were both listed in my day five notes (one of the five research sites noted), but we ran out of time to complete that. Both are useful resources, though the latter is heavily American in content and should be used with care.
Next Class: Please read assigned articles. (See previous blogpage)
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Course Presentations
Here are the readings and dates. Subject to a few addition.
Everyone is asked to pre-read and bring the appropriate papers to class.
October 9:
Colin: The new imperialism of borderless education. (Hall) Available from Garry's blog
http://mystuff-gstrick.blogspot.com/
October 16:
Lucile: Paper by Croft
Antoinette: Walter Benjamin. The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction.
October 23
Sharon: Globalization for teaching and learning
Carolyn: Owsten: The world wide web...
October 30
Brian: Graham: Anarchy and the internet
Janice: Rothenberg: How the web destoys the quality...
November 6:
John: Catone
November 13:
Karen: Nothing to hide.
Garry: Borgman (Marlboro Man)
November 20:
Meghan: Virtual Hamburger
Judy: Umberto Eco
November 27
???
Others to come. You can let me know by email, or next week.
Everyone is asked to pre-read and bring the appropriate papers to class.
October 9:
Colin: The new imperialism of borderless education. (Hall) Available from Garry's blog
http://mystuff-gstrick.blogspot.com/
October 16:
Lucile: Paper by Croft
Antoinette: Walter Benjamin. The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction.
October 23
Sharon: Globalization for teaching and learning
Carolyn: Owsten: The world wide web...
October 30
Brian: Graham: Anarchy and the internet
Janice: Rothenberg: How the web destoys the quality...
November 6:
John: Catone
November 13:
Karen: Nothing to hide.
Garry: Borgman (Marlboro Man)
November 20:
Meghan: Virtual Hamburger
Judy: Umberto Eco
November 27
???
Others to come. You can let me know by email, or next week.
Class Five
Class five will begin with an examination of the Internet in the Clasroom, then will move to a discussion of the paper on globalization by Hall . (to be led by Colin.) That reading is available in pdf format on Garry's website at http://mystuff-gstrick.blogspot.com/ Please download and read in time for class discussion.
Internet in the Classroom
As has been seen, there are not dozens, or hundreds or thousands, but millions of potential websites. Information overload is the term used when information becomes so overwhelming that one doesn’t quite know where to start. One becomes frozen into inaction. The problem can be ameliorized somewhat by considering the metaphoric aspect of the internet. If one focuses on the internet only as a resource or only as a library or only as a communication medium, that at least lessons the potential choices.
In this section, we will consider the internet to be a teacher resource.
Mike Sandbothe argues that the internet will challenge four basic assumptions about education. They are (1) Knowledge conveyed in schools is localized; ie. education requires a physical sense of place (2) Lessons are “live”; communication is f2f (3) Teachers are in authority. (4) knowledge is structured; the structure of knowledge is the basis of curriculum.
Five ways to search a topic.
Search engines search differently. Google is the penultimate choice, that normally comes to mind, so much so that the term has become a verb “to google” in just ten years. But consider a given topic that one wants information on. Let’s take “cyberbullying.” A google search will reveal a grab bag of documents of different kinds. Next, consider a search of “google news” . It immediately becomes clear that the kind of information received here is different, Here we get information that is written ONLY by journalists, and ONLY from newspapers. A third search is google scholar. Now the search is limited to scholarly works.
Questia.com
The above section identified “five ways” to search a topic. The next two are “special” in that they are subscription databases. Questia advertises itself as the worlds largest online library. It is a “real” library that houses only what you find in a physical library. Books, Journals. Magazines. The cost is relatively miniscule: about the cost of a single textbook for a year… about $100.
Questia has several other useful features as well, including assistance for writing papers for students, and lists of significant works in major areas.
If Questia has a problem, it is that it is not quite large enough, and is not always as current as one would like. Still, these issues seem relatively minor.
Questia offers a useful “peek” for non subscribers. The system locks out outsiders only when they attempt to read complete texts.
Dissertation Abstracts
Dissertation abstracts has always been a foundational source for academia. It belongs to a set of subscription databases belonging to ProQuest. Dissertation Abstracts provides “free” abstracts of masters and doctoral dissertations. Complete pdf versions of dissertations can be ordered at less than $50 per title.
SparkNotes.com
Every student knows about Cliffs Notes in the US, Monarch Notes, or in Canada Coles Notes. These detailed summaries for students have often been frowned upon by teachers who worry that students will buy the Coles Notes version of novels, and never read the novel itself. These outlines tend to kick in at the high school and college level or possibly upper middle years. Nevertheless, the online equivalent is Sparknotes, created by graduate students from Harvard University.
Lesson Plans: NewYorkTimes.com
Lesson plans can be found throughout the web. Here, we shall identify one source only, regrettably a US site, but excellent nevertheless. The New York Times provides a free service for teachers that prepares lessons based on current events. Not only does a teacher get ideas for teaching, but the news stories which serve the basis for the lessons are provided as well. If there is a weakness, it is that to transfer to Canada, we cannot expect any Canadian content.
Class reading, presentation and discussion
Martin Hall (2000) The new imperialism of borderless education.
1. The term "imperialism" is a red flag, suggesting that "borderless education" is not all that it is cracked up to be. Synonyms inlcude globalization, internationalization, and ... on another front ... free trade.
2. "How many students can fit into a virtual classroom and still learn." Hall suggests 12-20. This is a stunning contradiction to the current best practices model that sees hundreds of enrolled students in a given online class. It suggests that the "small is beautiful" model is not only beautiful, but eminently practical.
3. "Most of us make our money from thin air. We produce nothing that can be weighed, touched or easily measured...We are all in the thin air business." This comment from Charles Leadbeater suggests a significant and sobering perspective on 21st century productivity.
4. "Space of flows" is a term coined by Manuel Castells. Castells, one of the most significant theorists of 21st century information technology, aruges that we live in a new space that flows from real to virtual and without a centre.
5. The rise of virtual education will increase rather than decrease the phenomenon called "the digital divide."
Internet in the Classroom
As has been seen, there are not dozens, or hundreds or thousands, but millions of potential websites. Information overload is the term used when information becomes so overwhelming that one doesn’t quite know where to start. One becomes frozen into inaction. The problem can be ameliorized somewhat by considering the metaphoric aspect of the internet. If one focuses on the internet only as a resource or only as a library or only as a communication medium, that at least lessons the potential choices.
In this section, we will consider the internet to be a teacher resource.
Mike Sandbothe argues that the internet will challenge four basic assumptions about education. They are (1) Knowledge conveyed in schools is localized; ie. education requires a physical sense of place (2) Lessons are “live”; communication is f2f (3) Teachers are in authority. (4) knowledge is structured; the structure of knowledge is the basis of curriculum.
Five ways to search a topic.
Search engines search differently. Google is the penultimate choice, that normally comes to mind, so much so that the term has become a verb “to google” in just ten years. But consider a given topic that one wants information on. Let’s take “cyberbullying.” A google search will reveal a grab bag of documents of different kinds. Next, consider a search of “google news” . It immediately becomes clear that the kind of information received here is different, Here we get information that is written ONLY by journalists, and ONLY from newspapers. A third search is google scholar. Now the search is limited to scholarly works.
Questia.com
The above section identified “five ways” to search a topic. The next two are “special” in that they are subscription databases. Questia advertises itself as the worlds largest online library. It is a “real” library that houses only what you find in a physical library. Books, Journals. Magazines. The cost is relatively miniscule: about the cost of a single textbook for a year… about $100.
Questia has several other useful features as well, including assistance for writing papers for students, and lists of significant works in major areas.
If Questia has a problem, it is that it is not quite large enough, and is not always as current as one would like. Still, these issues seem relatively minor.
Questia offers a useful “peek” for non subscribers. The system locks out outsiders only when they attempt to read complete texts.
Dissertation Abstracts
Dissertation abstracts has always been a foundational source for academia. It belongs to a set of subscription databases belonging to ProQuest. Dissertation Abstracts provides “free” abstracts of masters and doctoral dissertations. Complete pdf versions of dissertations can be ordered at less than $50 per title.
SparkNotes.com
Every student knows about Cliffs Notes in the US, Monarch Notes, or in Canada Coles Notes. These detailed summaries for students have often been frowned upon by teachers who worry that students will buy the Coles Notes version of novels, and never read the novel itself. These outlines tend to kick in at the high school and college level or possibly upper middle years. Nevertheless, the online equivalent is Sparknotes, created by graduate students from Harvard University.
Lesson Plans: NewYorkTimes.com
Lesson plans can be found throughout the web. Here, we shall identify one source only, regrettably a US site, but excellent nevertheless. The New York Times provides a free service for teachers that prepares lessons based on current events. Not only does a teacher get ideas for teaching, but the news stories which serve the basis for the lessons are provided as well. If there is a weakness, it is that to transfer to Canada, we cannot expect any Canadian content.
Class reading, presentation and discussion
Martin Hall (2000) The new imperialism of borderless education.
1. The term "imperialism" is a red flag, suggesting that "borderless education" is not all that it is cracked up to be. Synonyms inlcude globalization, internationalization, and ... on another front ... free trade.
2. "How many students can fit into a virtual classroom and still learn." Hall suggests 12-20. This is a stunning contradiction to the current best practices model that sees hundreds of enrolled students in a given online class. It suggests that the "small is beautiful" model is not only beautiful, but eminently practical.
3. "Most of us make our money from thin air. We produce nothing that can be weighed, touched or easily measured...We are all in the thin air business." This comment from Charles Leadbeater suggests a significant and sobering perspective on 21st century productivity.
4. "Space of flows" is a term coined by Manuel Castells. Castells, one of the most significant theorists of 21st century information technology, aruges that we live in a new space that flows from real to virtual and without a centre.
5. The rise of virtual education will increase rather than decrease the phenomenon called "the digital divide."
Class Four Summary
Class Four began with an introductory ten minute presentation on audio tape from Darin Barney's 2007 Hart House Lecture at the University of Toronto. Then an introduction to postmodernism set the stage for discussions (to follow) by Kenway, Poster and others.
The Kenway paper was discussed. Two previews from TED were presented in order to set the stage for presentations to come in class. Al Gore's presentation on global warming illustrated how the TED site can bring world experts into the classroom. A TASTE OF TED provided a five minute overview of the TED phenomenon as an example of creativity in presentations.
Class notes:
Postmodernism and Internet Pedagogy
One cannot understand information technology without understanding postmodernism. So what is postmodernism?
Here are two simple definitions. Lyotard’s classic definition is “incredulity towards metanarratives". Another definition is “alternative conflicting discourses.”
Questioning Technology.
The modernist view sees technology as the saviour of humankind. The postmodernist view is skeptical sometimes even pessimistic. The yay-sayers dismiss the postmodernists as “luddites” but that designation is clearly not fair.
The literature on internet pedagogy is often characterized by the use of the term postmodern. Whether Jane Kenway’s article the Information SuperHighway and post-modernity, or the work of Darin Barney, or Richard Coyne’s two significant works, Designing information tcchnology in the postmodern age and his follow-up study, the term postmodern is a significant foundational concept once one turns to the academic literature. At the very least, if one wants to speak intelligently in the theoretic domain of internet pedagogy, a grounding in postmodern ideas is critical.
So we need an entre into PM. On the one hand it is a slippery concept, sometimes difficult to grasp and subject to some degree of scorn by those who don’t understand it or who are frightened by its implications. The term should be neither scary nor difficult.
Postmodernism is not an ideology which one buys into such as Marxism or even Behaviorism. Postmodernism is described by Jean Francois Lyotard as "a condition." It is a condition of contemporary society, and it is a condition which many now think has been caused by technology. If that is so, then educational technologists are part of that condition. Charles Newman writes "Post-modern means the first culture in history totally under the control of twentieth century technology."
In a 1994 paper, I identified six characteristics of the PM conduction as multiple voicing, breakup of the canon, supplement, non-linearity, slippery signifieds, and ironic juxtaposition.
Multiple voicing: The modern classroom spoke with voice of the teacher and the voice of the textbook. Most often, there was nothing else. Which voices should we silence?"
breakup of the canon When things were simpler, if they ever were, there was a single canon. Whose culture should we marginalize now?
The supplement, Derrida argues, has two functions: It adds on and it eventually replaces
non-linearity Postmodern educational technology is unique in its ability to deliver content in non-linear ways.
slippery signifieds In a postmodern world, meanings do not stay put. In a postmodern classroom meanings get tangled with local contexts. Meanings (signifieds) are slippery and changing.
ironic justaposition This stems from the fact that postmodernism is self-referential and self-reflective. It juxtaposes and accepts ironic situations not as being right or wrong, but simply, and existentially, as being.
The Kenway paper was discussed. Two previews from TED were presented in order to set the stage for presentations to come in class. Al Gore's presentation on global warming illustrated how the TED site can bring world experts into the classroom. A TASTE OF TED provided a five minute overview of the TED phenomenon as an example of creativity in presentations.
Class notes:
Postmodernism and Internet Pedagogy
One cannot understand information technology without understanding postmodernism. So what is postmodernism?
Here are two simple definitions. Lyotard’s classic definition is “incredulity towards metanarratives". Another definition is “alternative conflicting discourses.”
Questioning Technology.
The modernist view sees technology as the saviour of humankind. The postmodernist view is skeptical sometimes even pessimistic. The yay-sayers dismiss the postmodernists as “luddites” but that designation is clearly not fair.
The literature on internet pedagogy is often characterized by the use of the term postmodern. Whether Jane Kenway’s article the Information SuperHighway and post-modernity, or the work of Darin Barney, or Richard Coyne’s two significant works, Designing information tcchnology in the postmodern age and his follow-up study, the term postmodern is a significant foundational concept once one turns to the academic literature. At the very least, if one wants to speak intelligently in the theoretic domain of internet pedagogy, a grounding in postmodern ideas is critical.
So we need an entre into PM. On the one hand it is a slippery concept, sometimes difficult to grasp and subject to some degree of scorn by those who don’t understand it or who are frightened by its implications. The term should be neither scary nor difficult.
Postmodernism is not an ideology which one buys into such as Marxism or even Behaviorism. Postmodernism is described by Jean Francois Lyotard as "a condition." It is a condition of contemporary society, and it is a condition which many now think has been caused by technology. If that is so, then educational technologists are part of that condition. Charles Newman writes "Post-modern means the first culture in history totally under the control of twentieth century technology."
In a 1994 paper, I identified six characteristics of the PM conduction as multiple voicing, breakup of the canon, supplement, non-linearity, slippery signifieds, and ironic juxtaposition.
Multiple voicing: The modern classroom spoke with voice of the teacher and the voice of the textbook. Most often, there was nothing else. Which voices should we silence?"
breakup of the canon When things were simpler, if they ever were, there was a single canon. Whose culture should we marginalize now?
The supplement, Derrida argues, has two functions: It adds on and it eventually replaces
non-linearity Postmodern educational technology is unique in its ability to deliver content in non-linear ways.
slippery signifieds In a postmodern world, meanings do not stay put. In a postmodern classroom meanings get tangled with local contexts. Meanings (signifieds) are slippery and changing.
ironic justaposition This stems from the fact that postmodernism is self-referential and self-reflective. It juxtaposes and accepts ironic situations not as being right or wrong, but simply, and existentially, as being.
Class 3 Summary
1. Intro: Alistair Cooke
The day began with Alistair Cooke's Letter to America presentation titled "The magic of the internet?" The five minute presentation was discussed under a rubric which focused on context, content, and meta-analysis. The context explored both Cooke and Tom Wolfe who is quoted at length in the essay. The gist of the brilliant short essay is gthat the internet is merely a medium of communication, nothing more. It can contain a good idea or a stupid idea. Meta-analtically, it was noted that the approach to listen to Cooke (as well as to read has paper simultaneously) added a significant dimension to the presentation. The "aura" of a live presentation mattered.
Two tutorials followed, in the computer lab.: Social bookmarking and blogs. John walked the class througth delicious
The day began with Alistair Cooke's Letter to America presentation titled "The magic of the internet?" The five minute presentation was discussed under a rubric which focused on context, content, and meta-analysis. The context explored both Cooke and Tom Wolfe who is quoted at length in the essay. The gist of the brilliant short essay is gthat the internet is merely a medium of communication, nothing more. It can contain a good idea or a stupid idea. Meta-analtically, it was noted that the approach to listen to Cooke (as well as to read has paper simultaneously) added a significant dimension to the presentation. The "aura" of a live presentation mattered.
Two tutorials followed, in the computer lab.: Social bookmarking and blogs. John walked the class througth delicious
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