One version of the Future of Public Education#edcmooc

What I think is interesting about Seth Godin's TEDXyouth talk is this message is delivered directly to school age children as well as the educators and administrators.

And he is very direct and accurate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXpbONjV1Jc

Final Musings on Week 1 #edcmooc Films and Articles

Though I watched all the films, I will speak on "Thursday" For me it depicted a balance of utopian v dystopian in the female and male characters. The female character seemed perfectly content, as many people I know, to interact with her device, engage stress free with all of the digital technology around and sort of "go with flow." On the other hand, the male character seemed to always be in a state of "quiet desperation", annoyed at the sun for casting a shadow on his screen, annoyed with the blinds to shut out the sun, out of sync (probably not the first time) with the hand print scanner. The only true emotion I saw from him was a bit of anguish at the possible demise of the bird outside his window.

And the bird (possessor of agency), just went on with life dealing with technology as it would anything else that came up. Makes me wonder where real intelligence lies.

I viewed "New Media" as art . It made me wish I could produce the art. The other two films really did not resonate with me.

I read all of the articles, or rather skimmed through all but two. I have little patience left for having to read academic jargon positioning in any discipline. I liked Daniel's article probably because the subject resonates with me and it was presented in a clear balanced approach. He was utopian in his enthusiasm with open education and clear enough to present the economics of it which is crucial in any project. And warnings to be on the look out for bias and bull, though not emphasized as such, are the very dystopic side of media in general and how it can be used for one-sided gains.

If one uses year of birth as the determining factor, I should be a digital immigrant, but am much more comfortable as a digital native. As a self-structured learner, I probably would have made better grades in school with more autonomy over my education. My personal experience from working with many people who chronologically are digital natives, they may have digital skills I lack and I may have digital skills they lack. This is with those do not have "tech" related jobs.

Final Musings on Week 1 #edcmooc Posting 1-Language

 In a global learning environment, I wonder about the issues of the subtleties of language, especially in the use of humor. I have found  there are very subtle, cultural driven nuances in the "hidden" meanings of words along with phrasing and body language that give language and words meaning. I know most people "speak" or read or write English or use Google translator constantly. But often meaning is very cultural driven. Even within the same country, it is so. And it takes time and almost immersion in a different region or culture to learn the often hidden meanings or messages behind the same words.

I wonder if anyone else has thought about or dealt with the many meaning behind language.

Dystopian View of Tech in Education #edcmooc

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Utopian v Dystopian Digital Environments

Feeling a bit of overwhelm at all the social media sources. I used to be addicted to twitter, an excellent research tool, but found I would waste an enormous amount of time chasing "shiny info objects" and not getting much work done. I am not a Facebook fan. Used to use it when I was student overseas, before it had good privacy controls. When I found potential employers trying to friend me and realizing that they had access to all the "student holiday idiocy" that comes with it, I disconnected. Now they have much better privacy controls, but for me more trouble than it is worth. Dystopia

 That being said, I do not have a problem with the digital world, (my life revolves around and is shaped by it), but rather a focus problem. My job is create, then execute in a timely fashion, hard to do when I am watching music videos on You Tube of the latest new favorite I discovered on Pandora. Utopia


On a more serious note, I am interested in hearing comments about the differing digital privacy laws in Europe v USA. Who do you think will win? Being an American, I usually put my money on deep pockets, but maybe the politicians in Europe are stronger than that.

Are social media platforms just large data mining platforms trying to predict my needs and desires and funnel me into the perfect consumer track, but really irritating me instead by getting it all wrong? Dystopia

And do I really care? Gotta catch-up on my favorite show on Hulu. Utopia!