Research Diary: Blogs and Eportfolios in Higher Education

Everything Bad Is Good For You

That's the title of Discover Magazine editor Steven Johnson's new book arguing that digital technologies -- especially gaming -- actually build crucial thinking skills and stimulate higher brain function through complex, multilayered interactivity and reality-based learning.  Of course not everyone agrees with this counterintuitive little thesis. To say the least.  Witness the following tongue-in-cheek review from one Barnes and Noble customer:  "I've never been a fan of reading, I'm usually too busy playing video games. But I decided to take a break from playing video games long enough to read this book about playing video games. Upon reading this farcical tale of increasing intelligence in the pop culture I summarized what I think of popular culture....Those who create are in an elite society. In fact, by creating this book for people who don't read, you have instantly put the metaphorical bullet in your own foot."  However, the fact that the customer review is published digitally in an online interactive open forum makes me wonder if the customer isn't the one taking aim at his own toes!

Library of All Human Knowledge (online)

From the days of Sumerian clay tablets till now, humans have ''published'' at least 32 million books, 750 million articles and essays, 25 million songs, 500 million images, 500,000 movies, 3 million videos, TV shows and short films and 100 billion public Web pages. All this material is currently contained in all the libraries and archives of the world. When fully digitized, the whole lot could be compressed (at current technological rates) onto 50 petabyte hard disks. --New York Times, "Scan This!" May 14, 2006.

USATODAY.com - More medical schools requiring PDAs

Link: USATODAY.com - More medical schools requiring PDAs.

eSchool News online - Tech helps teach complex reading skills

I'm always delighted to find high-tech linking up with good old fashioned basic skills instruction.  And it doesn't get more basic -- or more indispensible -- than basic reading.  So this item caught my interest (and I'll look forward to seeking new ways to implement such new systems at Foothill, where our "no credit labs" can always use some nifty new options!

Link: eSchool News online - Tech helps teach complex reading skills.

eSchool News online - Schools urged to teach 'spatial literacy'

Having just posted something on traditional literacy (i.e. readin' and 'ritin') I thought a counterpost about other types of emerging literacies might be called for.  Hence this link about spatial literacy (the ability to think in multiple dimensions).  Which, come to think of it, is a lovely metaphor for many, many kinds of learning!

Link: eSchool News online - Schools urged to teach 'spatial literacy'.

Best EduBlogs Awards!

E-School News has announced its awards for the 10 Best Educational Blogs. In addition to the compelling nature of these blogs themselves -- all created by hard-working educators (like me) -- there's also the rainbow coalition online to consider.  In the words of one commentator, "MacKenty also praised what he called the "purity" of blogs as a communication tool, saying, "It's not about...who you are, or the color of your skin--it's about what you have to say. There's something utterly beautiful and noble about that."

Link: eSchool News online - Panelists: Blogs are changing education.

Tech Leaves Teens Speechless

Speaking of speechless (and literacy too, as in those two previous posts) here's another of those scary-new-world media articles about the potential downsides of technology.  In this case, a student who spends so much time text-messaging that she's basically forgotten how to gossip in person.  So she's now practicing vocalization.  Guess there really can be too much of a good thing?  In my day, the big complaint was that teenagers monopolized our (one family) phone line, gabbing so continuously that it threatened the basis of western civilization itself.  Now that civilization seems threatened by the high-tech equivalent of teen silence.  Hmmmmmm....

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2006-05-29-teen-texting_x.htm

Bill Seeks to Block MySpace

There's a growing backlash against the MySpace site -- fanned by alarmist media portrayals of online predators.  These predators are a problem, but they don't exist "only" on MySpace (or even online).  They're just as much a danger in the "real space" of playgrounds and schools and other "Traditional" formats.  So I don't personally think that legislating sites like MySpace out of existence is the answer.  http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-myspace12may12,1,501309.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

Multi-Tasking Damages Our Learning?

There's too much media hype (my opinion) on the downsides of technologies -- and not enough emphasis on why millions have adopted these tools enthusiastically.  But I did think this particular study was well-done.  It shows that multi-tasking measurably reduces concentration. With higher propensity toward HD/ADD as a direct  result.  http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showstoryts.cfm?Articleid=6453

Anne Frank Online -- With Video Downloads?

You have to wonder what Anne Frank would have done had she lived in the age of video blogging.  Admittedly "The Blog of Anne Frank" somehow sounds less felicitous than "The Diary of Anne Frank" does today.  But it's a good reminder that "diaries" in some form or other have  long provided an "eyewitness to history" -- from the Romans forward to Samuel Pepys and Andne Frank.  And now this.  http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/24/technology/24link.html? _r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1153711019-eFzZsE5TzywjgmF16hZ02g