Learning through Technology

Okay. It took me awhile to get on board but I am now completely sold. Gmail is the only email system you will ever need. I know that is a grandios statement to make but after using it for only a short period of time, I highly recommend it. I have cut my email time in half both checking and responding. I am able to search email more effectively and quickly. I am able to tag email in multiple ways and I seem to have ample storage space. I hate the fact that I am selling my soul to Google but they are providing a valuable service. (more…)

So I was sitting in my “Emerging Technologies” class last night and we began discussing a colleagues recent trip to England. During her travels we communicated several times through Skype and I followed her blog posts and checked out her Google map. The conversation last night however was about computing in the cloud.  For those thinking my head is in the cloud right about now, cloud computing is where all you need to get to your information (email, documents, contacts, etc.) is a computer connected to the Internet. (more…)

I haven’t posted in a long time for many reasons (one I was keeping another class blog going elsewhere) and two I have been engaged with lots of technology but haven’t written about my involvement (shame on me). I was convicted lately by a wonderful post from Roger Ebert  I Think I am Musing My Mind which has convinced me that I am not writing nearly enough to allow my muse a chance to speak. I have been too quiet within as well as without.

Now is the time for me to break my silence. Last night was an historic night that moved me deeply. I witnessed a man become President-elect because he chose to unify this country instead of using partisan rancor. He chose to engage young people with technology instead of alienate them from the process. I am no pundit but I think he ran a near perfect campaign. I was probably biased because he chose to engage me through technology and that is my bent but his message of hope resonated within me. This is NOT a political blog nor will I debate such issues. I think John McCain is an honorable man who loves this country and would have made a fine President but I did not hear a clear plan of where he wanted to go. He seemed to be the traditional candidate and Obama the opposite. I was ready for a change from Washington as usual. I hope I get that.

As I watched the returns come in on CNN I wasn’t sure if I was watching the election returns or Star Wars. They used hologram technology to “beam in” reporters and others or create an image of the Capitol complete with democratic or republican standings and pictures of those in contested races. Real-time graphs, the “magic wall” and analysis of exit polling complete the tech reporting. I was impressed. In class last week, we talked about beaming a holographic super model into a runway show or actors into a recent theatre production and now we are doing it with reporters. It seems there is a change in the future in what technology will be available for the classroom. Imagining beaming in a distant professor to teach class or studying the architecture of a building through a holographic rendering, playing a virtual instrument or inspecting virtual art in 3D. I think the possibilities are endless.

So I find myself on the cusp of a new political landscape, a new way of reporting the news, and a new way to engage the educational process. At the end of Obama’s first term, where will technology be? What role will it play in how he governs? How will it be used to bring us closer together? What will it mean for education? If we consider the 2008 Horizon Report, we will be getting close to Social Operating Systems and Collective Intelligence being fully adopted or well on the way to adoption. How will that change the landscape? How will it help us better understand the world around us or the politicians leading us? How will these two technologies intersect with holographic imaging? Will such technology be affordable for the rest of us?

One night. So many exciting possibilities. So many questions. So much hope for the future.