Private Theories and New Media

Upon reviewing my answer I realized that even I had confused the side the moon is on when there is a new moon and visa versa, and I took Astronomy in College! It made me really reflect on this. The video started out by saying "students who receive the best education" but continued to explain that they don't understand even basic scientific concepts. I really believe, in a global context, that this is an untrue statement. While Harvard may be considered to be the best in this country (which is very arguable), it is certainly not the best in the world. And, our public education is appalling in many ways, especially when we consider the amount of money that is spent on it. In the end, it doesn't matter, because the world is changing. With sites like Wikipedia, the world has become smaller. Things that were once private have become public through various media sources.

The video focused on how the student had ingrained her very own "private theory" into her brain and that it penetrated so deeply that it would be very difficult to remove it and replace it with a correct understanding of the material. So, how did this happen and why? Well, honestly, she accepted the truth when she was given the knowledge and the choice to react to it. She thought it through and it made sense.

In the end, she accepted it. This is what New Media brings to the table for education. A tangible, audible, visual, interactive way of learning, yes, but more importantly, a knowledge network that can dispel common misunderstandings. When one communicates through new media and places his/her "private theory" up against the scrutiny of his/her peers, the information is no longer private and one can learn from others. Learning becomes cooperative. Information is ready available to learn in a variety of contexts (thus stimulating different intelligences), and one can no longer keep "private theories." Everything has to be laid out onto the table. New media gives us the edge over cycles of ignorance if the information is controlled well.

Classroom 2.0

O.K. I LOVE THIS!!!   There is so much potential here.  After receiving my acceptance, I opened the account and I saw that everything was very intuitive.  It was like having an interactive Microsoft Outlook, but about 1,000,000 times better.  The themes were decent and the use of gadgets is a nice feature.  Now, I have my YouTube channel loaded onto 'my apps' within Classroom 2.0.  None of this would be possible without Web2.0, really.  Email, calendar, blogger, you name it and it's here, all designed and integrated for online classroom use.  I have to say that I think I like this more than Moodle (no offense D.I.).  It just seems like it would be so easy to have everything there, all together. It's very effective and very nice.  I give it a 5 out of 5!

It was easy to set up, thoroughly designed, and integrated nicely.  No complaints here, except for maybe some customization options that weren't there, such as creating themes and templates.  For instance, with Google Apps and Google Education Suite, you can create a template for all of your users to use with their sites. I didn't see anything like that here.  However, with Google it is just one site, you don't have everything integrated and if you wanted it to be integrated you would have to do it yourself.  Still, I don't think anything like this is even possible with Google Sites. Classroom 2.0 rules!

Brad on Classroom 2.0

Thoughts on Wesch & Anonymity

What a guy!  I love the way that Wesch teaches.  As a teacher, I have always felt that I don't like the system.  I try to be innovative, but usually the system doesn't allow it.  Maybe I am a true teacher, just not a true teacher meant for the current system.  I am hoping that my education at ASU will open the door for me to teach in a capacity where I can explore. The video that caught my attention was the Vision of Students video. I guess I liked it better because it left a lot of unanswered questions and issues just floating there, creating a sense of necessity to act inside of me, but leaving me without a means to carry out any such task.

The way he structured his class (the one that dealt with anonymity) kept the students engaged and motivated.  It's funny that, many times, schools want innovation but under the same old rules.  I like Wesch's class, particularly the way they took a chance and got their hands dirty during the learning process.

It's not easy to see where you are going if you are inside a box.  If web-based learning is going to become the new normal, then educational institutions are going to have to loosen their grip every once and a while and let us roam.  While I strongly advocate Wesch's style, I firmly believe that it is a style that needs to remain at the High School and University levels.  The level of self-control and accountability needed for liberated online courses and research is much too high for elementary students.   

If you haven't seen it, check out the video from anonymous about the Church of Scientology.  Just type "anonymous" into Google and you will find it.  I did a little research on Scientology.  While I don't agree with this group on very many levels at all, I can definitely understand their frustration with Scientology in particular.

Anthropology applied to the web is cool! Thanks, Wesch!