“When you drive a car down the road, you need an engine to move it forward and you need brakes to steer. The vehicle of technology requires both the engine of optimism and the brakes of pessimism in order to steer [us into a better tomorrow].”
Kevin Kelly, How We Build the Future.
This work by Clif Mims is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Full details available at:
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I found Kevin Kelly’s ideas (video below) provocative and the visual presentation is creative. While important matters such as social, economic, and political issues aren’t addressed, I do think this adds intriguing flavor to the discussion of technology’s role in society and our future.
Enjoy the video.
WIRED founder @kevin2kelly explains why progress often looks like dystopia to the untrained eye.
The Global EdTech Academy is offering “free, universal access to an entire suite of live and recorded EdTech resources, Master Class sessions, and Office Hours” (source). The EdTech sessions include tons of webinars from education’s most popular voices such as Matt Miller, Ken Shelton, Holly Clark, Micheal Cohen (the Tech Rabbi), and more. The sessions are both live and recorded so that you can either join the collective group or watch on your own time. The master classes are taught by experts in products of Microsoft, and the office hours are there for you if you need immediate assistance or support. While the sessions are geared toward Microsoft products they actually focus more on ideas and strategies that will both inspire you and equip you to apply your learning no matter the platform you use. The best part of this endeavor is that all of this is absolutely free. Click here to access the Global EdTech Academy and have fun learning.
In our virtual, yet isolated, current environment, it is important to continue maintaining healthy relationships with students. “When kids spend their daytime hours in safe, supportive schools where adults work every day to build strong relationships with every student, they are simply better, more engaged learners” (source). Yet, how do educators continue to build strong relationships when students are on the other side of a screen? The suggestions below offer strategies to maintain strong relationships with students despite the virtual connection (source).
Communicate frequently – it is important that students see and hear you frequently. This action can be done through video chats or by posting videos on your LMS (learning management system – Schoology, Canvas, Google Classroom, etc). Students need to know you are thinking of them often.
Create a routine – In person classroom routines are important, thus, virtual learning routines are important. The routine can be accomplished through morning meetings, responding to daily prompts, daily announcements, read-alouds, etc. Any type of activity that can be completed daily in order to create an environment that is safe will help students know you are there and available.
Virtual check-ins – there are numerous students that benefit from daily check-ins with teachers in the school setting. This same type of check-in can be completed online. Whether they give a visual thumbs or down or they complete a Google Form like this one, students need to be able to share how they are feeling with the teacher and you as the teacher can pinpoint who is doing well and who is not.
I recently watched a video where three generations of people were asked the same question: “When you were a kid, what did you do for fun?” (source). The different answers between the oldest generation and the youngest were staggering and showcase how much society has become dependent on technology. For example, answers from the oldest generation were picking blueberries, sledding, growing watermelons, and going fishing. The middle-age generation answered that they played outdoor games with friends and built forts. Yet, it is the answers from the youngest generation that are the most concerning. The younger generation answered that for fun they play video games and spend time on their phones or watching tv. These answers alone are not inherently concerning, however, it is the truth of how much time is spent doing these things that is troubling. One member of the youngest generation said he watched 23 episodes of his favorite tv show in four days. Another said she would die without her phone. Members of the youngest generation admitted that they spend three, four, even five hours straight on some type of screen. In full disclosure, this video is an ad for spending more time outdoors and it is sponsored by Nature Valley. You can see the entire video by clicking here.
So the real question is, what do you do for fun? I love to spend time outdoors running, hiking, and biking. I love to read and complete puzzles. However, I also love to watch movies and spend a great deal of time on some type of screen (computer, phone, tv). The video is meant to generate a reaction of alarm. However, I do not personally believe that all children, or adults for that matter, are addicted to their screens. Although, more and more are becoming unable to step away from their screens at an alarming rate. On the other hand, I am not an advocate for saying no to all technology. I truly believe that technology can help make our lives more efficient. The solution is instead of being controlled by technology we must make technology work for us. Cal Newport outlines a way to make technology work for us in his book Digital Minimalism. He discusses ways to take control of technology from the simple (turning off notifications) to the extreme (taking a digital fast) and everything in between.
References:
All sourced information is hyperlinked as applicable above.
Would you wear tech on your face? That is a bet that Intel is willing to take with its new Vaunt glasses, which aim to bring you information about the world in as direct a manner as possible–straight into your eyes. Essentially, the glasses work by using a safe laser to project information onto a holographic mirror, which then reflects directly through your eyeball and onto your retina as a kind of heads up display (HUD). This technology is called retinal projection; the information is “painted†onto the back of your retina. Because of the way this projection works, each pair of glasses must be individually fitted so that the laser is calibrated to focus on your eye. By using retinal projection, the image is clearly seen in the lower right visual field of the wearer but is invisible to an outside observer. Intel also wanted the Vaunt to be unobtrusive. If you are not looking slightly down at the display, the image completely disappears, leaving you with an unobstructed, uncluttered view of your surroundings.
These glasses are meant to be sleek and discreet. The glasses themselves just look like normal, plastic-framed eyewear; and they even work with regular glasses prescriptions. These glasses are designed to be very simple. There’s no swiping or hand motions. You simply look down if you want to read a notification or look the opposite way to dismiss. Perhaps most importantly, they’re comfortable to wear all day, weighing little more than a standard pair of glasses. Because they look like normal glasses and the HUD is invisible to bystanders, no one would necessarily know you were wearing smart glasses at all.
Far from showing you an endless roll of tweets and Instagram likes, Intel hopes that the Vaunt glasses will allow you to interact with your environment in a new, intelligent way using the Vaunt’s AI. In addition to its laser, the Vaunt also contains Bluetooth, an app processor, a projected 18 hours worth of battery, and sensors that allow it to know when you turn your head so it can guess what you’re looking at. They hope that this hardware will allow the Vaunt to do a wide variety of things, such as showing you directions to your destination after you parked your car or showing you which of two restaurants you are looking at has a better Yelp review. The possibilities are truly endless.
These glasses will soon be available through early access to independent developers who will find even more unique uses for the glasses. They will be compatible with both iPhones as well as Android devices, and they will likely be found wherever regular glasses are sold–like your local eyecare provider. Augmented reality is no longer just for video games and taking funny pictures, but could become a part of grocery shopping, walking through a new city, or cooking dinner at home. Contextually relevant, concise information is just a glance away.
Thoughts From Future Teachers
Future teachers appear to be split as to whether or not they could imagine themselves wearing smart glasses. About two-thirds were unsure, while the remaining third were split between those for and against the Vaunt glasses.
While they were not sure whether or not they themselves would feel comfortable wearing smart glasses, future teachers appeared to be more accepting of others wearing them. About two-thirds of those surveyed responded that they would be comfortable with others wearing smart glasses in social places, while the remaining third remained unsure. No respondent reported that they would be definitely uncomfortable with others wearing smart glasses.
When asked what benefits they would see from glasses of this type, future teachers responded by pointing out that it would make information more accessible and that it would allow one to appear less rude by checking notifications in social situations. Maggie pointed out, “I would have better options based on the information provided from the glasses, so decision making will be a lot easier and quicker.†Some respondents also noted improved driver safety, like Tyara, who commented, “Well, if the glasses show you notifications like an iPhone, and you were driving, I think it would cause less wrecks because you wouldn’t have to look down at your phone.â€
When asked about specific benefits that these glasses may have in the classroom, many future teachers were concerned about the glasses being more of a distraction that a helpful learning tool. Some respondents did think of some potential classroom uses, however. For example, Caroline mentioned that the glass could help with “reminders of homework or classwork due. [They could help with] Not having to ask the teacher for certain things, the glasses will just show you what to do.†Taira suggested, “The glasses could be used by a student or a professor when giving a lecture or a presentation in the way that the words are displayed in the glasses so they can keep their eyes on the class and do not have to rely on memorization.â€
Related Resources
Vaunt glasses were built to be discreet, but not all wearable tech is. This article in Digital Trends highlights some novel, revolutionary, and at times downright strange-looking, wearable tech.
While Google Glasses, a predecessor to the Vaunt, never took off as many had hoped they would, many teachers were already talking about ways to incorporate smart glasses in the classroom.
Moverio smart glasses have already been used in creative assignments for elementary school children in Japan.
“Given the growing ubiquity of [technology] in schools, as well as the increasing numbers of educators advocating for their use, it can seem as though education may have reached a tipping point when it comes to improving students’ 21st-century skills. According to the Partnership for 21st Century skills, these can be categorized as the 4Cs: Creativity, Critical Thinking, Communication, and Collaboration.” — Beth Holland
Beth goes on to share that she has started to worry about the growing presence of what she calls the Fake Cs.
“…Using technology in the classroom – and using it effectively – might require some slight adjustments on the part of the teacher to sustain the effort, creative problem-solving, and innovation required to actually improve learning through the use of technology. This occurs at the belief level–what teachers believe about technology, education, and their own abilities to manage technology.
“Looking at the characteristics of teachers that effectively use technology in the classroom, then, can be useful to create an “edtech” mindset–one that believes in purpose, adaptation, change, and meaningful planning.” — TeachThought
Click here to view the infographic of these seven characteristics.
This article shares the story of Albermarle County Schools’ experience integrating maker education throughout all the schools in the district. In particular, snapshots of Agnor Hurt Elementary and Albermarle High School are spotlighted. I recommend diving into this article and considering how Albermarle’s experience and ideas can impact your classroom, school, and district. Here are just two nuggets I gleaned from reading this.
“Making shouldn’t be isolated. We want to get away from that idea. Makerspaces and classrooms are one and the same.” — Andrew Craft, Elementary Teacher
“When people make, they get back to the basics of who they are as humans. Making puts the learner at the center of the work — and when that happens with our kids, the content makes sense to them.” — Pam Moran, Superintendent
