Steven Pinker: The surprising decline in violence

Technology has made the world smaller, and it will eventually allow us
to (or has allowed us to) enjoy the benefits of cooperation in a way that is
more accessible to more people than ever. Here Steven Pinker talks about the surprising
decline in violence among humans, and urges us to focus on some of the
things we are doing right in society. I think this is really important.

Why Technology is the Most Important Factor in the Success of Schools Today

So with the advent of so much technology, many parents fear that technology is stunting learning. Some researchers are finding the opposite to be true. Do students really learn better when using technology and online tools? The recent scientific research and theories on best learning practices are evidence for several convincing arguments that students, in fact, do learn better with the aid of technology. Learning supported with online technology is the answer to the problem of a homogenized educational curriculum that we saw as a result of people in education responding in a very uncreative way to the requirements for meeting state and federal standards. It is a widely recognized fact that what was once our U.S. schools one-size-fits-all approach to learning is now outdated. In order to bring schools into the realm that most students are already existing in today, a realm that is dominated by the use of online tools and technologies, we need to acknowledge the power that online learning brings to the learning process. Online learning and access to new technologies simply makes the classroom more student centered (Clark, 2008). If we were to ask students what they think about implementing technologies in the classroom in order to maximize learning, according to the CDW 21st-Century Classroom Report (2011), 94 % of students say that they believe that using technology to hone and develop their skills will maximize their opportunities for success in the future. The statistics for teachers that believe this to be true is less than half of that figure (CDW Government LLC ). Technologies in the classroom are compared to disruptive innovations in the marketplace by Professor C. Christensen (2008). Disruptive innovations in the marketplace is a term coined to explain important, complex innovations that provide services or products that were once so expensive that they were only available to a few elite customers available to almost everyone. According to Christensen in his book “Disrupting Class” (2008), technology is the disruptive innovation in the education sector that will change the way that educators approach learning forever. With all of this in mind embracing technology and online learning tools as the best way to reach all students is the logical next step for visionary educators.

Resources

CDW Government LLC (2011). The 2011 CDW-G 21st-Century Classroom Report. Vernon Hills, Il: CDW-G. Retrieved August 8, 2014 @ http://newsroom.cdw.com/features/feature-06-28-10.html

Christensen, C. M., Horn, M. B., & Johnson, C. W. (2008). Disrupting Class. New York: McGraw Hill.

Clark, T. (2008). Online Learning: Pure Potential. Educational Leadership, Reshaping High Schools,65(8). Retrieved July 31, 2014 @ 

http://www.blackboard.com/resources/k12/ASCD_Online_Learning_Pure_Potential.pdf

UDL At A Glance: this is a great video to introduce or further familiarize teachers with Universal Design for Learning.

Gutiérrez: We can have law and order and justice and compassion

This is a very, very good man who explains the problem and what we need to do to humanize our system. He speaks from his heart. God bless him. Watch this speech, please, and understand what he says: " We can have law and order and justice and compassion" (Congressman Gutierrez, 2014).

The Outernet Just Might be the Answer!

Although the Internet has made access to information potentially accessible to more people, emerging technologies have also created a digital divide between economic classes in our society (Laureate, 2009).  Emerging technologies have created a digital divide between economic classes in our society (Laureate, 2009). This same sentiment is expressed in the sentence, “The future has arrived; it just wasn't distributed equally” (Gibson, W n.d.; Kennedy, 01, 12, 2012).

So how can we, as educational leaders, help narrow that divide? Well, the answer is that we need to help make technologies more accessible to everyone while providing an income for those that work in the technology industry. Dr. Elliot Soloway (2009) suggests that profits are now going to be made by disruptors in the industry who understand that the money to be made will be through providing services for the consumer, no longer by providing purchasable items (such as bits of software) (Laureate, 2009).

Metcalf's Law is the law that the power of the network increases by the number of people involved squared. As technology leaders, then, it stand to reason, we want to keep as many people involved in the Internet as possible. The value of our network is found in its global reach. One way that access is becoming more available to more people is that Smart phone sales are growing globally. Right now Smart phones are the future of technology. The Smart phone provides opportunities for the average person in ways that have the potential to narrow the technology gap. (Laureate, 2009).

Another way that the growing divide could continue to be widened if we, as technology leaders, allow it to is that the Internet may no longer remain neutral. What this means is, the FCC may cave to pressure to allow for companies to pay for faster Internet services, making the Internet less neutral. Right now almost anyone can access the Internet for a small monthly fee, and no one is given priority for faster service. If the FCC passes what the FCC calls, in a strange Orwellian double-speak term, new “net neutrality” rules there is a possibility that the rich corporations will have access to an Internet fast-lane, while the rest of us normal folk will be left out (Selyukh, 2014). This has the potential weaken the positive global effect that our current Internet has had in making information more equally accessible to all, in a way that is more more prevalent than ever before.

The disruptors, the technology leaders, the inventors, and the innovation champions are already looking for ways to counteract any form of censorship or special rights for certain groups that could occur through FCC regulations and financial strong-holds on the Internet. There is now an “Outernet” in the works that would allow for free access to all of humanity through WiFi from space, despite attempts to close down the openness we now enjoy on the Internet (Outernet, n.d.. @ https://www.outernet.is/). We can, and should -as technology leaders-, develop U.S. and global policies to protect this, and we can encourage all citizens to exercise their voice and speak up for their right to access to information.

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (2009). Emerging and future technology: Diversity and globalism. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Outernet (n.d.) @ https://www.outernet.is/

Kennedy, P. (01/13/2012) William Gibson's future is Now. The New York Times. @ http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/books/review/distrust-that-particular-flavor-by-william-gibson-book-review.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Selyukh, A. (May 15, 2014). Amid protests, U.S. FCC proposes new 'net neutrality' rules. Reuters, WA @ http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/15/us-usa-internet-neutrality-idUSBREA4C0SF20140515

Wired. (2014-05-02 18:45 UTC). Outernet: A space-based alternative Internet designed to evade censorship. Interactivity will be limited (no uploads). @ http://hiw.me/WIRED/status/462301794304282626

Red Queens: DVDs and Video-on-demand technologies

One competitive force behind emerging technologies is the the "Red Queen," based on Lewis Carol's character from Through the Looking Glass (Thornburg, 2008c). An emergent Red Queen has an undeniable and obvious impact on the evolution of technology, because of the fierce competition between technologies. The consequence of a fierce battle between two Red Queen technologies; each one racing to keep ahead of the other, results in the other similar technologies becoming obsolete (Laureate, 2009).

When I needed to find a way to view the movie based on a Philip K. Dick book, A Scanner Darkly, I was able to find a vendor that offered this service to me for free, on demand. This current competition between DVDs and video-on-demand is an example of a Red Queen rivalry. When Video-on-demand became available to the public, all of Blockbluster Video Outlets open as retail rental outlets for DVD rental and purchase were put out of business, they are all literally closed directly due to the availability of Video-on-demand technology. This shows that DVDs and Video-on-demand are Red Queens, based on Thornburg's definition (2008c).

According to McLuhan’s tetrad (2008b), Videos-on demand enhance current technologies because it accelerates accessibility, improves price, and convenience to the consumer. It obsoletes rental video stores available for rental as physical retail outlets, retrieves the access to programming once available from your living room when televisions were first invented, and could be replaced in the future by a wild card technology not currently in existence, thus reversing the enhancing features that it originally introduced.

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (2009). Emerging and future technology. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Thornburg, D. D. (2008b). Emerging technologies and McLuhan's Laws of Media. Lake Barrington, IL: Thornburg Center for Space Exploration.

Thornburg, D. (2008c). Red Queens, butterflies, and strange attractors: Imperfect lenses into emergent technologies. Lake Barrington, IL: Thornburg Center for Space Exploration.

Intel Pins Hopes on Tablets, Wearable Tech -- ScienceDaily

Intel Pins Hopes on Tablets, Wearable Tech -- ScienceDaily

Virtual Realities,
the questioning of  what is “real,” and Mayan traditions overlap. This article explains how. by Devonee Trivett

Sarah Jackson, an anthropological archaeologist and an assistant professor at the University of Cincinnati is discovering how Mayans held a concept of “partible personhood,” a belief that material objects have their own 'identity” (some may call it a soul). Mayan belief also held that the human identity can be divided in parts live outside and inside the body simultaneously. "These things start to occupy this uncomfortable space where we question, 'Is it real, or is it not real?' “ (University of Cincinnati, 2014, April 24). Sound like virtual reality?

I am excited about the next Mayan virtual reality, myself. Who will be the first to take this idea and really go with it?

REFERENCE

University of Cincinnati. (2014, April 24). Ancient Maya and virtual worlds: Different perspectives on material meanings. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 26, 2014 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140424151833.htm

Chernobyl's birds adapting to ionizing radiation -- ScienceDaily

Chernobyl's birds adapting to ionizing radiation -- ScienceDaily



Some animals are adapting to nuclear radiation. According to a recent
study, "results revealed that with increasing background radiation, the
birds' body condition and glutathione levels increased and oxidative
stress and DNA damage decreased. They also showed that birds which
produce larger amounts of pheomelanin and lower amounts of eumelanin pay
a cost in terms of poorer body condition, decreased glutathione and
increased oxidative stress and DNA damage." (British Ecological Society BES, 24 April 2014).

The implications are far reaching in my mind. What will this mean for the future?

REFERENCE


British Ecological Society (BES). "Chernobyl's birds adapting to
ionizing radiation." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 24 April 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140424223057.htm>.

Second Life as a Disruptive Technology

(www.secondlife.com)
What does it mean to say that Second Life is a Disruptive Technology? 
A disruptive technology is a technology that interrupts and thus changes the evolution of other emerged technologies (Thornburg, 2010).
Rosedale (2008) explains how Second Life is a disruptive technology today. The virtual world, Second Life, is creative outlet for inventors and people who find virtual worlds as appropriate environments for their design experiments. Virtual worlds, such as Second Life, allow people to simulate a world with the same laws of physics and build things in a “practice “environment. This allows for creative people to try out ideas in a tangible way that never before existed. Anything is possible with Second Life. This represents a way to reinvent ideas, selves, identities and society. The amount of content and people involved in Second Life is expanding by about 5 percent every month. It's a really large world, co-created by millions of people today. Second Life is very exciting for people today, and will likely create a shift (or disruption) in our paradigm that will be even bigger than the impact that the Web had on our world today. The reason for this is that Second Life is built with symbols rather than text (as with the Web), and images are inherently a universal language. Also, Second Life, allows for socializing in real time among participants. This will create a connected, simultaneous experience for human beings online (Rosedale, 2008).
Based on this information, Second Life, has the potential to be a disruptive technology and make the Internet obsolete.
References
Rosedale, P. (2008). Second Life [Video]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks    /the_inspiration_of_second_life.html.

Second Life (n.d.) www.secondlife.com

 Thornburg, D. (2010). Disruptive technologies Vodcast: In Laureate Education, Inc. Emerging and future technology. image credit: Second Life @ www.secondlife.com

Tablet Appropriate for Use in Today's Classrooms

Image Credit: Lozano, V. (2014) Alcatel One Touch @ http://techie-pinoy.com/2014/03/30/alcatel-one-touch-pixi-7/

Example of Hand Held Technology Appropriate for Today's Classroom

Image Credit: Lozano, V. (2009) Dynavox Xpress Hand Held Device @ http://techie-pinoy.com/2009/08/15/dynavox-xpress-handheld-device/

Hand held devices in today's classrooms by Devonee Trivett

Image Credit: Lozano, V. 2014 Alcatel One Touch PXL @http://techie-pinoy.com/2014/03/30/alcatel-one-touch-pixi-7/ One device that is quickly emerging in classrooms today are hand held devices. This new tool creates new ways of defining and teaching literacy. “Hand held technologies have initiated new ways to think about books, course packs, and problem based learning” (Ochola, Stachowaik, & Bills, April, 2013). This new way of thinking about what exactly learning and literacy is also creates a disruption in the way things are done in the public school classroom. The students are, by and large, comfortable with the change. Often the teachers need more training and support to help them transition into their distinctly new roles. The traditional classroom, not the teacher, is what is going to be made obsolete by the access these devices provide to greater levels of learning. This said, it is important for us all not to take a “teacher vs.technology” stance when ushering in this new era of learning. These devices are found to create higher levels of student engagement, critical thinking, and knowledge construction in the classroom. Experts in education also see these portable computers as a window for creating a more highly informed, culturally sensitive and collaborative classroom. And if that's not enough to convince those resisting change, learners with disabilities are positively impacted by access to these technologies. (Ochola, et al, 2013). Unfortunately, the most significant barrier to adoption of these devices in all classrooms today is cost. “Because of the expense of hand held devices, many classrooms across the nation do not have access to them.” (Ochola, et al, 2013). In considering the cost of technology, however, the benefits far outweigh the price tag. Reference Ochola,E., Stachowaik, J., & Bills, D. (April, 2013). Learning environments and rapidly evolving handheld technologies. First Mind: Peer Reviewed Journal on the Internet.18, 4-1 Retrieved @ http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3932/3643 Image Credit: Lozano, V. (2014) Alcatel One Touch @ http://techie-pinoy.com/2014/03/30/alcatel-one-touch-pixi-7/

How mobile devices have impacted our society: Image Credit: Liam Walsh, Liam Walsh is a cartoonist for The New Yorker Magazine (2014)

Hand Held Devices in Society: Pros and Cons

Brief Explanation of Hand-Held Devices Tetrad. by Devonee Trivett Hand held mobile devices such as Smartphones and tablets create improvements in human communications, accessibility to information and new technology applications. This technology also enhances personal autonomy, and the ability to manage information and time. With the emergence of this new technology cameras and telephones are becoming obsolete. What this technology creates as unintended consequences -and may eventually lead to its eventual obsolescence- are changes to face to face relationships and modern conversations, challenges to etiquette, infringement upon personal family time or personal time, and privacy. The advent of popular use of this device among teens and the younger generation has increased their ability and willingness to communicate through text and pictures in ways and in numbers that they did not previous to the advent of this device, and this technology rekindles a heated discussion on the ethics of communication and privacy that had not been important to the average person before the emergence of this technology. Hand held devices retrieve a renewed sense of interconnectivity, something lost in our modern world where many before this device had emerged felt isolated. Hand held devices are also used in the classroom, creating a multitude of new learning opportunities for all types of learners. This is also a way to motivate digital learners, who feel comfortable with this mode of learning. "Handheld technologies like personal digital assistants (PDAs), iPads, wireless laptop, e–reader and smart phones are causing a paradigm shift in education" (Ochola,Stachowaik, & Bills, April, 2013. This creates a ripple effect in the educational community, which is why education is both exciting, and experiencing a detectable shift, that can be felt by all today. Reference Ochola,E., Stachowaik, J., & Bills, D. (April, 2013). Learning environments and rapidly evolving handheld technologies. First Mind: Peer Reviewed Journal on the Internet.18, 4-1 Retrieved @ http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3932/3643.

Ethics of Emerging Technologies

Many people I know today are (in my opinion) unnecessarily afraid of their privacy being invaded when they answer surveys or marketing questionnaires. To me we are only going to want to be more and more open about these things, because it actually gives us more say in what is produced. Let's say you are very interested in green technology, when you share this information on surveys, and if enough people voice this opinion, companies might actually start to make decisions with higher regard toward our environment and protecting it from future devastation. It's just one of many ways that we can essentially cast our vote as consumers. I am glad that the companies are listening to us. I am the only person I know in my community who is not concerned about protecting my privacy. What do we have to hide? It's not like we have to share our bank account information with anyone who conducts these surveys, but I do understand that there are unethical forces out there that would take advantage of your information if given the opportunity. So a good degree of caution is good, I suppose I was, thusly, extremely happy to find another person to share my stance on this hyper-sensitivity to privacy we seem to exhibit in our culture. In Kevin Kelly's Ted speech (Kelly, 2007) he discusses the need we will have in the next 5,000 days for increased openness. This was vindicating for me, because I too believe in openness for greater exchange of information and evolution of our species, quite frankly. -Devonee References Kelly, K. (2007, December). Kevin Kelly on the next 5,000 days of the Web [Speech]. Speech delivered at the EG 2007 Conference, Los Angeles. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/kevin_kelly_on_the_next_5_000_days_of_the_web.html. Trivett, D. (2014, 4/13/2014) Walden Discussion Board for Emerging and Future Technologies, Module 3 Discussion. Spring, 2014.

Emerging Technology: Uberconference by Google

Uberconference is a technology that represents a rhyme of history. What this technology represents from the past is a need for people to work together in groups, and discuss, much like people did when they told stories around the campfire. Uberconference makes conferencing calls more inclusive by allowing participants to invite new members to Google Hangouts with a phone number. This is more inclusive because not everyone has to have the same level of technology in the group in order to participate. New members don't necessarily have to have video conferencing capabilities now in order to have the ability to participate in video conferences or live video discussions with this new technology. Reference The New Web @ Shortly after Google launched Hangouts, it also started allowing you to add participants by dialing their phone numbers right from Hangouts. Retrieved on 04/13/2014

Strategic Gamification for Higher Levels of Engagement

Strategic gamification is a technology that has not fully emerged. When applied in an educational or professional development setting, this can create new and more effective ways to meet the needs of learners today. For anyone, employers or teachers, who has had problems getting people to engage in the learning process: this is a practical guide. Today's learners, both young and mature, are more visual, intelligent and quick than ever. Strategic Gamification is the wave of the future for training and teaching that is effective.References: Digital Game-Based Learning Wiki (n.d.) @ http://gamification.org/wiki/Gamification_Books/Digital_Game_Based_Learning retrieved on 03/09/2014, Prensky, M. (2007) Digital Game-Based Learning. Paragon House.