Week 1A

The week began by watching two TED talks about education. Please scroll down for lecture notes.

Sugata Mitra: Build a School in the Cloud

Current school learning environment came from the British Empire.
The empire created global computer made up of people; "bureaucratic
Creates people that learn the same thing, means they are all similar.
"Schools as we know them now are obsolete", claims that the current education system is outdated, and unnecessary.
Why does someone need to be able to read, write, multiple etc. when they don't need to do that in their adult lives in their jobs.
Interesting idea of leaving kids who have never used computers before, and saw how quick they picked up how to use the technology. "You've given us a machine that only works in English, so we had to learn English in order to use it." Shows how kids show other kids how to do things, and how quickly they learn.
Amazing how kids didn't even realise that they were learning complex science in a language that they are not overly familiar with; but they kept learning, and kept wanting to learn more.
Punishments and examinations are seen as threats.
"The Granny Cloud"; people are willing to teach, and people are able to self organise. Learning just happens rather than forcing it to happen.
Broadband, collaboration, and encouragement.

Dimitri Chrstiakis: Media and Children

Why do early experiences matter? Brain size triples in first two years of life. Connections between brain cells account for brain growth.
Babies react to sound and stimulation from the very beginning.
The early years are essential for brain development.
Is it possible to overstimulate the developing brain? Typical child before 5 years of age is watching 4.5 hours of TV a day.
Baby Einstein - scene changes around every 3 seconds, nothing like a real farm. Mind cannot make a 'coherent narrative'. The constant changing is what is keeping the babies engaged in the screen.
"Precondition mind to expect high levels of stimulation". The real world will appear boring. Can create attention problems at school age.
Educational programs do not increase risk of attention programs, entertainment programs do.

Lecture Notes

Most important moment from the lecture; James admits that he is not normal.

Disruptive technologies in Music Education; Wikipedia
Important to remember that our musical experiences are not that of the norm. We need to cater for and understand different students needs.
25% of Australian population have a bachelors degree or higher; it is not normal to even have a bachelors degree.
Socioeconomic status is a direct predictor of enrolment in tertiary education.
Nearly half of Australians, 47% get their only education from high school.
21.2 million internet users in Australia (around 90%). There are more active mobile phone connections than people in Australia.
Technology change has been happening very fast.
Kids access sites before they are actually meant to (underage). Standard age is 13. 59% of children have used social media before the age of 10.
As children get older, going online becomes more and more important. Much of what they do online can be related back to learning.
How can kids learn in a similar way to online gaming; completing requests over and over again.
Facebook in many ways is a bigger community than an actual country.
Things that are not good for learning and understanding: "filter bubble", you often see on the internet things that you already like. Your world view is unchallenged. Not being exposed to all the information that is available.
All students have their personal learning network.
"The App Generation" the use of apps may reduce a sense of identity and create issues with relationships with others. The use of apps can be more imaginative, can also promote the things that apps can reduce.
"Any teacher that can be replaced by a computer…should be" Arthur C Clarke
One on one devices do motivate learning.
Student centred learning is similar to 'quests'.

Point you may find interesting. In regards to the discussion that wikipedia can be difficult to provide incorrect information to, you may find this article interesting

Basically, someone named Jared Owens made a fake Aboriginal deity named Jar'Edo Wens. This hoax lasted for almost ten years online, and you have to give him credit for the longevity!

Click here for article