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Re: wearables in teaching (a WARNING)

I don't know if it was some kind of hoax or not, but a few months ago
there was an article (BBC Science news?) about persons who had become
totally dependent on their PDA's. These people were dysfunctional,
unable to function in the world. No, I'm not kidding.

The brain tends to do what it needs to do, and not much more. These
people were young, and had grown up using their PDA's to tell them
exactly what to do next (scheduler), and who they were seeing
(phonebook). They were unable to remember anything other than HOW to
LOOK UP whatever they needed!

I can understand how this kind of thing can happen. When movable type
made books more available, many lamented that no-one would remember
texts any longer, which is more or less true. How many of us remember
even our favorite short poems any more? Well, that much is okay... But
will it be okay not to "remember" the birthdays of family members, the
address of a friend you see every day, or the content of the material
you're teaching?

We already know if the mind is focussed (for example) on layout, gross
spelling errors can get right by us -- let alone the meaning of the
text... We know (and knew even before Steve Mann's unfortunate and
unwitting empirical experiment) that the mind/brain adapts its handling
of sensory input based on that input. Let's be mindful of possible
serious problems before transforming our entire professional careers in
this way. Small steps, incrementally added and tested, with frequent
tests of whether we still function with the wearable "removed," would be
my strategy!

Cheers --
Carol ()

> I think I have a nice, concrete idea that flows naturally from what
> I'm already doing. =)
> 
> * WearTeach: Wearable computing to support education
> 
> ** Lecture notes
> 
> You always have access to your lecture notes and your presentations.
> While walking around the classroom, you can select which slide or
> webpage to display while bringing up your lecture notes on those topics.
> You can also keep track of the time remaining, and you can annotate the
> lecture with timestamps so that you can measure how much time you actually
> spend on certain topics.
> 
> ** Automatic recording
> 
> You can record your lectures and class discussions, providing an annotated
> record on the Internet and then later performing speech recognition in
order
> to get a transcript.
> 
> ** Student records
> 
> You can key in someone's student ID number to retrieve all of your
> records for that student - contact information, grades, comments,
> learning styles, and even projects submitted. You can take attendance
> simply by paging through the student list and marking each student as
> present or absent. You can store pictures in order to help you
> memorize their names more easily. In fact, if you can get facial
> recognition working, that can help you establish a more personal
> atmosphere.
> 
> ** PIM functionality: contacts, appointments and TODOs
> 
> You can be reminded of upcoming appointments and tasks that
> are due. You have access to all of your information on the people
> you meet or the things you're working on. If your students have
> shared their schedule data, then you can negotiate a schedule with
> them.
> 
> ** Reference material
> 
> You can easily search through the reference material you've prepared
> or through other references on the Internet. You can instantly recall
> any relevant URLs so that you can either write it down, display it on a
> small LCD, e-mail it to someone, or even print it out.
> 
> ** Poll results
> 
> At the beginning of the class, you can give a short Web-based quiz on
> the previous lecture's topics. You can then view the results right
> away, noting particular areas they had problems with. You can also
> refer to the results during the lecture.
> 
> ** Handling student questions
> 
> Students can post their questions on an electronic bulletin
> board. They can review the answers posted by other people. You see a
> running summary of the last few questions and can record your answers
> to them. The audio file can then be uploaded to the Web. This saves a
> record of the questions and answers while encouraging those who are
> shy about participating in class. You can also record class
> discussions so that you can merge them into your future lectures.
> 
> ** Network access: mail, web, chat...
> 
> You can e-mail people right away, or check the Net for something
> you're not sure about.
> 
> * Other notes
> 
> I have no doubt that the professors who do research in wearable computing
> use it to help them teach, but I don't know to what extent they use it
> and whether they have a nice, integrated system. I'm still searching the
> Internet, but I haven't found any projects similar to what I plan to do.
> It sounds like a good idea - something I'd love to use when I start
> teaching. =)
> 
> I've read about some applications of wearables in education, but there
> don't seem to be any projects along these lines - maybe people have
> cool systems I just haven't heard about yet.
> 
> What do you think?
> 
> -- 
> Sacha Chua <> - 4 BS CS Ateneo geekette
> interests: emacs, linux, wearables, teaching compsci, making games
> 
> --
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> 
> 
> 

Cheers 

--
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