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Re: wearables in teaching (a WARNING)

"Techwatcher" <> writes:

> I envy your enthusiasm! It seems to me you don't really understand the
> objection I'm trying to raise, so I'll try again. But first, a

<nod> Thanks. I find this really helpful! =)

<DIGRESSION>
> courses was basically to get hold of the list of registered students as
> soon as possible, and read the names through for a few days, especially
> before I went to bed at night and when I woke up in the morning. Having
> the labels (to some extent) in my head made it really much easier to
> attach them to the faces later!

I'm a teaching assistant, but I get my hands on the list pretty early
because I'm also the maintainer of the online submission system we use
in school. I find that it's a lot of fun gradually getting to know
students - how they code, what problems they have, what they enjoy
doing... I wish that the teacher I'm assisting could take advantage of
what I know. =) I don't really know all their faces yet, but I'm
getting there!

> For me, teaching was pretty much all about interacting with students.
> The material was never something I had to focus on. In my Human

I'd love to be able to do something like that in the introductory
computer science course. It's very encouraging to learn that some
teachers can effectively involve students in that matter. =) The
teachers in my university tend to favor lectures a lot, and I've been
thinking of experimenting with other ways of teaching once I
graduate...
</DIGRESSION> 

I feel quite guilty about snipping most of your reply. It's quite
interesting, and you're right - I misunderstood your point. =)

> I don't believe using a computer (while, for example, teaching) can ever
> become as (instinctive/natural) background-ish to us as, say, pacing and
> vocalizing are. The more we split our attention, the more psychic time
> we have to give to managing the focus of attention -- the stack or task
> list... So I don't think a completely computerized teaching environment
> is a great idea.

<nod> Yes, having a completely natural, practically-part-of-ourselves
system seems like a pretty far off concept for now. I wonder how we
can go about making one. It should be possible. After all, typing has
become almost natural to me. While half-asleep, I type the strangest
things while still managing to be sorta coherent... (Correct spelling,
capitalization, punctuation and all! ;) )

However, twiddling still requires a bit of an effort for me. That
limits the kind of input I can get away with in the background, but
it's okay for foreground queries and the like.

> I've been waiting for a wearable since 1998, and I really, really want
> one, but I also know quite a lot about human cognition. We need to be
> careful. (How many deaths have cell phones caused? And talking on the

I've read a bit about the distracting quality of cellphones, and I'll
try to keep that in mind. Above all things, the computer should be a
background task that only pops to the foreground when it's useful.

Interestingly enough, the M1 doesn't feel as intrusive as I
thought. I'll still have to check it with other people (they might get
distracted staring at my gadgets!), but I feel that I actually can
maintain eye contact. For teaching, a PDA display might be okay - just
enough to flash notes or records when called upon...

Thanks for your insights. I'll be sure to post stories about my
misadventures.

I'm half-tempted to do everything in Emacs...

I will try to make sure that the computer never gets in the way of
teaching. If we can't find a nice way, then at least we'll have some
idea of what doesn't work.

--
Sacha Chua <> - 4 BS CS Ateneo geekette
interests: emacs, linux, wearables, teaching compsci, making games

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