Blogs
Nov 29th, 2010 by Doug Connery
Here I have posted some interesting comments I have posted in the ETEC discussion boards:
DLG 11: The Spirituality of Educational Technology – Culminating Activity
It seems the topic of Spirituality lends itself well to reflection. As this is our last unit, we would like to invite you to reflect on the big ideas you gathered from this unit as well as ETEC 511. Post on your blog something that includes either a question you are left pondering or an observation you’d like to make regarding Spirituality and Educational Technology or how this course has brought Educational Technology into focus for you.
After pondering spirituality and technology for over a week, I have the following thoughts:
If you read further down you will see how I express and experience my spirituality. Also go to the C-Toons page to view a spirituality toon.
I see little connection between spirituality and technology as I do not feel any spiritual connection to my computer or any electronic device. This may be different for many others however.
Perhaps I feel this way as I believe your spirituality or your faith is always there, it is something you can call upon when you need it, and it is always idling in the background when you are not thinking about it. You can always trust it and respect it. Technology however is neither of these. You cannot trust it to always be there: there are power failures, router failures, web browser failures, hard drive failures, you name it, there is always the possibility that the technology will not be there when you need it. This to me is not spiritual.
Technology can also be addictive: all night gamers, crackberry addicts and how many times have you lost track of time while surfing the net. This is not respectful, your spirituality should not steal time away from you and some say that if you are addicted to a game, it sucks the soul right out of you. On the other hand, if you are not careful, you can become so dependent on technology you cannot live without it if, it is suddenly taken away from you. This is not spirituality.
DLG 11: The Spirituality of Educational Technology -Introductory Activity – What do you believe in?
We’d like to invite you to write a brief reflection on what you believe in. Spirituality is a word that means many things to many people. You may not be religious, but everyone believes in something! Even if it’s simply the power of one’s self. Take a moment to share your own definition ofspirituality in your life. You are invited to use your creativity to answer in any medium you prefer.
Feel free to go to my About page to view my “I believe” presentation.
My spirituality:
Spirituality is not something that I think about often and I rarely discuss it with anyone, so this was a tough module for me. The only connection I feel with my spirituality is when I am in the great outdoors or in nature alone or with a few close family members or friends.
I spent over 20 days last summer backpacking with my 22 year son in the Canadian Rockies. This is something he wanted to do and something I had longed to return to since starting a family. During these trips we left technology behind and only carried what needed on our backs for anywhere from 3-6 days at a time in the wilderness. During these trips I felt a connection to my spirituality and thought often about the beauty of these unspoiled places that we were visiting and at times felt there is a greater power drawing me there. I did not discuss spirituality with my son on these trips but I could tell that the joy he was having was similar to mine as I observed how he enjoyed every minute of the trips from the rain and muddy trails to the thrill of reaching alpine passes, the fabulous views and remote campsites.
We had three amazing experiences that brought me closest to my spirituality this last summer. One trip we had planned the hike around the opportunity to climb an unnamed 3,200 metre peak. In the end all of the stars aligned, the weather was perfect and the route was easier than planned. We summited the peak and had the most amazing views and experience. Somehow all of the planning, training and preparation did not seem enough to permit this to happen, but it did. He was absolutely thrilled that we did it and so was I.
Later that day back at the campsite I went down to the creek to get some water for supper. On my way down to the creek something brown and furry caught my eye. I stopped in amazement to see a grizzly bear cub walking up the other side of creek. The cub a safe distance away, noticed me and stopped and stood up for a few moments then kept going. I was awestruck by the power and beauty of this creature. Where there is a cub, there is also a mother closely. I looked up the creek and sure enough there was the Sow grizzly leading the way for her cub. I don’t know why, but I announced my arrival and said hello to the sow. She stopped and stood up to sniff the air and to try and check me out. I could not believe the size of her standing looking at me. I stood frozen momentarily in time as the power I felt from her was enormous compared to the cub. I was not afraid but felt an amazing respect for her and her home that we were visiting. She seemed to know that I was not there to threaten her or her cub, only as a visitor to say hello as she passed by. If there was a greater power in that valley at that moment I felt it through the spirit of that bear.
The third experience was on the final backpack of the year with my son and a good friend who had lost his life, hiking and climbing partner in the spring to cancer. On the third night in snowed about 10 cm on our alpine campsite so we decided to head for home the next morning. We picked an escape route over a high rocky col and were heading down the other side when we noticed that our friend ahead of us appeared to be following a set of footprints through the snow. After a while the second set of footprints disappeared.
Later in the day we were having a break by the creek when my son and I commented that we saw the second set of footprints that Jake had been following. Jake was certain there were no other footprints; he insisted he was breaking a fresh trail. My son jokingly commented that he must have run back up part of the slope to make the tracks when we were not watching. No, was his response.
I started to ponder this thinking there must be the spirit of a dead climber living in the valley who made the tracks. Just as I turned to my son I believe we both at the same time realized that the tracks could have been his partner Karin who had joined him for part of the walk down from the col. We did not mention this to Jake, we just let it be. I think about that experience from time to time and it reminds me of what a wonderful person Karin was and the wonderful partnership that Jake and Karin had. I am also glad we had the opportunity to perhaps have Karin with us again momentarily and to walk by her footsteps again.
So for me, this is how I experience and express my spirituality. The only time I seem to have these powerful spiritual experiences is when I am in the wilderness and not in the city, at work, at home or in front of my computer. I love to get out to the mountains 2-3 times a week for a hike or a x-country ski. This usually happens on a Sunday, so I often think of the great outdoors as my church.
If can go to my Other page, you can view where and when I went to church throughout my journey with ETEC 511 this fall. The backpack at the bottom of the page is the trip I did with my son, Jake and possibly briefly with Karin.
DLG 10: The Ecology of Educational Technology – Zhao & Frank, Nardi Question 3:
In the conclusion of Zhao and Frank’s article, they suggest “an evolutionary rather than revolutionary approach to change in school computer use.” If you look at the different types of symbiosis, a few of them could apply to our relationship with technology now or in the future: mutualism (both benefit), commensalism (one benefits, one is not harmed or helped), and parasitism (one benefits, one is harmed). Overall, how do you see our relationship with technology now, and what do you see it evolving into? Do you think it will be dangerous to co-evolve with it too closely in schools?
I have been struggling for a few days with the ecosystem of education concept and the zebra mussel metaphor. I am still not sure about it yet but here are a few of my thoughts.
Perhaps technology is like an invasive species, however in acts much differently. Perhaps it could be considered an abiotic influence like a landslide that dams up a river and turns it into a lake, forever changing the ecology and forcing all of the species to adapt to how they do things and how they interact with each other. Or perhaps the downstream affects of a dam on a river were the sediment load is decreased and the predators find it easier to find the pry in the clearer water? This forces changes and adaptations.
On the other hand technology is rapidly changing, evolving and mutating, much like a virus – H1N1 for example. Last year at this time we all re-examined many of our day-to-day practices as a result, how ever it seems to be under control now and we have probably gone back to our old habits. What if it did not go away?
Zhao and Frank also only look at their metaphor from a closed system example where technology is viewed as an invasive species and the only threat to the ecosystem balance. Is technology the only threat to upsetting the education balance or are there other threats going on at the same time. Perhaps there are other bigger threats happening where technology if used smartly, could be used as an advantage.
Here are some post secondary examples of other threats that are more pressing then technology as an invasive species. Demographics are changing and there will be a dip in traditional enrollments over the next 3-5 years, fluctuations in the economy cause large swings to planning for enrollments for both short and long term, and a really big threat: competition from other post-secondary institutes.
I was in an all day strategic planning session today and some of the challenges we are facing are: we will have about 25% more physical space in two years, and no new money to fund new students for 2-3 years and the coming downturn in demographics means to maintain current enrollments, we will need to be very active with our competitors and target mature students. These two factors alone mean we need to work smarter to survive, perhaps educational technology can help?, Probably one of the biggest factors is changes within our competitors. We have a new Mount Royal University (old Mount Royal College) that will aggressively erode some of our longer top end programs and expansion of the downtown Bow Valley college (they want to be the largest community College in southern Alberta) which will erode some of our shorter lower end programs and threaten some of our intermediate programs.
So educational technology as an invasive species, not really. We view educational technology as a tool to help survive against a University and a Community College that have been put on steroids!
DLG 10: The Ecology of Educational Technology – Merchant Question 1:
Can mainstream western culture remake the earth through science, technology and capitalism? If so, what is education technology’s role?
I believe we have forgotten what what the natural earth is, so it would be impossible to undo the changes or fix the earth. Even if we could fix the earth we would not be able to agree to what state to bring it back to and we would find it hard to live without many of the pleasures and luxuries that we would need to give up.
Perhaps we can use educational technology to show people how to do things different and perhaps help us all adapt to our changing earth.
DLG 9: The Economics of Educational Technology – Lerner and Triole Question 2:
Can the open source model be transposed to other industries? What about public education? Some universities (MIT) have begun to openly share course material, making higher education learning available to all. California is beginning to create openly available course material and textbook resources. Where will this lead and what would motivate open source educators?
One issue that needs to be considered about developing and sharing curriculum is who paid for it in the first place. If the funding comes from provincial tax dollars, then how does the institute justify to the provincial Ministry of Education and the tax payers that they used their money to develop great curriculum that they then in turn made available free to the world through the Internet?
My institute will not even share our course outlines by making them available on the Internet. I often joke with my colleagues that we would not want to share our precious verbs with the world.
DLG 9: The Economics of Educational Technology – Puryear Question 1:
What are the benefits and costs (not solely financial) of shifting to all e-textbooks in schools?
From a post secondary perspective, e-textbooks can make a lot of sense. Traditionally students buy $100 textbooks for each course and they soon get tired of hauling them around from class to class along with their laptops. At the end of the term the textbooks are either forgotten in their parents basement somewhere or if they are really hungry, sell them at the used bookstore and get a fraction back from what they paid for them.
The question is do digital natives really read stuff on paper when they grew up reading digital. Therefore is it really economical for them to continue buying textbooks that they probably won’t spend much time reading anyway.
As an example, I was surprised by my digital native son one day when he was burning his income tax T4 slips after scanning them into pdf files. I asked why he was doing this, his comment was “I don’t trust paper”.
E-textbooks do make sense for students as it gives them access to the electronic textbook on the publishers website for a limited time, they cost less, they don’t need to haul them around and they don’t need to dispose of them in the end. In a way it is like renting the textbook rather than buying it. As digital natives are used to reading digitally, they will probably read more from the e-text then from the hard copy, especially if they don’t trust paper!
The publishers websites have more than the e-textbook, they also have activities and demos that engage the learner and allow them to put to practice what they are learning.
From the institute perspective, it is much easier to administer student access to the publishers website than to provide the whole infrastructure, maintenance and administration of running a Bookstore. Publishers websites are rich with interactive content that can save millions of curriculum development $ as richly blended LMS websites for course do not need to be developed.
A few thoughts for e-textbooks.
DLG 8: The Psychology & Phenomenology of Educational Technology – Turkle Question 3:
Turkle suggests that our anxiety has shifted from fears that computers might be intelligent to fears about whether they can be emotional and spiritual. Leaving the spiritual argument aside for the time being, do you think it’s possible that machines could be programmed to have an emotional life? You might want to watch the videos related to Turkle’s essay (under the “video”) tab before you respond.
I am not convinced in the near future, that we know enough about how our emotions work to be able to program a machine to emotionally react in an appropriate way to our emotions. The video clips are great examples of how a machine could react, however it looks easy as the machines are all people acting as robots.
DLG 8: The Psychology & Phenomenology of Educational Technology – Turkle Question 1:
In a one-on-one relationship with a computer, the machine can reflect a second-self, a promise of perfection, “the illusion of companionship without the demands of friendship” (p. 21). If Turkle’s premise is true, is there a downside to a relationship with a creature that demands no reciprocity?
This has been very interesting going through the readings, watching the videos, reviewing the postings and reflecting. Over the last two days I have flip flopped between supporting either side of the argument and I spent some time sitting on the fence. So what to do? Here are my thoughts.
Will we ever be able to answer the question as asked because what has really changed over the last 10, 100 or perhaps 1000 years? Perhaps we have always had relationships with non living creatures that demand no reciprocity. If this is the case, then the only thing that has changed over time is the machine. Now it is the computer, previously it may have been something else, perhaps an automobile, the instrument to the musician or the specialized tools to the craftsman.
I think of some observations in my lifetime: kids who did not want to give up their stuffed animals, a young adult who was devastated when he totaled a 20 year truck and realized it could not be fixed as it was sent to the junk yard, a mother who always had her childhood doll in her room until she died, a former employer who was so attached to his airplane that his wife knew and understood that she came second in their relationship.
So perhaps relationships with non living creatures (technology for example) is normal and compliments relationships that we have with living creatures. This then begs the question of where do pets fit into the matrix of our relationships from non living to human?
DLG 7: The Politics of Educational Technology – Open Source
What role do you expect open source, and the philosophy behind it, to play in the development of new technologies in the next 10 years. Do you believe that corporations and governments will ever completely adopt this model in regards to how they develop technology?
I am not sure we are all clear of the definition of open source. I just asked my 22 year Computer Engineer son and he defined open source as software as: “software code that is available to add to, compile or check to see if there is any malicious code, and is free”. He defined “free” software as software that is compiled like software you purchase, but it is free. An example of free software Firefox vs Internet Explorer which comes bundled with MS Office (so there is a cost associated with it).
I believe open source and free software have developed a couple of roles that they serve well. First it provides a no cost alternative to purchased software. In this course we use many technologies in our DLG’s that are free: Wiki sites, Prezi, Wordle …..
A second role of open source free software is it very innovative and is often ahead of the pack of purchased software and open source/free raises the standards that mainstream software can and often adopts. Again going back to my Son’s example of Internet Explorer (IE) vs Firefox, he uses Firefox because he believes IE is antiquated, however he has reviewed the latest version of IE and believes Microsoft has learned from free browsers such as Firefox and they have modernized the latest version.
Governments are slow to change, so they may never adopt the Open source/free model. Some post-secondary institutes have moved to Moodle as an LMS., I am not sure if Moodle is truly Open source/free, however I understand it to be less expensive than Blackboard or D2L. Other post secondary’s are sticking to the mainstreams of Blackboard and D2L.
I believe one of the barriers to using Open Source/free (apart from being free, so how could it be good?) is less technical support, so one needs to be technically savvy to support it yourself.
My thoughts for now.
Thanks Doug. It looks like you put a lot of thought into your last comments on Spirituality. I couldn’t agree more. Respect seems to be an important value to you. Technology, or the way it is used in our society, is not always respectful.
Thanks again.
C
I agree with you, Doug. Spirituality is not IN technology. It can go through it… in parts, but I don’t see it as a very solemn / spiritual method either!