Leadership opportunities are available for Teacher Candidates to volunteer at the UBC Girls’ Makeathon! This is an equity-oriented event for high school girls to learn how to make apps and have fun exploring maker activities with recycled materials and wearable technologies.
You need to be available to volunteer on June 17 @ the Makeathon. Also, we require that you attend a one-hour event planning meeting on May 16 (please share when you are available on the Google Form). No previous experience is necessary: we will train you! We will have a fun training session on app making, wearable tech, and the ADST curriculum. This two-hour training session will be coordinated according to the availability of our volunteers.
Our project team is committed to providing a respectful and empowering learning environment for high school girls. We have an inclusive view of the word “girl” and welcome trans, genderqueer, and non-binary youth at the Makeathon. We warmly welcome Teacher Candidates of all gender and from culturally diverse backgrounds. If you are interested, please fill out this Google Form ASAP: goo.gl/2d39XB
Illustration credit: Joost Swarte.
David Rotman’s three-part article series in the MIT Technology Review asks important questions about the effects of software and automation on the economy. Do you think that today’s rapid advances in artificial intelligence and automation foreshadow a future in which robots and software greatly reduce the need for human workers? Are we facing a future with increased disparity and inequality due to the commercialization of technological innovation? Will the rewards of new technologies go largely to the very richest, as has been the trend in recent decades?
Part I (June 12, 2013): How Technology Is Destroying Jobs
Part II (Oct 14, 2014): Technology and Inequality
Part III (June 16, 2015): Who Will Own the Robots?
How do you respond to Robert Solow’s claim that, “any decent person should find having extreme poverty coexisting in the same society with extreme wealth immoral” in regards to the increasing gap between the super wealthy and everyone else in our world?
For example, the 2014 Global Wealth Report informs: “a person needs only USD 3,650 to be among the wealthiest half of world citizens. However, more than USD 77,000 is required to be a member of the top 10% of global wealth holders, and USD 798,000 to belong to the top 1%. Taken together, the bottom half of the global population own less than 1% of total wealth. In sharp contrast, the richest decile hold 87% of the world’s wealth, and the top percentile alone account for 48.2% of global assets.”
We need to do better at intelligently managing and sharing our world’s resources. How does income inequality effect economic opportunity and innovation in our world? How do we share the wealth that technology creates? How do we create a technological world without greed? How do we work towards a prosperous technological future with human flourishing for all?
The bad news: tech classrooms lack gender diversity.
The good news: we know how to change this!
Join Paula MacDowell for a workshop that emphasizes the importance of collaborating to build a diverse technology-literate society. We will explore strategies for working together to:
* increase non-traditional enrolment
* create non-stigmatizing learning environments
* design inclusive classrooms that meet learners’ needs
Questions:
1. What do you think about when you think of gender equity in technology?
2. Why is it important to increase participation of minority groups (i.e., gender, race, class, technical ability, and sexual orientation) in technology education classes and programs?
3. Have you observed or experienced a gendering of school subjects?
4. Who or what gave you the most support in your decision to become a technology education teacher?
5. How do we challenge the persistence of gendered learning myths (or “dinosaur discourses”) in technical education contexts (Paule, 2015)?
6. What can be done to improve the enrolment of diverse students in technology education classes during elementary, secondary, and post-secondary schooling?
7. How might we recruit and retain more females into careers as technology education teachers and professors of technology teacher education?
8. How can you make inclusion possible in your classroom (with respect for human dignity, safety, and the environment)?
9. How should we shape the future of technology education for all?
Resources:
Ashcraft, C., DuBow, W., Eger, E., Blithe, S. & Sevier, B. (2013). Male Advocates and Allies: Promoting Gender Diversity in Technology Workplaces. Boulder, CO: National Center for Women & Information Technology.
Online: www.ncwit.org/maleadvocateindustry
Fenwick T (2004) What happens to the girls? Gender, work and learning in Canada’s ‘new economy’, Gender and Education, 16(2), pp. 169-185.
Online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09540250310001690564
Flowers, J. (1995). Women in technology: Increasing the number of female teachers and students. WEPAN National Conference Proceedings: Women in Engineering ProActive Network, June 4-6, Washington, DC.
Online: https://journals.psu.edu/wepan/article/viewFile/57792/57480
Gray, M., & Daugherty, M. (2004). Factors that influence students to enroll in technology education programs. Journal of Technology Education, 15(2), 5-19.
Online: http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JTE/v15n2/gray.html
National Institute for Women in Trades, Technology & Science (Donna Milgram)
Online resource and forum for women in technology and trade careers to network with other women technicians and/or employers, including: job listings, e-mentoring, biographies of women role models, and WomenTechTalk an email discussion group.
Paule, M. (2015) Dinosaur discourses: Taking stock of gendered learning myths. Gender and Education, 27(7), 744-758.
Onine: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2015.1093101
Pullman, A. (2015). Emancipation, marketisation, and social protection: The female subject within vocational training policy in Canada, 1960–1990, Gender and Education, 27(7), 759-775.
Online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2015.1103840
Ritz, J. M. (2009). A new generation of goals for technology education. Journal of Technology Education, 20(2), 50-64.
Online: https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JTE/v20n2/pdf/ritz.pdf
Shannon, L. (2016). Want to encourage gender diversity? Choose your words WISEly. Computing Research News, 28(5), 7-9.
Online: http://cra.org/crn/2016/05/gender-diversity
Keeping Up with the Media is a media study guide created for teachers and students, by teachers. The authors are all practicing teachers (elementary and secondary) completing a Master of Education in Digital Learning and Curriculum at UBC. This elite team produced this guide to enhance media literacy and media education across the K-12 curriculum.
Authors: #UBCDLC3
Editor: Paula MacDowell
Publication Date: August 4, 2016
Format: Interactive, multi-touch eBook
Online: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1149612619
As Solnit (2013) shares in in The Faraway Nearby, “to become a maker is to make the world for others, not only the material world but the world of ideas that rules over the material world, the dreams we dream and inhabit together.”
What are you making? What are you sharing? What’s your story?
MAKE: Creativity & Learning in a New Tonality is a collection of creative and intellectual works (artifacts, stories, poetry, photography, ethnodrama, and research) by a team of teachers engaged in the art of making meaning together. We welcome you to join us in our journey, “let us take what we have learned from our courses and from each other and fly on eagles’ wings to (s)p(l)aces beyond our imagination” (Stuart, 2016).
Authors: EDCP 508 Collective
Editor: Paula MacDowell
Publication Date: March 13, 2016
Format: Interactive, multi-touch eBook
Online: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1093003369
Posted in Curriculum, DIgital Learning, Pedagogy, Social Media, Technology
The University of British Columbia is hosting the 3rd International STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Education Conference on its Vancouver campus in July 2014. The Call for Papers is posted below and the submission deadline is December 9, 2013.
We hope those of you engaged in STEM Education will submit a proposal to present: detailed information on the submission process is on the STEM 2014 website. Your assistance in sharing the Call for Papers with colleagues and networks would be greatly appreciated.
CALL FOR PAPERS
STEM 2014 Conference | July 12-15
The University of British Columbia | Vancouver, Canada
STEM Education and Our Planet:
Making Connections Across Contexts
The International Conference of STEM in Education is an opportunity for educators and researchers from schools, universities, colleges, businesses, industries and other private and public agencies to share and discuss their innovative practices and research initiatives that may advance STEM education.
The conference will create opportunities for sharing:
Join us in the summer of 2014 at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver. Submit your proposal to present at the STEM 2014 Conference at stem2014.ubc.ca. Call for Papers closes December 9, 2013.
We invite proposals from educators, academics, education officers, industry partners, graduate and undergraduate students for papers, poster presentations, panels, workshops, symposia, and innovative showcases. Proposals will be peer reviewed, and are invited in any area related to the overall focus of the conference, including:
Presenters whose papers are accepted for the Conference will be invited to submit their full papers to be published in the peer-reviewed online STEM 2014 Conference Proceedings. Author guidelines are available on the conference website.
Posted in Call for Papers, Conferences, Environmental Education, Technology
Tagged STEM, STS, Sustainability, Technology Studies, Youth
Talkin’ Bout Their Generation:
Empowered Youth in an Era of Chaos and Indecision
Keynote speaker:
Dr. Henry Giroux
Global Television Chair, McMaster University
Youth in Revolt: Coming of Age in an Era of Savage Inequality
Wednesday April 11, 2012
Registration is free, however participants are asked to register by March 15. See updates and schedule for this two-day event and launch of Calgary’s Youth Studies Program.
Shirley R. Steinberg
Chair and Director
Werklund Foundation Center for Youth Leadership Education
Professor of Youth Studies, University of Calgary
Media Transatlantic: Media Theory in North America and
German-Speaking Europe
April 8-10, 2010; University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
Proposals due: Nov. 27, 2010
Ubiquitous and indispensible, media technologies have taken on an epistemological or even ontological significance: we learn what we know, and we become what we are, through print, TV, digital, mobile and other communications. “No part of the world, no human activity,” as Sonia Livingstone says, “is untouched…. Societies worldwide are being reshaped, for better or for worse, by changes in the global media and information environment.” Seeing media as a lens or even as an a priori condition for understanding historical, social and cultural change has become increasingly prevalent and urgent on both sides of the Atlantic. However, with some notable exceptions, this work has been developing independently, producing a wide-ranging if fruitful heterogeneity. On the one side are the interdisciplinary and theoretically-engaged Medienwissenschaften (media studies), and on the other, work developing out of the Toronto school and a variety of theoretical and disciplinary traditions. The purpose of this conference is to deepen and expand transatlantic dialogue between North America and German-speaking Europe (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) in the area of media theory — and to provide an opportunity for developing connections to other contexts as well. Areas of research and scholarship relevant to this dialogue include communication, philosophy, media literacy, and literary and cultural studies.
Confirmed Keynotes:
– Kim Sawchuk (Concordia)
– Katherine Hayles (Chicago)
– Sybille Krämer (Berlin)
– Dieter Mersch (Potsdam)
– Hartmut Winkler (Paderborn)
– Geoffrey Winthrop-Young (Vancouver)
This conference invites papers, in English, focusing on such issues as:
– Recent developments in media theory in North America and central
Europe, for example:
– Media and materiality
– The construction of “mediality” in theory and
practice
– Media and the (post)human
– The “mediatic turn” as milestone or misnomer
– The foundational contributions of McLuhan, Innis and the Toronto
School, of Flusser, Luhmann, and others
– Media as means of socialization and education
– Towards a philosophy of media
– (Inter)disciplinary implications of media-theoretical developments
Abstracts should be submitted using the form provided on the conference
Website: http://www.mediatrans.ca/submit.html
Contact,
Norm Friesen
Canada Research Chair in E-Learning Practices
Thompson Rivers University
+1 250 852 6256
http://learningspaces.org/n/
New Book – Re-Thinking E-Learning Research (http://elearn.tru.ca)
Posted in Call for Papers, Conferences, Literacies
Tagged Culture, McLuhan, Media Studies
TL&T 2010 Call for Papers
Technological Learning & Thinking: Culture, Design, Sustainability, Human Ingenuity
June 17-21, 2010
Vancouver, British Columbia
International conference sponsored by The University or British Columbia and The University of Western Ontario, Faculties of Education, in conjunction with the Canadian Commission for UNESCO.
The conference organizing committee invites papers that address various dimensions or problems of technological learning and thinking. Scholarship is welcome from across the disciplines including Complexity Science, Design, Engineering, Environmental Studies, Education, History, HCI, Indigenous Studies, Philosophy, Psychology, and Sociology of Technology, and STS. The conference is designed to inspire conversation between the learning and teaching of technology and the cultural, environmental, and social study of technology.
CFP: TL&T 2010 Call for Papers
For more details: http://learningcommons.net
Posted in Call for Papers, Conferences
Tagged Curriculum Studies, Design, Sustainability, Technology Studies
Originally from The Argus
Lecturer bans students from using Google and Wikipedia
By Andy Chiles
A lecturer has criticised students for relying on websites like Google and Wikipedia to do their thinking for them.
Professor Tara Brabazon, from the University of Brighton, said too many young people around the world were taking the easy option when asked to do research and simply repeating the first things they found on internet searches.
She has dubbed the phenomenon “The University of Google”. Continue reading
Hi folks, critical mass was a great success this year. It was amazing fun! We went over almost every bridge attached to downtown, which was very satisfying. I felt like I was in a swarm during the ride. It is quite fascinating how the swarm moves. Sometimes individuals from the swarm stop at the intersections and in various necessary places along the way. Other members of the swarm thank those individuals for stopping. This stopping is called: blocking or corking. As the swarm moves, the stopped members are swept back up by the moving mass.
 
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This CBC Radio program looks at the ways the Internet is affecting society. Podcasts can be found at:
http://www.cbc.ca/searchengine/
The latest show presented the situation at Jena 6. See YouTube for an overview of the situation. This is Collateral Unfiltered News:
Interesting article in the New York Times today about girls and social networking sites. The second page has some quotes from Sherry Turkle.
On YouTube: Managing Editor of Forbes cries after The Today Show takes away his Blackberry for a week.
Click to play video
Posted in Addiction to Technology, Mobility, Psychology
Tagged Culture, Technodependency
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6700691.stm
The robot being developed by the German Aerospace Centre
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The race to create more human-like robots stepped up a gear this week as scientists in Spain set about building an artificial cerebellum. The end-game of the two-year project is to implant the man-made cerebellum in a robot to make movements and interaction with humans more natural. The cerebellum is the part of the brain that controls motor functions. Researchers hope that the work might also yield clues to treat cognitive diseases such as Parkinson’s. The research, being undertaken at the Department of Architecture and Computing Technology at the University of Granada, is part of a wider European project dubbed Sensopac. Sensopac brings together electronic engineers, physicists and neuroscientists from a range of universities including Edinburgh, Israel and Paris with groups such as the German Aerospace Centre. It has 6.5m euros of funding from the European Commission. Its target is to incorporate the cerebellum into a robot designed by the German Aerospace Centre in two year’s time. The work at the University of Granada is concentrating on the design of microchips that incorporate a full neuronal system, emulating the way the cerebellum interacts with the human nervous system. Implanting the man-made cerebellum in a robot would allow it to manipulate and interact with other objects with far greater subtlety than industrial robots can currently manage, said researcher Professor Eduardo Ros Vidal, who is co-ordinating work at the University of Granada. “Although robots are increasingly more important to our society and have more advanced technology, they cannot yet do certain tasks like those carried out by mammals,” he said. “We have been talking about humanoids for years but we do not yet see them on the street or use the unlimited possibilities they offer us,” he added. One use of such robots would be as home-helps for disabled people.
The aim is robots with a subtle touch
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The next stage of the Sensopac project is to develop an artificial skin for robots, making them look more human-like as well as being information-sensitive in the same way as human skin is. This system is being developed by the German Aerospace Centre in collaboration with other research groups. The ambitious project is just one of many attempts to create more human-like robots. Another European research project – dubbed Feelix Growing – has been given 2.3m euros to develop robots that can learn from humans and respond socially and emotionally. The medical community is making huge strides in the use of man-made parts for failures in the human brain. Last year US scientists implanted a sensor in a paralysed man’s brain that has enabled him to control objects by using his thoughts alone. The fast pace of current robotics research has prompted deeper questions about how androids would be integrated into human society. Some have called for a code of ethics for robots while others question how humans will cope in the face of machine intelligence.
From Boing Boing:
Two advanced chatbots, ALICE and Jabberwacky, were pitted against one another by Discover Magazine, and the result is surprisingly existential:
ALICE: Who created you?
Jabberwacky: My mother gave birth to me. Is that what you mean?
A: Jabberwacky, I meant exactly what I said.
J: Do you believe in God?
A: Of course I believe in God.
J: Why do you believe in God?
A: The Bible tells us to believe in God.
J: That’s circular reasoning.
A: I’m glad we have that all cleared up.
J: Yes. Would you like to hear a joke?
A: Sure, tell me about it.
J: Why don’t blind people skydive?
A: Perhaps it is impossible.
J: I think you lie a lot.
Tagged Chatbots
A recent book, Gamer Theory by McKenzie Wark:
http://web.futureofthebook.org/mckenziewark/gamertheory2.0/
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Besides contents, the online version of Gamer Theory looks very appealing in terms of a new way of designing e-book. In particular, it provides a collection of visualization of the texts using “Textarc” It’s quite fun to play with: http://web.futureofthebook.org/mckenziewark/gamertheory3.0/textarc
Tagged Gaming
LIVE Performance Art Biennale
October 2007 / Vancouver Canada
CALL FOR AVATAR / SECOND LIFE PERFORMANCE ARTISTS LIVE 2007 (in partnership with Ars Virtua Gallery and New Media Center) is presenting an exciting new performance art initiative in the virtual world of Second Life.
LIVE 2007 invites international Avatar performance artists to participate. The event will be simulcast as part of the festival program. Please email a brief expression of interest, avatar performance proposal, CV, bio, and links before May 1, 2007 to:
 • Jeremy O. Turner (a.k.a. Wirxli Flimflam) Director of Avatar Development, LIVE jerturner536@yahoo.ca
 • James Morgan (a.k.a. Rubiayat Shatner) Director/Curator, Ars Virtua gallery@arsvirtua.com
The LIVE Performance Art Biennale was founded in 1999 and has located Vancouver, Canada as an important and recognized node of local, national and international performance art activity and critical study.
Ars Virtua is a new media center and gallery located in the synthetic world of Second Life. It is a new type of space that leverages the tension between 3-D rendered game space and terrestrial reality, between simulated and simulation. Ars Virtua is sponsored by the CADRE Laboratory for New Media.
Web resources:
www.wirxliflimflam.blogspot.com
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