Class Reflections #5 - September 25

During our September 25 class, we had a remote lecture from Dr. Curt Bonk of Indiana University. I was really impressed by the seamless lecture, and the technology that allowed us to interact in real time with Dr. Bonk. The fact that our instructor had to operate a camera, PowerPoint, lecture all at once, really emphasized the need for instructors to be up-to-date on technological tools to get their content to the audiences who really want and need it.

A few fascinating items from the lecture: I really liked the example that Dr. Bonk gave about the lecture that he was giving, where the audience quicly grew from 10 to 100s (or 1000s) of people in minutes because of the use of several key technologies. I think that really summed up his points about leveraging the tools to create accessibility for more people.

We also touched upon gaming and about whether society would be able to turn away from "shoot em up" types of games. This topic was really interesting to me, as it has been something that I was thinking about as I started this program. I don't really like playing video games myself, but when I saw a friend playing Grand Theft Auto IV recently, I have to admit that I was struck with the enormous potential for learning with this type of technology. With changes in storylines, just think how we could use this technology to teach fundamental social, economic and problem-solving skills.

Another point in the lecture that I am still thinking about was the future example regarding students having more choices regarding how and who they will receive learning from. Dr. Bonk gave the example, of the student selecting their lesson from various teachers on various screens. Will there be too many choices? How will students learn how to make these decisions?

The lecture centered around exponential growth in technology, through electonic books, cheaper computers, more and more tools, but at the same time, how can we grow in this way without addressing energy concerns in an exponential way. Eventually we need a tipping point where where alternative energy sources grow exponentially, or I think these worlds will collide.

All and all it was a fascinating lecture, and I really appreciated that we could have this kind of remote lecture.