Red Queens and Increasing Returns

Today I had an interesting experience at a faculty meeting. Our school is promoting a new discipline plan using ClassDojo. For those of you who do not know what it is, it is a really cool way of documenting students' behavior online. A teacher can upload his or her class into ClassDojo and add or take away points based on behavior. The students are displayed as avatars and when points are given or taken away from the student, it sends an e-mail message to the parent with a description of the reason for the gained or lost point. Okay...so I know that information is not relevant to the topic, but what happened next is. After being trained on ClassDojo, one of the teachers said, "there is also an app for it if you have an iPhone." That comment was quickly followed with another comment that sounded eerily familiar, "there is also an app for the Droid users." Immediately the air was filled with comments about who had what phone and it became a battle of iPhone users verses Droid users. This was a classic example of what David Thornburg describes as "Red Queens". A Red Queen is when two competing companies who offer basically the same technology, compete in a way in which both companies shoot to the top and leave other companies behind (Laureate Education, 2008).

Recently, I was given an assignment where I was asked to view an older Sci-Fi pick and compare the technology used in the movie to the technology used today.  When asked to complete the assignment, I immediately went online to see if I could find it for free.  I spent some time searching and was able to find a site that would allow for a free download of the film.  I will tell you the truth, the download put a virus on my computer, and I ended up going to see if I could find the film in a store, but if that had not happened, it would have never crossed my mind to leave my house. 

The notion of getting a movie from a video store has almost been erased from my mind mostly because the video stores themselves have been erased from my community.  I can drive down the street and see where all of the old Blockbusters and Movie Gallery’s used to stand.  More and more people are subscribing to Netflix and other sites where it is easy to download movies. 

There is a battle between the DVD and internet streamed movies and it appears that the DVD, as much as they hold fond memories for me, is beginning to lose the race.  Bins upon bins of DVD’s have been marked down.  Movies that people would pay $15-$20 for are now in the middle of Walmart in the $5 bin.  Blockbuster and Movie Gallery donated many of the DVD’s to Redbox machines that will allow you to view some of the newest releases for less than $2.  This is happening all in the effort to try and keep up with Netflix, which will allow you to view a limitless amount of movies for less than $20 a month (the price that we use to pay for one DVD).  I do believe that soon the DVD will become a symbol of technology history as streaming movies online becomes more popular.

 

Thornburg, D. (2008c). Red Queens, butterflies, and strange attractors: Imperfect lenses into emergent technologies. Lake Barrington, IL: Thornburg Center for Space Exploration.

Second Life...A Disruptive Technology

Second Life....A Disruptive Technology

Second Life is a disruptive technology because it completely interrupts the way that things were done before.  Second Life is a virtual world that has the potential to change the way we teach and would cause a shift from a traditional way to teach to a differentiated way to address student learning.  Second Life displaced a physical classroom for a virtual learning environment and has created more of student centered approach to teaching where the teacher acts as a facilitator and the student becomes the leader of their own learning, because Second Life has not been fully adopted by educators, it may be a several years before another technology replaces it.  If used appropriately, Second Life has the potential to create a virtual environment that promotes worldwide collaboration and problem solving.  It can provide the opportunity for individuals to test scenarios in order to create solutions to real world problems. 

 

For more information about Second Life, check out this blog.

 

http://lrodriguezetc.wordpress.com/2009/10/29/second-life-as-a-disruptive-technology-in-education/

Rhymes of History

Rhymes of History

 

“History may not repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme a lot (Laureate Education, 2009).”

In this week’s module, Dr. Thornburg discusses what he calls rhymes of history.  I have always heard the saying that history repeats itself, but after listening to Dr. Thornburg describe rhymes of history, I am more inclined to buy into this philosophy.  “The affect of an innovation can rekindle interactions and activities from the past (Laureate Education, 2009).”  In his presentation, Dr. Thornburg gives several examples of how past historical innovations are mirrored in today’s society (Laureate Education, 2009).  One of the examples is the way in which some developing countries get the e-mails.  A traveling gentlemen would go from city to city with a cart that provides an internet connection.  The villagers would come to the cart and check their e-mail and the gentlemen would travel to the next city.  This is very reminiscent of the way ancient cities would use runners to send messages. 

One of the rhymes of history that I relate to is the concept of the pen pal and foreign exchange students. When I was in school, many of my teachers implemented the use of pen pals or foreign exchange students.  Through that process, we were able to get to know individuals of different cultures and backgrounds.  We would write to them and tell them what we learned in school, what our interests are and the customs of our society.  Many times, we would send pictures that accompanied our letters.  When I got into high school, I participated in a foreign exchange program.  My parents did not allow me to go overseas, but we did have a student from England come and stay with us for a few days. 

There are so many things that simulate the pen pal relationships of the past.  For example, in terms of education, many individuals are participating and collaborating with other students all over the world.  We are able to see each other with our laptop cameras and we are able to exchange ideas and share our cultures.  This also reminds me of our desire to connect with people.  There are many relationships where people from different countries meet.  Cultures are being shared as many people go to online dating websites to meet people of different nationalities.  Our desire to understand people of other cultures is a rhyme of history, we may not use pen pals in the traditional sense, but have modified how we met people who do not live in the same time zone.

 

Laureate Education, Inc. (2009). Rhymes of history. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Emerging vs. Obsolete Technology Module 2

Obsolete Technology

Dr. Soloway (2009) discusses his experience with the Palm Pilot, which was a new device in the late 1990’s early 2000’s that allowed individuals to perform tasks similar to the programs on the computer, but in the palm of their hand. The Palm Pilot was a smaller, mobile device that was a lot less expensive. The early educational adopters, like professors and teachers, found the device to be a benefit to the classroom (Laureate Education, 2009). The size and cost made it a great tool; however, it did not catch on because there was so much money invested in desktop and larger model computers, that innovations were created to match models already available in the classroom. The other technology that eliminated the use of the Palm Pilot was the creation of the smart phone. It is evident that the Palm Pilot may not make a return because other technologies are being created to perform the initial role of the Palm Pilot, but the idea of having hand held educational tools in the classroom has evolved.

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (2009). Emerging and future technology. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Enhances	Obsoletes
1.        2.      The palm pilot allows for easy portability of numerous applications. 3.      Instant updates, revisions, and corrections are provided to the user. 4.      Very affordable and can change the ratio of “computers” to students by growing closer to a 1:1 ratio. 5.      Reduces paper consumption. 6.      Educational applications, games, learning tools for students “…to take the paper and pencil curriculum, we call it ‘mobilize,’ transform it into lessons that would fit on the Palm (Soloway, 2009).”< /span>	1.        2.      The palm pilot was created in the late 1990’s and the early adopters began using it around the year 2000. Unfortunately, individuals are still designing for large scale computers and are not implementing small hand held devices in schools. It is the Palm Pilot that is obsolete in the classrooms
Retrieves	Reverse
1.        2.      Downloadable applications 3.      Games 4.      Calendar 5.      Calculator	2.                    3.                  It looks as if the Palm Pilot will be replaced by the Smart Phone and Net books.

Module 1 discussion - emerging technology in the classroom

Although it is not a new “technology” in the school system, an emerging practice among educators is the increased use of social media for collaboration.  Many teachers are now utilizing Facebook, twitter, and other social media networks to increase communication.  Edmodo is now being implemented in many classrooms and has a structure similar to Facebook.  Teachers are able to post pictures and comments as well as educational material and resources.  Students have the ability to interact with the materials, take quizzes, leave comments, and discuss topics with the teacher as well as others in the classroom.  Using this type of media is increasing the flipped classroom model where students listen to lecture and review materials outside of the classroom and participates in group discussions and complete projects during class time.  The idea behind this type of classroom model has many benefits, but does not take into consideration students who come from low income households.  Students of low socio-economic backgrounds may not be able to benefit from classroom settings where the majority of the information is gathered outside of the classroom and brought in for discussion.  Teachers may have to make some accommodations for students who do not have access to this type of technology at home.  The good news is that computers and becoming more affordable and soon the majority of students will be able to work together without being confined by the hours of the school day. 

www.edmodo.com