I can now incorporate all of my links using another piece of technology... DELICIOUS. I mark each one of my bookmarks with the tags that I want so I can search easier. When you go to the site, on the right side where it says "Tags," click on "Options" and choose "cloud." It will make my tags appear larger or smaller based on the amount of bookmarks I've made using that tag. It's a lot like "Wordle."
This is a link networking site. It basically operates like the bookmarks on your browser but with the added bonus being that you can now share your bookmarks with the world. Find some other teachers and see what they've linked to. Otherwise, just check it out.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Technology Quotes
It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. ~Albert Einstein
When I did some studies of the anthropic cosmological principle when I was at Penn State, this idea came up. Much of the research I did was related to the theorized development of sentient societies throughout the known universe and whether they would be able to get through the discovery of atomic energy without self-destruction. In the grand scheme of things, there were something like 5 levels of theorized development and level 0 could be surpassed if the society didn't self-destruct. Level 1 was achieved by harnessing the mass of the inhabited planet to increase knowledge in the form of information bits, or data. Level 2 was achieved by using the mass of other available planets, asteroids, and moons. Level 3 was to use the mass of the galaxy. Level 4 was something crazy on the lines of being able to actually situate celestial bodies in the galaxy to one's will for the sake of art.
It's been a while. I could be wrong.
Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards. ~Aldous Huxley
I had a professor of medieval philosophy who argued that we are actually not better off than we were in the Middle Ages simply because we have all of the modern conveniences that we enjoy. He felt that we're actually in worse shape spiritually than we ever have been because of these conveniences.
We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology. ~Carl Sagan
I've always admired Carl Sagan for making it cool to talk about the universe and all of its infinite elegance. I like this quote because it lends to what we've been talking about in class with regards to the fact that only a handful of people, mostly White and Asian men, are designing the world around us while we consume it without much knowledge or even curiosity about how or why it's being developed.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. ~Arthur C. Clarke
LOVE Arthur C. Clarke. He wrote one of my favorite books, "Childhood's End." Although I have yet to see the video of the guy on TED with the $350 necklace which can project images and give instant information to the wearer, I figure it's a perfect example of this quote from the reaction that many had in class.
When I did some studies of the anthropic cosmological principle when I was at Penn State, this idea came up. Much of the research I did was related to the theorized development of sentient societies throughout the known universe and whether they would be able to get through the discovery of atomic energy without self-destruction. In the grand scheme of things, there were something like 5 levels of theorized development and level 0 could be surpassed if the society didn't self-destruct. Level 1 was achieved by harnessing the mass of the inhabited planet to increase knowledge in the form of information bits, or data. Level 2 was achieved by using the mass of other available planets, asteroids, and moons. Level 3 was to use the mass of the galaxy. Level 4 was something crazy on the lines of being able to actually situate celestial bodies in the galaxy to one's will for the sake of art.
It's been a while. I could be wrong.
Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards. ~Aldous Huxley
I had a professor of medieval philosophy who argued that we are actually not better off than we were in the Middle Ages simply because we have all of the modern conveniences that we enjoy. He felt that we're actually in worse shape spiritually than we ever have been because of these conveniences.
We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology. ~Carl Sagan
I've always admired Carl Sagan for making it cool to talk about the universe and all of its infinite elegance. I like this quote because it lends to what we've been talking about in class with regards to the fact that only a handful of people, mostly White and Asian men, are designing the world around us while we consume it without much knowledge or even curiosity about how or why it's being developed.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. ~Arthur C. Clarke
LOVE Arthur C. Clarke. He wrote one of my favorite books, "Childhood's End." Although I have yet to see the video of the guy on TED with the $350 necklace which can project images and give instant information to the wearer, I figure it's a perfect example of this quote from the reaction that many had in class.
Philosophy on using technology in the classroom
I used to have a different blog when I lived in Los Angeles, also through blogger.com... not that there are any other blogging services (are there?). I had gotten myself involved with an artistic group known as Trade City and found my niche with their "Out Loud" spoken word performances every Tuesday night. After a few nights, one of the director's (Josh) offered to set me up with a blog so I could update it with my brilliant thoughts. It was my first brush with the notion of publicly sharing myself with the world until I realized that, although 6.5 billion people could access my blog, very few actually did.
But who really needed to access my blog? Plenty of friends and acquaintances checked out my writings and, I'm happy to say, my deliberate attempts to cause controversy. It was my little way of checking popularity. I actually had a few devoted followers who, when seeing them in person, would immediately ask about my lack of updates if it had been a while since I posted. This certainly made me and my blog feel important and necessary to the natural cyber order of things.
Now, with this assignment, I'm reflecting on all of the ways that a blog could augment my personal experience with my students on their playing field: the internet. Experiencing my students on a personal level in the classroom, especially with large classes, is difficult to do. Resisting the social networking addiction that has affected so many around the world has not been hard. I've happily declined all offers to "friend" even my good friends so as not to fall into the trap of communicating with others through a medium that someone else has developed.
But it was fun when I was at Trade City. And now, in the hour or so since I started this blog, I'm having fun freely writing my thoughts for others to see once again. The only thing that's changed is my personal responsibility for what I post. Censoring myself wasn't part of the deal at Trade City (thus the removal of that blog once I became interested in teaching!).
This blog could be a forum for discussing interesting and relevant math topics that might be popping up in a student's life. It could be used to address fun off-topic class discussions that had to be cut short due to time. --- "Hey guys. Guess what. Let's take this to the blog and label the thread 'black holes.' Time to move on."--- This could be used to post assignments, keep parents informed, improve student-to-student communication, and improve student-to-teacher communication. The result would almost surely translate to a much more cohesive class culture which, at this point in my career, is the number one thing that I have to work on professionally.
Using technology in the classroom... I suppose this isn't really using technology in the classroom as much as it's a way of using technology for the classroom.
But who really needed to access my blog? Plenty of friends and acquaintances checked out my writings and, I'm happy to say, my deliberate attempts to cause controversy. It was my little way of checking popularity. I actually had a few devoted followers who, when seeing them in person, would immediately ask about my lack of updates if it had been a while since I posted. This certainly made me and my blog feel important and necessary to the natural cyber order of things.
Now, with this assignment, I'm reflecting on all of the ways that a blog could augment my personal experience with my students on their playing field: the internet. Experiencing my students on a personal level in the classroom, especially with large classes, is difficult to do. Resisting the social networking addiction that has affected so many around the world has not been hard. I've happily declined all offers to "friend" even my good friends so as not to fall into the trap of communicating with others through a medium that someone else has developed.
But it was fun when I was at Trade City. And now, in the hour or so since I started this blog, I'm having fun freely writing my thoughts for others to see once again. The only thing that's changed is my personal responsibility for what I post. Censoring myself wasn't part of the deal at Trade City (thus the removal of that blog once I became interested in teaching!).
This blog could be a forum for discussing interesting and relevant math topics that might be popping up in a student's life. It could be used to address fun off-topic class discussions that had to be cut short due to time. --- "Hey guys. Guess what. Let's take this to the blog and label the thread 'black holes.' Time to move on."--- This could be used to post assignments, keep parents informed, improve student-to-student communication, and improve student-to-teacher communication. The result would almost surely translate to a much more cohesive class culture which, at this point in my career, is the number one thing that I have to work on professionally.
Using technology in the classroom... I suppose this isn't really using technology in the classroom as much as it's a way of using technology for the classroom.
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