I have enjoyed participating in GCC's 23 Things program this summer and have learned quite a bit by doing so. While I still don't understand everything about Web 2.0, I now have a much better grasp of what it is and how it can be utilized. My thanks to Christine, Karen, and the FCC for hosting this event and to all my fellow bloggers that participated as well. It was, indeed, a lot of fun, after all :)
However, I wonder if this is really leading us to a better means of education or not ...
In the world of electronic communication, there is a term called "signal-to-noise ratio" that is a measure of how much signal is getting through versus the (obscuring) background interference. In the parlance of teaching, this would be the equivalent to how much information is being imparted amongst the extraneous information that is being presented. For example, if a student can get 15 minutes worth of information by reading 30 minutes in a book, they have an effective signal-to-noise ratio of 1/2. Similarly, if they can get the same 15 minutes of information from a one-hour video, then they have an effective signal-to-noise ratio of 1/4. Granted that all students (myself included) learn in different modes at different rates, some modes of knowledge transference are still inherently faster than others. In a given day, a student can learn twice as much if their signal-to-noise ratio is 1/2 instead of 1/4. The trend to combine knowledge with entertainment in order to make it more fun and enjoyable is laudable, but it progressively decreases the signal-to-noise ratio.
We effectively hold students captive from K-12 ... that's 20,000+ hours of their lives. What signal-to-noise ratio do we want them to have during those hours? As we make things more entertaining and fun, are we diluting the essential knowledge that needs to be imparted over time? How many hours of actual learning are necessary to produce a literate product for the market-place by age 18?
I don't know.
However, I did learn something along the way about podcasts that I thought was worth sharing. If you want to create an audio podcast, simply save it as a MP3 file to a web site (every GCC employee has one or two whether they know it or not). Using iTunes (QuickTime), Windows Media Player, or other MP3 players, anyone can then choose "Open URL" and type in the address to load and play the audio file (example: http://web.gccaz.edu/~jhamilto/deadskunk.mp3 ). Similarly, if you save a video file as an MP4 to a web site, it will not only be very small and compact, but will also readily download using iTunes (think video iPods and iPhones), Play Station Portable (PSP), and many other new-generation portable video players (example: http://www.gc.maricopa.edu/advancement/audio/GCC_REV3.mp4 )
"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by.
And that has made all the difference."
23 Things made a difference to me ... it was a path worth travelling :)
However, I wonder if this is really leading us to a better means of education or not ...
In the world of electronic communication, there is a term called "signal-to-noise ratio" that is a measure of how much signal is getting through versus the (obscuring) background interference. In the parlance of teaching, this would be the equivalent to how much information is being imparted amongst the extraneous information that is being presented. For example, if a student can get 15 minutes worth of information by reading 30 minutes in a book, they have an effective signal-to-noise ratio of 1/2. Similarly, if they can get the same 15 minutes of information from a one-hour video, then they have an effective signal-to-noise ratio of 1/4. Granted that all students (myself included) learn in different modes at different rates, some modes of knowledge transference are still inherently faster than others. In a given day, a student can learn twice as much if their signal-to-noise ratio is 1/2 instead of 1/4. The trend to combine knowledge with entertainment in order to make it more fun and enjoyable is laudable, but it progressively decreases the signal-to-noise ratio.
We effectively hold students captive from K-12 ... that's 20,000+ hours of their lives. What signal-to-noise ratio do we want them to have during those hours? As we make things more entertaining and fun, are we diluting the essential knowledge that needs to be imparted over time? How many hours of actual learning are necessary to produce a literate product for the market-place by age 18?
I don't know.
However, I did learn something along the way about podcasts that I thought was worth sharing. If you want to create an audio podcast, simply save it as a MP3 file to a web site (every GCC employee has one or two whether they know it or not). Using iTunes (QuickTime), Windows Media Player, or other MP3 players, anyone can then choose "Open URL" and type in the address to load and play the audio file (example: http://web.gccaz.edu/~jhamilto/deadskunk.mp3 ). Similarly, if you save a video file as an MP4 to a web site, it will not only be very small and compact, but will also readily download using iTunes (think video iPods and iPhones), Play Station Portable (PSP), and many other new-generation portable video players (example: http://www.gc.maricopa.edu/advancement/audio/GCC_REV3.mp4 )
"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by.
And that has made all the difference."
23 Things made a difference to me ... it was a path worth travelling :)
