Author: grabe

We are heading to Alaska in about a week to visit our daughter and enjoy some vacation time. We have enjoyed Alaska throughout our adult lives and this will be our 4th trip. Kim ended up working there for a summer partly as a consequence of our previous experiences as a family.

I started to look around our house last night to see if I could round up video from our previous Alaskan adventures. The last trip I know we took mostly digital pictures. The first trip was so long ago the Alcan highway was a gravel road for long stretches and I was using the type of VHS camcorder you held on your shoulder. I was searching for tapes from the second trip. I can see in my mind two Hi-8 digital tapes with a label – Alaska. I found probably 50-60 tapes – most without a label. Cindy was busy and one of the issues we argue about is whether I am capable of locating lost objects. I did not ask for help and gave up.

I have enjoyed still and video photography all of my life. Somewhere I have resources that are likely valuable to my family and possibly to others. I have no idea how to combine the material that is saved on multiple computers, discs, tapes of many different formats. As the expression goes, after a while one mountain looks pretty much like another. How do I catalog the material at this date?

I really don’t know, but these are issues I need to think about. I always thought I would eventually transfer all of the material I have to a consistent format (I have 30 reel to reel tapes of music from the 60-70s under my desk and no reel to reel player which both channels working). I was going to start last night.

So, I am beginning to think seriously about this issue and I encourage you to do the same. I like iPhoto – I wish I had a GPS on my camera so the location of my photos would be recorded. I am trying to be more consistent in adding annotations. I upload some photos to Flickr and have am spending $25 a year for the pro version. I have not thought a lot about video until now. I think I need something more than Flickr and Youtube.

I did find some vacation video from 1998 and created a CD. For fun, I cut the CD material down to 10 minutes of snippets and uploaded to Youtube (see below). I have viewed things in the past I think will now be very difficult to see again. I get that is what some folks call history. AND I WAS THERE.

[Youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3B_8ad0xCA]

I have been reading Richard Louv’s “Last Child in the Woods” and I do recommend the book. The author laments what he describes as “nature deficit disorder”, correlates nature deficit disorder with various maladies, identifies possible causes, and recommends solutions. I think there are many quality ideas in this book – most probably stretched a little too far. I agree that the reduction in free play has probably contributed to health problems in children and the rest of us. It make sense to me that as a society we have become overly fearful of low probability evenrts and intimidated by potential liability claims (Louv does cite Flinklehor – but I think he spells the name incorrectly – Finkelhor). I do think that experiencing nature probably is a better way to encourage preservation of nature than dealing with nature in the abstract. I am less certain about the connection between instructured experiences in nature and a reduction in ADHD and depression.

I am guessing Louv is not a big fan of technology, but he lumps computer-based activities with television viewing and assumes that computer-based activities are intended as substitutes for other learning/play experiences.

Cindy and I were able to create an early niche among those preparing future teachers to use technology because we argued that technology allowed learners to experience the world in more beneficial ways. This has been described as a “tools” model. I thought an advantage at the time was to confront stereotypes. Learners do not learn from technology, but use technology as a tool to help them learn. The best uses of technology may not be to provide information, but to help learners process/understand the information provided by other means. Technology does not offer a substitute for a field trip to a nature preserve, but taking technology (videocamera or digital camera) on a field trip improves the immediate and follow-up experience. We talked about multimedia authoring to learn as a variant of the generative/constructivist notion of writing to learn.

So my priorities – digital cameras, blogs, wikis, and field trips. Lower priorities – Second Life, games, etc. Process real experiences when possible.

Back to “Last child in the woods”. Louv talks about generations and how predispositions in the present genereated are encouraged by early experiences with parents. Of course, the concern is that lack of access, fear, and alternative diversions will prevent an appreciation for the natural world as experienced rather than as an abstraction from developing.

I am not worried about my kids or their kids. My kids are living in an urban setting and engaged in professional careers. They are probably more committed to providing physical world experiences for their children than we were with them.

One special note. Over the years, we have had the opportunity to take summer camping trips. One of the benefits of being unemployed in the summer. Camping and travel by car used to be relatively inexpensive. Alaska has been the destination several times and our kids now say that these trips were special. Our youngest daughter decided to follow an interest kindled long ago and spend the summer working in Alaska on a whale watching boat. We were able to convince her to generate a blog – the last entry describes the bears that broke into here garage. Hard to beat such experiences as grist for some pretty interesting stories.

An interview with Clay Shirky, author of “Here comes everybody”, is available from Will Richardson (Weblogg-ed). Shirky, a college prof, has some interesting things to say about the future of education – structured and personal learning. There are some interesting comments about the mismatch between what we want schools to do and what we presently are measuring.

I have several previous posts to Shirky resources (video presentation, links associated with the book). Shirky’s analysis concerns how we can now take advantages of “organic” groups.

This is not an iPhone promo. I live in North Dakota. I promised Cindy an iPhone for her last birthday, but we do not have access to ATT. 70 countries, but not ND.

Anyway, I became fascinated with the live stream (http://twitlive.tv). The feed presently has over 6000 viewers and has maxed out. Quality of the feed is amazing. Also interesting to watch the chat window.

I have written several posts based on my reading of Tom Friedman’s The World is Flat. Friedman’s analysis has had an impact on educational thinking – partly in comparing different educational systems and partly in recognizing economic challenges that have educational implications. Friedman’s books have had a place on my iPod for several years and I have reviewed The World is Flat several times.

If you are an educator and have not read or listened to the World is Flat, I can now suggest an alternative. I encourage you to follow Ted Koppel’s Discovery Channel series on China. The series began this evening. The Discovery Channel web site offers some information on the series. The themes in the Koppel series and Friedman’s book are very similar.

I am recording the Koppel series with our Tivo. This is serious stuff and worth reconsidering.

Tags: flatworld