Living in the Past....?

I loved this weeks lecture, I was so challenged, so many new horizons and opportunities were opened up.  My favourite genre of writing/reading is scifi and this week I felt like I had stepped straight into one of these books - my version of an augmented reality.  However, it did also make me feel like I was living in the past - that I didn't know what many of these new technologies were, never mind how many of them are with us right now!

There seem to be two schools of thought as to where all this technology is leading us:
1. Slow down, we don't know what we're doing!
2. Bring it on!

Where am I?
Somewhere in the middle I think. I believe that change and 'progress' is inevitable but it is a double edged sword and there are danger and privacy issues to be considered and addressed. I think that ignoring these technologies would put me and my students at a disadvantage. It is already happening and being informed helps me use the technology and to be aware of the dangers. I need to make sure I have a balanced view and don't get carried away with all the positive possibilities without considering the negatives.

Three of the digital technologies particularly intrigued me:

Augmented Reality
I can see some really great applications for teaching and learning with this technology, particularly in science and society and environment. The overlay of old photos on modern scenes was a very motivating and engaging application.  This video shows how Bing Maps are using augmented reality. This would be a brilliant way to bring S&E (for example) to life.




Cloud Computing
Many of us are already using some form of cloud computing (all your Facebook stuff isn't actually stored on your computer). This article from 'How Stuff Works' explained it really clearly and also explained many of the concerns associated with cloud computing. I think this concept could be a boon for schools in terms of making technology more accessible for students, costs could possibly be less, hardware would be less bulky and more mobile, software glitches and problems would become the responsibility of the server and greater processing/data storage power may be more available.

Virtual Worlds
This was also a very exciting concept. I joined Second Life to see what it was all about (my original choice of avatar was limited to bimbos or a man, which was a bit off putting), it was easy to join and download but I need to do some more exploring. For schools though, this is a great tool for collaborating with a wide community, interacting with ideas and information that may not be easily available in their own locality. I can see it having increasing relevance for remote and distance learners particularly.

I need a lot more processing time to take all these concepts in and think about using them in the classroom, but I feel that they hold some exciting possibilities. Real-life  has looked a little old-fasioned and mundane since Tuesday, maybe I need an ipad to augment my reality.......