Cyborgs in the classroom?

Our #ds106 friend Anna Cow did write a story about cyborgs.
She wrote:
I fear to be a cyborg. What If some nasty BigFarma or BigData or some CompuNerds made a cyborg of me? No aliens but nasty big firms trying to do something very evil? ? Think of the BigNerds trying to do nasty tests on cows and humans.

Jason Silva on a youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUzFtWNOOOU is rather optimistic and jubilant about being a cyborg.
Could a cyborg be used as a soldier, or do more evil deeds because of this extra equipment?
In this world and in the future of the cyborg world would values and ethics be important in education and the curriculum, in teaching? Because of the power of cyborg possibilities?

Does the techno-realistic perspective give a better view on dangers and possibilities of technology?

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Freedom and its betrayal, Isaiah Berlin

Helvetius, Rousseau, Fichte, Hegel, Saint-Simon, Maistre zijn de zes vijanden van de vrijheid die Berlin in dit boek bespreekt. Helvetius, Rousseau, Fichte, Hegel, Saint-Simon, Maistre are the six enemies of freedom in this book of Isaiah Berlin.
In het tweede deel van het boek staat de ontwikkeling van Berlins ideeën over vrijheid beschreven aan de hand van lezingen.
The second part of the book about lectures “Two concepts of freedom” shows a development of thought in Berlins mind.
Berlin noemt de filosofie van Hegel een mythe, gebaseerd op metafysisch inzicht en geloof. Hieronder een citaat om dat te illustreren Hegel does not provide any evidence … it turns out to be a case of metaphysical insight and an act of faith. (page 86) Next a citation as an example of this

In Phänomenologie des Geistes: ” … Allein, wie auch Aristoteles die Natur als das zweckmäßige Tun bestimmt, der Zweck ist das Unmittelbare, das Ruhende, welches selbst bewegend oder Subjekt ist. Seine abstrakte Kraft zu bewegen ist das Für-sich-sein oder die reine Negativität. Das Resultat ist nur darum dasselbe, was der Anfang, weil der Anfang Zweck ist;—oder das Wirkliche ist nur darum dasselbe, was sein Begriff, weil das Unmittelbare als Zweck das Selbst oder die reine Wirklichkeit in ihm selbst hat. Der ausgeführte Zweck oder das daseiende Wirkliche ist die Bewegung und das entfaltete Werden; eben diese Unruhe aber ist das Selbst; und jener Unmittelbarkeit und Einfachheit des Anfangs ist es darum gleich, weil es das Resultat, das in sich Zurückgekehrte, —das in sich Zurückgekehrte aber eben das Selbst, und das Selbst die sich auf sich beziehende Gleichheit und Einfachheit ist… ” (e-book from Gutenberg.org page 37,1 / 1180)
Try to translate this piece of Hegel.
Alone, as Aristotle also determines nature as purposive activity, the purpose is the immediate, which is at rest, which itself is moving or subject. To move his abstract force is the For-itself or pure negativity. The result is just about the same as the beginning because the beginning is purpose; -or the real is just about the same thing, because the immediate purpose of his term as the Self or pure act in itself. The executed purpose or existent real is the movement and the unfolded becoming; just this unrest but that’s self; and that directness and simplicity of the beginning, it is about the same, because it is the which is the result, in itself Returned, -the self Returned but just the self, and the self-relating equality and simplicity.
Vertaling: Alleen, zoals Aristoteles dus bestimmt natuur als doelgerichte activiteit, het doel is de onmiddellijke, dat is in rust, die zelf in beweging is of onderwerp. Te bewegen zijn abstracte kracht is de Voor-zelf of pure negativiteit. Het resultaat is ongeveer hetzelfde als het begin: want het begin is doel; -of de echte is zo ongeveer hetzelfde,: omdat het onmiddellijke doel van zijn termijn als het Zelf of pure daad op zich. De Uitgevoerd doel of werkelijk bestaand is de beweging en de ongevouwen worden; alleen deze onrust, maar dat is zelf; en leverde directheid en eenvoud van het begin, het is ongeveer hetzelfde,: want het is de Wat is het resultaat, op zich Terugkerende, -het zelf geretourneerd, maar gewoon het zelf, en de zelf-relateren gelijkheid en eenvoud.

Rhizomatisch glossarium

badge for you the real rhizomatic learner who did assess and judge yourself.

In this glossarium I try to add blogs and other links that explain the concept. On Wikipedia you will find more about most of the concepts, I will not link to Wikipedia.

Een glossarium is een woordenlijst met uitleg.
A glossarium is a list of words and their explanation.

The Deleuze dictionary is very helpful on his ideas. (PDF)

Agency The capacity to exercise control over the nature and quality of one’s life is the essence of humanness. Human agency is characterized by a number of core features that operate through phenomenal and functional consciousness PDF (Bandura)

Badge also view http://badges.p2pu.org/en/badge/view/304/

decalcomania a decorative technique by which engravings and prints may be transferred to pottery or other material.  Deleuze:  Principle of cartography and decalcomania: a rhizome is not amenable to any structural or generative model. It is a stranger to any idea of genetic axis or deep structure. A genetic axis is like an objective pivotal unity upon which successive stages are organized; a deep structure is more like a base sequence that can be broken down into immediate constituents, while the unity of the product
passes into another, transformational and subjective, dimension. A rhizome is a map and not a tracing. (PDF)
Decalcomania and CCK11 (Keith Hamon) gives a clear description of decalcomania.

nomad The nomad is trying to do what I call ‘learning’. Not the recalling of facts, the knowing of things or the complying with given objectives, but getting beyond those things. Learning for the nomad is the point where the steps in a process go away. Think of parallel parking. If you think of the steps, perform them one at a time, you almost inevitably end up on the sidewalk. There is a point where you stop thinking of facts or steps and understand the act. (Dave Cormier)

Contemporary practices are engaging in the use of time in an attempt to activate reflections, not only through forms but also in the way that they are producing discourses. These contemporary modes of production are based on nomadic practices, not simply in terms of freely moving around or upon merely physical space, but upon time-based practices, which are allowing individuals to engage in different time based dimensions, floating in a universe of expanded forms and meanings, where past, present and future are unique fragments of the real. Nomadism is a practice of time-displacement, a process of remembering or actualizing, where virtual actualization is a form of creation (Gilles Deleuze).

“Man as civilized being, as intellectual nomad, is again wholly microcosmic, wholly homeless, as free intellectually as hunter and herdsman were free sensually.” (Spengler, 125″ Spengler, O. (1926). The Decline of the West (Abridged). Oxford: Oxford University Press.)

resilient being able to cope with stress & difficult situations. (thanks @penpln)
Look also into https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/55950576/resilience.pdf for an explanation.

rhizomatic According to Deleuze & Guattari (cited in Burnett, 1993), the “approximate characteristics of the rhizome” include:
principles of connection
principles of heterogeneity;
principle of multiplicity;
principle of asignifying rupture; and
principles of cartography and decalcomania. (zie http://www.waynebarry.com/blog/?p=614

Rhizomatic learning
Is an educational model whereby we create an ecosystem where nomads can learn(create). Where facts and data and knowledge and connection are pulled together in order to allow the nomad to create their own understanding

Instructional scaffolding is a learning process designed to promote a deeper level of learning. Scaffolding is the support given during the learning process which is tailored to the needs of the student with the intention of helping the student achieve his/her learning goals (Sawyer, R. Keith. The Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences. New York: Cambridge University Press., 2006).

You are invited to copy, to add, to comment on this list.

Mooc op universiteit? Dutch universities going MOOC?

Universiteiten staan voor de uitdaging om open online onderwijs te organiseren.
Natuurlijk, er zijn al vroege starters bezig, zoals Delft, maar de grote golf moet nog komen.
J. Bussemaker Minister for Education, Culture and Science did send a letter to the parliament to promote MOOCs and Open Education.

Open online onderwijs (OOO) stelt de univs voor problemen: Questions for univs
Hoe bind je de student aan de instelling?
Hoe voorkom je dat de student toch maar besluit om toch maar elders verder te studeren?
How to keep your students in your university?
Hoe geef je eigenlijk online les?
How to train teachers to become online teachers?
Question what Unique selling points of univ as mooc producer?
Hoe waardeer je het werk en de inspanning van de student.
How is grading done online?
Hoe school de docenten om tot deskundige online studieleiders.
Welke rol moet kan PR spelen,
How to involve PR people?
Hoe maak je echt goede online materialen, kunnen de grafische lycea daarbij helpen?
How to produce real good online lessons material, could design colleges assist?
“We are super-focused on customer service, which is a phrase that most univers can’t even use,” says Paul LeBlanc, SNHU’s president.
Wat is leren en wat is online leren?
What is learning and what is online learning?
Wat willen we met onze OOO bereiken?
What are our goals, objectives, values?
Hoe gaan we om met diversiteit aan vooropleidingen, leeftijd, cultuur, woonplaats, toegang tot internet?
How to handle diversity in online student population? Everybody from everywhere?
Wie zorgt tijdens de schoolvakanties in de weekeinden voor onze online cursisten?
Who is in charge after school hours, holidays, weekens?
Hoe zit het met eigendom auteursrecht enz?
How about copyright, and other juridical matters?
Hoe leer je studenten om te gaan met OOO?
how to train online students for online learning?

Rhizome #rhizo14 pre-ORIENT phase

20th century French Philosophers are so out (in Europe). Even if one reads their books in French, much of it is incomprehensible for most people. Did they write unreadable books on purpose? Deleuze “invented” the rhizome in about 1976. (In an article, now Introduction in Deleuze and Guattari Mille plateaux). In 2005 Patrick Odiard wrote a piece of music “Rhizome”

This is a blogpost on the new MOOC on Rhizomatic learning started by Dave Cormier, start January 14.

As a model for culture, the rhizome resists the organizational structure of the root-tree system which charts causality along chronological lines and looks for the originary source of “things” and looks towards the pinnacle or conclusion of those “things.” “A rhizome, on the other hand, “ceaselessly established connections between semiotic chains, organizations of power, and circumstances relative to the arts, sciences, and social struggles” (Deleuze and Guattari, 7). Rather than narrativize history and culture, the rhizome presents history and culture as a map or wide array of attractions and influences with no specific origin or genesis, for a “rhizome has no beginning or end; it is always in the middle, between things, interbeing, intermezzo” (D&G 25). The planar movement of the rhizome resists chronology and organization, instead favoring a nomadic system of growth and propagation.

In this model, culture spreads like the surface of a body of water, spreading towards available spaces or trickling downwards towards new spaces through fissures and gaps, eroding what is in its way. The surface can be interrupted and moved, but these disturbances leave no trace, as the water is charged with pressure and potential to always seek its equilibrium, and thereby establish smooth space. [rhizomes.net]
[D&G: Deleuze, Gilles, and Felix Guattari. A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia . trans. Brian Massumi. Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, 1987.]

Did you know rhizome.org? the Rhizome ArtBase is an online archive of new media art containing some 2174 art works, and growing.

Teaching/learning machine takes over some teacher roles?

The subject is getting more and more interesting. Questions do multiply.
As more learning takes place online, the question of how to establish and maintain social presence–the perception that participants are interacting with other human beings, not with just a well-designed interface–becomes increasingly important. (Robert D. Wright in a call for proposals) Do we always need human interaction when learning?
Would a bad teacher be better than a good “teaching/learning machine” ?
Is a mooc a teaching machine?
Will moocs develop into very good teaching instruments that equal some or all qualities of a good teacher? (A MOOC with a talking head in video-colleges is not a “human presence” in an online course, a talking head is a pain in the eye)
Will “learning/teaching instruments” be cheaper than brick and mortar colleges? We did a MOOC almost at no cost at all. Some MOOCs are very expensive, but that is not necessary.
Is the human touch necessary for all kinds of schooling?
Can “learning/teaching machines” be a solution of the very high demand for education in Asia and Africa?
Could teacher-to-student communication be replaced with student-to-student communication in learning? Distribute teaching roles among everyone in the school. Instead of a few highly trained teachers (who still may be bad at teaching), encourage a true form of peer to peer teaching.
Books and video did replace teachers as sole sources and providers of academic knowledge, will teaching/learning machines replace another role of the teacher?
What roles of a teacher could be done by a teaching/learning-machine?

” won’t there always be a back-of-the-mind barrier in the receiver that interacting with a machine is different than with a human.”
“I wonder if we might need to distinguish people who are machine taught over those who aren’t? ”
(Scott Johnson, email)

IMAGE : http://lisahistory.net/wordpress/2013/12/an-educated-citizenry-or-an-efficient-workforce/

Teaching Machines? (I)

Could teaching machines be real ?
How could teaching machines teach academic mastery; problem solving; collaboration; self directed learning; effective communication; an academic mindset; critical thinking; mastery of core academic content?
As teaching is expensive and millions of people want to learn, teaching machines could be a solution for this problem.
The immage is a teaching machine of Skinner (programmed instruction).
Teachingmachine.com
Reasons to be happy to end teaching
Discussion on teaching machines on Mirandanet

Some MOOCs are kind of teaching machines, not only the MMOOC (mechanical MOOC) but these “video-college-quiz”-MOOCs as well.

(image: wikipedia)

Critical factors for learning and teaching. Kritische factoren voor leren

In  the wiki of footprints of emergence is a list of critical factors for learning and teaching. I want to translate these factors. Translating is a way of learning and understanding. Translations are only attempts to catch the meaning of the critical factors. I am not a translator but a student.

In de wiki van footprints of emergence staat een lijst met critische factoren voor leren. Ik wil die lijst vertalen. Vertalen is een manier om te leren en te begrijpen. Deze vertalingen is  een poging om de betekenis van de critische factoren te ontdekken. Ik ben geen vertaler maar student.

Open/structure – balans tussen structuur en structuurloosheid; chaos en orde; wanorde en regel

risk –  risico; gevaar; onzekerheid

liminal space –  overgangsgebied, grensgebied; doorgang; transitieruimte;

ambiguity – meerduidigheid, meerzinnigheid,

disruption –  verstoring,  ontregeling,

self-correction – zich bjjsturen; zelfcorrectie; zich herstellen, zich corrigeren;

multi-path – veelsporigheid, meersporigheid,

interactive environment – leeromgeving; 

diversity – verscheidenheid, diversiteit

experimential –  ervarend;

adaptive – aanpasbaar, soepel, adaptief

co-evolution – het meegroeien; ontwikkeling;

interaction and networking – excentrisch, naar buiten gericht, openheid, interactief en netwerkend,

trust – vertrouwen; samenwerking, steun

theory of mind – empathie,

agency – zelfstandigheid zelfsturing; zelfbepaling

cross and multi modal – multimediaal;  rijk

open affordances – open uitkomsten, meer mogelijkheden;

self-organization –  zelf-ontwikkeling; persoonlijke ontwikkeling

autonomy – zelfsturing; zelfstandigheid; eigen initiatief

negotiated outcomes – schuivende doelen;  bespreekbare uitkomsten; onderhandelbare doelen

identity – persoonlijke groei; identiteit;

presence / writing – groei; ontdekken; uitdrukken

solitude & contemplation – rust en bezinning

encounters – ontmoeting

networks – samenwerking; groepsvorming

hybrid modes of interaction – uitdrukkingsmogelijkheden;  expressie

in/formal writing and engagement –  informaliteit;

Openness constraint and emergence

Jenny Mackness blogging about  still grappling with the relationship between openness, constraint and emergence,

Jenny Mackness blogt over still grappling with the relationship between openness, constraint and emergence, 

In systems theory and art emergence is the way complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions. Emergence is central to the theory of complex systems.

Emergence is de manier waarop complexe systemen en patronen ontstaan uit een veelheid relatief eenvoudige interacties in systeem theorie en in de kunst. Emergence is een centraal begrip in systeemtheorie.

In http://zmldidaktik.wordpress.com/tag/emergent-learning/  discovered the footprint (Want to look into that more)  and a link to IRODL about the relationship between prescriptive and emergent learning, both of which need to be part of an integrated learning ecology.

In  http://zmldidaktik.wordpress.com/tag/emergent-learning/  de Footprint gevonden (daar ga ik verder naar kijken) en een link naar een artikel in IRODL over de relatie van emergent leren en het ” gewone”  verplichte leerstof leren. 

My question on emergent learning is: What influence exists between  summative  testing and assessments  and  emergent learning?
 De vraag is of summatief toetsen een belemmering kan zijn voor emergent leren. 

M is for Massive M staat voor massief

M is for massive and for MOOC. M is a very misunderstood word in the MOOC acronym.
In some courses M is just for bulk, or just means very much students are involved. But massive has another connotation, that is of a solid construction or solid big thing.
This second meaning of massive (geologists use massif for this connotation of massive) is what M of MOOC stands for.

De M van Massief en van MOOC. Deze M staat voor een slecht begrepen woord in het acronym MOOC.
In sommige cursussen betekent de M niet meer dan massaal, maar massief heeft, ook in het engels, nog een andere betekenis. Het betekent vast aaneengesloten, ondeelbaar. Geologen noemen een gebergteketen een massief . Deze tweede betekenis van massief is kenmerkend voor de echte MOOC.

Metal is solid and massive, because of the forces of the connected molecules. A massive tower is solid and massive because of its structure and connectedness of the stones. These connected molecules are a good metaphor for the massiveness  of a MOOC. Like in  metal the connections between molecules are cause of solidity and massiveness in a real MOOC the connections between ideas opinions  and participants are important features of the MOOC.

Metaal is massief door de verbindingen tussen de moleculen. Deze verbindingen tussen de moleculen zijn een metafoor foor de massiviteit van de MOOC. De connecties tussen deelnemers en ideeen en meningen maken de MOOC bijzonder. 

A MOOC is massive because of the connections, in a mooc ideas and participants and thoughts are connected. Internet has made this connections possible.

Een MOOC is massief door de connecties, in een mooc worden ideeen en deelnemers gekoppeld. Internet maakt deze connecties mogelijk.

The image is of layers of different metals in a nano-electronic device. It is a beautiful metaphor that the just the  different metals in this device do make the device work. In a MOOC it is the connections between different participants and different opinions that make a MOOC a source of learning. That is why massive is important in a MOOC. In a MOOC a lot of different participants and different opinions and different participants make a better interconnected network.

De afbeelding laat lagen van verschillende metalen zien in een nan0-electronisch apparaat. Dat is een mooie metafoor. Het zijn de verschillen tussen de metalen die het apparaat laten werken. In een MOOC zijn het de verschillen tussen deelnemers en opinies en ideeen die de MOOC tot leerzame activiteit maken. Daarom is massiviteit belangrijk in een MOOC. De grote verzameling verschillen die onderling verbonden worden maken een MOOC interessant.

The M of MOOC as massive and solid stands for a new pedagogy, a pedagogy of the connected student in an open and online internet course. 

De M van MOOC staat voor een nieuwe didactiek, een didactiek van de deelnemer die connecties maakt in een open en online cursus. 

Pt = platinum; Pd =Palladium; Au = gold

(image from http://www.imec.be/ScientificReport/SR2009/HTML/1213586.html )