Technology Subgroup Scribblin's

From Kaput Center Wiki

11.20.08

14:15 Looking at Ubiquity of Technology

What technologies do we want to see in 10 years time? Luis - what will have an impact on the technology. Companies are redefining the digital environment. Technology has come before the needs. We are researching or searching for the use of a technology because it is already there. We are trying to embody intentionality.

SH - Did Apple have a 5 year forsight on what people want? Based on peoples use and interaction methods are changing. Instead of adopting the technology for a different intent. People did not know that a technology could be used? Apple had a social agenda.

Luis - microprocessor compared to iPhone belong to different levels of infrastructure. Processors are an invisible technology, no social impact by itself.

SH - So iPHone could be considered artifact of design process based on humans and social needs? Reflection of processor reflection?

Luis - iPhone is a proximal device from his old phone. It was a realization of what could or should be done with a phone. Potentiality for that technology.

SH - iPhone closer to laptop than to a phone. iPhone had affective response. People want to be happy with it.

Luis - We're not trying to format or design the artifact. The artifact is formatting society.

Ryan - Multimedia device. We've moved to smart phones. The overlap of zone.

Derek - iPhone in exact center

Ryan - the line is at the iPhone/SmartPhone - it's not just a phone

James - Social uses, affect, about being happy. Associate it with being happy. Transfer effect of device into the classroom (a different intention).

SH - train has left the station. Let's put algebra books on iPhone.

Derek (whispers) - They've already done that.

SH - Apple didn't design for the classroom. We have to believe that these devices are formatting society.

Derek - Isn't the arifact shaping going to stop?

SH - the artifact could become extinct. But technology still exists. Where is technology? Technology is in ubiquity strand here (points to head). Are we ready to be formatted? The answer is no, by and large. Teachers want to format, not be formatted.

Derek - is the iPhone locomotive going to be harmful?

SH - The iPhone is like a bomb - it's the after effect.

James - What are the technologies formatting us, and how are they formatting us?

Cristina - Isn't technology formatting us as human beings inside of society, instead of formatting society? We are forged by techonology. We are not abstract things in society.

SH - the end product is the allowability. That formatted you because it effected you.

Cristina - if Skype didn't exist or phones, if this was 100 years ago, there was no expectation.

Teresa - if techonology is formatting society, how are those habits being brought to the classroom? In Mexico I do not see the impact in the classroom, but in the street and amongst different level of SES. These are not impacting the mathematics classroom. Children using techonology at home. Children acquired new habits at home and they found the classroom very boring. We need to be careful about this part of society (the classroom) Luis - We hvae cultural tools. By using them, it is an internalization process, and they become cognitive tools, they are not external to us. It is a tertiary tool. At school we have different students, they are different people (because of cognitive tools). Trying to tecah them as if they were completely ignorant of the technology, because they hvae not used it at the school. Tokyo is called a thumb city. Only way to communicate privately with friends is by typing, they never use it to speak, only writing. The phone is a writing instrument.

SH - question sociability. Verizon, or vodaphone is formatting society (US is the only place not doing the massive text message thing). Let's take a kid who is text messaging, they love to talk to their friends and do that. They are happy to use, where are they using, and how are they using technology. It's in a private space. They are highly engaged. For us it's easy outside the classroom to measure engagement. That engagement is independent. What are they participating in? They are in their private world. When people say kids enjoy using technology outside the classroom, it's not in social ways. We cannot always learn from outside of the classroom to inside the classroom. What are the design principles of taking principles from outside and bring it into classroom. Or put infracstructure into classroom and we have a layered cake.

James - This is their form of wrirint. Transferring knowledge to friends is by that technology, or influenced by technology.

Ryan - I argue that if I'm texting you, and that's not engagement, when I talk to you in person are we engaging?

Derek - Texting is active and conversations can be ignored even in person.

Cristina - Texting and talking are two different semiotic systems. Visual conversation you have intonation, texting you have icons.

Ryan - I' arguing that engagement types are different. Engagement through texting is not positive?

SH - texting is not social.

Sachiko - Make the technology more social, as a key to education.

SH - Send lots of messages and not always waiting for a reaction, but get a reaction to the first. Lose synchronicity. If technology is having a formatting effect, we cannot just take technology and put it in. What do we take to the classroom? The semiotic syste that it affords? Do we look at the infrastructural transformative effect it can have on the classroom? What is the impact of a new semiotic register in learning mathematics?

Luis - what we take into classroom we need to understand, or it' sliving. Work with technology in classroom, we need to understand how it is effecting socieyt and how it will effect the structure of the classroom?

SH - we are living in a classroom where behaviorists formatted the classroom 50 years ago. THey are still having impact and defining how things are. See Walter's point of the assessment and intentionality about people who create items. Where is technology? Is it a transformative or how can it reshape the role? How can it get those in power to change their understanding of how we do business?

Luis - There are hidden deep issues. France made it compulsory to use TI-92. They were worried about students using the technology outside of their control, so they made it compulsory and decided to teach it to them. Dual operational systems (PC and Mac iPhone) being used by people.

SH - How can you be comfortable in two different modes of operation?

Luis - Blending of the operations. Use of writing is predominant. Adding computers is a blending of computers and writing, how do you internalize?

SH - A slight shift of interest based on cultures of the room. What are the issues of identity within your culture? America is a melting pot, what are the identity issues in a mix of culture and technology?

Luis - Taking into account means a perseption on technology. Different culturals have different meanings of technology. A phone for me is for speaking not writing or internet. Artifact perseption culturally based

Sachiko - Japan formatted by cell phones 10 years ago and the US followed as I predicted once they were used to it

Luis - Stability is necessary to enhance technology. The radio is a stable but static as a social technology. Phone is evolving and converging with other technologies. Besides intentionality, stability is an important issue to maintain/develop technology.

Derek - Is it a failure to FORCE technology in the classroom? Controlling what they already use in the classroom could be counter productive. Boredom with the current use of technology (spreadsheets, etc).

James - Why were they bored

SH - Answers to these questions from pre/post tests. Negative attitude towards technology in the classroom during post because there is a reformat of the use of calculator in the class. Calculator used to be my friend, now makes me think

Derek - Was it their friend?

SH - Not answering that, asking why attitude changes. Our interpretation is that their perception of the calculator's functionality has been changed. In the end they were using the technology more effectively. Using spreadsheets at home does not mean they were thinking mathematically

Derek - Change the iPhone perception from making them happy. Does this mean another artifact to make them happy again?

SH - We are talking about technology as ubiquitous idea that changes the way I fulfill ways of communication. Artifact is the result of an action. Do not ask what is the role of the iPhone.

Luis - That's why I suggest to look at the cognitive artifact produced by the cultural formatting. All tech we are talking abotu are semiotic technologies. We are a symbolic species so we have semiotic tech affecting our nature.

Bob - But does that affect mathematics education? Do they becoe more knowledgeable or easier to teach in math?

Ryan - Need to harness what they use with technology for in the classroom

Bob - Build on what they use technology for

SH - What they use at home will be different semiotic system than the one in the math classroom. Some want the walls of the classroom to be totally transparent other wants thick lead walls. each of those context will impact the form of signs in speech and interaction. Too trivial to ask "am i to use the technolgoy in my classroom". Have to understand the semiotic system using in the classroom

Bob - 3rd graders come in with more ability to use computer. So teacher's are way behind the curve so they resistant to use technolgoy to teach the kids. How do you advance is the teacher and student are using different semiotic languages?

James - Back to spreadsheets, students became bored/less happy about using it in the new way defined in the classroom.

SH - Technology is a moving target. Trival answer to your (Bob) question is that it is time to (re)educate teachers abotu technology. Help converge semiotic systems registers of kids and teachers so the agency is distributed. No sage on the stage. Without common register there is no way to converse.

Luis - But taht is the reality of the classroom, even with just writing.

Bob - Why is writing like that?

Luis - Even with writing they could be teaching different languages. The intentionality of teacher does not converge with the students

Bob - That's not new.

SH - Right, it's an extension of the old problem. We have the same problems as 50-100 years ago, kids aren't getting it. People better calc teachers now than 30 years ago? Many schools are receiving influx of technology in many countries. Mexico has satelite dish, computers, calculators...still doesn't work.

Sachiko - Technology brings two new things 1) process data into graphs

SH - Techonoogly brings nothing

Sachiko - Motivational part, more fun doing that.

SH - That's the point, THEY Bring that. Make them happy for 5 min until battery runs out

Sachiko - Effective use of technolgoy would be powerful

SH - Why have to fit square peg tech into round motivational hole

Sachiko - Why? Can be comprismised together

SH - MS capitalized on their own ideas. Why spend our life making apps on THEIR systems? Same for Apple. That is the wrong approach.

Sachiko - THat's not the way we wanted it to happen...

SH - I think its in the hearts and soles of people here. We can take infastructure but without affordances we're passionate about...

Bob - Kids that aren't getting it, are they plaing with new tech?

SH - Most kids have computer at home

Bob - What do they do?

SH - Games

Derek/James - Social Media

SH - Not for what your (Bob) thinking of

Bob - Most use it as school device

Derek - Adapt it to their own wants/needs

SH - That's not primary intention, he's asking what is primary intention. Computers = Games/Net, Calc = Math

Teresa - Lots of tech, but nothing happens. On the other hands, we have mountains of literature of successful uses of tech to teach certain things in certain environments in math. We dont' see this is acutal use. There is another problem that all the research trying to find potential of this is not in schools in generalized way. The main resource from research field is from innovative uses beyond curriculum

SH - That's why it's not scalable, it goes against the grain. In writing perspectus for the future, where in our work do we see the passage way/structure/mode of transfering/scaling. One way is pre-service training, its a focus of JRME. 10 years ago there was nothing, even though it's largest for teaching organization. One passage way to address your (Teresa) question is how do we create traction/infastructure to take small findings to scale. We just spent 4 years for scale study in TX for just a few weeks of instruction. Multiply that by more weeks and states and quickly up to lots of money. Now try to create teacher preperartion at scale. If teacher prep is the future need to educate the educators. Most people preparing to be elemetary school teachers must go to math department to learn "mathematics". They will get the same old epistemology. Lets think abotu a different paradigm. I don't know the answer to your question but it is one of the big challengs.

Luis - Reflects the sentence that math has long past and short history. We are discovering complexity of the problem. PME meetings in the 60's thought it would be done in 10 years. Each day we discover the depth of the complexity however. 30 years ago study of gestures had nothing to do with study of mathematics. That is the history of the discipline. Increasingly we are aware of this problem. Answer to your (Teresa) question is the replication of the studies in classrooms is complex

Teresa - Before hearing this morning's complexity talk, we needed to more research about that connection: research outcomes and implementation at a large scale. THat was my problem working for administration of education.

SH - By the time impelmentation comes around it's out of date.

Luis - Complexity of research field and implementing it in the educational system is terribly expensive. The only similar example is the health system. Lots of research on cancer, etc. but all of them have to be implemented through health system...but it's not adapting to the research. In the case of education it's even more complex. Problem you're trying to solve has same level of complexity as the solver. Cristina, what is culture and identity.

Cristina - One has more knowledge, the other power. Is learning part of changing identity? Discussing tech but in class we have mathematics, must account for the relationship. Does math change or do we always teach the same math with different technology.

Luis - Math is defined by the representations we are using. Different semiotics changes the objects. From writing on slate to the computer the mathematical object has changed. We are facing new mathematical objects due to the different systems. Curriculum goal should be to identify border objects, can be identifed by old and new math objects.

Cristina - Why make comparision tests then?

Teresa - Because we are introducting innovative approach/tools where there is an existing school culture. Role of culture in terms of country is difficult, school culture is easier to assess.

Luis - Even writing took 5k years to get a homogenous method. But there are quite different approaches. Digital tech has many different meanings due to culture. Tough to take as global variable because admitting there is no universal way of thinking.

Sachiko - I can see effectiveness of technolgoy in science, though SH was strongly against. Depending on the tech its all different so you have to do research into the area.

Luis - Making difference between tools and artifacts. Third level where artifact changes cultural environment.