#EDCMOOC Artifact

Compared to the standard of work evident  by other submissions seen so far, this is a very mediocre attempt at producing an artifact for the EDCMOOC assignment.

Human vs Machine

However in reflection, the challenges that I have faced have been in using the technology tools for the first time namely Storify, YouTube Videos, TED, and Flikr.  Though this experience I have developed far more confidence in trying out different tools and communicating my ideas through this medium.

I have learnt so much from viewing others Blogs, occasionally plucking up the courage to comment. and have been inspired by the skill and creativity of so many who have produced such innovative and inspiring Artifacts.

Aritfacts Exemplars

Examples of Artifacts that inspired me.

1.  Ron Leunissen:

Video: Vision of K- 12 Students today.

Using the tool Slideshare:
ttp://www.slideshare.net/nordreams/the-meaning-of-two-words-16789655


Comic Artifact:



http://Pixton.com/ic:2jr178zc

DAVID using Prezi

http://prezi.com/3kqigxovqtcr/david/

making room for the human in e-learning

This Prezi is a response to some of the themes of the e-learning and digital cultures course run by the University of Edinburgh through Coursera. There is a voiceover on most of the slides.

http://prezi.com/cnemhwcczmvp/making-room-for-the-human-in-e-learning/

https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/116967860906905648378

Resourses

Prezi Examples:

Murally: Being Human
https://beta.mural.ly/!/#/emicortina/1361141982367



Goggle:

TOOL  Pixton for fun

http://www.pixton.com/login?redirect=%2Fcomic%2F2jr178zc

Week 4 Popular Cultures

This week we have been discussing Trans-humanism.  This refers to the movement towards the development of new technologies to enhance human life (something that my son is passionate about).

If AI will instructing humans

VIDEO:

Robbie  video depicts a robot with what I would consider are human like qualities, feeling emotions like happiness or loneliness; need to have friendships; creative,  talks about choosing a faith,  works independently, is self aware, take responsibility, is rational etc. I guess he is no different to a human apart from not having skin, bones and flesh.
However does that mean that humans are machines once we substitute our flesh or metal and machinery?

Initially Robbie was under the control of a human but then he was given his own artificial intelligence.  It reminds me of the Planet of the Apes where humans were always considered of lesser superiority due to the intelligence of the apes.


Gumdrop Short Film:

The personality and communication skills of Gumdrop appear human like presenting a utopian view of robots.  She is obviously a machine but her design is human like with endearing human like qualities.

 True Skin video is exactly where my mind was going to next.  When is a human body that is made up of machine not a human. Where is the distinction between man and machine.  I think of 'blade runner' competing in the Olympic games against others without prosthetic s   When is it not OK for a person with non organic body parts to compete against 'organic' human competitors?

I feel especially taken by the concept of being able to retrieve our memories to retain our humanness.  It is particularly worrying to me thinking of people who have no memories eg Alzheimer's
and question the quality of their life.


Video Avatar Days:
 Interesting depiction of the merging of life for online game players of Warcraft with their avatars and the blurring of the real and imaginary world.

 Blog comments I found interesting:

1. It seems that, for a transhumanist, society can take control of technology and use it to enhance ourselves so as to learn more, or maybe better.

Ref: http://elqueencuentrabusca.blogspot.com.ar/2013/02/edcmooc-week-4-so-what-does-learning.html

Week 3 Video Reflections

Video World Builder:

Q: What ways does it position ‘the human’ in relation to the technological? What does it say about ways in which human emotion can be manipulated by digital simulation?

The message in the video stated the potential of humans to find ways to connect with those  that they love,  and use their creative imagination to build a world that enables us to connect.

Video 2 There made of meat:

Q:What conclusions might you draw from this about the human body, and whether we can see the body as providing a stable basis for defining what it means to be human?

 

 

 This video reminds me of the discussion I recently had with my son as to when are we human? Is it when our heart stops beating or when we are brain dead, or when our sole has left our body.

 

For me being human is about being able to connect, have and express emotion, or  have conscious thought. 

 

Will it be possible in the future to freeze our brains and to become alive again, with a different body made of 'meat' or machine?

 





#EDCMOOC Week 3 Defining Humanity

Video:

Humanity 2.0: defining humanity - Steve Fuller’s TEDx Warwick talk (24:08), http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/podcasts/media/more/tedx?podcastItem=steve_fuller.mp4

 

Steve Fuller asks have we always, sometimes or never been human?

• I was interested in Steve's views that we should not ignore the 'big questions' that still need to be answered from the 70's ie having failed in the humanist project in achieving racial, gender or class equality.
• He asks - "have human beings left the building".
• Coursera says " Thinking about education specifically, might we see MOOCs as an example of an ‘old humanistic project’, particularly in the promise they appear to offer for democratisation, equality of access and so on?"
• Yes this would probably suggest that it is one strategy to create the equality of access to education.  However although there are over 40,000 participants, how many are from lower socio economic, or disadvantage backgrounds

Reading:

Shirky, C. (2012). Napster, Udacity and the academy. shirky.com, 12 November 2012. http://www.shirky.com/weblog/2012/11/napster-udacity-and-the-academy

Quotes I found though provoking:

• Comparisons of changes to music industry and potential effect for impending change on our educational system.
• MOOC questions:  what it is, who it is, how it is delivered and who delivers it?
• "Blistering public criticism makes an open system better".
• Open education will "raise quality and certification faster than traditional institutions can lower costs or increase enrolments.

"At a minimum, a student is someone for whose education you have assumed some personal responsibility. You have a vested interest in your students’ progress, and your own success as a teacher is related to their success at mastering the course material you have designed"

Read more:

http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2012/10/29/essay-how-moocs-raise-questions-about-definition-student#ixzz2KTsgqQiI
Inside Higher Ed

• "The kind of dedicated and innovative teachers typically drawn to MOOCs will find it very difficult to ignore the demands of online learners who act and feel like, well … students."
• Nevertheless, we should not underestimate the degree to which a sense of connection with an individual instructor, one who models the project of intellectual inquiry, is a key dimension of many students’ motivation"
• If we allow the word "student" to lose its primary meaning as a person formally engaged in learning through enrollment in a school or college, a person toward whom that institution and its faculty assume some responsibility, then we undermine the case for colleges and universities as the place where students go to meet their educational goals

It seems clear that the spaces, formats, and media in which higher education is offered may change radically in the coming years. We will certainly need to adjust our terminology to keep pace with these changes. We must not lose sight, however, of the central axis around which all education revolves. Classroom walls may disappear as predicted, lectures may go the way of the dodo bird, but what will still define education is the presence of (a) a teacher, (b) students, and (c) a set of agreed-upon goals that they work toward together.

 

Read more:

http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2012/10/29/essay-how-moocs-raise-questions-about-definition-student#ixzz2KTubQ4Ih

Inside Higher Ed

• Why have we stopped aspiring to provide the real thing for everyone

Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2012/12/06/essay-critiques-ideas-clay-shirky-and-others-advocating-higher-ed-disruption#ixzz2KTwSFylr

Inside Higher Ed

Blog Comments:

 Phillip Holden: EDCMOOC -- are the students and teachers human?

Phillip raises some interesting points ie. he sees this MOOC as providing an opportunity for lots of enrichment, information, software to learn and things to read but not "the  kind of intense intellectual engagement and debate that really produces knowledge in class.

I would agree that I feel like I am floating around aimlessly picking up little snippets, reading and making comments here and there but not really challenging my thinking.  This is occurring more with my in person conversations that I am having with my son in sharing my learning experiences.

Connecting and sharing

These are a few ideas that show what others are doing OR suggesting.

Blog:
http://daryahayes.wordpress.com/2013/02/06/free-on-line-tools/


Video:
Bruner  Constructivism in Education: