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Based on this Boston Globe book review, I think the slant that Turkle misses is that maybe the internet is redefining, rather than limiting, human development. She uses an example of people instant texting things such as funerals, disallowing deep human, emotional discourse to illustrate how the internet is "not better", but limiting. But maybe this is a reflection of a society where families are often split for a variety of reasons - divorce, geography - and the internet is allowing a connection, rather than isolation. The internet doesn't prevent a deeper discussion.

Ann, from a sociological perspective, I believe the way we handle death and grieving is one of the most important trends to observe with this new media. Death is something we will always have to modify our perception to accommodate, and I think we're only at the beginning of a real cultural shift, and even an assimilation of cultures around how we make meaning around these issues. I'm going to add the Stefana Broadbent TED Talk to our shared bookmarks here. I think you'd like it.

I think Sherry Turkle has voiced some of my concerns. I am not convinced that with the internet tools of social media the millennials and others are sharing deeper learning environments and relationships online. I think we need to reexamine these hypothesis as time goes by and they continue to develop.

Joy, you might like You Are Not a Gadget, by Jaron Lanier http://www.amazon.com/You-Are-Not-Gadget-Manifesto/dp/0307269647 It's his personal observation of where things might be headed. Much of it resonated with me, though I do understand it's only one point of view.

The observation how death and grieving is handled evolves and is reflective of society is an interesting observation. One internet tool I have noticed is that an on-line capability is often provided for death announcements. For several people close to me and a couple of celebrities that resonated with me, I would read or contribute to some of these postings and had a broader and more connected sense of the person. I didn't feel so isolated in my grief.

I read an excerpt of the book and will try to find it in the library or buy it used! I really like what he is writing, Jen.

Since the Web is still less than 20 years old, I think the jury is still out regarding the darker isolating potential of online social behavior. Ann mentions online tools that announce death notices that allow people to publicly tell their stories and express grief over someone who recently died. I had a recent experience with an online service called CaringBridge that is used as a public communications forum for people who are experiencing life threatening illnesses or accidents. It gives well wishers an opportunity to express their support and lets family members communicate the ongoing status of the person who is sick. It provides a kind of forum for sympathetic and loving communications that has never existed before. My recent experience involves a friend I knew in high school who is battling brain cancer, and the debilitating chemo and radiation treatments. CaringBridge lets me join with a large group of other people to send messages of support to him. Recently, with difficulty, he has been able to begin writing posts to CaringBridge describing his day-to-day experiences and progress. Rather than being an alienating or "alone together" experience, I think it has a genuine positive effect on everyone involved, and is a powerful reminder of our own humanity and vulnerability.

It is interesting how quickly and pervasive how information accessibility has changed things. These videos on job hunting underline that. With the advent of massive databases that can maintain thousands upon thousands of resumes, job searches and hunting become about keywords and what I will call "information commercials". You have to understand how computers "see" your resume. The other highlight that stood out for me in these videos was how the personal relationships between the hiring manager and recruiter became more impersonal - as technology is inserted into the process.

I've got a document from one of the hiring software companies about how to optimize your resume for those systems. I'll see if I can dig it up to share.

I for one, would like to see that resume. I want to rebuild my eportfolio as well. Listening to Prolange gave me some food for thought, regarding how one is seen through their resume vs social media or porfessional media like Linkedin,

I thought I would share this as food for thought: 1st Amendment Rights: Consequences of Using Cyberspace Technology on Future or Current Employment http://joystechtool.blogspot.com/2010/10/1st-amendment-rights-consequences-of.html

Wow! The background of this course and what you taught is fascinating. I'll limit my comments to a few points, but definitely look forward to an interactive, in-person session. 1. Video Logistics. You sounded poised on the video, as opposed to me, where I felt self-conscious knowing I was being recorded. I was also interested in how clearly you transition from one screen to the next - I used multiple windows, but it felt you had a different technique. 2. Course logistics. As for the course, one thing was interesting is how - like Jennifer - you posted a new lesson each week. Our prior class in this series we were provided everything at the beginning. I like the pacing, however, for the most part, as it keeps you focused. As for feedback, which you indicated you would do more explicitly, my guess is that your weekly audio sessions where you went into the studio, provided feedback as part of the process of teaching the lesson. 3. Content. Very interesting. Thanks for including the second video which provided texture on what you were teaching. The metaphor of the Christmas tree, with students putting "decorations" on the wiki was a good one.

I agree with Ann...what a great resource for the rest of the class. Putting the presentation together, I can tell you followed all the best practices of this tool...very polished. Showing how elements of your online material relates to the best practices was thoughtful and student centered.

Ann and Susan, Many thanks for your comments! One of the great benefits of this class and the Conrad/Boettcher textbook is getting a solid framework for understanding how to build and run an online class. Up until now, my learning process for creating online classes has been 1) suggestions/advice from colleagues 2) experimentation (flying by the seat of my pants!) 3) feedback from students 4) online resources. I really enjoy the dense concentration of information provided in the class and our ongoing conversation. The University of Tasmania class gave me the opportunity to pull out all the stops, and integrate everything I'd learned up until that point. Thankfully I made it through that stretch of white water, with an approach that seemed to work pretty well for that teaching situation. The final project exercise gave me a chance to identify key areas of every course that need to be attended to.

Aside from the logistics, how did you get involved in doing this and how did the lab get started to begin with? It sounds fascinating for the locations to be so far away. Its a wonderful example of elearning in the "one" world concept we are developing into.

Ann, Tom Furness started up the Human Interface Technology Lab (HitLab) at the University of Washington around 1988 - he's been called the "godfather of virtual reality". At the HitLab, he was on the forefront of virtual reality technologies, working on immersive displays for medicine, engineering, architecture, education, etc. Before then, his background was in designing virtual cockpit simulations for pilots of high performance military jets. They needed to augment the pilot's cognitive field, in order to manage the complexity of 50 onboard computers, while flying the plane at supersonic speeds. He decided that he wanted to apply this technology to civilian, rather than military uses, which is how he ended up at the UW. About five years ago, New Zealand and Australia decided to set up their own HitLabs because of their remote locations. They see virtual world technologies as way to develop an exportable information-based industry for real-world applications. Video games and interactive simulations are currently leading the way in terms of artificial intelligence, information design, and sustained attention (entertainment) experiences. I've been teaching a class in game theory and interactive entertainment for the past five years at BC, which is how I got involved with this University of Tasmania course. You might be interested to know that one of the offshoots of the HitLab work in Seattle is the retinal scanner, which is pointing the way to portable immersive multisensory experiences. Microvision of Redmond is working on these wearable computing devices which may provide a new alternative to desktop/laptop/smartphone devices. And I agree, Ann - culturally and socially, the world is shrinking exponentially because of the Internet.

A small world. I was in technology development and management prior to a career transition to teaching. My first job out of college was working on out-the-window portion of cockpit simulators. I was the program manager for the B-52 simulator program at Singer-Link. We called the people that did the actual design of the scenes via computer softwre illustrators, which when I first heard the title always thought of someone drawing pictures on the code, rather than comments. Anyway, I checked out Tom's page, very interesting. Thanks.

Another interesting read. I quite understand the need and growing need for the workforce to understand social medias and other forms of Web 2.0 tools and be able to use them well. Reading more about millennials, it is becoming more and more apparent they need to have strong " crap detectors," the ability to think critically and analyze huge volumes of information on the net, just to name a few.

I think this is one of the better collections of 21st century skills. I'm mostly concerned about the ones that don't involve technology. Like many of you, I worry about a future where people don't have basic problem-solving and communication skills. As far as technology skills are concerned, I'd like to see kids learn programming, with a focus on humanity, rather than commerce. I'm surprised how many teachers adopt "free" tools for young students, without having them explore the terms of service, and learn how their data and content will be used, sold, etc..

Thanks for this, Mary Ann. As much as I value the technology and what it can offer and do, the interpersonal and social skills seem more and more critical now. Seeing kids standing next to each other texting, or texting rather than calling or meeting makes me wonder if they will develop those skills to the level they are required now.

Mary Ann, thanks for posting this article on the 21st Century classroom! Just based on some of observations of current trends and ideas, here are some of my ideas regarding this. To me it seems likely that whatever happens to the classroom in the 21st Century - ideally it will have some of the following features : 1) Instructors who have good live people connections, knowledge of Web resources and tools, and the ability to quickly readjust curriculum on the fly. They will be able to access the very best resources at hand to engage students (live presenters, online resources, web tools, etc.) 2) Teaching and learning will take the form of ad-hoc groups organizing around various kinds of problem solving or common interest explorations. 3) While traditional degrees probably won't go away soon, much of our ongoing lifetime learning will take place in courses like this one - or the MOMA online art series. We will obtain numerous certificates and engage in a variety of online cohorts/communities of shared interests. 3) Communications will become increasingly global and courses will not be necessarily bound to individual institutions. We will draw from a growing/maturing resource base of online lectures, virtual worlds interactions, simulations-based learning experiences, and multimedia databases. 4) The teaching technologies that we'll be using will have the functionality and freeform interactivity as videogames. Consider the Kinect, for example, which allows for full body and voice interaction with other people as well as maturing forms of artificial intelligence, as seen in this extraordinary TED talk with game developer Peter Molyneux. 5) Finally, I don't believe education will be transacted completely online, or that physical locations where actual human beings gather together will go awa

Good discussion of why we have a need to be connected. I remember studying McLuan back in my undergraduate days...medium is the message as more important than the content of the message. The reference to linguistics is interesting...we have need for language for our safety and socialization.

Hi Joy (and fellow classmates) - we were out-of-town for a week. Internet was available, but for a price $.75 per minute. I had planned on using some of our vacation time to work on this course without the hassle of juggling work commitments. At a price per minute, this idea didn't pan out. To get caught up, I checked out our Diigo communications and visited your blog. I like the way you insert YouTube videos to add dimension to your ideas! The two I looked at addressed the LMS system - Canvas. I was particularly fascinated with the young techy who ended his presentation, asking his audience about how they might define the role for SOCIAL MEDIA in both course structure and as a learning tool. Interesting how our course materials (and we) have also been pondering this same issue! Thanks for finding and sharing a very relevant presentation. I also enjoyed your thoughts as well.

Today our senior population is aging at a rapid rate. Is it possible we, as a society, are sending them to an early end of life dead line because of our attitudes and out moded beliefs regarding aging in America? Can we not help keep their minds alive and well by changing some of our society's institutions...of higher education?

Joy, I just finished reading your blog posts and viewing the videos. I agree with Bruce. . . they are quite sobering. I am angered that there is so much age discrimination out there, excited that Japan has such a unique way of addressing the needs of its aging population, and frustrated that a college degree does not necessarily translate into a job. My own daughter is in that position--she has a teaching degree earned two years ago and no prospects of a job anytime soon. Her income is earned through subbing in the Sultan School District and managing a horse stable. All of this translates into 7 days of work per week, a very minimal income and burnout. She is 37 years old (not quite a senior, but in line with the unemployed GWU grads shown in the video you posted). Your passion definitely comes through in all of the blog postings, Joy. What you say about assessment aligns with my beliefs as well. I have never been a proponent of grades--to me, they are just part of a hoop that must be jumped through in order to achieve a goal. With that in mind, I was overJOYed when authentic assessment came onto the education scene as it offered a way to monitor and guide students in their learning, not just give them a letter or number that was supposed to signify that they had "learned" the course content. In my experience, most students who memorize course content for tests within a given course, will not retain it once the tests have been taken. There is simply too much competition for good grades at all levels of education and not enough desire for a true understanding of ideas and concepts.

I think the bottom line here is: tell the truth. There was an example given about having a bad back and then bragging about running a marathon. The truth at the bottom of this issue. If "Big Brother" is watching (and we know that if we have a presence on line) then don't do anything that you would not want "Big Brother" to see. When my last husband told me our phone was being tapped, I had no concern. I knew there had to be legitimate reasons and would say or do nothing that would have caused problems. I do not enter things that I can not defend (I hope).

Joy, my father used to say - The true measure of a man (or woman) is what they would do if no one would ever find out. To your point - just do the right thing!

Exactly Ann!

I wonder how we can teach that to kids, when so many thrive on the attention they get from doing stupid, or mean things.

Well, bullying or anything like it is being stopped in the schools to some degree. Each school is different. I sent mine to a religious school. But, alas, bullying and mean behavior was still okay then. Maybe the best answer is: http://www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov/kids/

My juices are flowing, Jennifer! This book is most intriguing and appears to be filled with questions and answers (?) that will nudge me in a new learning and teaching direction! I love the this phrase from the title: . . . world of constant change" because the most CONSTANT thing about life in this world IS CHANGE! It's a nice play on words. I am frustrated about not being able to view any of the videos as my network is slow today but I really appreciate your bringing this resource to my attention. Thank you, Jennifer, you are a grand facilitator!