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This sounds like a disruptive innovation. Zap the brain!

whoa ...

A professor of logic and metaphysics suggests that IPods, BlackBerrys, and laptops can be seen as extensions of our minds -- "bio-external elements in an extended cognitive process."

"Experts believe that the information overload could prompt our brains to evolve in a new way. "

Those of you interested in our conversation today about the brain, media and learning may be interested in attending part of this conference on Nov 20-22

Video games can improve cognition and foster positive behavior. (not that we didn't know that already...)

Do videogames boot brain function?

Ha ha. Booting brain function. Got it... I think. Maybe I need to go play a video game.

"IBM is working with DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, on a "cognitive computer" that would simulate the same number of neurons as the human brain, upwards of 100 billion". Wonder how 'human' it will be?

In line with this past week's lecture on AI and computers attempting to capture human-like learning. This work my MIT researchers is trying to replicate 'plasticity' in our learning - how our brain neurons adapt to new info, creating new connections.

Here are just a few topics that we will cover… 1. Brain-machine interfaces to control computers, exoskeletons, robots, and other devices with thought alone; 2. Mind-reading devices that will project the conscious contents of one's brain onto a screen as if it was a movie; 3. Devices to enhance intellectual ability and to increase concentration; 4. Devices to enhance creativity and insight; 5. Mechanisms to upload the mind to a machine, thus preserving it from bodily decay and bodily death.

An argument that Good Software design is bad for learning

Can't quite wrap my brain around this one entirely but it sounds interesting and brain-y.

I thought this was a fascinating article about the possibliities of harnessing the power of the brain to control computers and electronic devices. If this is realized no doubt there will be many implications for the education field.

When a brain scientist got a stroke, she got the opportunity to study her own experience. She found this remarkable ability of her mind to enter the conscious and sub-conscious realms, accessing information on different levels all the time. I wonder if artificial intelligence would ever have this ability, to think and feel on their own...

Interesting blog responding to NYT/LIndstrom article "You Love Your iPhone, Literally" which attempts to use Neuroscience to make claims about "addictive dependence on emerging technology objects such as the iPhone.  Relevant given next week's Turkle video

An interesting video on technology and the battle for students' brains.

This article scientifically explains why humans crave for information. Research suggests the notion that midbrain dopamine neurons are coding for both primitive and cognitive rewards. This sounds like section of our brain still prefers to be strongly wired as behaviorist and cognitivist over constructivist.

"Researchers looking at the brains of dyslexic Chinese children have discovered that the disorder in that language often stems from two separate, independent problems: sound and visual perception. "

Marc Prensky has written a number of books about the integration of technology and education. In his latest, Brain Gain: Technology and the Quest for Digital Wisdom, Prensky argues that technology can be used to enhance the human brain and improve the way we process information.

From the article: "Music technology in some ways appears to have been on a trajectory in which the end result is that it will destroy and devalue itself. It will succeed completely when it self-destructs. The technology is useful and convenient, but it has, in the end, reduced its own value and increased the value of the things it has never been able to capture or reproduce."

This is not necessarily related to technology but think is relevant to the concern presented by Dr Turkle on 'multitasking'. Many of us and current management have fostered the bad habit of multitasking, responding to the expectation that we will respond immediately, seek to keep ourselves busy to reward our brain... This famous book by Ghoshal introduces the concept of 'active non-action'. Figure 2-1 provides 4 types of managerial behaviors (the detached, procrastinators, frenzied and the purposeful). how many of us are being 'the purposeful' today? 

Dr. Saxberg's blog on an interesting research finding about teachers' misconceptions about how learning works. He also mentions (towards the end) his upcoming book. As you would recall Professor Dede had mentioned Dr. Saxberg in the context of EdX a few weeks ago.