English is not alone. Chinese is integrating different languages and inventing new words everyday, and I think Japanese has done this for centuries, all parts of globalization.
True. But japanese expansion was maybe not too much due o the power of internet as much as english. Curious about Chinese given there are already so many dialects.
This is an interesting perspective, thanks for sharing. I was speaking with some friends from Germany and Spain, who explained that English has become much more motivating due to its pervasive existence online. However, mandarin is preferential to higher SES families who want their children to excel in business.
Thanks for sharing Prof. I know of many educators who have actually started playing WoW just so they could understand their students' world a little better. I wonder how many principals would have supported them openly though.
Interesting stance from the UK, where the government hopes to raise up the importance of computer science in education, where ICT (information and communication technology) lessons are not up to date with the needs and skills of the 21st century. Kids engaged in ICT classes learn how to use software, and not how software works or how it's created.
From the article:
"Written by gaming guru Ian Livingstone and visual effects veteran Alex Hope, Next Gen called for programming skills to replace learning about business software in ICT lessons."
direct link to the UK Government's response to the 'Next Gen' report:
http://www.dcms.gov.uk/publications/8646.aspx
It's a novel concept to see youths afraid of technology- in America, this attitude is usually reserved for parents, teachers, and other non-digital-natives...
these services are expensive and thus digital barriers are widening
In America, we have tried to fix this by offering computer access in the schools. We don't have digital cafes offering computer access in many locations- typically it's just WiFi connections. Unfortunately, this means disadvantaged students are forced to complete any computer-based assignments before, during, and after school, while the building is still open.
Now, in the age of Internet 2.0, the web is of no use if only some people have access to it. Perhaps the digital society can help with this - I believe that promoting tele-education in our cities will help these people to get good education.
If you're not yet familiar with it, check out the WIDE World site through HGSE. It's a good example of online learning and community building, and you might be interested in some of the topics! http://wideworld.pz.harvard.edu/en/
Hi T561- a bit old, but an international perspective on the inequality of technology access across the globe. This article links in with the TIE list discussions about the One Laptop Per Child effort as well. If we want to use technology to break down international barriers, like Dede's "Microsoft of the future" film, we have to address the issue of accessibility, both across the globe and within our own student population.
Google Wave, which combines email, instant messaging and wiki-style editing will go on public trial today.
The search giant hopes the tool, described as "how e-mail would look if it were invented today", will transform how people communicate online.
Agh! Not another way to communicate! I can't even remember my passwords to all these things! I can't even remember I have a Facebook account until someone "friends" me! What happened to isolation and Transcendentalism? Needing to read Walden in the woods alone right now...
"No problem - let me just enter that into my sat-nav…"
unless drivers pass a formidable test - called "The Knowledge" - they are not
allowed to head out onto the roads in one of the iconic vehicles
"The particular part of our brain that stores mental images of space is actually
quite enlarged in London cab drivers," explained Nicholas Carr, author of The
Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains
The key to making us concentrate, Mr Carr suggests, is perhaps to make tasks
difficult - a theory which flies in the face of software designers the world
over who constantly strive to make their programs easier to use than the
competition.
Mr Carr says that this simple experiment could suggest that as computer software
becomes easier to use, making complicated tasks easier, we risk losing the
ability to properly learn something - in effect "short-circuiting" the brain