On Metaphors, the Future and the Way We Are Wired (#EDCMOOC, #ETMOOC)

Photo Credit: craig1black via Compfight cc

I am now two weeks late with my weekly reflections. The week I will be writing about here is Week 4 in EVO sessions and in #ETMOOC and Week 2 in #EDCMOOC. I managed to follow the weekly activities in my workshops and be more or less on time, but the weekly blog posts are something completely different. It takes a lot of work to put together everything that went on in all these learning spaces and turn it into something meaningful.

I am glad that this week there'll be digital stories to help me along.

In Neuroscience we learnt about the way we are wired. And, you know what? We are all wired differently. Let me put it like this:

See this story on Storybird


Dr Medina explains schema in a fun way:

Meanwhile, in #ETMOOC it was the first digital storytelling week and I created several 6-words stories on Twitter.

First there was the horror story series:

His last words: "Let's split up."
Last seen running into the woods.
She ran upstairs. Front door creaked.

Then there was this standalone melodrama:

"See you", he said. He lied.

And here is my first ever animated gif:

Uploaded with ImageShack.us


For the animated gif I used this simple tutorial provided by #ETMOOC.

It was a fascinating week in #EDCMOOC, as we discussed future-focused visions of technology and education, both the utopian and the dystopian ones. We looked at metaphors as lenses through which these visions are seen. Metaphors are deterministic. This is the point where #EDCMOOC has a lot to do with Multiliteracies. Here Vance Stevens writes about why looking at computers as tools determines the way we use them and why the tool metaphor shouldn't be enough. Here's more on computer metaphors from the #EDCMOOC reading list. And here's a blog post I wrote about computer metaphors when I attended Multiliteracies two years ago. In this post I compared the computer to a geenie from a magic lamp, a magic wand and a communication tool. The second and the third are tools, but what about the geenie? Is the geenie a person? I think I will have to go back to this in my next post where I will look at this week's #EDCMOOC topic - redefining the human.

A Manifesto for Networked Objects with its notion of "blogjects" will amuse you. But just at first. Are the "blogging objects" and the "networked objects" really our future? Or, are they already our present? Are they really "more dangerous than the Terminator"? Or will they save the planet for us? Yesterday, I read in my son's weekly science magazine about a project which aims to save the rainforests by equipping the trees with mobiles. Once somebody tries to cut it down, the tree "calls for help". It is this type of thing Bleecker is looking forward to.

Now for something dystopic. The following film (7:50) was the highlight of my week:

Sight from Sight Systems on Vimeo.

I believe this movie can be used in TEFL to discuss, among other things, the gaming addiction. Not to mention the future and relationships.

Another point where #EDCMOOC crosses paths with Multiliteracies is the idea of edupunk. Here's what I found in the Multiliteracies wiki archives about edupunk:

EduPunk and Learning Management Systems - Conflict or Chance? from Martin Ebner

Am I an edupunk? Two years ago I wasn't sure, now I am. I am sure that I am one, that is. Why else do you think I am addicted to MOOCs? And what do you think I am doing here blogging about my online learning experiences?

If you think you might be one too, you should listen to this (one hour long, but worth it):

And if you are the sort of person who likes to take notes, Audrey Watters has already done it for you here.

Well, that's all folks. Next week, we will be looking at what makes us human.

I would like to finish with a great image I found in the #EDCMOOC Flickr pool which, I believe, says it all.


cc licensed ( BY NC SA ) flickr photo by Angela Towndrow: http://flickr.com/photos/90243669@N05/8461301620/

Tags: #evomlit, #mmooc13, , #2013evo, #brainelt, #edcmooc, #etmooc

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