#projcomm13

CC Photographer: LA(Phot) Rhys O'Leary

It's the last post! No not that last post associated with a picture like above. But like that last post, this is an emotional goodbye. (Just to be clear, I have great respect for all men and women in the services. I just don't respect the masters of war http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mvr72uTd7kc )

Project communities has been one hell of a ride and although sometimes stressful I have thoroughly enjoyed it. I want to thank all colleagues and students but especially Nancy and Laura for all their work and patience.

What I liked is that both groups asked feedback on their video with less than 24 hours before the deadline. This is always a difficult thing to do , because you have just worked very hard and you are tired and don't really want to change anything anymore. But you did ask and I pointed out some things and you did go that extra mile to make it better. So kudos to all of you and keep that up as a good habit.

As a first project we can see the ways of working and culture of this year group develop, What I really enjoyed is that we are starting to develop a culture were students are helping each other in their learnng and do a lot of their work in area 51. 

For my groups: I'll also give some direct feedback in the Facebook group pages.

I really learned a lot and I am immediately applying my learnings. For the minor smart life rhythms that I am teaching next module I am asking the project teams to report in a weekly blog. It makes sure there is weekly progress and it means that they don't have to write a report in the end but can focus on building their solution.

I am also very happy that my dear old friend Sheila was very happy with the result.

"If you were the inventors of facebook, you would have invented Facebook"- Mark "Jesse Eisenberg" Zuckerberg If you're in the tech scen

On Wednesday I will present project communities during a workshop on blended learning. Blended learning means integrating ICT-enabled learning with live learning. The most common way of doing that is letting students watch (lecture) videos before the class and doing practical work under guidance during the class.

But in project communities we're have a very different type of "Will it blend?". And I am reflecting on what part of our specific blend it would be good to point out as valuable to the participants in the workshop. So far:

1) The hang-out meetings, specifically the recording in combination with the meetingwords. Yes it took some time to make it smooth but I think the way we can get Nancy and Alan involved is really quite amazing.

2) The blogging. Maybe not every student is as active, but it really sparks more dynamics and openness than just the offline conversations. I am generally not a big fan of forced reflections, but this works guys!

3) Confusiasm. (Which has nothing to do with Confucius). So you got thrown in the deep end. Do you want to discuss about the fairness of that or do you want to start swimming?

Yesterday I went into the garden to throw away some stuff in the compost bin. I saw a pigeon and tried to shoo it away but it just hopped away. Then I noticed that something was wrong with it's wing, it couldn't fly properly.

Dilemma time; what to do? If our two cats don't catch it, one of the other neighbourhood toms surely will. Is a mercy killing in order? Do I have the stomach for that? I decide to leave it for the time being but thoughts of the pigeon keep playing on my mind for the rest of they day.

Arriving home late yesterday. evening I decide to check out the garden. No dead pigeon to clean up. Well I guess it's been dragged off elsewhere.

But today to my surprise I find it again hopping around the garden. How has it managed to escape the cats? Strangely enough the cats look at it from a metre or so away and then walk around it. They have killed pigeons before, are they getting too old for the hunt? Or is there some unwritten cat sportsmanship rule that you don't attack a pigeon that's wounded?

Both the pigeon and the cats proved me wrong on my assumptions. I like that. Students can do that too. Sometimes great students suddenly don't do as well as expected. Then it's my task to be supportive but still honest in grading. Past performance doesn't play a role there. And most of the time they'll get back to being great soon enough. Fortunately also sometimes students do way better than you ever expected. That's one of the joys of teaching. (after the plagiarism check of course ;-))

I am open to having my assumptions challenged. Even though sometimes it feels that it would be mercifull to kick you out, I am mostly ready to give a student the benefit of the doubt. Fortunately the decision is not up to my judgement. You just have to get those 50 credits in year one or you'll be kicked out, broken wing or not.

When I was reading your blogs I started to think that I would like to know how you see yourselves in terms of these types. And of course if you expect anything to change during your first year of studying IDE.

During the past week I have been thinking about what to blog. What part of my experience to share?  Too many possible answers. Should I tell you more about my experience in developing products in mobile phone networks, especially mobile payments? Or on how to use social media and other  technology for project management. Or should I find some references to support the groups in getting up to speed?                      

Well I’ll leave my experience and teaching topics for discussion during the project hours and here I’ll discuss what interests me, not what I think would be good for the project. I haven’t read all blogs but I really noticed different levels of reflection on students’ use of technology. And it seems that the people that don’t use technology have thought about it more that those who use it all the time. The ubiquity of technology leads to the situation where not using it requires a much more conscious decision that not using it. Today being tech savvy is often seen as a sign of being up-to-date, modern and young. And of course the marketeers of Apple, Huawei and Samsung do all they can to reinforce that idea.

I would like to encourage people to dig a little bit deeper when they are reflecting on their relation with technology. Many people stay on the level of the debate on gun ownership. On the one hand hand pro gun groups say:” Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” At the same time, statistics clearly show that where there are more guns, more people are killed. Leaving the political discussion aside, this points to the heart of the matter; human beings are not always simply the master of technology, the fact that certain technological options are open to us means that we have to take a position whether we like it or not. Along the same line, is it the social media or the peoples use of it that might drive people to suicide. (How I love technology, I just spend 15 minutes trying to find  a video that I saw yesterday on this subject and I can’t find it again…)

But this is nothing new, from the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century on, man’s relation with technology has been an important subject for philosophers and sociologists. Did you know that Karl Marx was a philosopher before he became active in the political and economial field?  In his communist manifesto Marx describes how becoming a part of the machinery alienates man from his human nature. Only those with money can afford to let technology work them, while those who can’t are trapped in a downward spiral. His predictions of revolution didn’t come true, and so-called communist governments were often more totalitarian in practice. Nevertheless Marx insights in the difficult relationship between man and technology are still valuable and a starting point for modern thinkers on the matter.

I would like to challenge those of you that think that the current times with the ubiquity of technology such as social media and smart phones is special and has no use for older views of technology. Here is a documentary picturing French Philosopher Jacques Ellul in 1990. I find it amazing how e.g. his analysis of the illusion of technology as a liberating force is so universal and also applies to where we are today. I was especially struck by his remark that technology invites reflexes more than reflection. This is exactly what often irritates me in digital communication; people react quickly, without thinking. Their answers aren’t helpful to me but they can feel satisfied with crossing a task of their list.

I hope to challenge all of you to be more aware of your relation with technology. And those interested in the philosophical side, let me know. I might organise another elective Critical Thinking for Designers or Philosophy of Technology in module 3 or 4.