Graphene

Last year, the pioneers of Graphene, Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, University of Manchester, were awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize for Physics. Graphene is being touted as the "miracle material" of the century for its versatile properties and it is believed that it could spell the end for silicon and change the future of computers and other devices forever.

What is Graphene?

• Graphene is largely taken from graphite composed of carbon atoms arranged in tightly bound hexagons just one atom thick
• Three million sheets of graphene on top of each other would be 1mm thick

It is said to be the strongest material ever measured ("Some 200 times stronger than structural steel," mechanical engineering Professor James Hone, Columbia University, "It would take an elephant, balanced on a pencil, to break through a sheet of graphene the thickness of cling film"), an improvement upon silicon and the most conductive material known. Its properties have sent the science world - and the media - into a spin.

The band structure of graphine was first theorised and calculated by PR Wallace in 1947, though for it to exist in the real world was thought impossible. Not surprisingly, some link the timing of this discovery to materials discovered at the Roswell "crash site".

Read more.

Arabian Spring: Storm in the Desert

Background: Desert Storm and Shifting Sands

The desert landscape whilst breath-taking and awe-inspiring is rather bitter, bleak and prone to change. The winds blow one way and huge sand formations - dunes, shift. To be out in the desert when this occurs is challenging - fixed points no longer appear to be where they were and for those not versed in the art of desert survival, the disorientation and the lack of being able to mark out your navigation points to safety, can mean incumbent disaster.

The point is, whilst we may be nostalgic about, and sometimes at pains at, how things are, sometimes radical shifts occur. This means it's not the same any-more and in the midst of change, we have to navigate our  own unique ways through to betterment and safety. Whilst the changing nature of the desert makes it less predictable, the constructs of society are more within human control. It is perhaps easier, to find pathways in society than it is in the desert. We can shape, change and build, in a way that we can't tame nature. 

As I write, we are living in the midst of significant shifting of sands. The Arab World is demanding change. What we see in Tunisia, in Egypt, in Jordan, in Yemen, in Saudi Arabia, in Libya, in Bahrain, in Algeria - over and over, is the demand for change. Today, thousands of  people in Bahrain have entered Pearl Square - the tanks and the security forces are in direct conflict with the crowds. In Libya too, anti-government protesters are out in the streets and there appears to be little stopping of opposition movements across the region.

Living in the UAE, the tides of unrest and the storms within the Arabian landscape, are felt ever more powerfully here. The nature of the protest movements and how they have spread his interests me as a student of Digital Technologies and Communication. The political and social dimensions are important to me as a Muslim too. Governments are watching and waiting to see how this unfolds.

 
continued in the next posting

Educational Technology Debate

On my journey through the whole Crystal Maze of Educational Technology, I keep coming back to a few simple questions about what works, what is ethical and what are the costs. Some of these questions, perhaps remain open ended, but provide for genuine debate and what I feel would make for valuable areas of investigation for my upcoming research project.

The Educational Technology Debate (ETD) seeks to promote a substantive discussion of how low-cost information and communication technology (ICT) device initiatives for educational systems in developing countries are relevant to the very groups they purport to serve – the students, teachers, and their surrounding communities.

Thou Art An Eagle

"Thou art an eagle, thou doest belong to the sky and not to the earth, stretch forth thy wings and fly." — Paul H Dunn

The months leading up to what would be a traditional summer break presented a series of minor challenges, a test of my ability to cope with change, disappointment, expectation and balancing family needs. In life many things change, and right now, I find myself, having side-stepped from the education advisory role that I'd had for the past couple of years, back into the classroom as the deliverer of excellence - once again, metaphorically speaking, at the chalk-face. Long term, I look in many different directions and seek the inevitable pursuit of my dreams and ambitions; the desire to complete my MA and to be like an eagle.

... Deep within, I wish to fly ... for now I roll ahead solo, but change awaits ...

Emerging Technologies

Distance Education is the fastest-growing mode of formal and informal teaching, training and learning. Its many variants include e-learning, mobile learning, and immersive learning environments. The series presents recent research results and offers informative and accessible overviews, analyses, and explorations of current issues and the technologies and services used in distance education.

Here's a link to a download for new e-book edited by George Veletsianos, University of Texas. George, of course, has been my lecturer on the MA and a fair few of the postings here have been in response to discussions that I have had with him and comments that he has posted here.

Adventure Learning: UNICEF in Space

In connection to my interest in Adventure Learning, here's something that has caught my attention - Adventure Learning in Space.

GAO VILLAGE, Mali, October 2009 – In the village of Gao, some 1200 km away from Mali’s capital city of Bamako, local children were given the special chance to speak to UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and Belgian astronaut Frank De Winne – live from space.

SubZero: Messages to the North

Over the three year stretch, the three main adventurers – Aaron Doering, Paul Pregont and Mille Porsild, are, rather surprisingly, not the main recipients of most the messages. A few counts shared here:

• Aaron Doering & Paul Pregont average about 15 messages per adventure
• Porsild recieves 74 messages overall
• Most messages can be divided into three types

1. Good Luck messages - 61 direct messages
2. Footprint messages including comments and one off messages
3. Questions - of the 105 questions asked, the overwhelming majority are about the dogs (there are over 250 references to dogs/huskies)

Expedition 3: The Ice-Men Speaketh
Mar 2009 - May 2009

Overall, in the 2009 expedition, there are about 145 messages. Over the three year period, Doering and Pregont are the recipients of 45 messages each (this is not even over the years incidentally). In year 3 most the messages are for the collective Team GoNorth!. Of the individual messages, Chris Ripken (the ‘civilian’ teacher-adventurer from Minnesota selected to join the team) receives 45 messages both from high school students and colleagues. Some of the messages describe his appearance in the Star Tribune, a newspaper that circulates in the Minneapolis/St Paul region.

Messages for Mille Porsild, seem consistent with previous years – she averages 25 messages this expedition. Of the 15 messages for Mikkel Ketil, many are not written in English.

The key difference between the posters in 2009 and in previous expeditions is that bigger contribution of high school students, in particular that of Lourdes Hill College, Brisbane, Queensland. The Australian school perhaps is the widest contrast in terms of geography and climate. The posters are mostly from an elective ICT class - again, most the messages are "footprint" messages with information about the posters rather than specific comments about the expedition.

Snow Buddy There?

Expedition 2: Teacher Trail
Feb 2008 - May 2008

Of the three message threads that I’ve looked at - the second expedition has the most postings (over 350). A key trend in the second expedition shows a interest in the trail of Wendy Gorton, a fourth-grade teacher from California – she is the recipient of over 121 messages. Over nine elementary schools are mentioned, many dropping by just to leave passing messages and comment on team’s work. The most frequent postings in this category come from Wendy’s fourth grade class at Hancok Park Elementary and regular postings from Walt Disney Magnet School from Chicago, Illinois, where the project is followed closely, in particular by the school librarian. Wendy’s journey on the expedition trail is something of an inspiration to other educators (she has now undertaken a number of adventure learning missions), and includes some one-off messages from elementary teachers across the US.

The early postings in February show an interest in the dogs as the team comes together in preparation for the expedition and this is a common thread amongst many of the children’s postings. Wendy Gorton’s class are likely to be aware of her (later role) in the expedition and start to post early message, wishing the team well and making general comments on the dogs. The questions (around 30 of them) tend to be questions around the dogs and how they are doing.

Wendy Gorton’s arrival at the camp mean that her fourth grade class start to make more frequent postings and there is upward spike in the number of postings around April, including messages from an aunt and her mother.

Walt Disney Magnet School adopts a husky, Ginger – there are several comments about this. Some of the other postings by the school reflect the multi-ethnic intake and are comments on various other countries and places.

One of the adult posters, Teddy (posting to Mille Porsild) has experience of these kinds of expeditions. He checks back on a number of occasions to follow the trail and update Mille on his own travels. Mille’s son, Aksel also makes a posting to the message boards.

A key contribution to the postings is made by Lourdes Hill College, Queensland, Australia. The college returns to the expedition in the next trail where I will be looking at the contents of some of their posts in detail.

Arctic Messages: Footprints in the Snow

Arctic Messages

The message postings that I’ve looked at span three years, each time a different expedition. They are mostly “footprint” messages from visitors, wishing the GoNorth! team or an individual well. A few questions are asked, though in general most make a comment about something they have discovered or liked. Though followed by up to 4000 schools, the visitor messages come largely from elementary aged school children from the US; for example, a fourth-grade class from California following the adventures of their grade teacher who has joined the expedition in 2008 and regular postings made by children from the Midwest (mostly Illinois and Minnesota). For the 2009 expedition, messages from high school visitors from Queensland, Australia (who made some postings the year before) feature as part of an IT elective class.

There are adult visitors; some family and friends and other educational professionals – a librarian from Walt Disney Magnet School in Chicago is a repeat poster and well wisher.

Expedition 1: Footprints in the Snow
Feb 2007 - May 2007

This is the shortest of the three message trails. Third, fourth and sixth graders from different schools follow the expedition trail from February through to April. In May most the messages are from people known to the team – often these are personal messages. A key exception is a posting made by a woman on behalf of a Minnesotan fourth grade grandson, whereby she compliments the team on their adventure and her grandson's teacher for being a school partner in the expedition trail. Another posting made to Mille Porsild by a Danish-American child makes the connection between her ancestry and and that of Mille's. Of the 30 postings, 14 are directly or indirectly about the husky dogs. The huskies are popular throughout the three expeditions and feature in many of the postings made by children.

The photo shows the northern lights in Greenland by Nick Russill. The light on the horizon is a fishing boat, and the smaller one behind, the entrance to the fjord into Tasiilaq. This photo is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

GoNorth!

GoNorth! is a five-year Adventure Learning project which aims to circumnavigate the Arctic to observe, experience and to learn about traditional ecological knowledge and to document data on environmental change. The core team is made up of a partnership representing The College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota and NOMADS Online Classroom Expeditions:

• Aaron Doering, Ph.D, Education Director, Department of Curriculum & Instruction, University of Minnesota
• Paul Pregont, Expeditions & Field Research Director, NOMADS Online Classroom Expeditions
• Mille Porsild, Program Director, NOMADS Online Classroom Expeditions

Since 1999 NOMADS Online Classroom Expeditions have involved students and teachers in exploration and research through following adventure learning programs and dogsled expeditions to the Arctic. School participation is growing – in 2008 for example, 3336 schools across the globe ‘joined’ the team and kept up with developments via the expedition website, participating in conversations, following the adventure trail through team blogs, joining in with the games and learning about the culture, ecology and the environment as the team progress through their mission.

Local knowledge is a key factor for each expedition, so each year a local expert joins the team as a guide. For the GoNorth! programme, a K-12 teacher is also selected to join the team for the last part of the expedition (about two weeks) - the conversations between participants and the team are the basis of my observations here.

Technology and Peace

It is essential that educational initiatives are directed towards promoting peace within a humanitarian approach to education. (Veletsianos & Eliadou, 2009)

I'm inclined to strongly agree. The whole point of education, I believe, is to take us - the people - and to equip us with the understanding, knowledge, skills and literacy so that we can do our part in this, our shared world.

This is a personal belief, and one that I would hope that is shared by others. My current reading on the subject of peace and technology is of interest - if we miss the opportunity to use the tools around us - in this case, technology, to bring understanding, knowledge, skills and literacy to our shared world, we, ultimately, miss the opportunity for peace.

The academic research out there into the use of technology for peace is, on the whole, fairly limited, so perhaps, I hypothesise. But consider how much of the technology around us has been built or designed with conflict in mind - billions are spent on technologies that keeping the war machinery around the world in continuous operation. The internet has not necessarily joined us all up into one big happy family and of course, weapons technology is exactly that - technology designed to kill. Just think if the same sums of money for development and technology were applied to conflict resolution and sustainable peace.

Peace is Possible

There are some specific uses of technology for peace related outcomes - Peacemaker is a 2005 video game that engages the player in a negotiation for peace within a middle-east context. I've had a personal interest in the One Laptop Per Child programme - a project with that began with an aim to reach nearly two billion children in the developing world with a focus on empowerment. Whilst warblogs seem to run alongside the mainstream media, the antithesis form - peaceblogs are also in existence.

In the paper, Fostering Peace Via Adventure Learning, Veletsianos and Eliadou, return to some of the prime objectives of adventure learning and consider how collaborative learning, cultural exploration, exchange of ideas etc. serve as building blocks for understanding. The initiatives surrounding the technology therefore are important antecedents to peace.

The key, however, is an area that has been explored less by the academics, and that is the how the available technology can continue to foster a long term peace.

Images taken from http://www.kellynewcomer.com/peacemachine.xml

Experience! Explore! Expand!

The reading around Adventure Learning brings up some very interesting points for discussion, but before I get onto those, let's consider the title of this posting.

Experience! Explore! Expand!

As an educator I'm fairly well placed to say that the whole process of learning should go beyond just the experience. Learners need the opportunity to explore a topic to gain deeper knowledge and to expand their understanding. It's quite appropriate therefore, that the motto Experience! Explore! Expand! appears on the GoNorth! website.

Adventure Learning projects, such as GoNorth! have a growing number of global subscribers - (about 3 million annual users, as of 2008), though the research literature surrounding the growth and impact of these programmes is remarkably small. My distance learning tutor, George Veletsianos has invited me to look at this and report back some intial findings. This is an area that is of interest to him, and having read some of the papers that he has co-authored on the subject, something that I feel is worthy of further exploration.

In a previous posting, I introduced some aspects of Adventure Learning. For this example, GoNorth! provides a good illustration - this is because educators have constructed a fully integrated K-12 curriculum with activities that run alongside the Arctic exploration mission. Typically with new technologies, how well Adventure Learning is integrated into classroom practice depends very much on teaching pedagogies and the confidence with which new technologies are taken up. Bearing in mind that most the examples come from the North American samples of their work, I shall look at four models for Adventure Learning integration identified by Veletsianos and Doering:

• Curriculum Based - using the Adventure Learning programme as is (by following the the project's own curriculum programme)
• Activities Based - by selecting key activities from the programme (both in a seemingly ad hoc, unstructured manner as well as a more structured activity approach)
• Standards Based - using the variety of material available through the programme to prepare students for state testing (i.e. tailoring the material to the students' needs)
• Media Based - this is similar to the activities based approach, but is based on a media-rich programme where students are encouraged to explore the media on offer

All aproaches generate their own discussion points, which I hope to explore in a further posting.

The Adventure Begins ...

Rather a fetching title, but really this is a chance for me to begin to articulate some thoughts on a piece of academic reading that I did today on Adventure Learning.

Adventure Learning ... What is it?

Buettner & Mason, (1996) describe Adventure Learning as a "creative and promising way to engage learners ... through educational programs that revolve around expeditions and adventures [that are] grounded on the use of technology". Doering (2007) defines Adventure Learning as an approach to the design of online and hybrid education that provides students with opportunities to explore real-world issues through collaborative learning environments. Simply put, this could be a virtual window into a real world, as in the case of Arctic Transect and GoNorth!

These projects have been based on a similar narrative: Each year a team of explorers and educators traverse an Arctic region of the world on a dog-sledding expedition. Their adventures are made available to teachers, students, and parents from around the world on a distance learning adventure. The expeditions are based on problem and inquiry-based curricula that focus on a specific issue, a region of travel, the local people, and are enhanced by electronic media sent from the trail (e.g., video, audio, imagery).

As a distance learning student, Adventure Learning is of particular interest as it exemplifies the 'ultimate' in distance learning.

Masked Identity 2: Incognito in a Second Life

Behind the Mask

In my previous posting, I wrote that I was able to get beyond the mask without feeling that I need to get behind it. That said, there are times, when masks ARE very much divisive. I'm not talking about face coverings necessarily. A mask of untruths, never helps. Speaking on the phone, is only a partial conversation when you can't actually read the expressions of the other speaker. The written word is particularly notorious - masking out so many of the signals we get in a face-to-face communication situation. So much of what is sometimes meant can be left out, the danger being that we get a partial message that somehow becomes an official statement because it is written. And then there are social chat forums, like Second Life.

An Avatar in a Second Life

In Vedic philosophical traditions, an avatar is said to be an incarnation of a transmigrated soul. In other words, your alternative self (from the one that is or was). In the cyber-world, this usually means your online guise. In Second Life, your avatar can be created from a set of characteristics - you can define facial features, body type - dress style, gestures etc. Sounds like fun maybe, but scratch beyond the superficiality of it, then it is perhaps the ultimate in a communication behind a mask. I need convincing that it is actually healthy.

I've drifted away from the novelty that IRC chatrooms once held. Many internet providers won't go there anyway since chat rooms have fallen into a kind of disrepute for being associated with the darker corners of the internet. On a positive, I once did have a really interesting conversation with someone in Mexico City when we stumbled upon a chance meeting in a chatroom, but often I've found that lots of the 20-30 something chatrooms are where insults are traded and where you're bound to stumble across a nut. Maybe I should try a forum for gardeners*.

And maybe perhaps my opinions on Second Life are equally onesided. I suspect so. My avatar, Tor Nandahar**, is actually a cool guy, but he's picky. Really, having done the test drive, having walked the walk, having been patient and having given myself time to watch and learn, I'm not all that enamoured - I'm not speaking about the technology here, which I think has its plusses - but with the frustration of being in a public forum where all I want to do is "speak" with a couple of interesting people - fickle encounters do not please. In anycase, most folk in their artificially beautified form look a little too perfect (albeit in a surreal animated world) to be all that real anyway.

There are positives - island communities where beautiful avatars live in bliss and where people are there by invitation only. There are instances of educational use of Second Life, so I tried to float into an ESL forum. I thought it might be fun, but I found a strangely haunting Robinson Crusoe experience where I was the only one on the island. I was able to read the notices, but I did not find another soul there. The game-play aspects are interesting. Avatars can fly and you can earn Second Life credits (Linden Dollars) to spend. You can build your own islands have have your friends over to party.

Would I recommend? As a Virtual Learning Environment, maybe. Second Life is a helpful way to connect people from distant places, but only if the perfect cosmetic self is as important as having a meaningful human interaction.

* I miss my garden, and whilst I found some really helpful tips on USENET forums, I'm not sure most gardeners would not bother too much with beautified fantasies of themselves in a forum like Second Life
** based on my nom de plume, Tor_Khan

Life's a Journey ...

... and here are some of the places I'm connected to* ...

View Larger Map

... there are others, and we will revisit some time InshAllah ...

Tor_Khan تور خان

* in my first blog entry, I mentioned my thoughts on life being a journey and that I was a traveller on that journey...

2B or not 2B?

IYO txtng = NME or NBD?

Translation for those of us non-conversant with SMS-type speech: "In your opinion is texting the enemy or no big deal?"

2B or not 2B?

Let me begin with:
1. a fact,
2. a comment,
and then
3. an opinion.

1. Language changes by the people who use it.
2. Not all people like all the changes. (I h8 txt msgs, John Humphrys).
3. Academic and formal writing in is not yet about to give way to text messaging writing conventions. At least, I hope not, though I confess if this were to happen as in this reported example from New Zealand from USA Today, then it's possible that I may well join with the veteran BBC broadcaster, John Humphrys in his irritation (to put it mildly) of this emerging slanguage.

I posted a comment on the changes in spelling/writing conventions here. (Should give you an insight into what I think).

Spelling/writing conventions change over time; this has been particularly evident in English. I was at a spelling seminar once and the issue of SMS spelling/texting was featured and its role in redefining how people write and spell in formal and informal communications. In formal communication, people can get away with non-conventional spelling and writing rules in advertising, for example.

I haven't, I confess, quite got a grip on texting in short form when I'm sending messages, and find that I have developed my own fairly speedy texting skills using punctuation and regular spellings pretty much throughout. March, 2009

ICE (in case of emergencies), follow this link.

... learning from a distance ...

Last week I watched Curt Bonk's video responses to questions posed by Manchester University DTCE students. The final question - the one on motivation - was a question I had submitted.

My basic premise was that the success of distance learning courses was reliant on the higher motivation levels of driven adult learners. Of course, this is a "gut" feeling and the case would need to be either proven or disproven. I'd suggested as part of the question that distance learning courses could only most effectively target a narrow band of (motivated) adult learners and thereby the success of distance learning could only be judged favourably by the participation of this narrow demographic.

Distance Learning Revolution?

However, I must confess, that having emailed Curt to which he responded promptly (and gave me permission to use his image), and having considered his videocast, I'm not exactly any wiser about his opinion on the matter. My intrinsic belief is that when it comes to the question of the success of distance learning courses, the received "evidence" on this relies on the higher motivation levels of adult learners. I therefore tread with caution over the argument that distance e-learning will bring about a whole scale learning revolution for all* that I sometimes get the impression is a popular belief. There will, for the foreseeable future be the traditional requirement to meet needs for key sections of learners in classrooms in face-to-face settings.

I am interested that Curt Bonk was authoring a book on this very subject which he said was in response to popular requests for (another?) motivation manual.

*As a distance learning student, I am of course happy that I can follow a distance learning programme, as this is the type of setup that meets my needs at this time.

Shouting from the Mountaintop

As an educational advisor working in school improvement, I quote a contributor to Dr. Alec Couros's blog on Open Thinking. This is one of the most challenging aspects of our work here in the UAE.

Convincing teachers to stop teaching from the mountaintop and lead the students up the mountain is an on going challenge ... Our teachers need to constantly remind themselves to try new teaching methods and avail themselves of the tools.

Dave Hill, February 19th, 2009 at 3:25 pm

Copyright Free

Open education - it's an ideal scenario - though with all the proposals around lifelong learning, open networking, classrooms without walls and so on, the whole issue of freeware/open-source at some point becomes an unavoidable part of the debate.

Of course we can't ignore the many who make their livings through genuinely protected works, but the tenet of availability and free distribution is at the heart of Copyleft. Ideally open*, ideally organic* and ideally without walls*.

*There are many accounts of this not being the case. These are cautious ideals, but ideals nonetheless.

Without Walls

It's a great idea, and I quite agree that in many cases we can live, learn and work without walls and boundaries.

My teaching experiences have mostly required me to look for some kind of shelter, and in most cases, roofs and ceilings have been held up by walls. The pendulum for and against open-plan primary school settings in the UK swings constantly one way and another, and is, if anything a reflection on the fact that no one particular model is superior. It is, after all a question of teaching and learning styles and appropriacy. I should confess however, that I do like to keep out distractions so walls do serve a purpose beyond keeping schools standing upright.

Learning Without Walls?

But there are places in the world where learning occurs in the great outdoors - of course there's a whole area of non-traditional or specialist learning that happens outdoors, but then there are traditional classes that are delivered and studied in open ground, under the shade of trees and so on; but of course, much of this is because of lack of choice especially in parts of the developing world.

So why is there a great trend by educators in the industrialised world to rip down walls, where in other places, walls would be the START? Well, there-in, is the attempt to reach out; to empathise, share knowledge and ideas, to join-up learning experiences, to free minds and (for me, the moral obligation) to bridge the digital divide.

Are you listening Microsoft?

See http://educationaltechnology.ca/couros/ for more.