Technology in Education - More Personal than Ever

I heard a very interesting radio show on NPR Monday night (American Radio Works: “One Child at a Time: Custom Learning in the Digital Age”), all about the increasing role of technology in education. While there are still caveats and concerns, at least some of the results do look very promising. 

Done properly, technology can offer a variation on private tutoring or the one-room schoolhouse. Students can advance at their own pace, no matter how slow or how rapid, and lessons really can be tailor-made for each student, providing just the right amount of challenge without becoming frustrating. Skilled teachers will always have a guiding role to play, but really more as facilitators or enhancers than as direct instructors. 

In fact one school in the Midwest, Carpe Diem, has only five teachers for the entire student body (currently 90 students in grades 6 through 12, with a short-term goal of 300 ... but still only five teachers). Students spend much of the day working on individualised instruction with their own computers, but do meet several times a day for classes where they will discuss what they learned and do some group projects. They go over their educational objectives and progress regularly with their teacher guides, but make a lot of choices themselves, deciding, for example, when they feel ready to take a unit test (which they need to score at least 80% on to ensure there are no overlooked “holes” in their learning). 

There are downsides, of course. At Carpe Diem, with so few teachers (and students), curriculum options are limited. There are no art or music classes, although there is a music appreciation course. The cost of technology, of course, is a huge factor also - particularly for cash-strapped schools. And I'm not convinced - at least not yet - that the wisest way to go is reducing teachers, making classes larger and giving every student a tablet or laptop in exchange. There are so many different variables, so many different needs. Some ADD students are just too distractible and simply can't handle the stimulation and temptations of technology. 

Still, preliminary results of student progress using technology do look good. Test scores are up; dropout rates are down. What you can't have yet are long term studies to determine if knowledge and learning gains last and if skills eventually transfer well to the post-school world of work. We certainly don't want to end up with a generation incapable of focussing for more than a few minutes or producing the higher order thoughts that typically require in-depth study and lengthy periods of quiet introspection. So, while I do believe that technology can definitely enhance traditional learning; whether or not it should virtually replace it is definitely still up for debate. 

* Show transcript available at: http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/personalized-learning/

On Safari at Carrefour Laval

I went to Carrefour Laval today for the very first time. And I must say it was quite a heady, almost overwhelming experience. It was by far the biggest, most glamorous mall I have ever been in. It makes Fairview seem minuscule in comparison. Walking through it was almost like walking down outdoor streets. Many of the stores have facades like real buildings. There was even a good-sized garden! 

Now a confession: I don't actually like malls ... or shopping for that matter. A little browsing goes a very long way for me. So the thought of spending any longer than necessary in one does not fill me with glee. I already find Fairview too big, too sophisticated, and avoid going there whenever possible. All those fancy stores filled with so much I don't need or want. Horrible!

I didn't go today by choice either; I had to drop off my camera at the Sony store for repairs. But it was a sort of adventure, an anthropological survey, if you will. To be fair, it was a beautifully kept mall, absolutely immaculate and with ample, comfortable seating throughout. It was interesting to see how crowded it was - and on a lovely afternoon when it would have been so much nicer to be outdoors. Most people definitely looked as if they'd been buying too. It was a pretty upscale crowd, but there was some cultural diversity. More of the rampant tattoos that have gone so mainstream of late. Plenty of devices of all sorts in the hands of preschoolers on up. Lots of snacking and nibbling. And, by the looks of it, a lot of pretty happy people. 

I'm glad there are people like them who keep the economy running (if it were up to me there wouldn't be much of an economy at all - although the banks would be well-stocked). But I was happiest when we were leaving. We didn't even see all of it; in fact probably not much more than a quarter of it. Other than Sony, we popped into a few shoe stores for Dan and that was it. There were a couple of big names I'd heard of like “Crate and Barrel” and “Williams-Sonoma”, but I just couldn't bring myself to bother going in. Maybe if it had been cold and rainy I could have treated it like a museum and gone browsing through the stores’ “exhibits”, and even enjoyed it a little. But today I was more than happy to get out. Being back home on my front porch swing with an ice cream cone was by far a better way to spend a late summer afternoon. 

Suspended in Sport

I'm not naive enough to believe that cheating doesn't occur in sport, both amateur and professional. But I am idealistic enough to also believe that it doesn't have any place there, and should still be condemned and eradicated as much as possible. So on Monday, when several baseball players - including New York Yankees' star Alex Rodriguez - were suspended for the use of performance-enhancing drugs, I was very pleased to see it. 

Rodriguez, in fact, received a particularly harsh punishment because he had lied and attempted to obstruct the investigation. At over 200 games - through the end of next season - he may not return to the sport at all. (A dozen other players received fifty game suspensions.) Rodriguez will be forty by the time his suspension is lifted, and has already had several significant injuries. He just may not be up to major league level again. 

And I don't feel one bit sorry for him either. The only one I feel sorry for is his team. They will save something, but apparently will still owe him some sixty million dollars whether he ever plays again or not. I don't think that's right either. There should be some sort of standard clause in sport contracts stating that if an athlete is proven beyond doubt to have cheated (which science can do more effectively all the time), their contract is terminated immediately with no further monies forthcoming. That just might make a few people think twice!

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

I spent a good part of this past winter immersed in the warm and wonderful world of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency's Precious Ramotswe. It was a truly delightful series which I can't believe I was reluctant to read for so long!(I'm not really a big mystery fan, but as I came to realize - and appreciate - the books were far more about life than crimes.) I read all thirteen books and am eagerly awaiting the appearance of the fourteenth this fall.  

In the meantime, though, the beauty of Botswana and its people has come to life before my very eyes as I've been watching the BBC/HBO television series - seven delightful episodes (I still have two to go, plus some bonus features). It's incredibly unfortunate they only made one season's worth - thus far, anyway. Guess they're just too good quality for the average person to appreciate. 

I was somewhat surprised at first by Mma Ramotswe (Jill Smith). I'd expected her to be a little older ... and a little larger. But I soon realised she, and all the other characters, were absolutely perfect. Most of them are quite svelte, in fact, particularly the younger people and pretty much all the kids. That's refreshing, after being more accustomed to pudgy North Americans. And it's not that they're starving; Botswana is one of Africa's successes. There is poverty, but in general they have enough - just not too much. Clearly they also do a lot more exercise: plenty of walking and biking, and more physical labour. The show really makes the North American lifestyle seem so excessive and decadent. I find the agency's low-tech office with simple desks and rickety typewriters and general lack of gadgets and gizmos to be very refreshing also, the kind of simple place I'd enjoy working. (The only thing I still have issue with is the beloved "little white van" ... which is a little white pickup truck in the videos. But perhaps "van" and "pickup" don't mean the same things as they do in Canada.)

So all in all, watching this series has been pure delight. It's so good, in fact, that I may actually consider buying it at some point (it's on loan from the library, currently), which is incredibly high praise from an infrequent tv viewer. Certainly it's a well worthwhile escape from this reality, that I'll look forward to enjoying again come next winter. 

Good Bye July!

Even though the last week of July was about as perfect as summer in Quebec can be, and I have been supremely happy, I was still very glad to turn the calendar pages to August this morning. Overall it was not a good month, beginning and ending with tragedy. 

Of course the whole month has been marked by July 6th's rail disaster in Lac Mégantic which claimed the lives of at least 47 people (the Sureté du Québec only called off the official search for the final five bodies today) and destroyed the whole city core. It has been called the worst environmental disaster on land in North America in history, and estimates are it will cost between 500 million and a billion dollars to clean up. (There's also a good likelihood the small railway responsible for it all - Montreal, Maine and Atlantic - will just declare bankruptcy and walk away from everything. Despicable!)

Then the next weekend came the sad news of the death of Cory Monteith. That's entirely a self-made tragedy, but it did upset me because I liked his work.  And it certainly left a lot of family, friends, fans, and his co-star/girlfriend Lea Michele heartbroken. Such a waste of good potential. 

The 19th of course was our storm of the year with hundred kilometre per hour winds that brought down branches and trees all over the area - including two in our next two neighbours down. And one of them was far too close for comfort to where I was sitting reading by our huge living room window. I actually saw it fall! Ten or fifteen more feet and I would have been covered in glass - or squashed completely. We lost power for twenty-nine hours, and it seems like virtually every day since then I have been living to a background of chainsaws and sawdust. This week they've been working on the last of the three massive trees that caused the mayhem here. I know it was necessary; every single storm I've looked up at them and hoped they wouldn't land on our house - or anyone else's - but it's still sad. I love trees, and I don't like change. I'll miss their shade, miss seeing squirrels scurrying around them and racoons perched in them, and hearing the sound of the wind rustling their leaves. 

And yesterday, just shy of a year after my pit-bull attack, I heard the horrible news that a sweet little shih-tzu named Lucky was KILLED by a pit-bull.  Apparently people tried to help, even beating it with boards, but it wouldn't let go. I was heartbroken for the poor owner. He's an elderly gentleman whose wife died and that dog was his only companion. He used to hold him up and wave at us out his front window. I don't know how he'll ever get over the experience. I don't think I could. I would be utterly devastated. The people who witnessed it are going to be pretty traumatised too. I'm still nervous after last summer, and still very cautious where I walk. Now I have one more area to avoid. I really think concerned dog owners - and others - need to get together and see if anything can be done about banning the breed here. It's been done in many other cities and boroughs - not to mention whole provinces like Ontario and B.C. Much as I love dogs and know there can be wonderful examples of any breed, there's just too much potential for danger to fit comfortably into a tranquil residential neighbourhood. 

So I think I have plenty of good reasons to be grateful we're moving on into August. (And I've only listed relatively local concerns; there was also a horrific rail crash in Spain, a bus crash in Italy, an earthquake in China and all kinds of civil unrest in Syria and Egypt.)  Hopefully it will be a truly happy and peaceful and thoroughly enjoyable month. 

R.I.P Cory

Oh Cory, Cory, Cory. How could you?

How could you do this to yourself? How could you throw away a brilliant future that was really only beginning. You were just coming into your own as an actor. Who knows how many movies you'll never make, how many Emmys and Oscars and accolades you'll never see.

How could you do this to the fans who loved you and looked up to you and saw you as a role model. You were always honest about your difficult past. Succeeding and showing them you could overcome it would have been so inspirational ... except you didn't.

And most of all how could you do this to your adored, beloved Lea? She's absolutely devastated. Instead of planning her wedding and dreaming of the children she was going to have with you, she'll be planning your funeral. It will take years to heal, and you never really do get completely over something like this. You can never tell for sure with Hollywood - or any - couples, but you two really seemed to have something special, a genuine love that could have stood the test of time. But now there won't be any future at all. HOW COULD YOU?????

If I could, I would take you and shake you and scream at you not to do it, that you were playing with fire and that it could take absolutely everything and everybody you ever loved or dreamed of. But I can't and nobody can, because it's too late. You've run out of chances.

I was appalled when I heard on Sunday's noon news that Canadian actor Cory Monteith had been found dead in a Vancouver hotel at the age of 31. It seemed so wrong, the guy who played my favourite character, Finn, on one of the very few shows I watch, Glee, gone. And for such a senseless reason. Today's autopsy showed a toxic mix of alcohol and heroin in his blood. Cory had battled addiction in the past and even done a stint in rehab this spring, but he seemed to be doing so well, seemed to have everything in the world to live for. Quite likely it was just a tragic accident, but that's rather moot at this point in time isn't it.

I really liked Cory both as the character of Finn, and what I had seen of him as a person. He reminded me of Dan in some ways: sweet, genuine, kind, sensitive, a little vulnerable, a little goofy now and then - a big kid at heart and a big-hearted person. Given a happier upbringing (he grew up in a broken home and attended 16 schools, eventually dropping out and only graduating later), perhaps things could have turned out better for him - we'll never know. And I can't pretend to know much about addictions - my only "addictions" (and you can't legitimately call them that) were to Diet Coke and playing with my hair. I'm not against alcohol in moderation, though I don't like it myself, but heroin - any drugs - is a big no-no. It's just too risky and especially if you start mixing things up you just can't predict the possible outcome. Still, it seemed like Cory was doing his best, doing the responsible thing. He had also done a lot of work with a foundation in Vancouver for young actors, so they could be helped by the craft the same way he was .

Any way you look at it, it's just plain sad. I'm heartbroken over it and I can hardly imagine how Lea must be feeling. Nobody should have to go through the pain she is. It will be hard on all the cast; many of them are young and it may be the first close person to them they've ever lost. Continuing on with the show will be challenging. It will not be the same, their lives will not be the same, the world will not be quite the same. Just a little bit of light left the world when Cory did. It's so, so sad.

Mourning Lac Mégantic

This was a horrible weekend for Canada, for Quebec, and most especially for the tiny town of Lac Mégantic (about 250 kilometres from Montreal, near the Maine border). A large chunk of its downtown was blown off the map - quite literally - in a scenario that read like an implausible script from a very bad movie.

Briefly, late Friday night a freight train with seventy plus cars of crude oil stopped for a change of driver in the town of Nantes, some seven kilometres up the track from Lac Mégantic. The driver put on the brakes and left for his hotel. Apparently people noticed a small fire on the train, called 911, and it was put out by the local fire department. Then it seems the train was left alone to await the next driver.

That's where the tragedy really begins, because the train didn't stay where it had been parked. Somehow it started moving - unmanned! - gathering speed on the steep (8 degree, where 2 is already considered high) downgrade. As it approached the next town down the line it was going way too fast to make the upcoming curve. 

And it didn't. It derailed in the worst possible place: the dead centre of the town, where people were out in a club enjoying one of the first nice Friday nights of the summer. Five railcars burst into flames on impact - at least six distinct explosions according to witnesses - and the whole historic city core, some 30 to 40 buildings including, to my especial chagrin the town's library and archives, was essentially incinerated. 

It's now close to two days later and the fire is still not completely out. At one point a one kilometre area was evacuated; now it's down to 500 metres. Almost 2000 people - in a town of only 6000 - were forced from their homes ... if they were fortunate enough not to be in the ones that were burnt, that is. Firefighters from as far away as Sherbrooke and Maine were called in, and are still there, dousing the few undamaged cars to prevent any more mayhem. 

There's more than enough tragedy already, of course. Five bodies have been recovered, but there are 40+ people still unaccounted for and rescuers can't even get close to the centre of the crash to begin searching for them. It's still too hot; it's still too dangerous. And actually, there might not be much left to find; it's possible people were pretty much vaporised and never will be recovered. The Musi-Café club where it seems most would have been was a mere 30 metres from the tracks. 

It's an utterly horrible, surreal situation. There is just so much wrong you don't know where to begin. Why are trains left alone in driver changes at all? They're not locked up in a secure freight yard, but pretty much isolated in about as close to the middle of nowhere as you get. Anybody with nefarious ideas could do anything (although as of now there is nothing pointing to a criminal act). Why are trains with old cars carrying dangerous cargo on old (I heard 1903) tracks with too steep grades passing directly through towns? Why was crude oil apparently from North Dakota - in the U.S. - bound for Maine - in the U.S. - passing through Canada at all? Why did it take a full day to get firefighting foam and equipment (and only then courtesy of Ultramar, it seems) to the scene? It is pretty far from, well, everywhere, but still, shouldn't the province be a bit better prepared? 

I've felt pretty upset over the whole situation. It's so easy to imagine it happening in any one of dozens of small towns I've seen built along the railway lines ... or just up the street. We're only 300 metres or so from tracks where hazardous materials pass; maybe even the very same train went by! And of course tragedies do happen in many places, but this one feels so personal. This is my home province. This is a little town like I've passed through all my life. These are ordinary people like I see every day - and whose lives will not feel "ordinary" for a very long time ... if ever. 

[Above is my "favourite" - though it doesn't feel right to call it that; perhaps "most impactful" would be better - image from the disaster. I'm sure even Jesus would be weeping at the devastation, and my only hope is that He will also be able to comfort the people whose grief must be pretty much inconsolable right now.]

Standing Up for Computing

Yesterday I got inspired. I had read a Lifehacker article about a standing desk you could make for around 25$. But, cheapskate - oops, I mean thrifty person - that I am, even that was too much, particularly for something I wasn't exactly sure I'd like. And so I got creative. 

The photo shows my result. All made with things I had hanging around, yet all pretty much according to specifications. The monitor (on a wooden footstool turned endwise) was adjusted so my gaze was in its top third, the keyboard/mouse shelf (set on a cardboard box) was just slightly below my elbow height, and I was standing on a gel mat borrowed from the kitchen. 

Everything was just as it should be ... except for me. I didn't like it. In fact, I can't imagine spending more than a short time at it. I know all the facts about how it is infinitely better for your health, but it certainly wouldn't do much for my mood! I might not get the neck pain I'm so often subject to when I over-compute, but I think I'd still have the shoulder pain from mousing. And I'd have leg pain added to it.  I don't sit still a whole lot during the day, so computer time (which isn't even a daily occurrence, and is very seldom more than 60-90 minutes at a stretch - if that) is actually rest time for me in a way. I go for at least two and often three walks daily and do almost all the housework. Maybe that's enough. 

It isn't like I really have the ideal solution currently, of course. The quest for comfortable computing is unending. I've tried a wide variety of chairs and keyboard/mouse arrangements. What I use now is a dining room chair (a tad low, but functional) with the keyboard and monitor (unfortunately a tad high) on the desk, and my mouse on a mousepad tucked in my drawer (surprisingly, just about ideal). It's still a work in progress and I still have to avoid over-computing or I'll pay for it physically, but it does the job. (And if I'm using the laptop on its own, the dining room table and chairs aren't bad at all.)

So, in the end it seems I won't be building my own standing desk. I wouldn't really like it, and it's somewhat dubious if I really need it. I did have fun being creative without spending a penny though. It's nice to have a house full of odds and ends that you can experiment with (and no supplies were harmed in the making of my project, except possibly for the cardboard box which sustained a small hole!) And ultimately, like most people - and like I recently wrote - I'll be using my iPad more anyway. I love the way you look down at the screen; it's so comfortable. I can't type as fast - or as accurately - but I'm getting better all the time and, just as importantly, I generally enjoy it. So I think I'll just keep on sitting to compute and leave the standing for other times and places in my life. 

Musing on Tattoos

Tattoos are a modern phenomenon which I must admit I just don't get. I remember not that many years ago when tattoos - at least on women - were commonly referred to as "tramp stamps". And male or female, those who had them were considered somehow rougher, lower class, less respectable, more disreputable. Lately, though, they've gone mainstream - at least with the 40's and below crowd. I have family and friends - very decent, respectable people - with them. It certainly isn't a class issue anymore either. When we were on vacation in Mexico I was thoroughly surprised to see just how prevalent they were among people - most of whom I assume didn't book their trips from selloffvacations.com and were probably quite affluent.

I still don't understand it though. There are women with tattoos who would die before wearing the same outfit two days in a row and who would never even dream of wearing last year's fashions. Yet they've committed to the exact same body decor for virtually the rest of their lives. They'll have earrings and bags and shoes for every different occasion and outfit, but their tattoos will never change (except possibly getting saggy and misshapen as they age ... which is definitely not a pretty sight). Inevitably the design and colours won't go with everything; inevitably people's interests and tastes will change. Still they get them in droves. Larger and more flamboyant (and, in my opinion, uglier) all the time. Temporary, stick-on tattoos like kids enjoy, or henna tattoos that wear off over time would make sense to me as just another fun fashion accessory, but permanent? Not really.

So I suppose it's pretty obvious that I won't be getting a tattoo in the near future ... or ever. I'm actually still regretting even having my ears pierced. The holes have long since grown over, but the slight indentations remain. I like my body to be pristine and natural and unadorned as much as possible, just the way it was made. I'm not big on makeup or jewellery either - a simple pendant necklace is about it for me. Fitting, I guess, for a pretty simple person who will never get particularly excited about style and fashion - and certainly not about tattoos.

Computer Antipathy

Know something? I am starting to rather dislike computers sometimes. Aside from the fact that I almost always end up with a sore neck after using one, they just don't hold the same appeal to me that they once did. Except for a few specific tasks, I'd far rather use my iPad.

I say this after spending a good part of the day helping DH set up VST's on his DAW. (Don't worry if you don't know what that means; I wish I didn't either! But basically, it's getting plugins to play nicely with his music software.) Trouble is, so much time is spent installing and tweaking and learning the programs - and so little spent actually writing and composing and creating. It's frustrating for all concerned.

Now computers and software are indubitably easier and more user-friendly for the average person than they first were. I remember having to write DOS commands to accomplish almost anything. I even had little preschoolers painstakingly copy the path to start Kidpix! But with greater power there still inevitably comes a certain level of complexity. It doesn't take too much effort to check email or the weather these days; but it does still require a considerable degree of technical smarts to master Photoshop ... or Sonar X2 Producer Edition.

I also wonder how much the average person really needs a full-fledged computer now. More than anything I use mine for downloading and storing files - my photos, books, magazines, music, movies. Almost everything else - including photo editing - can be done quite nicely, and sometimes better and more easily, on my beloved Pearl. Occasionally I will want a big screen for a Photoshop project, or I'll make a card or want to work on a longer, more complex document or spreadsheet, but in general I've become quite proficient at typing on my tablet too. In fact, on the computer I miss handy little shortcuts to things like accents or being able to double tap to automatically create a period and a space.

In my opinion the days of the old-fashioned computer are dwindling away. I certainly don't see myself upgrading to a newer one for a long time, except in the event of a catastrophic failure. I'd be far more likely to choose a newer, faster tablet (perhaps with a better camera and maybe even a slightly larger screen) first. And I'm not alone. Sales of traditional desktops and even laptops are down; tablets are already in the hands of a third of Americans. That's a good thing, I believe; finally technology is getting more and more accessible to the average, really quite non-technical, person.