Hostname, username, computername, network, password, submit – are words that I see everyday and respond to without thinking. This jargon however, is a foreign language to a person on the other side of the digital donga. Yet the terms are thrust as a greeting at the struggling “digital immigrant”, aware of an information avalanche, threatened …
Author archives: Derek
Filling in Digital Dongas
In a world where an estimated 90% of email is spam it’s irresponsible for universities to hand out free email addresses to those trying to climb out of the digital donga. So, as a service to my pre-service PGCE teachers, an addition to your student diary.
Knowledgeable or knowledge-able
Class teachers should ask themselves whether they intend to use Information and Communications Technology to make themselves more knowledgeable or their students more knowledge-able. Or will this responsibility be left to rapid technological change and inherent generational characteristics. From Knowledgeable To Knowledge-Able View more presentations from Derek Moore.
Personal Learning Networks
“All of your knowledge won’t amount to much if you don’t have a network of people to share it with and enough compassion for the people in that network to understand that your success is a direct result of their success.” Tim Sanders, Chief Solutions Officer at Yahoo I’m in education because I want children/young …
I don’t get Twitter
Some thoroughly confused PGCE students of mine have admitted that they just “don’t get Twitter“. That’s fine. Your confusion over Twitter is shared by many. Media literacies are determined by our social identities. We start reading books because we see others reading. We get an e-mail address because other people want to contact us. We …
Modelling Technology
Motivational speakers usually don’t impress me. Brought in by a well meaning leader, the “You can make a difference” inspirational monologue, usually leaves me more dispirited than before. “Do what I’m doing, stand in my shoes for a week, and then make this speech”, has always been my internal mantra to their 20 minute routine. …
Pecha Kucha Pietermaritzburg?
Pecha Kucha, Japanese for “chit-chat”, is a presentation format that combines business meeting and slam poetry and turns endless Power Point presentations into an art form and a competitive sport. Initially introduced by Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham, two Architects from Tokyo’s Klein-Dytham Architecture that were hosting an event for young designers to meet, network, …
Information and Confusion
I love the rough and ready index cards that Jessica Hagy uses with her “Venn Dadagrams” at Indexed. Her Needles and Haystacks graph (slide 3)perfectly captures the befuddled brain after a long morning of course introductions. AV / Ed Tech Introduction View more presentations from Derek Moore. To finish off their befuddlement, I hauled out …
QR codes in class
I’m often teaching ICT to students in a small computer LAN. Students usually out number the available desktops. For example, last years UKZN AV class had only 70 students. And we had access to only 12 desktop computers. Edtechies assume too easily that “one person, one computer” is the norm in schools and higher ed. …
Linking spaces to information
I’ve accessed my blog via my phone’s camera using this QR code. And while this sounds impossibly complicated, I’ve just learned how this works in the last half an hour. Instructions QR codes combine simple creation with easy access to QR code readers. Create the code using a QR-Code Generator and then point your mobile …