Digital Communication, why won't kids choose for it?

Perhaps I am a bit occupationally deformed when it comes down to (digital) media. That’s probably because I’ve been in the media business for three decades. That must have lead to full incorporation of media as such in my life. Sometimes it is hard to understand that what I regard as important may be of utter uselessness to others who just take the media as they are. But then again, media are in every people’s lives, whether one likes it or not

Tagged with: dc, digital communication, education, crossmedia,

Learning with iTunes U

While Apple launched its iPad in the States, it promoted its new digital learning environment – iTunes U – in Nederland. This was quickly followed by the news that Apple will introduce iAd advertisements in its apps, and that a prototype of the new iPhone was “stolen”. Apple knows how to create a hype, and how to create an ecosystem of hardware and software that surrounds more and more people!

Tagged with: smart invention, i-tunes, education,

Glittering prizes

Marc Lammers, coach of the gold-winning women's hockey team at the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008, was one of the keynote speakers at the OWD2009. In his speech he explained how the hockey women had become so successful. Stimulation of already strong developed skills eventually resolves in an upgrading of less developed skills, was his main message.

Tagged with: education,

A mobile hoax and a minor

I came upon a nice picture of a layar (that’s not a mistake. It is the commercial name of virtual layers on mobile phone applications) on a mobile phone. We see Keizersgracht in Amsterdam on a nice autumn day through a VodaFone branded cell phone. We can look through the phone and the apparent Funda site, the Dutch real estate site. Intriguing. In the same image, we read information regarding a house at Prins Hendrikkade, costing about 349,000 Euro. As an example of what’s coming up, I’d say it is a great picture. From a reality point of view, I tend to say that this mash-up is a hoax. The picture we see is indeed Keizersgracht. The bridge you may spot at the end of the canal is Leidsegracht. It is where I walk the dog twice a day. The shot is taken at the bridge of Leidsestraat. Prins Hendrikkade is by no means even close to this point. I know because I live just behind the left-side houses. And, a propos, there’s no way one might acquire a flat for that price in the Prins Hendrikkade area (which happens to be near Amsterdam Central Station and Nemo. But, who cares. VodaFone has made its point.

Tagged with: hoax, education, crossmedia, mobile,

Crossmedial teaching: the university's interface

When looking at new developments in technology and the possibilities to apply new ideas the educational system seems to be a popular field for opinions and experiments. The introduction of the computer into schools not only had a big impact within the classroom it also opened a wide range of discussions on classic education versus newer ways of teaching. We should off-course keep looking at educational strategies and learning styles continuously and try to improve them where possible. Many influential thinkers have interesting and appealing new ideas on the impact of the internet on our lives, or even broader, on life, the universe and everything. I think its great to discuss those ideas at conferences, but we should not turn our school system into some lab setup using a generation of students as our lab rats. Many ideas seem plausible at first sight but actually only apply to a very small group of top students. Or to no students at all. In fact most of the world changing new ideas on education are driven by an ideology, in this case the ideology of technology. Is our youth fundamentally different from previous generations? Do we need to change the way students and teachers interact now we have this great interactive thing called internet? Here's a reality check from my teaching experience.

Tagged with: crossmedial teaching, education,