EME 2040 Computer history. My perspective.

My first computer experience in college was programming using punch cards or Hollerith cards on an IBM computer that nearly filled a room. You had to schedule appointment time on the computer to test your programs. Within a year the Apple computer was introduced to our curriculum. While in the Navy I had a 486 on my desk that I used for word processing. The entire command got 486's and training so we would come into the computer age. We used an IBM 300 main frame to keep track of all our accounting and inventory. We had two full time programmers to keep up. The cool thing was that we had two Cray supercomputers at our base. It was a spy facility and the Crays were used to sort out the millions of bits of data that were received from electronic intelligence sources (elint). One of the guys I worked with developed the algorithms to determine which of the millions of bits of data collected through elint would be looked at by human analysts. It was very interesting. When we moved back to the US we got our first new desk top computer. We had purchased used Apples and an old 486 and experimented with various types of printers and electronic games but the new computer had a modem and bulletin boards were available to sign up with to get access to the newly forming web. I seem to remember all the old computers weighed so much more than anything out there today. I do not know if it was because of shielding or the weight of the power assemblies. The cabinets were definitely steel and thick. The blue screen of death made everyone hate Microsoft. You constantly had to reboot your computer and even needed to learn some basic programming if you expected to keep up. Eventually systems have become more stable. Most people do not even know what DOS is anymore. Most operating systems on current computers can diagnose themselves. It amazes me how interconnected all of the devices are becoming. It is also a bit scary. Someone can learn more about me than I really know about myself by analyzing my calling habits, texting, browsing, credit, background, purchasing, etc... Almost makes one hesitate. I got my first desktop with dual processors about ten years ago. I could also connect four different CRT screens all controlled by the same mouse and key board. Surfing the web was never so good. It was amazing. Memory became a problem, especially RAM. Dual processors reduced thrashing but web pages and programs were taking so much more processing memory. It is hard to keep up.

EME 2040 Which life skills are most important

Over the past week I have had an opportunity to review a few articles regarding implementing use of computer technology in the K12 environment. I have also had to post end of quarter grades for my 7th and 8th grade students for the end of the semester. I have one computer in my class. Students are not allowed to access it. I do not know the exact percentage of students in my class who have access to computers at home but it appears to be less than 75%. Approximately 25% of my students do not have computers at home.

Socio-demographics for my school include a high number of low income and even semi-transient and homeless students. These students may not have food in the house. We have a clothing exchange locker where students can discretely select jeans or shirts or new socks and underwear. There are even basic food items available and toys.

I sort of get overwhelmed, a bit of overload, when I try to figure out what will be of greatest worth to my students. After eight years teaching 7th and 8th graders I have learned a few things that seem to make a difference. Some of these things are related to 21st century life skills but many are basic life skills from any century. I think that at the top of the list of skills is the concept that students need to become individually responsible for their own actions and deeds. There has to be a system that recognizes and rewards individual performance and reinforces leadership and character building attributes. There also has to be a legitimate way to test performance. Students also need to be challenged and given opportunities to compete. Appropriate competition builds confidence and improves performance on many different personal and team levels.

I regularly incorporate games that require collaborative team skills. We call these games Leadership Reaction Courses or LRCs. These games have a variety of learning purposes. Most common are communication skill exercises. Each game has sets of rules that can be modified to encourage creativity and innovation. All of the games require creative thinking and problem solving. With frequency I find there are students who begin to think "outside the box". This keeps the games interesting to me. With frequency these games elicit the interest of students who are on the fringes academically. They are smart but have never been challenged or at least never accepted the challenge. This combination of creativity and development of leadership seems to lure them in. This is sort of my own ARCS motivational model. Results are at times most satisfying. This is why I teach. I have seen lives changed and students begin to accept personal responsibility for their own course in life. Course changes in 7th and 8th grade can be dramatic but often less painful than even a few years later.

As a matter of perspective computers are only a small part of what is really important in life.

Let us get this Blog started.

My youngest daughter started a blog a few years ago with the start of her first pregnancy. http://www.dnledwards.blogspot.com/

She has just had her second boy and I have had fun watching on her blog site. I do not think I had really considered my own site before this EME 2040 class! Here I am.

My next entry will be about chapter 1. Course directions indicate that we should write 200 words directly related to the chapters discussed in class. I am fairly certain that we mentioned the text and that there are possible differences between the 5th and 6th editions but there was limited substantive discussion regarding the 1st chapter of the text so I may have to fill in the gap a bit. I will try to relate technology aquisition to language aqcuisition (briefly). Everything we do creates memory connections. The more frequently we do something, the more likely we will create memory pathways. Norm (Chomsky) indicates that a language acquisition device exists in all of us that allows us to learn language, sort of a universal grammar. Is there an intuitive grammar to computer technology? Stephen (Krashen) spoke of acquisition vs learning. Is there a predictable order to acquire technology? I can think of about a dozen affective filter issues! His Input Hypothesis sounds like it was made for the computer. Unfortunately we often teach technology using the Audio Lingualism approach. Drill and memorize! Develop habits. Vygotsky thought there was a gap between the current level of a learner and the potential level of a learner and that to be most effective you need to teach in the Gap. I believe he came upon this theory while at a conference in London. He was riding the subway and was intrigued by the constant reminder to "Mind the gap". (You have to have been there!!) Michael (Long) felt that comprehensive input is the result of modified interaction... mime, ask questions, clarify, etc.. I suppose his Interaction Hypothesis could have merit to technology acquisition. I think I will stick with the Input hypothesis, i + 1 Theory, for now. It may cause fewer problems with my affective filter...

Hope to see you in class

jan