The Natural Philosopher

Our journey to social inclusion through the lens of assistive technology - ASCILITE 2011

2011-12-07T14:41:00.000+11:00

Many advances in ICT etc come from trying to make things accessible to people with disabilities (e.g. text to speech).

20% of general Aust pop can't read text - dyslexia, vision, etc! Wow not including ESL.

liberatedlearning.com

Speech to text loved by students - get to facts, skim through. ESL peeps love it too, transcript to put with audio to help understanding. But issues: accountability and fears, be quoted, lose control of information they own.

Text to speech. iPad useable by the blind with awesome speech guiding the interface.

Learning best occurs when multi-modal contexts are enabled - not just a disability issue.

Unresolved issues about 'authentic' online learning

2011-12-07T11:42:00.000+11:00

3 different interpretations of authentic learning
1. Making learning personally meaningful
2. Situated learning in the context in which is is surprised
3. Providing learners with authentic tasks (open ended and ill structured)

1. Linking learning to own personal situation - e.g. photographs linking chem to everyday life
2. Culturally situated context - where it will be applied. E.g clinical or professional placement, role play, etc
3. Authenticity of tasks rather than context (Herrington et al 2004). Real world relevance beyond domain specifics, ill defined, competing solutions, sustained period of time

Role of media 'skins' in a virtual world/environment. Context in which you learn heavily affects ability to recall information. Are learning environment skins window dressing? Taken too literally??? Representation of physical environments over-elaborate and missing cognitive and meta-cognitive tasks.

Are virtual worlds realising their potential as settings for authentic learning? E.g. surgeon in second life, are mouse skills really useful in what they can take into their career. Note too virtual patients have straightforward conditions with no red herrings, distractors, etc.

Whose authenticity and authentic to what? Rise in professional post-grad education. Educators often provide contrived contexts. The real world on a short leash.

Motivation - 1 & 3 intrinsic, 2 extrinsic. Personally meaningful especially benefits low (extrinsic) motivation students. 2 for students who know where they are heading (mature age etc). 3 for high ability students.

Transfer implications - near transfer to similar problems, far transfer is broader application.
1. indirect benefits to transfer via engagement and motivation
2. near transfer where context is simply a 'skin' around inauthentic tasks but potentially far
3. focus on far transfer due to higher order thinking require (Sweller & Clark 2006)

Microblogging - Ascilite11

2011-12-07T10:24:00.000+11:00

Students spend less time interacting with each other in and out of class - can't control their lifestyles but can control what the LMS does - though LMS's don't push to students but Twitter does.

See communitiesofinquiry.com/model for model used in study.

Inclass activities on hash tags, how to manage process.

Analyzed results using a coding scheme - issues in assigning categories
Note exercise for 3 weeks but discussion went on for an extra week - appeal of topic and/or use of Twitter as engaging??
Frequent indicators - triggering event (like a new URL), exploration (comment on current resources), group cohesion, facilitating discourse (teacher). Which is hit most depends on how the activity was set up.

Social constructivist activity as Tweets build on each other

Facebook in higher education

2011-12-07T09:23:00.000+11:00

Nice study that looks at the difference between social and academic engagement. Study by psych lecturers who looked at ABC (affective, behaviour, cognitive) aspects. Found:

Facebook is what people look to when they are bored, and those who are characterized as conscientious generally avoid FB
Use of FB tends to be social and not academic, FB is actually a distractor to study
Further, students see approaching an academic on FB like asking them a question at the pub!
Best use appears to be a help desk like facility with an avatar or anonymous helper
Worst use is 'Stalker' pages
LMS actually applies necessary constraints unlike FB which is not a good teaching space, things like Stalker spaces
LMS interface needs to be more friendly like social media interfaces (FB)
Collaboration occurs in informal spaces (comments from the floor)

Teaching teachers for the future: TPACK

2011-12-06T15:04:00.000+11:00

USyd Fac of Ed & Social work curriculum redesign using TPACK

Most common use of ICT tools - PPT & basic internet searches. TPACK to move teachers beyond technocentric approach. Pedagogy - connection between ICT and curriculum subject areas. Tech content knowledge - exposure to exemplars. Tech pedagogical knowledge - work collaboratively exploring affordances of ICT tools to address teaching/learning needs.

TPACK and Web 2.0 wiki here. Another Ascilite presentation here.

Student project - webpage along TPACK to use in student placement. Reflection on significant 'change moments' in ICT. Found students need genetic skills (wikis, blogs, etc) move beyond Word, PPT etc, need TPACK to use ICT properly, need support!!!!

TPACK in pieces. Viewing teacher's knowledge.

Beyond TPACK - needs extensions (Shulman's extensions) - need knowledge of curricula, outcomes, institutions, learner characteristics

Knowledge, knowing or being? Transformative view PCK is transformation of subject matter PCK into a unique form. Integrative view PCK does not exist. Teacher PCK construct this on demand. I.e. more knowing than knowledge. Experimental view: PTACK is a dynamic configuration of physical and mental resources. Diverse ontological roots.

Has implications for curriculum design.

Face to face teaching to online teaching: Pedagogical transitions

2011-12-06T12:54:00.000+11:00

A case of fully f2f to fully online. Tradition is all f2f, web facilitated is dump n pump, blended/hybrid blends the two.

f2f and online - can't do exactly the same thing. Doesn't work simply to move what we do f2f to online. Range of views on online teaching roles - which are the most suitable???

Stages in teachers' thinking in moving to blended/online
Stage 1 - Barriers - why go online? Too hard to relationship build, issues with academic outcomes.
Stage 2 - academics with some experience and begin to feel more confident, less content provided and looking for more ways to promote online discussion. Less is more.
Stage 3 - less critical and more open minded. Online a space rather than a repository. High expectations of online discussions. Direct instruction to promote higher order thinking.

Embarrassment about what they used to do - evolution of lecturer approach. One online course before views changed - ahead of student adaptation. Experimental and curious about possibilities. Shift from teaching to learning space - thinking about what the students deal with than just the teacher.

Changing spaces - pre-lecture engagement

2011-12-06T10:42:00.000+11:00

Time poor students & staff. Students with diverse needs. How to engage students with content to better face to face learning - how to get students to do pre-reading?

Confidence building before hand - master key knowledge before class. Use Articulate software program with existing PPT. Introduction to new terms. Survey Monkey to survey student progress (found Blackboard too clunky). Able to give stats - e.g. 68% of you answered question 1 correctly.

Low-tech videos before coming to lecture. 3 min quick bytes.

Analytics

2011-12-06T09:45:00.002+11:00

Now this is confusing stuff - how do changes in learning end up changing how we measure learning, i.e. analytics? Cloud (that word again), personalised learning, student centred learning, online learning, etc. See Shift Happens for these changes here.

Use of simple statistics to measure activity and usage of LMS etc don't do a great deal. Do questionaires do it? 7 dimensions of learning power is one such tool here, and here.

Effective Life Long Learning analytic here.

Analytics for learning conversations. Disputational talk (argument), cumulative talk (building positively), exploratory talk (joint consideration, challenges justified, thinking visible, all actively participate, opinions sought, decisions made jointly, reasoning visible in talk). Key words can be identified to measure exploratory convos.

Learning analytics paper here.

Dream - timely interventions, empowered reflective learners, living evidence-based
Nightmare - regressive pedagogy
Fairydust - not a magic bullet

solaresearch.org Slides at Slideshare

Blog here

equipping lecturers for the iRevolution

2011-12-05T12:17:00.000+11:00

Taking advantage of student owned devices.

Mobile learning - from formal context to elsewhere (informal learning process).

Social constructivism - learners socially engaged, creating own content, pragmatic approach - learning can take place individually but try and ensure it takes place in groups

Communities of practice - like minded peers with a common interest

Wins and hurdles: Proff development in e-learning

2011-12-05T11:56:00.000+11:00

http://cel.curtin.edu.au - tip sheets, etc

Lab size puts people off. Mixed group so hard to cater for. No renumeration for training!

Training using Elluminate - demonstrates it, gives people ideas on how to use in teaching.

Allay fears by giving easy tasks to start with.

Two facilitators helps with late arrivals and people who start to fall behind.

Understanding the reasons academics use/don't use endorsed/unendorsed learning technologies

2011-12-05T11:26:00.000+11:00

Why do staff adopt or not adopt learning technologies, whether they are adopted officially or not?

Key issues impacting uptake: workload and time, knowledge and skills, staff dev & training, tools and infrastructure, lack of recognition & reward, lack of scaffolding & leadership

More recent research says the same thing - nothing much appears to have changed!

Idea of endorsed/unendorsed: internal = LMS, etc, external = Web 2.0

Standard tools used, some staff were not aware of. Beyond online video most other technology not used in teaching.

Reasons for using using/not using. Value & workload factor highly - support and (lack of) skills! Innovation and improving learning outcomes, as well as convenience for staff & students.

Non-value laden labels (lol) - disgruntled pragmatists, warriors (worry about support but battle on), perfect citizens, average citizens.

Develop strategies to encourage: broader use of learning tech with recognition of local curricula and pedagogical approaches. Not everyone has to be an innovator.

Quality e-Assessment Workflows

2011-12-04T15:52:00.001+11:00

Look at literature on e-Assessment workflows
Policy impolications
Issues around workflows
Demonstrations with Blackboard and Moodle with ReMarks

Processes must be simple and easy to use as people look for simplicity or give up on it!

Design of assessment must be planned as integrated part of course design (Kendle & Northcote 2000)
Assessment tasks influence the direction and quality of student learning (Maclellan 2004)
Students need to be given more responsibity for assessment process

Formative assessment - marks with written comments not much better than just marks. Marks can get in the way of learning Butler 1988
Multiple chances to be re-assessed - much more likely to pay attention to feedback.
Large tasks - break into smaller stages with feedback at each stage and grade for work in total
Develop a grading rubric - very useful when multiple markers. Make students aware of this and what it means.
Calibration moderation - multiple staff mark same work using same rubric to test rubric

Royce Sadler (1989)

Help students to recognise and clearly understand the desired goal to appreciate what high quality work looks like.
Help them develop evaluative skills
Explaining ways to close the gap between outcomes and expectations

Students more interested in how they have performed more than comparison to other students!

Advantages of e-submission

copy for student appeals
management for large courses
saving on printing costs
plagiarism detection
security
confirmation for students
back up at organisation level

Challenges

toggling with data & feedback sheet (not with ReMarks)
Laborious annotation of work
Better planning required for managing paperless submissions

Issues

Integration with LMS - issue for who has handed in, multiple markers, keeping track of who has submitted
Data-matching software - do you need to be looking for plagiarism? Does it slow things down?
Group submissions - pragmatism and group work, how to fairly assign marks and motivate participation
Flow onto to policies, like late submission, data storage etc
Return of marks and assessments - easier?

Talk on Quality Assurance & moderation process

Recent review placed emphasis on quality and standards - TESQA is now national quality regulator. Accreditation linked to standards.
Link between learning objectives, assessment methods and grading of attainment - need to understand relationship to understand and monitor standards.
Academic standards depend upon individual academic expert judgement. Based upon experience of students, their education, etc.
Nulty D D (2011) - paper on consensus moderation

Consensus moderation - about quality assessment and outcomes 'look like'
Consistency in time, place & marker
Process like peer review but consensus is the aim - like herding cats
Other ways of reaching consensus - experience of students, across multiple institutions, annotated exemplars, etc. Most academics do some form of this -having assignments vetted by colleagues, consistency with international textbooks, etc

Framework for consensus moderation

1. Course level assessment planning - ensure appropriate assessment items and patterns
2. Marking student work - ensure appropriate and consistent standards are applied to marking individual pieces
3. grading student work
4. standard across courses
5. standards over time

Griffith Uni has a website now on assessment - Assessment Matters!

TESQA - show us what you do and the difference it has made, on assessment, consensus moderation, etc.

Getting experts together to justify assessment as useful exercise not only for them but also new lecturers, tutors, etc...

Double marking from different institutions as a tool for consensus
Worth being able to look at mark distributions for multiple years - to see consistency of marking
Having assignments and spread of assessments (high, middle, low)
Map down to assessment from overall course goals

Ascilite 2011: Social Networking workshop

2011-12-04T12:24:00.002+11:00

Social media - various avenues through which people share information, public or private with a select group of people

Social networks - act of sharing social media

Giving a voice to O/S students BUT everyone's a critic!

Rules on Twitter live streams - what is applicable? Avoiding behaviour that breaks APS code of conduct in my own context. Relevance to topic. No profanity, etc. Obvious stuff really. Pays too to have eyes in the back of your head lol.

Suggestion on use: Reflective microblog assessment.

Change of medium - but still a conversation. Stuff on Social networking found here

See people worth following on Twitter at Wallwisher

Edmodo - Facebook like app for education

Social networking ethical/moral/legal issues - examples here and here

Overall impressions/summary: While the workshop didn't cover as much in terms of innovative ideas on how to use social media in education beyond a little on Twitter - the legal/ethical issues raised made the workshop worth it. As one person put it, the two bases for a Social Media policy are a) Don't be a d***head and b) everything you post online is public.

reflecting on teaching practice

2011-11-25T13:18:00.001+11:00

Thinking
Seeing
Saying
Feeling
Hearing

Should be able to reflect on teaching practice in each of these areas. Original found here

'Touching' people online - conflict (used properly), stories (authentic, appropriate).

Not only is the empathy map useful for reflection by teachers, but also good for studentreflection on a course.

Human spectrogram as line of site mechanism. See here for explanation.

ConVerge11 Day 2: Beyond LMS. Ian Knox

2011-11-25T10:34:00.000+11:00

Great start to a workshop - free USB stick with presentation!!!!

Social Networking in primary schools in US is good, high schools not so good, higher ed.... oh well!

LMSs - avoid awful templates. They crush teacher creativity!!!! Also issues when people don't have access after course finishes - highlights need to keep previous versions with dates.

Much of his comments highlights misuse of LMS, not necessarily limitations of LMS per se.

Social learning is what people do together, not what you make them do - gold quote

Alternatives?
Google+

Foliospaces

In the end - an LMS has its limits but I think if you design it well, it is far more flexible that this workshop presented. Would love Julian Ridden to have responded.

ConVerge11 Day 2: Strategic Blended Learning Plans. Ian Goding & Carmel Hyland

2011-11-25T09:49:00.000+11:00

Process

1. Vision statement
2. Environmental analysis - what technology do you have, physical space, etc, etc
3. SWOT analysis - strengths, weaknesses, opportunities & threats
4. Strategic overview
5. Vision projects - next 3 years
6. Goals for this year
7. Professional development

Presenters handed out a worksheet that follows above process. The actual process looks very useful but because we were put into groups we ended talking generalities about what we do rather than having the time to look specifically for ourselves at our individual organisations - i.e. we were supposed to imagine we were part of one teaching centre, and as an approach I didn't find it worked for me.

The 2 and a half minutes was also limiting (but necessary) for the workshop. Having said all that it was refreshing do to a workshop in a workshop. It was also interesting to see the challenges that other institutions face with very different target markets.

After the 'workshopping', Carmel gave an example where the process was applied. Stressed importance of environmental analysis (you need to know what you are working with!)

PADDIE model - plan (environmental analysis), Analyse (gap analysis), Design (storyboard), Develop (up online), Implement (roll out), Evaluate (feedback)

Left and Right, Up and Down: Connecting Groups and Networks. Nancy White

2011-11-24T16:58:00.000+11:00

www.fullcirc.com

Do-ology. We learn by doing not just reading, etc.

What is happening to depth - real reflection on what we are looking at. E.g. Occupy movement; moving from talk to do. The value of being in close proximity.

Think intentionally about the quality of our connections. Slow community! Need to slow down. Occupy connectivity! This is a process not a protest!

Example. Drew a picture (out of comfort zone), explained it to someone else, conversation going. Then involved a third person. Sharing of ideas. Simple but effective.

Technology, Roles, Principles & Practices - these three things need to overlap.

Tech + Social: tech has fundamentally changed how we can be together. E.g. tweeting and people outside a conference feeling like they are missing out.
Eric Whitacre's virtual choir (on YouTube) here

Deep conversations - how to encourage these? Naturally occur face to face. For example others watch when on Twitter! Don't perform! Tension between control vs connection, private vs public. Culture trumps strategy all of the time. Choose the right tool; openness doesn't necessarily mean no privacy.

Occupy as an API for change. Occupying space for learning. Need to get beyond silos.

Connecting roles. Discover & appropriate useful tech be in and use communities and networks (people) express their identity (not roles or performance).

Etienne Wenger - social artists as agents of change.

Network weavers - drawing people together, changing interactions and don't let institutions stop this!

Asking right questions!

ds106.us - networking, digital stories, communities. Online radio. Occupying online space. Humanly amplify learning.

Have to move from risk aversion with safe-fail experiments. A language to talk about innovation.

Values and being transparent about why we do things and invite to follow us.

Innovation: What happened and where are we going? ConVerge11

2011-11-24T15:17:00.000+11:00

www.howardderrey.com

Firewall dramas! Need to balance security with the innovative tools.

Promethian parallel with Apple?

gotafe - E-delivery skills matrix. Content management - version control. Best tool for the job (e.g. used WebCT for what it was best at - assessment but content etc elsewhere.)

Wiinovation! Using Nintendo for learning making most of motion detection. This looks like a lot of work to get going but innovative approach.

Use of Open Sim in tradie education. Second Life looks good for immersive teaching if there is a task you can realistically do inside it.

See Victorian Elearning Innovations Online Expo

LMS - not good social tools, community is more than collaboration.

Engage learners in different ways - right brain, stories. Storycentric learning. Stories transform listeners, are right brained. Include students within the story.

Jane Bozarth - Classrooms without Walls: Social Media for Teachers

2011-11-24T13:18:00.000+11:00

To use technology in teaching need to be someone who already generates content, discussions, blogs, etc. Otherwise get someone else

Web 2.0 more participatory than 1.0 as we can generate own content. Need to generate content that encourages further creation by others - it is invitational

Teacher needs: Easy to maintain - adjustable over time and collaborative

Learner wants: interesting, engaging, adjustable, solo or group, solution to MY problem, expertise

Use technology to replace ONE thing already doing

Blog - idiot proof webpage (lol) but minimal comments. Not very sophisticated.

See blog 23 things - more like a webpage than an interactive page.
Reflective blog - where they need improve, etc... Example of an English language teaching blog
Don't have to be text heavy - 6 yo blogging his pictures (can't write yet)

Don't get tool happy - blogs have their place

Google docs - very quick doc sharing.

Wikis. Teamsport/collaborative. Example: Selling your library in the US

Facebook. Example of drama teacher using for her course. Where students are! Can create a page - doesn't require students to be your friend

Twitter. Google Twitter chats!

Youtube - private channels, posting vids and asking for comments

Denise Mason: The future of workplace learning: ConVerge11

2011-11-24T10:47:00.000+11:00

Top 8 trends?
A quick jot down of some things that were brought out - this needs tidying up and thinking about

1.
90 mins longest we can sit? 20 mins for good chunk of learning material. 8 mins really focussed (thanks TV!) Say things 6 times (from coke ads)

People don't (often) remember what happened in the training room?

RAS Reticular activating system - needs stimulating to keep us concentrating. Avoiding the autopilot! Make the learning stick!

2.

Webvolution (ewww neologism I don't like). Connect to, Connect through, ....

Information as new currency
Learning more fluid

3.Blended learning

Virtual trending. Beyond just some f2f and elearning.

4. role of trainer & designer
Handing over to trainers/facilitators - helping others understand themselves
Information is not communication - ahha moments. NOT inert learners. Unlearning things - e.g. reciting days of week alphabetically!

Dinosaur design and development!

5. ABCD - activities based curriculum design

6. Link workplace learning to workplace culture

Most learning on the job - importance of coaching. Importance of workplace culture

7. doing more with less

Better Cheaper Faster

8. How high can you reach? continuous growth and development

ConVerge11

2011-11-24T09:31:00.002+11:00

I'm at ConVerge 2011 over the next two days here in Preston at Rydges. Hoping to blog what I pick up. Stay tuned!

Does the internet make us virtuous?

2011-10-11T21:53:00.000+11:00

I have been wanting to write this post for some time. I need to preface it of course. I first discovered the internet towards the end of 1991. Back then USENET was the thing, internet discussion boards and groups for all manner of topics from the ridiculous to the sublime. Even back then I got hooked to social groups like Alt.Callahans, and even started an (well two quite by accident) interactive fiction group Alt.pub.Dragons-inn and Alt.Dragons-inn. I remember the first graphical browsers like Mozilla and Netscape, writing html raw and thinking WYSIWYG editors were a godsend.

Nowadays I blog, tweet and spend waaay too much time on Facebook, discover new bands on Youtube and occasionally befriend them on MySpace. Why do I stress all of this? Because I want to claim I am a Luddite!

Now Luddites were artisans who thought that their way of life was threatened. I guess in the long run they were right. More broadly, modern Luddites are worried that introduction of technology too quickly or inappropriately is damaging.

Note that this is very different from taking some sort of primitivist stance that says all technology is bad. I don't remember the name of the fellow but it seems he only uses pencils and his web writings are transcribed. So here's my rant.

I teach an theoretical as well as practical subject - meteorology. As well as teaching deep knowledge, we want competent forecasters with skills, knowledge and attitude. The attitude includes due care and dilligence, punctuality, etc. Skills and knowledge are learned but also taught in the usual sense (we give lectures, write material for pracs, tutes, etc) but attitude can only really (in my view) be modelled.

My question is, in our use of Web 2.0, LMSs etc, what attitudes do we model? When we adopt the latest technology to run our new apps, etc - do we model wastefulness? Is it clear our old technology is recycled? I recently read an article that suggested fast broadband was a right, presumably under an extension of eduction as a right. Apart from the whole issue of what human rights are, what they are based on and the hopefully obvious obscenity that someone could call this a right when most of the world starves, etc, a right to what end? Does this model impatience? How much speed is enough (not enough if you are stealing someone else's copyright via Bit Torrent).

Hopefully everyone knows Wikipedia is dubious at times (although also useful). Do we model mediocrity and a distaste for the expert who has invested years of their life in prefering the wisdom of the crowd? And that we won't pay for anything if we can get it for free, no matter the potential risks in quality? I note with some satisfaction Scholarpedia's appearance - free but peer reviewed.

When we encourage mashups, do we model lack of real creativity, just the endless recycling of other people's material? Note I do like mashups to a point, sometimes they speak louder than the creator intended (like the editing of Pulp Fiction into all the occurences of motherf***er).

My point is this - in a world of dwindling resources, isolated plugged in individuals with little sense of history or respect for anything beyond themselves (generalisations I know but spend time on social media), don't we as teachers have to model virtues (rather than impose them yes)? Long gone are the days of the Greeks with small classes and devoted disciples learning ethics with subject matter, etc. But I still think that we want to help students become good citizens and not simply knowledge or skill experts - people who live with vritue.

Ok, so this is a rant and no I am not anti-technology, naively worried about being put out of a job. It is just that not everything that is new is (immediately) useful.

Moodle Moot 2011 Keynote Martin Dougiamis

2011-07-20T12:13:00.000+10:00

Many people want an LMS to reinforce traditional roles and teaching, usual resource, resource... quiz. Many staff and students wants this.
But and LMS can also build a community of practitioners, everyone is teacher and learner, continual assessment, etc. Constructivists
What about Personal Learning Environments? Are LMSs dead?
Still need deep, flexible systems, Unis not about to go away.
Two roadmaps to keep conservative and progressive agendas - security, usabillity, assessment, tracking vs. communication based pedagogies, drag n drop UI, community developed modules, media handling, innovative workflows, integration with everything
Moodle 2 - security, performance, media management, integrations, usability and appearance, new features
regular release dates now set - not feature based but date based
Quiz in 2.1 - drag n drop matching. Possible to write more plugins due to changes under the hood. Certainty based marking - students bet on their answers. Marks for right answer and certainty - this looks excellent for decision making issues like weather forecasting.
Coming - downloading all of the course content, assignment grading, attendance taking...
2.2 - gradings and rubrics, assignment, paged course formats, IMS LTI, files/repository interfaces
Community hubs - connecting Moodles together - mooch. It is a plugin so anyone can set up a hub!
moodle.com to be refreshed, big 6-8 month process to redev moodle.org. Changes already with Moodle docs

MOObric: A rubric of Moodle skills and knowledge

2011-07-20T10:52:00.000+10:00

What does a good Moodle course look like?

MOObric splits users into three levels of experience - Muddler, Meddler and Moodler. Muddler is not pejorative.

Based on TPCK. Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge.

Copy available from Maria Northcote moodle.amberwell.net

The Moodle Dailies: Levelling up professional development

2011-07-20T09:56:00.002+10:00

Based upon World of Warcraft and Angry Birds
Daily quest - takes 5-10 mins to do, keep up reputation in the game => primary idea behind design
Workshops not sustainable - don't teach people how to think about things, just how to do things - no conceptual framework
Angry birds - can complete at various levels - 1, 2, 3 star level => complete tasks at different levels, allows the user to go back
Uses conditional activities, with various Moodle activities
A task that is separate from the goals but involves using them - try and stick to the narrative, students make own connections
Smart naming is essential for conditional activities. Labels are useful for this as they are named after the initial text.

Reality is Broken website - there is also a book. About games and learning.

Some of Sarah Thorneycroft's blog entries here.

Leveling up: Learning Moodle through gameplay

2011-07-20T09:28:00.001+10:00

Course will be available through Mooch
Teach Moodle using game based strategies.
Uses conditional activities
Key things from theory:

motivation to play (curiosity, professional req, wasting time),
choice (how much will players be able to choose),
mastery (what are the stages of achievement and how is failure handled),
feedback (how and when will player know how well they have done)

action mapping

measurable goal (in this case a score on a quiz on using Moodle);
define what people will be able to DO as a result of playing (in this case Moodle skills);
design activities that will help them practice, including feedback;
locate essential only information to help completing task (providing info last is how games work, a bit counter intuitive but true);
check against GBL principles

Postscript: Since attending this workshop I've found this interview that looks at 'gamification' here.

The Moodle Community

2011-07-19T14:44:00.000+10:00

Married to the Moodle - Julian Moodle Man

you can turn things off - not overwhelming teachers
Moodle costs money! - server hosting, PD
Support is moodle.org
security is an issue - everyone can see a bug but anyone can fix
documented - moodle.org Wiki
Moodle 2 doesn't work on IE 6

Mixing it up: informal and formal strategies for teaching, research and professional learning

2 min Moodles, pre-workshop prep and follow up, tailored workshops - what staff want, workshops put lecturers in the place of learners, Moobric - rubric for Moodle courses (will be made available to Moodle Moot participants)
Moodle showcase

Modelling sustainability

ecommunities.tafensw.edu.au
Moodle 2.0 site to support TAFEs, etc.... in green skills and sustainability
site down during talk

Moodle Moot 2011 Keynote Mary Cooch

2011-07-19T12:58:00.000+10:00

Mary talked about training teachers in the use of Moodle and breaking down barriers where there was reticence or resistance. Showed nice examples about how to introduce the LMS at an early age by using it as a portal to kid friendly resources like games etc.

Tips on how to teach Moodle

2 mins - Moodle moments over coffee, etc. Short tips, sharing latest projects etc
10 mins - speed dating like activity??
1 hr - a simple program for first timers

create a weblink
webpage (1.9) /page (2) creation
online text assignment
forum

The 4 Cs of a cool course

Captivate - nice appearance
Create - allow students to create content
Collaborate - group projects
Chocolate - bribery

Greater than 1 hr - start with something they can view as a student and then get to try to create for selves

Conditional activities workshop

2011-07-19T12:31:00.000+10:00

Excellent tool for marking progress and steering students into particular paths according to needs, e.g. re-sit a quiz, extra help, extra quizzes, etc

Two things need to be enabled at site level. Enable conditional activities, option to track student completion.

Completion tracking also needs to be enabled at the course settings level.

Blackborg

2011-07-19T10:21:00.002+10:00

Moodle Moot 2011 Keynote Jan Herrington

2011-07-19T10:03:00.001+10:00

Has written A guide to authentic elearning
Her Academia.edu entry

Website worth looking at: A journey into constructivism from Martin Dougiamis

What is authentic learning?

authentic context - for learning student will do, relate to way they will learn in real life, conserve complexity of real-life setting
authentic tasks - clear goals and real world relevance, requires production NOT reproduction of knowledge, complex and ill-defined, completed over a longer period
expert performance - access to the way an expert would think and act, access to learners in various learners of expertise, opportunities for the sharing of narratives and stories, expertise is distributed (over stating the case of the value of the wisdom of the crowds here??)
multiple perspectives - not just a single text
collaboration - teams or pairs, collaboration encouraged through technology, tasks addressed to groups not individuals
articulation - public presentation of argument, online classes
reflection - discuss choice, reflection in (make decisions) and on action (after the task), often a 2 way process
scaffolding and coaching - from teacher and other learners, no attempt to transmit knowledge, support rather than didactic, use of Twitter
authentic assessment - integrated with task rather that separate, e.g. portfolios

What is an authentic task?

Contextualised problems - not abstract
Problem-based learning.
Tasks put learner in an authentic role - example of WWI history, students AS historians.

Technology as tool - 'we teach carpentry not hammer' - Oppenheimer 1997
Technology as cognitive tools

The LMS in an authentic learning environment

not about content (or just about content)
not about weekly readings and exercises
not about being a document repository
create a space where students can create and share published products
access anytime/anywhere
about recognising at-risk learners

Mobile me link for Moodle Moot 2011

Moodle how tos session 3

2011-07-18T16:48:00.000+10:00

Getting social with Moodle

internet (10.4mil), 4,2m mobile wireless, 8.2m mobile handset, 81% have 1.5 Mbps+, 7h+month social media - highest time spent in the world?
Aust visitors 12 mil unique visits to FB July 2011, 10 YouTube, ....
Why get social? Popular, engaging, empowering (generating content), constructive
Tools - blog, comment, chat, Forum, Wiki, tags, repos, messaging
News Forums - general news and announcements, good to have a block on the side with latest posts
useful if forum messages are sent to mailboxes - but digest is very useful for avoiding mailbox bombing
Chat - synchronous & archived
useful blocks - online users

Getting lost in the Book module

Why use the book module??
avoiding the scroll of death
book - impressive content with built-in navigation
editing book module adds a layer of complexity, teachers who get help from a third party
the scroll of death is typically thought not to be good from a teacher pov
uses: course information, study guides, any static content (unless teacher has html skills)

Integrate with iTunes U

require an iTunes U site already - method of distributing digital content, customer site with public and internal access, 800 unis around the world with sites - a lot of free content e.g. MIT, Yale, etc
internal access for IP don't want made available publicly
free of charge for ed institutions
more limited usage by K-12
beyond campus - museums, etc...
multiple formats can be provided
iTunes U block
content doesn't have to sit on iTunes site - use RSS feeds to tell iTunes U where material sits

Moodle how tos session 2

2011-07-18T14:48:00.000+10:00

How to create an outcome overview to track student outcomes

http://dlb.sa.edu.au/whsmoodle/
done away with paper reports
using overview report and user report (in gradebook)

An eBook on Moodle and Moodle in an eBook

driven by question - why spend so much on paper, and improve presentation
expectation creep - LMS at schools so Unis MUST have them
they dumped Mahara as not useful= interesting!!!!
replicates course notes, extra layer for navigation, answers to activities, audio & video
use of ebook works for teaching English as the content doesn't need to change very often - so need to think carefully about what doesn't need changing

Two birds with one database

Law education - identity transition between student and professional, a role play simulation
characters played with staff - all interaction is in character
how to avoid sim-breaking but provide guidance?
Moodle site as separate from simulated office - formative assessment
chose database tool - avoid scroll of death, searchable, foster good skills
need for consistency of entries - structured add entry page, with instructions at each step
use of keywords is vital! think about every possible search term - note these are case sensitive so have to have each tag in twice
Moodle 1.9 doesn't copy across pop up content like pdfs, images, etc!!

Moodle how tos session 1

2011-07-18T12:28:00.000+10:00

How to break Moodle

Minimise backing up and restoring courses, use of groups to streamline
Be kind to your server - e.g. local copies of vidoes etc. Have a dedicated server for this material.
Watch hard coded links
Limit access to templates
Document things - to learn from mistakes, share with community
Limit use to custom hacks to 3rd party mods in Moodle - always comment changes, back up changes properly
Planning server configuration - never code on a live Moodle (always use a dev server!), keep all machines with same version
No everything works everywhere - bandwidth, requirements (e.g. Flash, admin rights, etc)

Moodle 2.0 files - an inconvenient truth

a change in the way files are uploaded from 1.9 => there are no course files anymore
old way - files first then do something with them later; but they were not secure, e.g. students could guess files, deleted files => broken links
file now owned by a resources or activity - files uploaded to them, can copy to other activities or resources
costs?? can't choose when to use files, can't link to same file from multiple places
underlying philosophy is that Moodle is not a file repository but this is how people have used it
can shift back to legacy course files - but Moodle HQ doesn't want it and won't be supported for too long??? and it has all of the problems as before. Is there a need for content management repositories?

Blog entries on this: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Using audio and video well in Moodle course

it's about content - can explain and demonstrate concepts with video by manipulating time, e.g. time lapse, editing, repetition, POV cameras
dynamic, constantly moving - evolutionary instinct
scaffolding - foundational skills, repetition as skills are always the same
recording lectures - home access, capture evidence of workplace assessment (video of essay marking for example)
can embed audio directly - player pops up - but only certain sample rates works, constant bit rate
Audacity to edit audio
MP4, MOV, FLV player comes up automatically
File conversions - SUPER, Format Factory, G-spot
http://www.delicious.com/colsim/video

Moodle philosophy

2011-07-17T15:56:00.000+10:00

By Moodle founder Martin Douiamas

Constructivist epistemology of teaching & learning within internet-based communities of reflective inquiry.

How can the open source be used to successfully support social constructionist epistemologies of teaching and learning?

How can Open Source best reflect epistemologies of community.

Constructivism
About the learning process inside our minds. People actively construct new knowledge as you learn (pathways formed in the brain) in reaction to external stimulus.
Input is tested against prior knowledge and retained if it is viable.
Knowledge is strengthened if it is used successfully.

See Piaget, etc

Constructionism
Learning is more effective when you are constructing for others
"Best way to learn is to teach" - Socrates

Social constructivism
Extends constructivism into social settings.
Use of cultural artifacts to "capture" knowledge and provide experiences that create knowledge in others
Moodle is a cultural artifact - to create knowledge in others about online learning, but mostly it doesn't due to people's previous experiences of how to teach

Ways of knowing
Spectrum of knowing - from connected to separate knowing. Connected knower thinks about stories in their own terms and from the teller's point of view (empathic). Separate knower can sit back and critique, more centred on own perspective. Culturally conditioned not necessarily gender based. Can benefit from being both.

Goal of Moodle => take People + Software tools = Community

5 principles

All of us are potential teachers as well as learners - in a true collaborative environment we are both
We learn particularly well form the act of creating or expressing something for others to see
We learn just by observing the activity of our peers (culture) - note you can't usually see others when online!
Understand the contexts of others, we can teach in a more transformational way (constructivism)
A learning environment needs to be flexible and adaptable, so that it can quickly respond to the changes needs of the participants within it.

Importance of Modules - the modular aspect. Based on a unix model, lots of little programs that do one thing well. Course design is essential to link modules together in a course. User contributions is also content and of course where the learning occurs.

Pedagogical progression

Publish content - put up stuff
Assess - Quizzes and Assignments - absorb and regurgitate. Cheating. Basic part of learning.
Provide a passive Forum. Students often reticent to post, look stupid etc
Collaboration - Wikis, Glossaries, Databases, Youtube, etc....
Facilitate discussions. Questions! Good facilitation is hard!
Combine activities into sequences
Introduce external sites, activities, games, webquests, networks (like Twitter feeds), LTI module
Use Survey tools and logs to study/reflect. Analytics is the new buzzword.
Give students more power (structure/grades)
Research, custom code, communities of practice!

Moodle breaks down educaitonal experience into sequences of small activities
Experience as a practioner evolves into re-usable patterns

TPS - think, pair, share. Ask qs, thinking individually. Develop artifact (e.g. document). Share in group discussion, moderated and supervised.

Jigsaw technique - useful for more complex topics.
Split students into small groups. Each student in group tackles one aspect of problem individually. Each student from other groups with same job get together to research & collate info. Return to original group and teach/present results. Students assessed on what they learned.

Role playing
Invent scenario/event that will cover issues needing to be taught. Give everyone a role. Ask them to research role thoroughly and ask to write up description of role. Teacher "sets up" the scenario, guides and facilitates events. Participants react in character. Conduct follow up discussion to review what happened, draw lessons, etc. E.g. Twistory

Facilitation
In online learning, teachers are needed more than ever.

initiating activioties
defining objectives and processes
moderating activities - look for connections, problems, put people back on track, draw people out
alter pacing and ordering
assisting people who are falling behind
stimulating conversation with connections, questions
providing feedback on how to improve
reminding/prompting about key dates and events
invite guests, make connections to outside world

Survey module
Fixed tools shown to provide statistically significant results
Critical Moments, Constructivist online learning surveys (COLLES), Attitudes to thinking and learning survey (ATTLS)

Summary

Make objectives and processes clear to all
Identify your patterns and use them purposely
Use tools in a modular way, connecting outputs to inputs
Ask great questions
Find ways to get people asking questions of each other
Get students to CREATE for you and each other
Get students to reflect on their own work and others
Use feedback to facilitate/alter the course as it goes
Connect students / content / subject / world
Join/create communities of practice

Moodle makeover workshop

2011-07-17T14:31:00.000+10:00

This workshop looks as moving from static, resource heavy course to a dynamic. activity-online space.

Style (appearance) & content. Workshop focusing on the later. Content is more than meaning putting 'stuff' up online, like word docs etc.

Fewer eyes and more hands - fewer static resources and more activities

Hands together - more interaction between learners!

Ears and mouths - activities that can be listened to and spoken activities as well (recording?) or being given a voice (like forums)

Static resources are not in of themselves BAD - e.g. Word and PPT.

Word - pdf, webpage, book (Moodle), www.issuu.com (makes flash versions)
PPT - pdf, swf, lesson module, iSpring (not free), Slideshare, Googledocs

Displaying multimedia - embed or not embed, anyvideoconverter (to convert formats), inline players (Moodle 2)

Collaborative - glossary or database, there is an exchange for this (where?)

Nice link on using modules here

Use of Google docs instead of Wikis???? Note can't track contributions in Google Docs whereas can do with a Wiki.

In Moodle 1.9 - real time collaborative editor

Assignment type - able to upload assignments - multiple ways. Database as assignment.

Peer assessment - workshop (Moodle 2 looks awesome but not very easy to do in 1.9). Forums (quick n dirty way of doing it). Peer assessment made simple (custom module)

This was one of those 'you had to be there' workshops where we took a poorly laid out course and re-tooled it. The key is that there are a lot of more engaging ways to present material with Lesson, Quiz, Database etc beyond just dumping up resources and asking a few questions.

What makes a good Moodle course?

2011-07-17T12:29:00.000+10:00

Better question: What makes a good learning experience?

This is not a Moodle-centric question!

Usability
Bad usability - scroll of death, dead links, poor navigation, too much graphics.

Variety
Tools are limited - so need the appropriate tool for the task.

Re-usability
Standard themes, simple conditionals, mostly standard modules - KISS

Importance of scaffolding so learning is given clear direction, resources and assessment that is appropriate, meaningful and challenging to the learners.

What makes an expert teacher is feedback! Particularly from student to teacher or peer feedback/assessment.

Content must be relevant: the solution to the problem of information overload! Can release things at different times! 'Just in time'

Nice - Random glossary entry block feature in Moodle 2 where you can take a random entry from a glossary.

Workshop module in Moodle 2.0

2011-07-17T10:29:00.000+10:00

Re-written from 1.9 to be less frustrating. Set up so that:

allows for Peer assessment
self assessment
rubric marking

Peer assessment can be allocated randomly or manually - neat feature. Students get assessed on how well they do on a piece but also on how well they assess the work of others based upon how close the mark they assign is to the mean for each component of the marking. The comparison can be set at a number of levels for how your assessor marks are calculated when you vary from the mean mark. Can also grade anonymously with double blind reviewing.

Nice application of this is submitting some comments on own contribution to a group assessment - peers can assess how much student actually contributed to the project.

Neat workflow view of each phase of the workshop assessment! Can roll back to any stage if for example decide that the assessment criteria don't work, etc...

In setting up a workshop can add exemplars for students to see examples of how the assessment task could be done.

Workshop was based around writing a Haiku about the Harbour Bridge. For the record here's mine:

Sydney's coat hangar
Architectural icon
It's just a bridge guys!

Moodle Moot 2011

2011-07-17T08:45:00.000+10:00

I'm in Sydney for Moodle Moot 2011. Sunday morning master class to learn some tips n tricks on how to use the Moodle LMS more intelligently - so watch this space!

We are the consumers

2011-06-07T12:44:00.000+10:00

There is a new book out that is discussed here called We First. The writer of this review links together, social media, social change, consumers and brands.Nowadays brand producers are able to interact with consumers to better sell their products. From a business point of view this is a good model insofaras one can be directly in touch with potential customers. Likewise for consumers, wanting certain features from your products is not a bad thing.

However, it seems to me to be a breakdown in that fine line between the social sphere and the economic sphere. Putting 'We first' means reducing us to consumers! The social sphere is commodified and equated with social change?! I'm not at all convinced this represents a good thing for society as a whole to be further reduced from homo sapiens to homo economicus or homo consumerous! It's fine if you are (relatively) mature in thinking and not easily swayed, but the hoards of young people advertisers are keen to get their hooks into early to sell their branded lifestyle I am concerned for!

Guest post on another blog: postconservative evangelicalism

2011-05-04T11:20:00.000+10:00

I am a guest blogger on reddresstheology, a blog devoted to emergent theology. It is a review of Roger Olson's book Reformed and always reforming. An excellent book which makes me want to continue to use the term Evangelical to describe myself. The direct link to the post is here.

Religion in the public sphere

2011-04-18T11:59:00.000+10:00

Facebook has causes which one can sign up to. I recently signed up to a couple, both of which drew comment. I want to reflect briefly on how the two fit together for me.

Recently (yesterday) I preached about Palm Sunday. For Christians, this celebrates Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. For many, the sole focus of this is that he was going to Jerusalem to die, to be crucified for sins. Yet a close reading of the triumphant entry as it is called shows that Jesus is deliberately identifying himself as Israel's king - the incident is in deliberate fulfillment or acting out Zechariah 9:9 as Matthew records in 21:5. As I pointed out in the sermon, if Jesus is a king then language of personal relationship, restricting his mission to the forgiveness of sins conceived largely as things we do with out genitals and concern only for prayer and bible reading represent a truncated form of Christianity. Instead, confessing Jesus to be king means that Christian faith is a matter of publicly declared allegiance. It means that the Christian faith refuses to be dismissed from the public sphere. As a very important side note, that Jesus is King of the Jews means firstly that a) once more all ideas of anti-Semitism should be knocked on the head and b) God can be trusted as he fulfilled his promises to the Jewish people. That most chose not to accept their king is besides the point - Paul promises that many yet will

So for me, signing up to a Facebook cause for the teaching of faith in public schools (all faiths) is perfectly natural. As someone convinced of the truth of the Christian message I want our kids to hear this expounded. Living in a post-Christian, pluralistic society I also fully accept that this also means the teaching of other faiths, including secular humanism. What I reject is the position that faith has no place in education and that the default position is materialistic humanism.

For me, it also means that opposing hate speech, such as the Facebook group F**K Jesus is my way of wanting to civilise the discussion of faith in the public arena. Two arguments against this I consider invalid or at least weak.

1. Jesus can defend himself. Well in that case don't evangelise, Jesus can reach people for himself. Peter reminds Christians to give a reason for their faith. Christians are called to fertilise society (be salt). Turning the other cheek, walking the extra mile were all forms of non-violent protest (see N T Wright or Walker Wink on these references from the Sermon on the Mount). I take it then that Christians can protest against such aggressive and unnecessarily vulgar language that is designed to cause offense. It isn't always fruitful and I certainly don't see it as mandatory or want to see any return to blasphemy laws.

2. It gives these people 'air to breathe'. Well perhaps, but if Catholics had protested against the Nazis and opposed them more politically it might have given them more publicity but it might also have saved millions.

In short, while we need to not take offense too easily, when we give ground and when we react (in love) will be a personal choice.

Games, simulations and virtual worlds

2010-12-08T13:26:00.010+11:00

Mooses and research in education and gaming??!!! Kid & sister who survived a moose attack from having played World of Warcraft!!!!

Good stories (anecdotes) don't necessarily make good research

Education is not failing and games are not a remedy!

Virtual rewards - Pavlovian

This pushed as a paradigm for gaming education here

Are games always fun? 'a system of coercion freely entered into'

A lot of the time - all you learn from a game is how to play the game!

Dill & Dill (1998) murder reinforced in vid games Goldstein (2005) no one is actually killed!!! Failure to distinguish with playing a violent game and actual aggression!

If violent games teach aggression - why aren't the researches more violent??!! ;-)

Some of the chat in WoW is more violent than on screeen gore

Given all of this - why do people make similar assumptions about games and learning???!!!

http://nosignificantdifference.org/

Knowledge constructed from what you do!

Pedagogy as agreed structure - red rugs in SL.

Traditional learning design ignores the performed pedagogy

Moving beyond heresay in research

Focus on practice not technology - common lies we tell about technology

Understand where we want to intervene in

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world.html

Good practice in blended learning

2010-12-08T11:42:00.007+11:00

Improve teaching using an exemplar course - cross disciplinary so looking to bring good learning design from one course to others. Provide as a template

Focus on foundation courses - 1st year.

Physics failure rates went down with introduction of exemplar outline for course.

Influence of academic leader was powerful - explain what they had done and how they had done it - more than just having the outline.

Costly project funding wise and lots of good will and enthusiasm!!!!! Resource intensive.

Academic involvement with the LMS

2010-12-08T11:18:00.007+11:00

Relationships are important: staff/student and all/LMS

Engaged staff: interested in student learing, scholarly in approach to learning and teaching, wiling to be learners, engage with students

More coordinators posted to forums under Moodle compared to Blackboard ;-) [My own experience is that Moodle easier to use, Blackboard has some irritating bugs with forums]

We assume staff are trained in how to use communication tools - but they are not!!

Effort tracker for LMS use, how much effort is put in.

Publishing and perishing: Critical importance of education design research

2010-12-08T09:50:00.009+11:00

double blind experiments are impossible in education
goals, intentions & beliefs of teachers affect students
basically classical 'scientific' approach to ed research doesn't work!

Lots of research but practice hasn't improved?! Research must be usable and relevant! Rigour is not enough!

Educational design research, Akker et al.

Phase 1
Problem
Practitioners
Lit review

Phase 2
Intervention or solution
Find principles/other's advice on how to tackle similar problem
Compile draft design principles
Design and develop solution - meaningful, relevant, scaffolding, etc

Phase 3
Cycle of testing
Data collection & analysis - what worked & didn't work

Phase 4
Design principles - to share & help others to do the same thing
reflect on findings
create heuristics
publish

Designing for learning in higher education

2010-12-08T09:16:00.010+11:00

Ron Oliver

more learning - more people with access, better guided, better supported
better learing - relevant, meaningful, engaged
better learners - self-sufficient, independent, active, willing
better teachers - facillitators, planners, guides

The lure of technology, e.g. iPad

Lots of tools and resources to come to grips with:

lecture theatre
tute rooms
presentation systems
course management systems
Web
video
elibraries
personal mobile devices
etc

Rare to find an institution with a consistent approach to technology

pedagogical dimensions of CBE

relevance in real world
ill-defined and complex
sustained investigation
etc

Model to use:

learning tasks
engage learners
context
learning materials
content
information
learning supports
teachers
peers

Good learning design means that students are not only accessing information but organising it and processing it!

Designing learner interactions
Reusable and sharable learning designs, e.g. LAMS. Open education.

VET sector - task-directed, task-guided, task-autonomous.

Has learning design - ldt.eworks.edu.au

ALTC - funding research that will be useful for more than the teacher

research as a means to an end
programs vs projects
seeking traction and uptake
dissemination

Teachers are too busy to spend time in their day to how to improve their teaching!

Take-home message

learning is what learners do not what teachers do
teachers must design for learning
good learning designs must be shared
how to encourage sharing?
success is interest generated outside of club
need for depth in research
seek impact
keep coming to ASCILITE
use the networks

Good learning hurts!!!
Technology is a means to an end!

Virtual world papers

2010-12-07T15:30:00.010+11:00

Gregory et al.

DE Hub - aim to have Aust/NZ wide membership. Aim to enhance student learning from virtual environment. Book/s to follow on from paper.

Nice slide show of use of SL but no strong feel for why/what benefits. just a slide show. Spread of unis and subject matter. Some discussion from floor of how it is being used.

Slide show will end up on YouTube.

3D immersive virtual worlds

Scoping study funded by DE hub.
Interactive virtual simulation.
Often multi-user
Similar UK study here

Responses to ethical dilemmas

Problem solving in virtual worlds - ill structured with multiple solutions, unexpected consequences.
Re-embodied and social interactions with non-verbal comms and complex social practices. Also dynamic - the world changes as you act.

People's actions in a virtual world influenced by virtual world (doors, flying, etc i.e the model physics), the character & their tools, character goals and player goals

Designing problems for virutal world
Virutal wold
Narrative
Learning objective

Choreography - set up events and issues that are problematic within a narrative

Value of reflection after scenario as well as what occurs during the scenario!
Assessment of intentions and actions through feedback process

Teacher personality and online courses

2010-12-07T14:35:00.005+11:00

Strategies to express teacher personality and presence in an online setting.

In an online setting only setting, students like to know something about the lecturer.

Literature has shown for years value of students expressing personality, more recently likewise the teachers. Issue can be lack of warmth, sense of humour, etc.

Some key ideas

Emotions in learning
Formal and informal (learning)
Cognitive and affective
Improved retention
Invitational learning

Risks - online learning can be a straight jacket?

Some questions

How best to allow people to espress their personality?
How does this impact the course climate?
The quality of learning?

Raised a lot of questions - not too many concrete answers though a few responses from audience. Audio welcome.

the bones of curriculum design

2010-12-07T14:12:00.004+11:00

Issues of assessing quality
AUQA - fit for purpose, have you met goals etc
TEQSA - measured against external standards, how well do you measure up against them

Product model
Linear, cyclical, interactive
Sage on stage
Assessment - how well LOs achieved
Focused on core elements, method

Process model
Fuzzy, iterative
Guide on side
Explore how much student has learnt
Also takes into account conceptual underpinning of curriculum design

Listed a bunch of models on learning design but did not discuss in detail!!!

Managing transition from clssroom to workplace

2010-12-07T13:54:00.003+11:00

Three stakeholder in commerce intern program: student, org, faculty.

Flexibility & quality for students and org.

Work experience during the course.

Approach - beyond duty of care. Wanting to do more than minimise risk, integrating care into the workplace.

1. involve industry in program development
2. minimise interuption to business - don't ask workplace supervisor to assess students
3. connect the two worlds
4. support introduction and set expectations
5. manage initial placement days but encourage ownership
6. Acting to contribute to relationships - student/org
7. Assess students through a flexible online medium

Teacher transformation

2010-12-07T13:33:00.003+11:00

Study that looked at helping teacher integrate technology into the curriculum and pedagogy. Assisting teachers in knowing what was there and how to apply it.

Case of teacher who saw strongly guided scaffolding essential in teaching, focussed on tech in summative assessment. Simply integrated technology (email) into current teaching practices

Giving knowledge not enough to engender change in teaching practices because personal practical teaching theory went unchanged.

For exampe - verbatim transfer for f2f to online, transfer of knowledge.

The wiki factor

2010-12-07T12:58:00.001+11:00

What?

Report on an intensive online biology bridging course – leapfrog biology. A four week program, starts with one face to face session. Non-compulsory or assessed but best Wiki used for next year 1^st year medicine course - again the emerging theme of authenticity where the end product is not just for a lecturer! Also competitive nature - only best one used.

Forms of scaffolding

Both hard and soft.

Hard – up there already on site.

Soft – please read the instuctions

F2f – soft. Getting them started on what project was about since only 4 weeks long.

Instructions on LMS – hard, orientation

Online synchronous chat – soft, only one but more if requested. Wiki problem solving, social.

Discussion space asynchronous – soft. Asking qs re content

Guiding questions – hard. Start group work.

Questions posed in modules – hard

Monitoring Wikis with feedback – soft, emails etc.

Group discussion pages allowed teacher to monitor how collaboration was going.

Do online activities inspire students in the science disciplines?

2010-12-07T10:49:00.000+11:00

Use of Skype in the session to bring a colleague in! Doesn’t work as a) quality poor and b) simply reads a script! Reading a Word doc on screen instead of PPT is worse!!!!

Neat phone voting technology to see whether or not students understand and can move on, a simple way of engaging students in the classroom.

Web 2.0 assessment – creating these for assessments like Wikis, blogs, videos, etc. Lasting public products which are authentic – challenges include identifying appropriate tasks and ways of assessing them.

What is possible with Web 2.0 and content heavy units like science? Role of wikis

Issues with effectiveness – ‘I enjoyed that’ comments. Is it worth the effort???

Wikis and peer marking – what is important as a question for students to consider when peer marking. Rubric developed/provided for them to aid in marking but lecturer still marked.

Wiki marking scheme/assessment rubric

Open learning requires open minds

2010-12-07T09:58:00.002+11:00

Examining Gen Y or Gen Me. Digital savvys or just plain dumb??

Little evidence that technology has re-wired the brain.

Are kids too wired today? Exposure to media in mid-teens up to 12 hrs a day! Time with print media less than 40 mins per day. Malcom Gladwell - 10000 hrs to become expert at something or 3 hrs per day - so what are todays youth going to be expert at? Certainly not reading print media.

Lies about technology - replace teachers, making learning easier. NOT true that technology is enough.

It is the task that matters the most - this generation faced with the biggest problems - 21st c outcomes!

Keep pedagogy AHEAD of technology!

NOTE: using exclusively ebooks increases a uni's carbon footprint.

Great talk with lots of good references to follow!!

Building the smart connected city

2010-12-07T09:19:00.005+11:00

Lev Gonick

Abundance has supplanted scarcity - he means information shared by high speed broadband.

Universities designed to be exclusive and elitist, dealing with basic science questions. Ohio has rejected this model. One Community - non-profit building broadband and attend to priorities of community AND research.

Wifi and smart homes - energy use monitoring, updating medical records when weighing self in the morning!

Facilitating peer to peer and peer to tutor learning. Bringing the expert into the classroom - nice example of neuro-surgeon addressing classroom.

Summary: A fast broadband network allows for innovative uses of information as well as access to experts, teachers etc in a new and useful way.

LAMS

2010-12-07T08:59:00.004+11:00

No not the wooly sort, but a computer system that helps you design learning.

http://www.lamsinternational.com/

Can run inside a LMS.

Has a progress bar - nice feature. Also a tracking tool for teacher to see where students are at realtime.

Can be used to set up conditional activities in the LMS - but note Moodle 2.0 has conditional activies so where is the gain??

Basic tutorial is found here

Teachers, technology and design

2010-12-06T15:24:00.019+11:00

From the sage on the stage to the guide on the side. Teaching as:

telling is traditional model
fascillitation - the newer student centred approach
design - often neglected

learning by

listening is traditional model
doing is the newer approach - more active forms of learning & focus on task

Importance of design

diversifying student needs and expectations
rising expectations about graduate capabilities
technological change
increased pressures on teaching staff - staff student ratios, fund raising, etc

Issues of teachers using tech when they have no teacher training! Lecturers are gifted amateurs when it comes to teaching and ignorant of the literature: often seen as meaningless or not related to their field.

LAMS used to planning pedagogy. Lecturers need vocab to talk about what is happening in lectures. Provides various activities, e.g. problem based learning (PBL) which is learner focussed and there is not one right answer. LAMS provides a generic scaffolding for this. Form you fill out as the content expert. Such scaffolding helps give lecturers the opportunity to think like (teaching) professionals.

Next came discussion on TPACK I can't follow. Link here on what TPACK is about: Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge as a framework to capture some of the knowledge that is required for the inclusion of technology into teaching. Includes content, pedagogy and technological knowledge. As I see it, good design means you know what it is you want learners to learn/explore/become competent or develop mastery in, know how you are going to enable this and how best to use the technology.

Talk found other related contexts include curriculum knowledge, learner characteristics, institutional conext and educational ends.

Most academics when starting design for a new unit start with outcomes or content. Usual stuff on design, taking student feedback into account, usually not throw away all predecessor's material but familiarise and align to own teaching styles. My own experience matches this - you change emphasis and look but content only if significant gaps. Other teachers are a valued resource.

Use of virtual classrooms

2010-12-06T14:40:00.003+11:00

Talk on using Elluminate to create a virtual classroom environment.

Importance of assigning peer-mentors for adoption of such technology to support staff in its use. Not only in training but during the teaching itself in early stages.

Value of setting up session where the lecturer is not present (unmoderated) for distance ed based courses to allow students to interact as they would if doing a f2f (face to face) course.

Value of online discussions as they can be used later in formal sessions for dealing with misconceptions etc. Also efficient dealing with common questions.

Web 2.0 assessment

2010-12-06T14:32:00.002+11:00

Interesting talk on how to assess Web 2.0 tasks. Some brief reflections

Issues with the wisdom of the crowds, limited value of twitter etc – comments before seeing the entire context of something, e.g. movies, plays

Open blogs – where experts can respond, example of music course. Writing for a real audience, authentic product.
Care with privacy and being careful with students when comments open to other students.

Make expectations clear in setting online writing assignments like blogs since these are less familiar than an essay.

Assessing not simply a page but a whole series of links, etc.

Challenge of co-creation of content and collaborations – and hard to assess. Challenge in traditional assessment of group work but Wikis even more so.

See assessment as a cycle as we are always refining assessments.

See http://web2assessment.blogspot.com/

Multimodal learning - Sankey et al

2010-12-06T12:26:00.002+11:00

Students still after print, but also CDs!!!

Multiple representations - text and video. 10-12 min captures of lectures.

Many students still see themselves as one prefered style of learning - e.g. visual, oral or kinesthetic rather than multimodal.

No evidence that multimodal learning caused extra learning in quatitative data - but in qualititative data more interesting to learn. Benefits expecially for lower performing students.

Strategic learner

2010-12-06T11:55:00.005+11:00

Aspects of the strategic learner - surface learner without interaction. Studies for expediency, avoids sharing and adopts one approach to learning.

But, Web 2.0 means learner can network socially, i.e. be socially engaged.

Strategic learner sees knowledge as fixed, but we know it isn't (at least in part).

Web 2.0 means reconceptualising knowledge, students have to own their learning 'unschool' and move away from simply acquiring facts.

Need to change learning outcomes because these often stiffle the sorts of things you can do with Web 2.0, including the idea of summative assessment. [reflection: some content is essential so maybe Web 2.0 isn't a panecea since we still need to assess summatively]

Students feel they are so busy to help others, i.e. see collaboration online as not essential and search out the 'gospel' of lecturer contributions. This is the view of the expert as one source only, the teacher. Interesting that some lecturers are more student centred learning than students themselves.

Why do we use dialogue if we still assess in a summative sense? The reason being is that summative assessment is competitive (exam based approach) and this will often mean that dialogues (forums etc) will mean students will be less focussed on learning together and sharing and more on what tutor says - to help them pass the exam. Need to set up forums with a real focus in mind on collaborative learning and students as experts (in training?)

Transforming assessment

2010-12-06T11:26:00.005+11:00

Margot McNeil et al. from Macquarie Uni

Sorts of things used to support assessment - easy to construct a list, Wikis, online quizes.

Interesting point - ususally knowledge and comprehension, but not developing and assessing judgements, students gap in their own learning, etc. In other words we find it hard to assess the higher order skills, metacognitive abilities since it is easier to assess definitions and application of procedures to well structured problems (answer 42, LOL).

Use of forums for formative assessment more than summative in the study. More balanced for portfolios, virutal worlds, blogs and wikis. Quizes used more for summative than formative.

Key is alignment of learning outcomes with the activities and assessment. Simply put, you get answers to the sorts of questions you ask - if you ask yes/no etc then you won't get higher learning. Not many examples, pointers given in talk though.... Left as an exercise to the reader. Need good examples/inspirations of higher order outcomes.

Authentic learning and emerging technologies

2010-12-06T09:41:00.010+11:00

Aspects of authentic learning and emerging technologies with Jan Herrington at Murdoch

A learning environment should preserve the complexity of the real life situation - context for deep exploration of ideas
Authentic task
Expert performance - access to the way an expert would think and act (so what does this do for lectures)
Multiple perspectives - not just a single perspective like a text book
Collaboration - jointly address problems, social support
Articulation - speak about and write about learning
Reflection - think about and discuss choices, both in and on action
Scaffoldiing and coaching - supportive rather than didactic
Authentic assessment - product based rather than separate testing like exams

Exampes - High School project on where soldiers went during war, free resources on web, etc. Published in local paper or web (the polished end product).

Impacts of closing a local high school - data already collected, students use and write report (Uni assignment).

Samuel Pepys online diary and comments underneath - enhanced learning from sharing of knowledge. What does this say about the expert - there is no one expert!!!

Wikipedia - controversy over this, tyranny of the idiot??? The wisdom of the crowd? Good in the context of Peyps diary, but is she not being critical enough more generally given the vast amount of crap on the net???

Also wonder on authentic task that Herrington is being too dismissive of the need for drill and practice of certain techniques - especially in area of mathematics apart from context BEFORE more complex real-life problems are given.

Ascilite2010 - opening presentation

2010-12-06T09:33:00.002+11:00

Shirley Alexander of UTS just gave the opening presentation at ASCILITE2010. Interesting presentation that made the following observations:

Much of research in computer managed learning has pretty much been all the same.
Learning gains that have been ascribed to technology in the past has been due to student group work - gave example of use of laser discs instead of face to face teaching where 0.5 GPA gains were achieved, and yet it was due to the fact the disc was so hopeless students went to the library to study in groups.
So many students are working full time, so how do we accomodate that - unlike me who studied full time and was able to wax lyrical about my studies.
Cheating has become very sophisticated - see link below

http://chronicle.com/article/The-Shadow-Scholar/125329/

Scribd

2010-09-07T16:18:00.002+10:00

I've posted a couple of my essays for an apologetics and ethics subject I've just finished on evolution and divorce respectively. Find them under Cloud_counter on www.scribd.com

Daniel H Pink's A Whole New Mind

2010-09-07T13:33:00.000+10:00

I've just finished reading this book by Daniel H Pink. The basic premise of the book is that society has passed through several stages in the west: agricultural, industrial, informational and now into the conceptual stage. The second last stage listed favoured logical/linear thinking which is left brained, whereas the last stage is high touch, holistic and right brained.

The three pressures for this age according to Pink is abundance, Asia and automation. We live in an age where many of us do not want for more things (well perhaps more do not have need), don't go hungry, don't have to worry about ends meet, and have (apparent) endless choice. None of this is seen as a problem by Pink, not connected directly to a moral malaise or environmental degradation, but to him frees us to seek deeper meaning in life. More accurately he should have noted how it propels us to seek meaning due to its emptiness. Then there is Asia, where not only mundane jobs have gone (under sometimes slave labour conditions) but also more technical jobs in IT etc (to him efficiently, but I have heard too many stories from the IT industry and one wonders with QANTAS's slide in their safety record). This is set as a given and not a negative (again I want a critique of globalisation but that isn't the point of the book). The last is automation - computers can do it more quickly when it is simple calculation or process (he cites chess computers).

Did you know there are more designers than chemical engineers in the US now? We now live in an age where everything is designed, where products sell lifestyle and image and not just utility. Design is important because people want more than something to use. It is the old adage in education that if it does not look good, students will be turned off even if the content is there. In one sense none of this is news or new - go to a museum and see artifacts designed for look as well as use. Perhaps there was a time in modernist architecture, etc but I think people have always welcomed style. What is mildly disturbing however is how Pink buys into all this implies - that we are sold stuff we don't need that somehow makes us feel better because it looks good. Fair enough to buy something with flair, that is us - but doesn't he miss that we are being sold an empty lifestyle with this? Back to education, it does mean we need to think a lot more about look, navigation and so on and not just the learning outcomes.

Story is something I like but realised years ago I read mostly non-fiction, while John Ralston Saul warned can lead to a shrunken imagination in his book Voltaire's Bastards. To quote from Pink (quoting Steve Denning) "storytelling doesn't replace analytical thinking, it supplements it by enabling us to imagine new perspectives and new worlds". Stories are all right brain. People learn from narrative, find it more interesting and memorable than a list of facts (unless you are autistic or similar right brained limited). As I preacher I well appreciate this, illustration, stories etc. The bible is full of stories and preaching isn't about communicating ideas so much as allowing people to enter the biblical narrative. I've heard people warn about illustrations that are too powerful, but I suspect this comes too much from a doctrine driven view. As for science education, not sure how one makes meteorology into a narrative - although having said that I've been taught that a good paper has a story running though it (even though it is clipped by science-English). Perhaps it points to case study/problem solving learning more.

Symphony is the concept of the big picture. Interesting to note how many entrepreneurs are dyslexic and not small detail people. Big picture means cross disciplinary, forest for the trees thinking. It means going outside of the box, comfort zones, etc. Mindmapping, brainstorming, using metaphors. This gels very nicely with science and science education, especially in my field of meteorology. Drawing a synoptic chart requires a big picture view, as does setting a weather forecasting policy. The best science always understands itself in a broader context, as often we are very siloed in our thinking. A small part of my PhD was considering power laws and self-organised criticality in clouds in the tropics. Didn't go very far with it but it was an exercise in some cross disciplinary reading. I find reading broadly and chasing down footnotes to be fruitful. Sometimes just meandering through weblinks can provide new avenues on things, but it is also very time consuming with many dead ends. I think students do this in their - why am I doing this questioning, but struggle with it as a skill in areas like meteorology with the use of the forecasting funnel, pattern recognition or writing overviews. Practice in these areas is as important for weather forecasting as in life as much as the finer detail skills which a science education already promotes.

If you go to the Highlands of New Guinea or down town New York you soon find out that facial expressions are interpreted the same way everywhere. Humans can decode emotions, especially false ones. We appreciate empathy (people feeling with us) more than sympathy (people feeling for us). Empathy is the "walking a mile in someone else's shoes" (To Kill a Mockingbird). Empathy is an important life skill in a high touch world, pushing beyond the classic caricature of the unfeeling scientist. However, I am still unsure what role empathy has in education (other than when considering extending assignment deadlines, lol).

I was amused and disturbed to know that in the 40s, smiling at a Ford factory could get you fired! Today it is recognised play is not just for children, that having fun means learning better. Pink cites the value of computer games at promoting certain cognitive skills, though probably doesn't pay enough attention to the issues of aggression or of social isolation (though online gaming means this isn't a given). What was somewhat disturbing was using the game America's Army as a prime example, a recruiting tool for the US armed forces. It certainly teaches cognitive skills - desensitization to violence, glamourising of war, etc. The role of joy and humour of course should not be understated, though I think the whole idea of laughter clubs is a bit forced - why not find things that are funny, beautiful and poignant in life to laugh at? Humour in teaching has to be appropriate (APS code of conduct) but also timely. Gags for gags sake again miss the point and become formulaic. Cartoons are a copyright issue (dang).

Pink's final sense is that of meaning. People are meaning seekers and meaning makers. If Viktor Frankl could observe people seeking meaning in a concentration camp, then those of us in the comfortable West can also look for meaning. Pink notes the rise in interest in 'spirituality' and figures such as the Dalai Lama, research into holistic medicine and the neuroscience of spirituality. The word is vague enough to encompass secular ideas and a largely naturalized view to fit in with corporate culture, the work place and of course our high choice society. It was interesting though to note Pink co-opting the idea of Sabbath - a rest for labours and our hyper connected world. Something worth promoting in our 'flexible' working world. Certainly in my second life as a theologian wannabe meaning is highly significant as people come to church or read theology for meaning and purpose. However, in my daytime role, meaning is also significant. A national weather service serves a purpose larger than that of the individual bent on a 'science career' and a focus on service and context where ever possible, be it case study, impact study, interview etc motivates learner beyond the equation, exam or assessment to the meaning of their career.

In short, apart from my own philosophical/theological misgivings at some of the world view assumed or taken for granted, the idea of a right brained revolution to promote a more holistic take on life, business and learning is a good thing.

Part of a new blog

2009-12-06T21:21:00.002+11:00

As much as I'd like to kick start blogging here again (and probably will do), spending time on Facebook, finishing my PhD and Scholar in Theology Certificate and starting my Masters in Theology has kept me busy! However, I will also be part of a new blog Dead Apologists' Society with my good mate Ian Packer.

Victorian bushfires

2009-02-21T22:43:00.002+11:00

The terrible tragedy of the recent fires (in Victoria, Australia) literally leaves one speechless. Given that a Royal Commission has been announced, any public comment must be made with care. It is with some sadness and despair that I note that not
all Christians are capable of this. It is true that the expression 'natural disaster' begs theological questions. However, announcements of judgment from God on relaxed abortion laws or any favourite target of some elements of the church does little but bring the gospel into disrepute.

An event like this is complex in its causes and its ramifications. Fire has been part of the Australian landscape for a long time, and we need to learn how to fit in with this (once more Germane Greer may have had a valid point but made it in a less than helpful manner). Sometimes the clash is tragic. Humanity is called to till and tend the Earth. In a drying and warming climate this is a big ask. Likewise, arson points to the evil ever present in the human heart. Likewise, the reactions do not necessarily point to all that is good in human nature. The accused in question is still a human being who deserves justice and not lynching, and there has been a great deal that has been said that has simply been irresponsible.

The role of the church in all of this is clear, to pray for the good of the whole of the society in which we live, to show love to all who have suffered, to work for the preservation and care of God's world, and to point forward to its setting free from the bondage of decay even as we look forward to our own (Romans 8)

A long break

2009-02-21T22:34:00.000+11:00

Having been sucked up in the vortex that is Facebook I've been more into speaking directly people than thinking and writing in depth. Not that this has been a bad thing - Facebook is an amazing social networking site, capable of wasting much time but also building relationships - both old and new. But, I'm back.

Generous reading

2008-05-01T13:04:00.000+10:00

I've just started the book A Generous Orthodoxy by Brian McLaren. It is an attempt by the author to present an approach to Christianity that looks at what we believe in a far more humbler and gentler way than many Christians approach each other. Given that so many turf wars occur (literally as in the Holy Sepulchre or doctrinally such as happens all of the time), this is a potentially sobering book.

I understand his book has been critically received as being far more generous than orthodox - but McLaren does two things early on that caution against judging the book by its cover so to speak. Firstly, he affirms the classic creeds. He notes that these don't say everything that might be fundamental and orthodox, and have been misused as clubs to beat others down (starting with Constantine).

Secondly, he identifies orthodoxy not merely with a body of knowledge that one group has securely in its grasp (a modernist notion) but in a humble and diligent process of seeking and cherishing truth. It seems also to be far most associated with the person of Jesus than a collection of dogma. Further, he seeks to identify generous orthodoxy with orthopraxis (what we do). Amen to that.

I'm looking forward to trying to understand what McLaren believes myself, and not pre-judge him.

Beijing 2008

2008-04-24T13:25:00.001+10:00

Thoughtless implicit racism

2008-04-24T11:03:00.000+10:00

The continuing scandal over the Olympic games and the farce which is the torch relay (with all the naive comments over sport being separated from politics) was overshadowed for me by a comment made in Canberra. The relay attendance was dominated by pro-China (an interesting way in putting it given Tibet was a separate country before invasion so any chants of 'one China' are meaningless in this context) and pro-Tibet.

One 16 year old "Australia" made the comment (from ABC website)

Spectator James Taylor, 16, was surprised by the lack of Australians cheering the flame on.

"I think they were lazy and were watching it on TV," he said.

"It's like playing spot the Aussie here."

Spot the Aussie?! He means spot the Anglo. Having dated an ABC (Australian Born Chinese) at University, I never thought of her as anything but Australian because she was born here (though obviously partly culturally Chinese, but obviously less so than the Singaporian and Malaysian Chinese I knew). No doubt her parents had a right to claim the same since they moved here.

Out of the mouth of babes - if you ain't white, you ain't Aussie. Leah from Play School not so long ago lamented always either being told to go home or asked where she came from because one of her parents was Sri Lankan.

Does this country have a long way to go? Looks like it.

Holy ground requires holy living

2008-04-21T21:26:00.000+10:00

One of the amazing things about visiting the 'Holy Land' must be walking around places where Jesus and his disciples did. It must help put you in touch with Jesus in a way that feels more tangible than living elsewhere. This is because Christianity is an historical faith, making claims about historical events that happened in real places.

However, Jesus is quoted as saying in the fourth gospel (John) that worship of God was no longer to be limited to one place that one group of people (be they Samaritan or Judeans) had control of. The recent carry on at the Holy Sepulchre, the supposed site of Jesus burial (kind of funny in a sense since he is meant to have been raised from the dead) is disappointing. Greek Orthodox and Armenian believers came to blows over control of this site. While it is understandable in a sense, is it not an exercise in missing the point when they are coming to physical blows? If it really is Holy ground, then shouldn't they be behaving in a holy way? I am no iconoclast, but when a place becomes a source of such bickering, then the point has long since been lost.

Olympics & politics

2008-04-21T09:57:00.000+10:00

I've avoided commenting on this up to this point, thinking that I needed to do some more reading before saying anything. Having said that, there really are some things that should be obvious.

The suggestion that politics should be kept out of sport is a naive and disingenuous one. The charter states:

"Olympism is a philosophy of life, exalting and combining in a balanced whole the qualities of body, will and mind. Blending sport with culture and education, Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy found in effort, the educational value of good example and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles."
Olympic Charter, Fundamental principles, paragraph 2

How then can one give the games to a country like China that not only tramples on human rights, invading countries, exterminating aspects of cultures it does not likes and executes more people than all other countries put together and then bleat when representatives of the persecuted (read Tibetans) is bringing politics into sport? There is nothing ethical about China's rule in other countries like Tibet.

It is also amusing when you see protesters bloodied up and then abuse them for being violent!

As for Australia's sportsmen and women, well they do it for them in the end. Glory, sponsorship and ego. Good on them for their hard work, their natural abilities. Now show some moral backbone.

Engagement won't always work. Was that model applied to South Africa during Apartheid?

In the end, sport like everything else in life is tied to politics. In a globalised world it is time to 'love your neighbour as yourself'. Love the Tibetans by not participating in this Olympics and ignore the self interest of repressive governments and self interested Olympians and officials.

The obvious postscript: Australia has screwed up indigenous issues over 200+ years, but at least people own up to it and are trying to work towards a solution with an apology and programs. A long way to go. I wonder if a Tibetan will be involved in the Beijing opening ceremony?

Quote of the day: John Wesley

2008-03-13T14:45:00.000+11:00

What shalt thou do? ... Do good. Do all the good thou canst. Let thy plenty supply thy neighbor's wants; and thou wilt never want something to do. Canst thou find none that need the necessaries of life, that are pinched with cold or hunger; none that have not raiment to put on, or a place where to lay their head; none that are wasted with pining sickness; none that are languishing in prison? If you duly considered our Lord's words, "The poor have you always with you," you would no more ask, "What shall I do?"

Of cameras, twitching, ticking and so on

2008-02-27T15:31:00.000+11:00

I am fairly keen on bird watching (the feathered variety I mean, though I admire women too, but that is a topic for another post). I have been reading Sean Dooley's Anoraks to Zitting Cisticola which is a fun introduction to birding. I also recently read Alain de Botton's The Art of Travel. These two are part of a theme as I start thinking about a piece I am writing for Zadok Perspectives on Eco-pilgrimage. Bear with me.

There are birders who love to tick. Their goal is to see as many birds as they can before they die (in fact I seem to recall a book with a similar title). Sean Dooley identifies some of these as egotistical people. It isn't about the bird but the 'power' it gives the individual. Some tours cater for this sort of thing. A bird guide like Chris Dahlberg who has a boat on the Daintree River is excellent for the tickers. He is extremely knowledgeable, knows the Daintree really well and has an amazing ear for calls. I've been out a few times with him and come back with a list with a lot of ticks. However, as still a fairly inexperienced birder I can hardly claim to have identified all of these myself. Still, I highly recommend him.

Given my current inexperience, I am not a ticker. In fact, even if I were my main goals are rarely to maximize my sightings. Although I enjoy trips with people like Chris, I also spend far more time pursuing a small number of birds. I have often stayed at Chamber's Wildlife Lodge because I know I can see male Riflebirds displaying. I go back often to get the right photo. I also spent half a morning watching a Golden Bowerbird with Alan Gillanders (an excellent guide to the Atherton Tablelands.

What's the connection with de Botton? He refers to John Ruskin, who thought that photography took away from our appreciation of nature because it gave the illusion that we somehow captured it on film and didn't need to really look attentively the water someone who sketched or painted would. Possibly so. However, I spend a lot of time watching birds from behind my camera, admiring their plumage. I wait patently for them to appear. I am no ticker, satisfied with one or two quick sightings and a couple of photos. The image never quite captures the reality (after all, there is no movement or sound, but taking video would still not do it, that's missing the point). My point is that Ruskin isn't necessarily right.

I'm not claiming superiority over those able to identify lots of birds (they have better birding skills than me). However, for me this will never be enough, even though I hope to acquire better skills in spotting, call identification. In the end though, I'd much rather spend a lot of time observing interesting behaviour of a a few than identifying many.

What's the connection to eco-pilgrimage? Well, I claim that observing something really special (not necessarily beautiful, but then that is a fairly subjective concept) can be an act of praise and worship (if appreciated in the right manner) and a 'religious experience'. Religious experiences aren't well captured on film (or digitally in my case), but such medium do not necessarily attempt to do so nor ruin the experience.

At some point I hope to discuss this further, as well as show off some of my pics here.

I was a teenage sci fi geek!

2008-02-26T15:03:00.000+11:00

Known for its fair share of B-grade literature and films and the attraction of pimply teens with poor social skills, I know of no better genre that examines the post-human future than science fiction. With the appearance of works on the theology and philosophy of science fiction such as Mark Rowlands, author of The Philosopher at the End of the Universe, and many books on The Matrix trilogy - it is a fact that should be appreciated more.

The fundamental question posed when considering the post-human future is ‘What does it mean to be human?’ What is it about our present state that makes us human, and how might that change? There are two major ways in which the question may be addressed. Firstly, how might technology augment human bodies, and secondly, how might or indeed can our technology replace us? The former is addressed by issues of genetic engineering, biomedical advances, interbreeding and cybernetics, the latter typically with robotics.

Ideas of genetic engineering have been around for a long time. The Aldous Huxley novel Brave New World and the movie parody Demolition Man examined a society where procreation is performed in laboratories. Controlling reproduction is about controlling the personalities, characteristics and societal roles of the progeny. Genetic determinism is replaced with a humanistic one. Sex is purely a form of pleasure, although indirectly mediated in Demolition Man by technology to avoid disease. Both stories are dystopic in that people do not have any real free will (or even the illusion of it). Dictatorial governments decide who will be what - and anyone born naturally such as Huxley’s John the savage is outside of normal society. Perhaps the movie Gattica is closer to the mark, where the parent as consumer is the model. In either case, cynicism portrays the post-human future as one where humanity as a whole is not better off in any genuine sense. To allow chance to choose is preferable to human intervention. Something appears to be lost from what it means to be human. Are we comforted in a sense by our imperfections and finitude, or is it simply that we do not trust each other, governments and drug companies. Gene technology is still in its infant stages. The human genome has been sequenced, but we are a long way from understanding how these genes make us who we are. Only time will tell how readily these secrets are unlocked.

The addition or subtraction from human bodies and our identity is explored in the Dr Who episode The End of the World. The last ‘pure human’ is Cassandra, a woman who exists as a flat surface area of skin with a face and nothing else, requiring constant moisturizing. She rails against all those who have become inbred with alien species. What is it that makes her the last ‘pure’ human? This question is tied up ultimately with the telos or end goal of humanity. A purely evolutionary view would undermine Cassandra’s view of herself, since humanity continues to be subject to evolution by natural selection. The idea of purity is a nonsense if humans simply move forward all the time. Humanity is like a river, not a solid block of ice; being in becoming. Telos is something that occupies the very first episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Jean Luc Picard is captain of the Starship Enterprise (you probably knew that). Very shortly into their journey he and his crew encounter a being known as Q, part of the Q continuum. Their race is the nearest thing one can get to God. The idea that evolution by natural selection could produce beings that are virtually omnipotent and omniscient was recently discussed in Paul Davies’ book The Goldilocks Enigma. In a later episode (Hide and Q) Picard raises the suggestion with Q that the continuum fears what humanity might become, quoting Shakespeare "What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god!" How are we to reach this, by natural providence or our own bootstraps? The suggestion that human development should always be upwards is not one that has universally been adopted. The dangers of radiation are well known. In the Philip K. Dick novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? on which the movie Bladerunner was based, radiation affects people’s ability to reproduce (hence the fashion of lead cod pieces) or think, reducing some of them to the status of chickenheads. Chickenheads are not allow to reproduce or emigrate off the Earth. They are, in effect sub-humans.

It has been suggested that humans are already cybernetic beings because of our close association with various forms of technology such as the internet and telecommunications. In Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? this idea is taken a step further with tow devices. The first is the mood organ, a device that can change your mood to anything you like (including the desire to watch TV, no matter what is on). In a post-atomic world slowly decaying into ruins, it would be all too easy to fall into despair. The irony is that the lead character’s wife recognises the futility of it all and chooses an emotion of depression. Authentic humanity in a post-human future appears to be to own our own feelings, to run to and not away from the truth. In a world where belief in the divine has declined, the cult of Mercerism and a device known as an empathy box allow humanity as a whole to share a transcendental experience. Dick’s novel defines humanity on the basis of empathy, separating it from androids. Androids cannot express empathy with anything. An android is able to tear the legs off a spider despite their rarity, to the horror of the chickenhead John Isidore. Ultimately, even those whom society considers sub-human still retain their humanity because not only does Isidore empathise with the spider as another living thing, but also with an android when they are ‘retired’.

An interesting twist on technology and what it means to be human arises in another Philip K. Dick story, We Can Remember it for You Wholesale, on which the movie Total Recall is ‘based’. It centres on the idea of human identity. Who are we? Douglas Quail (Quaid in the movie) visits Rekall in order to have false memories implanted, only for us to discover he already has lived what he wants to have implanted. In Total Recall, is Quaid really Quaid or is he Hauzer, the man who planned Quaid’s invention and designed his implanted memories? They are aspects of the same body, but have totally different memories and different attitudes. On the basis of the memory theory of identity they are different people. So when Quaid was created, Hauzer ceased to exist or at least went to sleep. If we were ever to reach the point where memories could be implanted (although hypnosis and brainwashing have moved in this direction), humanity will become even more liquid than some people suggest it is now. This is taken to the nth degree by examining Cartesian skepticism in The Matrix and sequels. Human experience is totally mediated through technology while we exist as organic batteries.

Cybernetic bad guys feature commonly. The salt shaker shaped Daleks show what happens when evolution is given a helping hand. A seemingly endless war between two humanoid races on the same planet, Thals and Kaleds has produced mutants due to the increasing atmospheric radioactivity. The evil (and yes, mad too) scientist Davros, himself a mutant, uses this as an opportunity to experiment with how radiation affects organisms and what the future of his race might be. This organism requires a transportation vehicle (the familiar salt shaker). In the process, Davros’ inner megalomaniac sees the opportunity for universal conquest and genetically engineers away the emotion of pity - which he later regrets as they wipe out the remaining scientists and attempt to murder him. It raises the interesting question as to whether specific emotions could be engineered away. Pity appears to be an emotion that animals lack (ever seen a cat with a mouse?) but that humans prize (except when it is for yourself, or you are Nietzsche). To be able to remove it would be a backwards step.

Another well known cyborg race are the Borg from the Star Trek series. Their policy is rather like that of many past Australian government to indigenous Australians, one of assimilation. Other cultures, civilizations and races are sources of raw material and information. Like much of today’s trends and fads, although there are external differences in appearance, everyone is the same. The Borg form a collective where individuality is irrelevant. It does not occur to them that other races might, in the words of the Klingon Worf ‘life my species the way it is’. The Borg are less than human in that individuality means nothing and community is deep in its integration but shallow in that unity relies upon diversity. Life is a Borg spaceship is a pale imitation of Christian eschatology. Mobile phones, the internet and other devices allow us to communicate with each other 24-7, but do not extinguish our individuality; yet.

The ultimate fear in science fiction is that humans will be replaced by their own creations; robots. Robots are often pictured as superior, being smarter and stronger than humanity. In I, Robot, the collection of short stories by Isacc Asimov (not the Will Smith movie), the major character and robo-psychologist Dr Susan Calvin finds them preferable to humanity and does not lament the fact that they take over the running of the world. One of the major selling factors of the robot is that they operate purely by logic. However, very often this is shown as a shortcoming and not an asset. In the Dr Who episode The Destiny of the Daleks, it is this logic that sees the robotic races the Daleks and the dreadlock wearing Movellans tied in an eternal deadlock in their war against each other. The android Data in Star Trek: The Next Generation seeks to be more human by trying to learn to move beyond logic and find emotions. Not being programmed to do so, he has to acquire his ‘brothers’ emotion chip to do so. Neural network brains are described as complex, but will an android ever replace us in every way by becoming creatures with complex inner emotional lives? Bladerunner and Terminator 2 answer in the positive whereas Dick in his short story answers in the negative. Robots in Sci Fi vary in shape and size, but their human like shape without the human like emotions and body language give rise is another Dr Who episode (Robots of Death) to the condition of robophobia. In order to deal with the concerns humanity might have with robots seeing us as irrelevant and hence expendable is the three laws of robotics. 1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. 2. A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. The stories of I, Robot show how these can come into conflict and create Robot psychosis. What is interesting, if not disturbing is the suggestion by Susan Calvin that these three laws essentially sum up human ethics. The Golden Rule they are not.

Science Fiction is able to pose the sorts of questions we need to be asking now about technology and the post-human future, and as such plays a prophetic role. In not being the pronouncements of futurists, they can be spectacularly wrong and get away with it. That is not the point. The point is that we need to imagine the possibilities. Perhaps there should be more Christians writing Sci Fi, certainly there should be more reading it.

What is beautiful?

2008-02-17T23:03:00.000+11:00

All things dull and ugly, All creatures short and squat,
All things rude and nasty, The Lord God made the lot;
Each little snake that poisons, Each little wasp that stings,
He made their brutish venom, He made their horrid wings.
All things sick and cancerous, All evil great and small,
All things foul and dangerous, The Lord God made them all.
Each nasty little hornet, Each beastly little squid.
Who made the spikey urchin? Who made the sharks? He did.
All things scabbed and ulcerous, All pox both great and small.
Putrid, foul and gangrenous, The Lord God made them all.
-- Monty Python's Flying Circus

An argument for or against a creator? Watch this space.

My favorite atheist

2008-02-17T22:17:00.000+11:00

I am currently sat down watching Cosmos on DVD. Carl Sagan is my favorite atheist. His wonder at the material universe borders on religious rapture. The universe is a wondrous place, ultimately defying his attempt to evacuate God from it (although I have heard it said that the beginning line about the universe being all there was and all there ever would be, was not his.

He also was keen to see superstition and ant-scientific attitudes to disappear. Part of being a Fellow of ISCAST is to pursue this in line with a Christian world view. After all, if God is creator then he is neither superstition nor magic but shapes the universe such that our connection with the universe is both our understanding of it and our relationship to its creator.

The threat of the intellectual

2008-01-05T22:17:00.000+11:00

The former federal government was fairly famous for its hatred of the university as more than a degree factory. Recently, New South Wales Attorney-General John Hatzistergos is reported to say ABC website:

"There seems to be some academics and some law schools that have made an industry out of developing this concept and trying to shove it down people's throats," he said.

The concept is a national charter of human rights.

"I think what's important here is that we have a genuine consultative process and we don't have some do-gooder academics running around the country trying to impose some sort of social order upon them."

While it is true that human rights is an airy fairy area at times, and consultation is a (so-called) democracy is good (in this case - what the state labour party wants it seems), why label academics as do-gooders. Bills of rights are often opposed with those who stand to loose. Note how many UN resolutions the USA has vetoed because it would in their eyes disadvantage them (or their arms industry). Name calling belies an underlying hostility.

It seems that it is not just a prerogative of the right to not like to be told what to do by those who might actually know more about the issues than them. Does ignorance = democracy? As for imposition - ultimately all things are imposed on some people. Aren't academics citizens too? If I, as a citizen were to comment publically, I'd most likely be told that I was speaking out of turn, out of my sphere of understanding. So who is it left to? Attorney Generals?

The way the world works?

2007-12-28T11:26:00.000+11:00

Abu Bakar Bashir has shown himself time and time again to be a despicable human being with his message of hatred. Not being an Islamic scholar or having read the Koran I can't say exactly what it says about how Allah deals with sin in the here and now. There is certainly precedence in the Old Testament that events in history speak of God's judgment. The biblical accounts always claim that the statement comes first, the event afterwards.

In what sense then can the recent Java landslides and floods be due to "immoral acts"? Floods are a regular part of monsoonal rainfall. Since many meteorological phenomena are self-organizing or scale invariant, which is exactly to say that there is no preferred scale. A lot of rain is no more or less significant from a physical point of view than a little rain, it just doesn't occur as frequently.

This means that floods are part of life; how can one tell when a particular flood is specifically an act of judgment - as opposed to any general idea of punishment. Perhaps this is the best of all possible worlds with regards weather? Landslides are also a natural result of flooding, but exacerbated by deforestation. You might call deforestation immoral or simply stupid - but people like Bashir probably don't have a doctrine of creation that allows one to speak of the issue at all.

No doubt he means behaviour that doesn't follow his narrow interpretation of Islam. Beware a simple mechanistic understanding of the way the universe operates in a moral sense. I don't know if the book of Job is read by Muslims, but Bashir could certainly learn from it. Whatever your belief, perhaps some well wishing to those currently suffering from these events is far more spiritual and religious than this kind of finger pointing.

spirituality & religion

2007-12-17T23:53:00.000+11:00

It's not uncommon these days for people to call themselves spiritual but not religious. It is easy to understand why when the connotations of religion are of tradition, repression and boredom. Hearing and seeing some of the things done by my denomination while we try and find a new minister to 'lead' us makes all of that much clearer to me.

However, I find the position a little trite and lacking coherence. What does it mean to be spiritual. It is a good thing, but altogether vague. Does it mean sampling from life's ala carte of world faiths, is it some vague sense of the transcendent? To be spiritual in the general sense is to realize that life does not reduce to the material only. Some philosophers (like the author of The Philosopher at the End of the Universe) would say that any sense of self, identity or meaning that we perceive internally is utterly at odds with the external evidence. This denies spirituality in any meaningful sense.

So to be spiritual is to identify a need in humanity for significance, meaning and contact with the other, and at the same time to suggest that this isn't epiphenomenal or some sort of illusion. So what is religion.

If you watch the same program faithfully every night, or you follow a music group, sporting team, political party or celebrity you are as religious as someone who attends mass every week. If you always put the left sock on first, or are a compulsive nose picker, you are as religious as the the one who genuflects.

If you always want to hear the same old story of how you were born, how your parents met, how the big bang happened or when Australopithecus left the trees, you are as religious as those who listen to sermons.

Religion is ritual, story, rite, pattern. Our lives are shaped and molded by symbols and stories. We are creatures of habit. The question is: do the habits promote religious growth or stunt it, lead us somewhere good or bad, reflect reality in some way or run from it.

To sum: spirituality without religion is narcissistic and mis-guided; religion without spirituality is dead.

For the fellow pilgrims

2007-11-30T23:03:00.000+11:00

14 For we are conscious that the law is of the spirit; but I am of the flesh, given into the power of sin.
15 And I have no clear knowledge of what I am doing, for that which I have a mind to do, I do not, but what I have hate for, that I do.
16 But, if I do that which I have no mind to do, I am in agreement with the law that the law is good.
17 So it is no longer I who do it, but the sin living in me.
18 For I am conscious that in me, that is, in my flesh, there is nothing good: I have the mind but not the power to do what is right.
19 For the good which I have a mind to do, I do not: but the evil which I have no mind to do, that I do.
20 But if I do what I have no mind to do, it is no longer I who do it, but the sin living in me.
21 So I see a law that, though I have a mind to do good, evil is present in me.
22 In my heart I take pleasure in the law of God,
23 But I see another law in my body, working against the law of my mind, and making me the servant of the law of sin which is in my flesh.
24 How unhappy am I! who will make me free from the body of this death?
25 I give praise to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So with my mind I am a servant to the law of God, but with my flesh to the law of sin.

On being a scientist

2007-11-29T21:31:00.000+11:00

Ages ago I told one of my PhD supervisors I wanted to be a scientist - that was why I was doing a PhD. He asked me what I thought that meant. This is a serious question to me as I failed at a PhD once before and had to settle with (in the opinion of one examiner a rather poor) MSc.

There is more than pride or ego at stake here. Always loving the natural world I naturally (pun intended) wanted to study it. Here is a stab at some qualities that come to mind.

Curiosity - why is not a question only for 3-4 year olds!
Determination - just one bloody more go at that equation/code.
Imagination - what if I plot it this way (has worked for me).
Nothing is obvious - until you've shown it. Nature has surprises.
More determination - if at first you don't succeed.
There is no such thing as a stupid question.
Assumptions are the mother of all screw ups. Test them!
Scientific knowledge is NOT incompatible with religious faith, just some ideas about it.
Passion - love what you do and be in love with it. You will hate it sometimes.
Don't make sweeping claims unless you can back it up.

I think I've learned a thing or two in 5 years at it part and full time. One day, I may even call myself a scientist - but someone else first.

What is friendship?

2007-11-29T21:24:00.000+11:00

Like many people online I have been bitten by the Facebook bug. Don't get me wrong, I think it is pretty cool being able to catch up with people I haven't seen in years, those I can't get to see physically and the odd random person I've never met but share connections with.

Yet it has me thinking, or maybe just being paranoid, insecure and generally messed up. What is friendship and what does it mean online? I've had online 'friends' or acquaintances for some time via yahoo groups and usenet. Alt.callahans used to be a great time waster but source of comfort and sometimes angst. But what do these friendships mean? Is online community an oxymoron. What do you do when someone you'd rather forget wants to be a Facebook friend (not happened to me yet)? What if you are that sort of person to someone else? Is the rejection to be taken as a serious blow to the ego? I know many people online I haven't asked to be a friend on Facebook, perhaps out of fear they'll knock me back. And do I want them as friends? Am I stamp collecting?

I collect all sorts of things: books, shells, old games, insects, DVDs. Friends aren't a possession to be cataloged but people to be treasured. Can I treasure 100 people online? 200? I'm often surprised when people accept me online - are they being gracious, collecting or what? Only time will tell, and real community, however that is made real.

Non-violent resistence

2007-11-22T09:42:00.000+11:00

A very cool quote by Thomas Mertons, Trappist Monk and Christian writer.

Very often people object that nonviolence seems to imply passive acceptance of injustice and evil and therefore that it is a kind of cooperation with evil. Not at all. The genuine concept of nonviolence implies not only active and effective resistance to evil but in fact a more effective resistance... But the resistance which is taught in the Gospel is aimed not at the evil-doer but at evil in its source.

Pied Beauty

2007-11-17T22:26:00.000+11:00

GLORY be to God for dappled things—
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;	5
And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:	10
Praise him.

Gerard Manley Hopkins

On work

2007-11-17T22:03:00.000+11:00

For some brands of Christianity, the highest is 'Christian work', which is to say full timed paid ministry. Now that this is a high calling is true enough, but too often 'secular work' is derided as of less value. There was a medieval maxim laborare est orare - 'to work is to pray'. Now there's a thought. There is of course, a number of controls or limits on this - this doesn't sanctify prostitution for a believer, but it is a good antidote to too much neo-Platonic thinking in church.

What does it mean to be human?

2007-11-16T22:20:00.000+11:00

I can highly recommend Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. The movie Blade Runner was 'based' on this book. It asks questions about what it means to be human. There are three-four groups to whom the question might be put.

There are citizens like Iran, the lead character's wife. She is trying to come to terms with the fact that the world is crumbling around her. TV is her constant companion. With a machine to select your every mood, she chooses depression because it gives feeling into the way things really are. This is a human sensitive to the decaying world, disconnected from life and her husband. She also engages in the corporate, electronically mediated religion of Mercerism.

Then there is John. The radioactive fallout from the last world war has affected his brain. He failed an IQ test to allow him to emigrate to Mars or to even be able to mate. He is sub-human, a chicken head. Yet John is able to empathize with others, spiders and even androids.

Then there are bounty hunters - 'retiring' androids that are quite human in appearance, even in physical attraction. Deckard is caught in his feelings; are androids sub-human and hence retired, or are they human and hence is he a murderer?

Finally, there are the androids, created to do menial work. They are lifelike, some people off world even have sexual relations with them. Some of them kill their owners and return to the Earth. Yet, the very test that Deckard uses to determine whether they are human or not, their lack of ability into empathize or understand the cult of Mercerism (itself an involved theme in the book) leads him to decide that they are not.

To understand the situation of other creatures, to imaginatively enter their existence and feel their pain makes some biological life (ourselves at least) unique. In Dick's world, androids cannot do this. This makes me think of something Raimond Gaita wrote about in his book A Common Humanity, that people's worth is made clearer in the love a saint can show for them. He gives the example of a nun who cared for mentally ill patients with no hope of a flourishing human life far better than the health professionals because she did so non-condescendingly. This was because of the love she held for them. Love and empathy. Without these we dehumanize others. Likewise, when Davros made the Daleks free of pity (this is Dr Who for those who don't know), he dehumanized both the Daleks and everyone they met.

Staying in Perth

2007-11-15T21:29:00.000+11:00

Just a quick line for anyone ever headed over to Perth, Western Australia. I only had two days and didn't get to see much, being there for work. Perth is a nice little city, though the poo brown stain from a lot of industry is obvious when flying in. This place in Spring/Summer is nice when the heat trough, a trough of low pressure extending from a so-called heat low (a low forming over the Pilbara due to very strong heating over the desert) is over the sea, so that the sea breeze comes in (forgive the meteorologist).

I stayed at a place known as North Lodge Accommodation - a kind of backpackers, but quiet. It was quite clean, though the TV didn't get reception. Other than that a good stay. Northbridge is a good place to eat - check out Chinatown on William Street and restaurants along Beaufort Street (the street North Lodge is on). In Perth itself there are not too many options.

Eco pilgrimage

2007-11-05T23:09:00.000+11:00

I spent 17 days recently in Far North Queensland. It was my fifth trip to the region. When I planned my first trip I used the internet (this may have been pre-google) to look for eco-tourism. As a child I went to Cairns with my parents. It was life changing. I went from collecting shells on the beach to wanting to be a marine biologist when I grew up. I can hardly swim a stroke, but no worries as I am a meteorologist now. My trips always focus about the rainforests. The Daintree is a magical region, a small fragment of ancient forest from the time of Gondwana. In my mind it meets some of the requirements of an eco-pilgrimage.

Being something special, there is a sense of the out of the ordinary, the different from the everyday. This might be somewhat muted for someone who lives in the region, a change is as good as a holiday as they say. However, there is a special quality of the region such that familiarity should not breed contempt.

There is also a diversity in the rainforest that speaks of the fruitfulness of a creation that is able to create itself, and the creator behind it. The heavens declare the glory of God, but so does nature.

In order for a view of nature not to descend into Romanticism, death, decay and savagery must be taken into account. The bible says that God gives the Lion its food. Squeamishness has no more place and a salivating delight in carnage (like too many wildlife documentaries). I don't tend to see too much of this up north, although the sight of green tree ants devouring a flying fox (dead) was fascinating. The forest wastes nothing.

It is hard to put into words the feelings that this place brings. Seeing a platypus in the wild as religious an experience as I've had in any church. What theology can deny this? Remember so much of the bible takes on an anti-idolatry polemic. Nature is not divine, but neither is the divine absent from nature. The bible demytholigies but does not desacralise. People (including too many Christians) have done that.

I'm not dead yet!

2007-10-26T15:31:00.000+10:00

Apologies to anyone who reads me (semi) regularly. Got lost in preparing my paper on dysteleology (which I need to put some more up of), the (excellent) conference featuring Alister McGrath, 3 weeks in north Queensland (stuff to put up soon) and now a bit of facebook! Some more thoughts soon.

Creation: Emergent & Elective

2007-09-12T10:24:00.000+10:00

I've been off line trying to write a paper on teleology and modern science, or rather dysteleological interpretations thereof. Hard yacka! Much of the focus has been on cosmology and books like Paul Davies' The Goldilocks Enigma, which is well worth a read.

However, it is hard not to touch on evolution, since Paley's watchmaker argument and Dawkins' The Blind Watchmaker are of central importance, and it is evolution that is the sticking point for many.

There are several Christian models of creation, and I take it that it is a defining doctrine for Christians that God is creator. To quote (roughly) Brueggemann (sic) in his commentary on Gen 1.1 'The creator creates creation'. So what are the options?

1. 'Creationist' - either 6 day (young earth) or 6 eons (old earth). The bedrock of this is an insistence on biblical inerrancy where the bible must be lead (for the most part) literally, and cannot be in error on scientific facts. It is easy to avoid a dysteleological interpretation of evolution with this view because one merely trumps theory with theology. However, the retreat into denial doesn't help deal with the real problems observed - natural/evolved evil, etc.

The opposite of inerrancy is not necessarily errancy, and many feel that the irony with this view is that it uses modernism and falls into the trap that scientific knowledge is the unprivileged viewpoint (indeed the only valid one).

2. Intelligent design is a bit different in that it seeks to prove scientifically that there is a designer by finding gaps in the science - ideas like irreducible complexity. Stephen Meyer describes the theological concept as limited partnership because theology provides genuine scientific hypotheses to test.

There are a few issues with this view. Firstly, examples of irreducible complexity disappear with increased understanding (the rotating flagella is an example of this). Secondly, an emphasis on chance and spontaneity is misguided. Biologists like Simon Conway Morris point towards the idea that convergence in evolution shows us that evolutionary phase space is limited, and here we can see direction in evolution that may come from a designer. Thirdly, it suggests that God's creation is broken, that Howard Van Tills robust formational economy isn't robust. Maybe even that God is an inept designer.

3. Third is the process God, too tied up with the creation itself and not the creator ex nihilio of traditional Christian theology. Although not fully fleshed out, the bible seems to support the doctrine, leaving process theology high and dry.

4. Deism says God winds things up and lets it go. Enough said.

5. A popular model with some Christians is often called theistic evolution. God uses the process of evolution to produce life, consciousness and humanity to enter into relationship with Him. The idea I like, but the name I do no. Theism can mean many things, but most who use this term are thinking about the God of the bible. The emphasis is on evolution, not creation, creating the idea that the young earthers have a copy right on the word.

Others prefer evolutionary creationism, and this is closer to the right idea since the emphasis is both on the ontology (creation) and the method (creation). However, if not specified a little more, this could easily become Deistic in its emphasis.

Emergence is a trendy concept, the idea that something new comes from a collection, i.e. the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, that greater complexity emerges with time. We see this with clouds, fire, etc but supremely with life. Life emerges with non-life, and you use biology not physics to do a lot of the work. However, one can be epistemic (descriptive) or ontological (something really different and non-reductive) about emergence. To be an aid in the creation/teleological area, we need to emphasize the later idea.

Again, if creation is emergence, then it can also be Deistic. Conway Morris is very cautious, but I take it that the biblical idea of election is also helpful. Psalm 8 speaks of an elective view of humanity in the face of the immensity of creation. Creation is therefore emergent and elective if we don't wish to reduce God to the watch winder. This isn't ID in that creation could do everything on its own.

A quick example for now. Neanderthals probably went extinct due to climate variability and resource competition with Homo Sapiens (i.e. us, specifically Cro Magnon). The bible has a strong anti-idolatry polemic based on YHWH's control over weather. Late Neanderthal culture shows advancement which may be imitative or may be genuinely internal. Further, there are hints of burial, care for the incapacitated, etc. Could Neanderthals have become Imago Dei (image of God) and God elected Homo Sapiens?

Enough wild speculation for now, back to work.

You can't ride two horses with one behind

2007-08-23T22:34:00.000+10:00

The man who wants to keep in mind the hour of death and God's judgment and who, at the same time, gives in to material cares and distractions is like someone trying to swim and clap his hands at the same time.

St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, 6

Sexual selection

2007-08-11T21:03:00.000+10:00

They say that sex is a powerful mechanism for the selection of behaviour, body shape and so on. I was recently in Cairns for a conference, and spent some time at the Esplanade. It is a stretch of mudflat. It is world famous for birds, but I saw more than birds. Small Fiddler crabs come out when the tide is well and truly out. The males have an oversized claw used for signally to females and rivals (I've learnt a bit watching David Attenborough!)

What is interesting is that with one claw useful for feeding is that they have to work twice as hard to munch mud as the females do. I don't know if it is really for status (winning fights or avoiding them with threats) or for impressing females (the crustacean equivalent of a porche?)

What price for spreading your genes? It doesn't seem that they suffer other than having to work hard for a feed. Sex it seems is powerful. Pictures to follow.

More wisdom from the east

2007-08-11T21:01:00.000+10:00

An old man said: For nine years a brother was tempted in thought to the point of despairing of his salvation, and being scrupulous, he condemned himself, saying, "I have lost my soul, and since I am lost, I shall go back to the world." But while he was on the way, a voice came to him on the road, which said, "These nine years during which you have been tempted have been crowns for you; go back to your place, and I will allay these thoughts." Understand that it is not good for someone to despair of himself because of his temptations; rather temptations procure crowns for us if we use them well.

Sperm whales and science

2007-08-03T16:10:00.000+10:00

Fans of Douglas Adams will be familiar with the scene in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy where the Infinite Improbability Drive turns two nuclear missiles into a bowl of petunias and a small sperm whale. The small sperm whale wonders why it is here and what is its purpose in life (technically speaking, its telos). This always made me laugh.

However, reading part of The God Delusion we find Richard Dawkins putting Douglas Adams up as a poster boy for atheism motivated by science. Adams has his epiphany after reading The Selfish Gene and embracing a new enthusiasm for atheism and absurdity. The whale (indeed the whole universe in his trilogy in four parts) is meaningless.

Does science deny teleology? More specifically, is modern science dysteleological? Is purpose only apparent (teleonomy)? I think there are 4 areas where the challenge lies.

1. Ontological dysteleology. There is something rather than nothing because there is something. The weak anthropic principle (we see things suited for life because we are alive) with some sort of multiverse idea means there is no need for a creator. Things exist because they do.

2. Anthropological or evolutionary dysteleology. Humans are not unique: there have been other hominids that could have become dominant (H. Neanderthalensis for one); intelligence is neither unique (cuttlefish, corvids like crows, cetaceans such as whales) nor special - it has arisen by chance as an adaptation; the unrepeatable nature of natural selection is such that humans need not have arisen, play the tape of life again (Gould) and we would not be here.

3. Theodicean dysteleology. Suffering is ubiquitous, horrendous and gratuitous. Evolution gives rise to it. Survival occurs via competition. Species develop and become extinct. People get cancer. Species parasitise other species. No good God created this as it is the result of blind chance.

4. Eschatological dysteleology. The destiny of the planet is to boil in an expanding solar envelope. The second law of thermodynamics ensures that the expanding universe (at an accelerating rate) ensures that complex life will one day disappear, that all information processing will come to an end in a void of simple particles as even protons eventually decay.

Pretty depressing huh? Is there a theological answer? Stay tuned.

More wisdom from the East: A warning to preachers

2007-08-02T19:48:00.000+10:00

Amma Syncletica said: It is dangerous for anyone to teach who has not first been trained in the practical Christian life. For if someone who owns a ruined house receives guests there, he does them harm because of the dilapidation of the dwelling. It is the same in the case of someone who has not first built an interior dwelling. He causes loss to those who come. By words he may convert them to salvation, but by evil behavior, he injures them.

What we always knew

2007-07-05T09:40:00.000+10:00

The ABC website today reports that Defence Minister Brendan Nelson says securing the world's oil supply is one of the Federal Government's considerations as it decides how long to keep troops in Iraq.

To quote: "The defence update we're releasing today sets out many priorities for Australia's defence and security - and resource security is one of them," he said.

"Obviously the Middle East itself, not only Iraq, but the entire region is an important supplier of energy, oil in particular, to the rest of the world."

Well, well, well (pun intended). The planet warms burning the stuff and people die every day so we can keep on burning the stuff. Nothing more about imaginary weapons of mass destruction (which had been long since destroyed) or terrorist connections (we've given them more reasons - if for some of them there needs to be a reason other than we are different and not Muslim, but things are far more complicated than that).

Walid Aly wrote about hypocrisy from both Al Qaeda and the west yesterday in The Age - I guess there is no more hypocrisy when you can change your tune every 5 minutes with a government and voting public with a 2 minute memory. A government that says "we are not always right but we are never wrong".

It reminds me too much of the documentary "What would Jesus drive?". Young Americans who driver Hummers (an extremely fuel inefficient car) complaining about the price of "gas" saying "we own Iraq". In the 21st century, Jesus should continue to be God and Lord in the face of empire and idols, even when empire is a western government and the idol is the car.

Don't get me wrong, democracy is better than dictatorship and cars are good and useful, even fun. Indeed, a pluralistic society is better than an established faith because there should be freedom for people to believe what they like so that no one is coerced, and indeed freedom to challenge belief and change belief. In this respect, the West has it right.

However, think of the climate, think of justice even for those dark skinned people we don't know half way across the world - the ones who aren't terrorists who just want to live their lives in freedom and peace. Think about someone other than yourself.