to kindle or not to kindle

On a recent flight home from Philadelphia I saw a Kindle for the first time in real life. It was sleek and futuristic looking - and oh so tempting...

The thought of being able to replace rooms full of crammed bookshelves with one device the size of a small notebook was alluring...the notion of being able to have any book that I desired, almost instantly, was mesmerizing.

But then, during a somewhat prolonged taxi and takeoff process (ah, the joys of rush hour on a rainy day at the airport), one of its glaring flaws struck me: even though it doesn't use power to display text, it does require power to turn pages, so unless you are a really slow reader - it would almost definitely qualify as an electronic device that must be turned off during takeoff and landing. Those are the times I most crave something to read...before return flights I'm often scrambling through newsstands to find new reading material (since I finished reading the complimentary airline magazines on my departing flight). All the easily-downloadable content in the world can't save you from the boredom of sitting on a runway for 30 minutes if you can't turn on your kindle.

Undoubtedly, its a true conservationists' dream: no trees killed to bring everyone and endless supply of reading content!...but where reading is concerned, some of my favorite ways to recycle are tearing articles to share with friends or passing along a book for someone else to read (often along with scribbled notes, rhetorical questions, and other wacky Jenisms in the margins).

And as far as I can tell, you can't rent content, i.e., there don't seem to be any discounts for buying and deleting as soon as you're done. If you buy a real-life book you can at least share it, re-sell it or donate it when you are done.

And apparently, there's no color - great for books and the New York Times; not so great for comic books and fashion or decorating magazines.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly for me, books and magazines can take a lot of abuse - being rolled up and stuffed into purses and suitcases, having entire bottles of wine or water spilled on them...being tossed, dropped or bumped. As tough as a kindle might be, I don't know that it could stand up to my chronic clutziness.

None-the-less, I caught myself thinking that it might be a nice new toy to have.

Article: Is Technology Producing A Decline In Critical Thinking And Analysis?

ScienceDaily (2009-01-29) -- As technology has played a bigger role in our lives, our skills in critical thinking and analysis have declined, while our visual skills have improved, according to psychological research.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090128092341.htm#

Some of the interesting assertions made in the article:

"Reading for pleasure, which has declined among young people in recent decades, enhances thinking and engages the imagination in a way that visual media such as video games and television do not, Greenfield said."

Also

"No one medium is good for everything," Greenfield said. "If we want to develop a variety of skills, we need a balanced media diet. Each medium has costs and benefits in terms of what skills each develops."

Her research found that:
"multi-tasking 'prevents people from getting a deeper understanding of information.'"

Cite:
University of California - Los Angeles (2009, January 29). Is Technology Producing A Decline In Critical Thinking And Analysis?. ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 25, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2009/01/090128092341.htm#

new games-in-ed resources

So much to post - so little time. Here are a few game-related gems that I came across while cleaning out my email inbox (i.e., things forwarded to me by friends/colleagues).

Benefits of Video Games in eCampus today: http://www.ecampustoday.com/news/top-news/index.cfm?print&i=54917

Major study shatters stereotypes about teens and video games - a collection of information from the MacArthur foundation: http://www.macfound.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=lkLXJ8MQKrH&b=4192109&content_id={CF9B933A-8261-4FE5-B9AD-AD751CDEEFC6}&notoc=1

Good day for Civics Games...

This just came out as part of the newest Teaching and Learning
magazine published by IU:

http://www.indiana.edu/~tandlpub/story.php?story_id=85


And a more formal announcement re: Sandra Day O'Connor's Supreme Court Game, starting to roll out this September:


http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/around-the-web/?i=54067;_hbguid=dac4cf1d-bb4d-4bc2-978c-682aa2c1ddc1

http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSN0438944120080605

www.ourcourts.org/

Federal Consortium for Virtual Worlds

I virtually participated in a few sessions of the conference held by the Federal Consortium for Virtual Worlds this past week. From my vantage point (about 20 feet away...and more than 500 miles away) it looked to be well attended by a wide range of professionals interested in virtual worlds. I suspect that they'll post video clips on the site at some point (as they seem to have done that for past events).

http://www.ndu.edu/irmc/fedconsortium.html

News you can play

http://www.playthenewsgame.com/

Just checked this game out - seems interesting and looking forward to seeing the results of my first "game" played on the site. I played a game that looked at lowering the legal drinking age to 18 - it illustrated a brief history of this issue, particularly how it has intersected with debates about the legal age to serve in the military/go into combat. I played as the state of Missouri (selected by the computer) and was able to indicate what I thought should happen, as well as predict what I thought would happen.

New evidence suggesting that young children benefit from technology use

Tech encourages students' social skills by Meris Stansbury (Wednesday, April 23, 2008).

This article highlights results of two a studies done with young computer users (preschool/early grades) and finds that there are indeed benefits to its use.