An Epiphany Online

Epiphany
Originally uploaded by Curtis Castillow.

by Curt Castillow

As I visited Dave Wiley’s link to learning and technology blogs, I believe I experienced an epiphany. The information revealed to me my present naivety and ignorance of cutting edge pedagogy. As read about current technology in the field of education, I was enlightened. In just the few short hours of research—visiting linked websites and reading blogger comments—I learned more about the direction and future of instructional technology than all the classes combined in my doctoral degree.

For example, the EdTechPost had an article on learning object repositories. I clicked on the list of repositories, and with another click saw a virtual classroom. The classroom was biotechnology class divided into cooperative groups. If you clicked on any cooperative group in the room a QuickTime video pop-up window would display a short clip of the interaction between the students in each group. There were other learning objects you could visit as well that would teach anything from understanding weather patterns to comprehending the physics of a pulley system.

On the Handheld Instructional Technology website, I learned that the future of traditional film cameras is coming to an end. According to a blog, it quoted Reuter’s as saying: “Eastman Kodak Co. on Tuesday said it will stop selling traditional film cameras in the United States, Canada and Western Europe, another move by the photography company to cut lines with declining appeal in favor of fast-growing digital products”. Information doesn’t get much more practical than that—especially considering that my wife wants to buy a newer, traditional camera because she dislikes my digital. She will be interested in my find.

I also learned the definition of some educational terms, for example, metadata and e-learning. I did find, however, some uninteresting and unhelpful political rhetoric. For example, on Karionews site they discussed the “atrocities” of the arrest of Ralph Nader’s constituents at the recent presidential debates. I couldn’t see the pedagogical connection, so I was unimpressed with that particular site.

Most everything I saw and read, however was an epiphany for my sense of the future of instructional technology. I highly recommend this exercise for all graduate students in instructional technology.