Learning Lore

Life can be crazy busy:-) keeping me from posting much online lately:-)
Haven’t had much time to put any thoughts together on what is happening with regards to technology and education, but I can post a little app that I’m quite proud of.

This is a program I’m using for my Athletic Training 12a course. It’s a modification of the Conconi Test, and is menat to be used in the field for a practical test of how fit the athlete is at the time (have they recovered fully, have they improved etc…)
Basically, you plug in the distance you’ll be running, biking etc. The speed you’ll start at, and how long you want the intervals to be.
The app then spits out an mp3 file that you can listen to on your ipod, mp3 player for the test.
the test starts with three beeps, and then beeps at each interval to keep you on pace. At the end of the distance there is a double beep which means you are increasing your pace.
Every time you complete the distance you call out your heart rate to your coach/partner (or you can simply remember them for when you are done.)

If you gather about 4 or 5 pieces of heart rate data, you can then plug them into the FaCT software and overlap them with your baseline.
Changes in the performance line will give you a solid idea of how you are feeling that day, and can help you modify your training appropriately.

I had a great experience working with a Russian programmer who built this app, and I’ll blog about that experience soon;-)

Click on the pacer program to check out the app

Education athletic training 12a, FACT, pacer program

Microsoft Whacks the Wii: A First Look – TIME

So I stumbled into this article and after reading about the new project for the Xbox. I had a couple of opposing reactions.  The first (predictably as I’m a guy who likes tech toys) was wow…now I need to get one of these.  Followed by the reaction of holy sh** how much further to the full virtual immersive experience?

The gaming industry is leapfrogging ahead providing us with a growing realism in the virtual world.  Now we don’t need a controller, we become the controller.  Sure it makes for an immersive experience, but take it further.  Partner this type of intuitive controls with a virtual world.  I’m now no longer holding a button to fly in Second life, my physical actions allow my character to fly.  If people were getting addicted to games and virtual worlds before, we haven’t seen anything yet.

And now I’m struck with an aweful realization as I’m struggling to set up an online Athletic Training course in Moodle.  Sure, we are offering student athletes in BC access to some cutting edge technology and knowledge in regards to training (See Fact-canada.com), but how can I provide them with the kind of immersive experience that is possible with the ever progressing gaming technology?
I’m focussing on creating a community of athletes so that the students can learn from and with each other, but wow…could you imagine the kind of course that you could develop when the students’ bodies are the controllers?  In our case the potential for virtual training practically mocks the moodle environment to the trashbin.

Okay,…maybe not so drastic, but I can’t help but feel that public education is falling behind, perhaps it already fell behind and got run over by the corporate technological hoard.  They just haven’t told us yet.  I have seen a desire in BC for education to become more privatized, to see industry play a bigger role.  Once microsoft decides that education is a place to grab some more cash, how are we going to compete?  Of course, microsoft could provide some rich interactive experiences for students (which would be a big plus in our DL environment), but the idea of corporate education scares the bejeezus out of me.

So, my sci-fi loving side of me can envision some great places this technology can take us (and some pretty iffy moral conundrums as well), while my public educator sides quivers with concern.  Will they at least let us know when the ministry of education becomes a subsidary of Microsoft?

Education 21 century skills, digital natives, elearning, FACT, microsoft, moodle, privatization, second life, virtual world