My keynote from last year at the The 24th IASTED International Conference on Modelling and Simulation.
The Calm and The Storm: Simulation and Games – Why All Games are Simu….
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This is the second and last part of my response to the Audrey Test (see my previous post).
I’m calling it the Becker Ed Tech Test (BETT) because I already have the Becker Lazy Test (BLT), which is something I developed some years ago as part of my 4-PEG game assessment.
Like Audrey’s Test, mine is longer than the Joel Test. Note also that this is obviously not a comprehensive list, and being able to answer all of these questions can’t guarantee that you are a well-rounded educational technologist.
It’s a pretty good start though.
So, can YOU pass the BETT?
Today’s installment gets right to the heart of the matter: the actual tech questions. Like yesterday’s, many of these don’t have somple right or wrong answers, but if you don’t know how to either:
- formulate a sensible answer to these questions, OR
- know how to find one out,
The I really think you should be careful about calling yourself an educational technologist – and don’t use the words “geek” or “nerd” to describe yourself. You are neither.
25 General Tech Questions
- How does one move a website from one service provider to another?
- How is information stored in the cloud?
- How does a URL get resolved? (http://blog.lunatech.com/2009/02/03/what-every-web-developer-must-know-about-url-encoding)
- In what ways is it a challenge to create content for the web that will function correctly on all browsers and mobile devices?
- How do multi-player games work? (http://gafferongames.com/networking-for-game-programmers/what-every-programmer-needs-to-know-about-game-networking/)
- Do you know enough about HTML, CSS, PHP, and Javascript that you can edit a web page at the code level?
- What is the difference between iteration and recursion? (Warning: this is a tricky one. Many of the people I’ve talked to in Ed Tech who claimed to know the difference were wrong.)
- What is a structured walkthrough?
- Name three programming paradigms other than object orientation.
- What was the original purpose for the language Pascal?
- How are computer games different from computer simulations?
- What’s the difference between Java and Javascript?
- What is the most expensive part of a computer game with respect to computer resources?
- What’s the difference between an application and a program?
- Why is the ASCII table organized the way it is? How is UNICODE different from ASCII?
- How are dates represented inside the computer? What does this have to do with the Y2K problem?
- How are real and integer numbers represented?
- How does the floating point number format affect numeric accuracy? What is the rounding error?
- What are strings and how do they differ from integers and reals?
- What kind of information is stored in the header of a graphics file?
- What distinguishes lossy from lossless compression?
- What is a state machine?
- How is a meta-language related to programming languages?
- What’s the difference between Java and Javascript?
- What’s the difference between a relative and absolute address?
Clearly there are many additional questions that are also important. Have any you think should be added?
Let me know!
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This is the first part of my response to the Audrey Test (see my previous post).
I’m calling it the Becker Ed Tech Test (BETT) because I already have the Becker Lazy Test (BLT), which is something I developed some years ago as part of my 4-PEG game assessment.
Like Audrey’s Test, mine is longer than the Joel Test. Note also that this is obviously not a comprehensive list, and being able to answer all of these questions can’t guarantee that you are a well-rounded educational technologist.
It’s a pretty good start though.
So, can YOU pass the BETT?
Today’s installment includes the more general questions. If you can’t answer these, chances are pretty good you won’t be able to answer tomorrow’s questions either,and it might be a really good idea to consider taking some additional education.
It’s a pretty good start though.
Yes or No Questions
- Do you have a digital presence – including a personal website that is up to date?
- Do you work closely with your tech team?
- Do you treat the IT personnel as fellow professionals or do you secretly view them as “the enemy”?
- How often do you update your courses to incorporate newer technologies? (And here, I’m not simply talking about adding some readings and an assignment.)
- How often do YOU actually use the technologies outside of the classroom? In other words do you actually use them to accomplish some work or do you simply learn enough about them to use them in assignments or as topics of discussion? For example, if you require your students to create eportfolios, do you have one? Is it current?
- Can you produce various documents (text, spreadsheet, presentations, etc.) using at least 3 different tools for each?
- Do you have the ability to work on all four of the common operating systems (Windows, Mac, Linux/Unix, Android)?
- Are your digital learning interventions available across platforms? (and have you tested them from the perspective of a student?)
- Are you meticulous about citing the sources of all images, quotes, audio, video, etc. that you use in your learning designs? Do you seek explicit permission to use assets that are not expressly copyright free?
- Can you install and administer a course management system such as Moodle, including the creation of courses from scratch?
- Can you create a course website outside of a course management system?
- Do you routinely create websites to go with your courses or do you simply add assignments, announcements, and a discussion list to your institution’s course management system?
History
- Name at least two famous educational technologists who studied artificial intelligence before they became educationalists.
- What is the Clark-Kozma Debate and how does it impact the field of EdTech?
- Why did the Edutainment Era fail?
- What was the primary driver of personal computer hardware development?
- When did we enter the “Internet Age”?
We don’t have theories of learning here (as Audrey does), and I’m not going to require that Edies know how to prove programs (which is one aspect of computer theory), but there are a few things that I have come to realize are fundamental to an understanding of technology. I’m putting a few of these under “theory”.
Theory
- What is the purpose of technology? (This is one Audrey asked too, but it works equally well for both sides).
- Who was Claude Shannon and how are his developments relevant to today?
- What is Game Theory and how does it relate to education?
- Why do we not yet have a computer that responds to natural language (I’m not talking about the kind of speech recognition that involves one or two word commands.)
- It’s been said that if you can’t describe it numerically then you won’t be able to get a computer to solve it. Why?
Pedagogy
- What are the key considerations when assessing a computer game or some other digital object for classroom use?
- What is gamification?
- Identify at least 4 different motivators in games and indicate whether they are intrinsic or extrinsic.
- What is the Decorative Media Trap?
- How does the notion of productive failure relate to learning and games?
- What are advantages / disadvantages to allowing the use of mobile devices during class?
Policies and Other Legalities
- What are the implications of using an online space with servers in your own country? In another country?
- How do you credit colleagues whose course designs of content you use in your own courses?
- Discuss the various advantages and disadvantages of storing data on the “cloud”.
- Name and describe the differences between at least 3 of the Creative Commons licenses. What are you buying when you buy a software application?
- Name three ways in which student data and communications are insecure in most institutional environments? (hints: Who has access? How is it transmitted on campus? How is it accessed by students and faculty off-campus?)
This is the reflective self-examination part. If your only experience with computer types has been limited to the IT guys in your department or school, you are not getting the full picture. These guys may not be able to help you with anything – and though I’ve met a few who were very competent and willing, I’ve met far more who are primarily interested in keeping their own jobs simple. If you don’t know how to program yourself, then you will be forced to rely on what the tech guys tell you. It may not be accurate, but you’ll never know.
- What are your own experiences with computing?
- With programming?
- With computer scientists?
- How do these experiences shape how you approach teaching, learning, schooling and un-schooling?
- How often have you worked with professional software developers?
- Do you believe that your knowledge of education and technology gives you sufficient background to effectively design digital media?
Tune in to tomorrow’s post to see part 2.
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A big part of what attracted me to computer science was what I could do with what I was learning. That, and the fact that programming is largely about lists, organizing, and puzzles – all things that women often find appealing.
Of course, I buy into the argument here about the importance of context. Beyond that, this article does a nice job of tying context to success of women in computing (with quotes both from Barbara Ericson and Valerie Barr, formerly at NSF).
“Boys fall in love with computers as machines; girls see them as tools to do something else,” said Barbara Ericson, a senior research scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology who tracks the AP exam. “Then girls think, ‘maybe I don’t belong because I don’t love them like the boys do.’”
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When Audrey Waters was asked to create something similar to Stack Overflow co-founder Joel Spolsky’s “Joel Test“. She admitted that she wasn’t sure she could create a comparable test for techies in education, so instead she came up with this: “The Audrey Test”: Or, What Should Every Techie Know About Education?.
I wholeheartedly agree that ‘techie’s should know something about education if they want to work in this field, BUT it is also true that ‘EDie’s should know something about tech, especially if they want to call themselves Educational Technologists, and not have the techies choke on their Slurpees (before taking you for that proverbial ride).
Audrey’s railing against our “ed-tech amnesia” could also be applied to tech – there is a tech amnesia too, the mistaken notion that the variety of tools available today absolves educators from having to know how they actually work. The tools we have at our disposal are easier to use than ever, and most people no longer need to know how to program in order to create websites, or work collaboratively, or to create an online course, BUT, those who do know how to program will also have an understanding of what’s happening under the hood that allows them to use the tools more effectively, and more creatively, and there are definitely some groups who should know how the tech works regardless of whether or not they ever need to write an actual program.
So let’s turn this around. For the moment, let’s focus on what every educational technologist should know about tech. As someone who has been a techie since way before it was cool, AND who has been teaching an actual subject (other than education) for over 30 years, I want to make it clear, right here and now that far too many of those I have met who call themselves Educational Technologists don’t actually know tech.
This is a problem. In fact, this is several problems…..
…..Maybe not to the people the EDies talk to and teach, who, for the most part, know even less, but it IS a problem in the sense that you can’t teach what you don’t practice (thanks to Bjarne Stroustrup for that quote). If you don’t know tech, you can’t teach it to anyone else.
Ed Tech faculty in higher ed especially get my goat.
Teachers tend to gloss over things they don’t really understand. I’m not just talking about education teachers. Don’t pretend like you don’t – we all do it. The problem is that when the subject matter of your profession is something you don’t fully comprehend, it makes you a charlatan (or, if you want something more polite, a pseudoteacher). If you claim to be teaching educational technology and don’t actually know how that tech works yourself, you are cheating those you are pretending to teach, and THAT’s even worse. You are sending people out there with assurances that they are prepared, when in fact they aren’t. You prime them to be taken in by all the snake-oil salesmen and false prophets that cross their path. You perpetuate the problem.
You are also short-changing them in another way. There are designs I can imagine and uses of technology I can see precisely because I know how it works. If you don’t know how the tech works, you can’t see some of how it’s useful.
SO, if you want to call yourself an educational technologist, here’s a test you can take while you are waiting for your techie friends to finish Audrey’s. I’m assuming that if you are an Edie, you can pass Audrey’s test as well. If you can’t then you need to do some reading.
I’m calling it the Becker Ed Tech Test (BETT) because I already have the Becker Lazy Test (BLT), which is something I developed some years ago as part of my 4-PEG game assessment.
Like Audrey’s Test, mine is longer than the Joel Test, and also like Audrey’s test, mine is also not comprehensive. This test includes a selection of questions both big and small that touches on a wide cross-section of knowledge and skills that I think anyone who calls themselves and Educational Technologist should be able to answer.
So, can YOU pass the BETT?
Tune in to tomorrow’s post to see part 1.
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There are ways to reduce livestock losses that are both better and cheaper than killing coyotes. They include: Livestock Guardians (like my friend Odin here) and good fencing.
Hard to believe, but it’s cheaper than killing coyotes.
Ending America’s War on Wildlife | Earth Island Journal | Earth Island Institute
Ending America’s War on Wildlife
Project Coyote
Few Americans have heard of Wildlife Services, a little-known agency of the US Department of Agriculture charged with managing wildlife, largely at the behest of ranchers and agribusiness. Since 1931, this agency has been waging war against wildlife with a lethal arsenal of traps, snares, poisons, and guns. As detailed in a recent Washington Post article, the total carnage in 2013 alone included 75,326 coyotes, 866 bobcats, 528 river otters, 3,700 foxes, 12,186 prairie dogs, 973 red-tailed hawks, 419 black bears, and at least three eagles, golden and bald.
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Well that’s nice to hear. Children get the same value from playing videogames as they do from other forms of imaginative play.
A Surprising New Study On How Video Games Impact Children.
However, the findings do indicate “that electronic play has salutary functions similar to traditional forms of play; they present opportunities for identity development as well as cognitive and social challenges.” In other words, video games are comparable to other kinds of imaginative play. And play, most folks tend to agree, is of vital importance. Adults and children need more of it. However, the popular notion that somehow video games belong in a different category–such as ‘bad play’–is absurd
In fact, Dr. Przybylski’s study suggests that there’s little distinction between gaming and other favorable activities. “Compared with factors shown to have robust and enduring effects on child well-being such as family functioning, social dynamics at school, and material deprivations, the current study suggests the influences of electronic gaming, for good or ill, are not practically significant.”
That’s a pretty shocking finding. And I imagine many parents will accept that all of those whimsical Nintendo family games are fine, even potentially beneficial when played as a family. There have been a ton of studies that show the positive impact of family gaming. Still, what about age-inappropriate gaming? Surely conscientious parents will object that first person shooters, other violent games, and sexual imagery must be unhealthy for young kids. After all, these things are immoral; we must protect our children from these dangerous temptations, right? Not necessarily.On the contrary, Dr. Przybylski’s study suggests that the ratings of games hardly correlate to typical conceptions we have of ‘healthy’ development of prosocial behaviors. Age-inappropriate gaming did not significantly impact the results (at least not when compared to movies and television). The study indicates that “the negative effects of age-inappropriate gaming on hostile thoughts, feelings, and real world behaviors are substantively smaller than those observed for passive forms of media entertainment.”
Still, don’t let your kids play games all day long. “Results from the current study also showed that children who spend more than half their daily free time [playing video games] showed more negative adjustment.” As long as the kids play three or less hours a day things are fine. But go over three hours and things change. “Compared with non-players, these players reported higher levels of both externalizing and internalizing problems and lower levels of prosocial behavior and life satisfaction.”
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I’m not defending grade inflation, but I also think it’s misguided to think every class contains a statistically normal range of abilities. If courses are focused on learning rather than sorting, then the idea of requiring professors to give out lower grades makes no sense.
What Wellesley learned when it stopped giving out so many A’s – Vox.
Wellesley College used to be one of the worst offenders. In 2000, the average course grade awarded was a 3.55, an A-minus. Then, in 2003, Wellesley decided enough was enough. The college created a new rule: average final grades in classes at the introductory or intermediate level (a 100-level or 200-level class, in college catalogue terminology) should be no higher than a B-plus.
Professors could exceed those limits, but they’d have to explain themselves in writing to the administration if they did. The change applied to about two-thirds of Wellesley’s academic departments, which were awarding grades that exceeded the cap.
- When you require professors to give lower grades, they give lower grades
- Students were more likely to major in economics and the sciences
- Students weren’t as happy with their professors(faculty become more lenient graders to curry favor with students)
- Black students were disproportionately affected
- Some students report that lower grades could hurt their job prospects
I’ve heard some blame the students for focusing too much on the grade (What do I need to do to get an A?). First off, I think that’s a perfectly fair question for a student to ask, and one that all instructors should be able to answer, right up front, at the very start of the class – if not before.
Second, I think the instructors (and the system) need to accept responsibility for their role in this… we MAKE the grades important. Everything’s a competition where the one with the highest grades wins. So, of COURSE students want to know the rules of the game…. how else are they going to win?
On the other hand, I’ve come across far too many instructors (especially in education) who give out way too many A’s. In their classes it’s known that you really don’t have to try very hard to get an A; you just have to please the teacher.
The way I see it, there are two fundamental ways to approach grading:
- By subjective letter grade (i.e. A means exceptional, B means good, C means average,…).
- Numerically.
I have no problem with either, depending on how they’re implemented.
If you choose to go the subjective route, then you need to be really honest about how you define exceptional. I think this is where the Education courses I’ve seen fail. To my mind, while most (though not all) of the students I’ve taught in Ed programs were good, very few were in fact exceptional. For what it’s worth, it really annoys the ones who truly are exceptional (most of them know who they are), when *everyone* is told they’re a genius and given an A. Sure it may seem to make your school look good, but the reality is that the people who come through it know the truth.
The numerical approach to grading is probably the more common in universities still. Often, but not always it ends up being a combination of subjectively assessed assignments and one or more exams. The numeric approach tends to give both the teachers and the students the false notion that 100% actually means perfection – i.e. that 100% means they know it all. The problem is that’s not true. 100% on a test only means you know the particular bits that were tested – and even then it may not be a perfect understanding.
I’ve been using a different approach to the traditional numerical grading we’ve come to accept as the standard. I’m using the kind of numerical scoring that is more common in videogames……
Students often see themselves as starting off with an A (or 100%) and then they lose marks through mistakes. If they get an A- the question is, “What did you do wrong to lose the A?”
This is backwards. Upside down. Also, counterproductive.
Instead, remind your students that they come into class with no marks (zero), and then the things they do will add to their score cumulatively.
I’m done with punitive grading. BUT, unless the class is pass/fail, i.e. as long as I am required to assign a letter grade to each of my students, I am going to give each and every one an opportunity to actually EARN an A.
In my current class, my students have 20 different kinds of assignments (quests), most of which can be repeated for points, some of which are worth a lot (250 XP) and some only a little (10 XP); most of which have no deadlines. There are a number of quests that they need to attempt at least once. If the students did everything they could do there would be 60 different things, and if they got a perfect score on all of them, they would end up with 1529 points. Since an A+ at my school is 95% or better, in order to earn an A+, they need 950+ points (this keeps the math simple). This means they have a great deal of choice over what to do to demonstrate mastery of the material. They all start with 0, and everything they do adds to their total. If they screw something up, they can fix it and resubmit, or they can choose to do something else to make up the points. This frees them to take risks on things they wouldn’t normally try, and it frees me to be critical in ways I could never justify before. Win-win. Some students have trouble with this much choice, and others keep on working even after they have earned their A+. This shifts the focus off of the grade because there is always a way to recover from a bad score on something.
This does, of course make it impossible to force grades into some sort of standard distribution, and it is possible to end up with a class where everyone earns an A, or where no-one does. Usually, I end up with a clean bimodal distribution.
And I’m OK with that.