Author: admin

In the balance

It seems odd to be going through each day this week while so much hangs in the balance. It is as though a giant Sword of Damocles is hanging over our heads.

I suspect that things will go well, just going by the numbers, the uncertainty is unnerving. It’s kind of like driving along a cliff at night, knowing you will probably make it home safely without going over the edge, but not being 100% certain.

Let’s just hope we manage to stay on the road.

Decisive moments

It would be interesting to compile a list of decisive moments when various technologies created a fundamental shift in perception. I’m not talking about the moment when a technology was introduced, but rather when a change in perception of that technology caused a seismic shift.

For example, the first truly perfect blending of computer graphics special effects and live action in a Hollywood movie can be found in the 1989 movie The Abyss. The scene with the water snake told people within the industry that it was possible to seamlessly combine the magic of CGI with the realism of live action.

But it wasn’t until three years later, when Jurassic Park came out, that there was truly a seismic shift in the perception of CGI effects. The famous kitchen scene was a tour de force that essentially put the nail in the coffin on old fashioned practical effects, and started the shift to the massive use of CGI that we have today.

It would be interesting to identify such moments in other technologies and their corresponding industries.

Two kinds of immersion

There are many movies that I love, and I get lost in their stories. Yet on a physical level I am just sitting in a chair watching a flickering rectangle.

I have never experienced a work of virtual reality that was able to transport me, on a psychological level, the way a good movie can. I can be transported physically by VR, and feel as though my body has been to another world, but on an emotional level nothing has spoken deeply to me.

I wonder whether this is just because the medium is new, or whether there is something fundamental going on here. Is it possible that the rectangle around the frame of the film is part of the process of psychological immersion and emotional engagement?

If so, this would be an irony indeed. What if it turns out that, on an emotional level, we can only experience true immersion when we are not actually immersed?

Happy Halloween everyone!

Asymmetry and future teaching

One thing you get used to when you teach is that the communication is inherently asymmetric between teacher and student. There is only one of you and there are many of them.

Traditionally we have accommodated this asymmetry in specific physical ways. We build classrooms and lecture halls with a large blackboard or whiteboard in front, and perhaps a raised floor as well.

The physical arrangement of classroom instruction reiterates the performative aspect of the act of teaching. At the end of the day, the teacher is essentially giving a performance.

As education migrates from physical to virtual classrooms, there are some interesting questions to ask about how teacher and students should be arranged. Do we emulate the physical classroom, or do we try something different?

On the one hand, there is something reassuringly familiar about what has worked in the physical world. On the other hand, we may not want to be bound by limitations that no longer apply.

I suspect the best solutions will start from the inherent reasons that classroom instruction is asymmetric, and will explore the ways we can use that asymmetry to best advantage.