Month: September 2018

“Soccer Ball in a Yard” by Ryan is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

“Google CEO Eric Schmidt claims that society produces more information in two days than was created from the beginning of human history until 2003” (Weller, 2011, p. 234).

As we set out to accomplish Activity 6, and investigate the abundance of information on a topic, we first had to decide on something we felt we can learn more about, had little knowledge of, and gain new perspectives on. We started to talk about our different hobbies, and soccer was quickly part of our mainstream conversation. As current (Dorothy) and past (Amanda) soccer players, we were both familiar with the iconic soccer ball, but knew little about the ball’s history. This lead us on our google adventure of the soccer ball. As we knew there would be an inordinate amount of information we narrowed our curiosity to, why does the soccer ball look the way it does? Focusing on the tradition black and white hexagonal/pentagonal pattern, and what has caused it to change throughout the years?

Our Findings

• Soccer balls has evolved from humble beginnings, “inflated pigs bladders wrapper in leather” (Biggs, n.d., para 1.). Through the years, the science of the material has improved. The leather and rubber have been perfected to allow for better ball play, and product lifespan.
• Updates to the soccer ball were made due to the leather becoming waterlogged during games. The added weight caused head and neck injuries when players headed the ball (Rigsby, n.d.). These injuries have now been linked to dementia in previous players (Bazian, 2017).  
• The iconic black and white pattern was done so the ball could be more visible on television and so that players could more easily track its curve. (Biggs, n.d.; Rigsby, n.d)
• The pattern of 20 hexagons and 12 pentagons makes of a buckminster or buckyball- a truncated icosahedron pattern. It was used as it is the closet to a true sphere that they could create with sewn leather. It first appeared in the 1950s (Rigsby, n.d.).

Our confidence on whether abundant content around our topic exists to enable us to learn about it.

• We are confident that there is an abundant amount of content on the topic. This is due to not just the volume of content, but the diversity of who is publishing the content. This confirms one of Weller’s (2011) assumptions that “content is abundant” (p. 230) due to easy sharing platforms, such as blogs, personal websites, and social media.  
• It is important to remember that the soccer ball belongs to a global market and industry that has been commoditized selling us this product. With so many global companies competing in the space of soccer our research spun out of control and took us through detours of pro vs cons of other products.
• Abundance also comes from the fact soccer is a universal world sport, a common sport that women, men and children play.  It is a part of the many lives due to affordability. There are 211 countries that have a national soccer team, players that are famous and fans that idolize and buy all the memorabilia.  Alongside soccer games having a dedicated TSN channel, universities offer soccer scholarships. This almost hinders our ability to learn as the abundance of information does not always make our task of learning easier (Weller, 2011).
• Weller points out that “when goods become digital and available online then scarcity disappears” (2011, p. 224) as it is the case since soccer balls can be customized with any color and graphic and ordered online 24/7 through soccer websites and online stores like Nike and Adidas.
  

Is abundant content enough?

• No, we need to make sure that we have “developed teaching and learning approaches to make best use of it” (Weller, 2011, p. 228).  There has to be distilling and curation of the content to ensure is understood and applied appropriately.
• Often just because there is a lot of information out there it does not mean that the information is valid. It is important to check your sources and consider who is behind the information. The evidence and authority of your sources are essential to ensure accuracy and be supported.
• Sometimes there is so much that you actually don’t get to what you are looking for, as it is masked with some many layers you can easily lose what you were really trying to scaffold and uncover. Kind of like losing your eye on the prize!
• When there is an abundance of content it may be too much, creating a feeling of overwhelmingness and less clarity. With so much content you can find more sources that sound different, leading to misinterpretation or contradictions.  As Weller points out,

It could be argued that with everyone able to publish content in a web 2.0 world, then the ‘dangers’ inherent in constructivism become more pronounced, as the proliferation of conspiracy theories might attest. However, given that this is the environment everyone has to operate within, the ability to construct appropriate and rigorous knowledge from a range of sources is even more relevant (2011, p. 229).

What do you need to be equipped with to make use of the abundant content that we discovered?

• Research skills, students need to be able to narrow down the results when searching for specific information.
• Time management and focus to be able to distill and weed out poor sourced and evidenced information.  Using certain sites, resources and sources that are recognized and suggested over others.Find information that has valid evidence that supports your findings and possible conclusions.
• Content management skills where you can break apart and compartmentalize information in to sub-topics and groupings. Furthermore, being able to “see connection between fields, ideas, and concepts” (Weller, 2011, p. 232).
• Technology such as having a mobile device or computer, and the internet, opens up the world to this information. It also allows us to search for information find out who is behind the publications. To be able to learn with all the abundance of information out there, you first must have access to it.

What ways can we make use of this content as instructors or learners?

• To educate players about the sport’s history and some of the reasons why the ball differs. This knowledge can be translated to their game; for example, how it  the ball may react differently on turf vs grass, why it spins and curves when they are taking a shot, and why it grips the way it does when they do a throw. This can help players connect the why with the what, as connectivism suggests this helps nurture to facilitate continual learning (Weller, 2011) and furthermore the opportunity to share that knowledge with others.
• To satisfy and engage in curiosity, for instance we are now wondering how the new balls that are being created would be traced on a black and white televisions, and how certain weather conditions impact the physical aspects of the ball, such as in extremely hot, cold, or rainy conditions. Does it make a difference in the physical aspects of the soccer ball, or if there are environmentally friendly balls?
• To reference as an example of how history and influential societal changes and makes an impact; for instance once soccer became televised the ball had to be changed to make it more visible. This has brought people together from all parts of the world during world cup and how massive global companies started to capitalize on selling the product for profit and sponsorships.  It provides meaning, context and a story behind something as simple as a soccer ball.
• To gain knowledge and insights, to improving skills, knowledge, and abilities as a soccer player.  As technology continues to advance at a rapid speed there are virtual reality rooms that you can virtually kick a soccer ball at a screen which looks like a net and see if you hit certain targets and score goals against a virtual goalie.

References

Bazian. (2017). Heading footballs ‘linked to brain damage in professional players’. Retrieved from https://www.nhs.uk/news/neurology/heading-footballs-linked-to-brain-damage-in-professional-players/

Biggs, S. (n.d.) WHY ARE SOCCER BALLS MADE OF HEXAGONS? Retrieved from https://livewell.jillianmichaels.com/soccer-balls-made-hexagons-4225.html

Rigsby, B. (n.d.) The History of the Soccer Ball. Retrieved from http://soccerballworld.com/History.htm

Weller, Martin (2011). A pedagogy of abundance. Spanish Journal of Pedagogy, 249 pp. 223–236.

When reflecting on this activity-to take a stance aligning myself with a single theoretical position- I found myself torn.

Similar to how Ertmer & Newby (2013) discussed behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism as a continuation, I agree that it is very much dependent on where you currently are in your learning journey. As described in Ertmer & Newby, it is dependent on the experience of the learner, and where they fall on the introductory to expert learning spectrum. Therefore, I was not able to pick only one specific theory to get behind. However, in my position as a secondary school teacher, I would argue that the majority of my students are closer to the introductory- low knowledge side of the spectrum, and therefore techniques based on behavior and cognitive theory are often used more and more relevant.

For instance, Ertmer & Newby description of behaviorism immediately leads me to think of final exams, especially provincial exams:

“Behaviorism focuses on the importance of the consequences of this performance and contends that responses that are followed by reinforcement are more likely to recur in the future (2013, p. 48)”

Using English as an example, students are often given exam like essay questions ( previous exams) to answer. After completing this essay, their teacher will give feedback that will allow them to make improvements to that style of writing in the future. In their example, Ertmer & Newby’s discussion of behaviorism that “(a)lthough the initial responses may not be in the final proper form, repeated practice and reinforcement shape the response until it is correctly executed”(p. 50).

By having the practice similar to the final, it is aligning with fourth design principle for instruction, application.

“Learning is promoted when the practice is consistent with the learning goal” (Merrill, 2002, p.49).

Behaviourism further corresponds with Merrill’s (2002) second and third principle- activation which promotes learning “when relevant previous experience is activated” (p. 46) and demonstration of “what is to be learned” (p. 47). By being able to get practice and feedback on a specific task, it is the hope that the student will become more comfortable with that in the future. This can often be negatively referred to as ‘kill and drill’, but when there is the need to practice (final or provincial exam) but not necessary the drive from the student (lack of interest, only doing the exam because they have to), it becomes a necessary learning tool to aid in students’ success.

Similar to behaviorism, cognitive theory uses feedback, and relates to Merrill’s second and third principle. However, cognitivism differs in the tools and strategies that it employs: “framing, outlining, mnemonics, concept mapping, advance organizers, and so forth” (West, Farmer, & Wolff, 1991, as cited in Ertmer, & Newby, 2013, p. 54) as well as the amount of active involvement by the learner. I am often using this type of instructions to help guide my students when specific terms or ideas are needed (ex. Classification). Furthermore, learning the different tools allow the students to grow their knowledge base, which will hopefully allow for their knowledge to be transferred to similar like task and problems.

However, to correctly use those learning tools, student buy in is necessary but not always present. The lack of involvement by the learner (by student lack of interest and lack of flexibility in course/curriculum design) makes cognitive theory not always possible and further explains why constructivism is not used as often as it requires even more learner involvement in the process.

Overall, as the learner progress and gain more knowledge, changing learning theories will only help them grow. However, in the relatively rigid secondary setting, learners knowledge is still low and the theories most often used ( behaviourism and cognitivism) are reflective of that.

References:

Ertmer, P., & Newby, T. (2013). Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism: Comparing critical features from an instructional design perspective. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 26(2), 43-71.

Merrill, M. D. (2002). First principles of instruction. Educational Technology Research and Development, 50(3), 43-59.

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After reading through the different articles in Unit 1, the interesting thing for me was realizing how little I knew about the history of educational technology. As technology is all about looking into the future, it is important to remind ourselves to look back every now and then and see where we have come from. Below you will see my link to a timeline of Distance Learning.

Link to my Timeline

 

Kinlund, C. (2011). Vintage Gutenberg printing press [Photograph]. licensed under CC By-NC-ND 2.0 

Looking back at the history of educational technology, I came across multiple articles about how technology has improved. One of the articles I read, written by Tony Bates, was a blog post discussing how “roles of technology in education go back at least 2,500 years” (2014, para 2). His example was the writing Moses chiseled on stone in the bible. As discussed by Bates, as technology advanced, such as writing tools, it challenged what was the accepted norm and lead to a resistance. I see this in current education, with the change in curriculum in BC, using more computer mediated tools. Resistance to change is a common theme seen throughout history and currently in education.

In his article, Bates broke education into different categories: oral communication, written communication, broadcasting & video, and computer technologies. As he discussed how the different technologies within the different categories has evolved and developed, he points out that most education technologies were not originally developed for education purposes, but for business, such as overhead projectors and powerpoint. I wonder how technologies developed specifically for education improvement today, compare statistically to the older, less specific technologies?

Reading through this article and its discussion of the printing press, it lead me back to a course I took in university (History of Biology) and the discussion around the most influential people in the last millenium (personal communication, 2012). After our course did our guessing, it was revealed that Johannes Gutenberg was giving the title for his invention of the printing press (Johannes Gutenberg, n.d.). It was the printing press that allowed mass production of words, which lead to more reading and changes to education.

The printing press made the world a smaller place by having written word reach with more people, and the internet has done that again, reaching a larger audience.  I am curious what the next big invention or technology will be that completely revolutionizes the way we learn and live our lives, much like the printing press or the internet has done.

References

Bates, T. (2018). A short history of educational technology. Retrieved 9 September 2018, from https://www.tonybates.ca/2014/12/10/a-short-history-of-educational-technology/

Johannes Gutenberg. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved 9 September 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Gutenberg