Slashdot reports on an incredibly interesting and unique study from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The results show that strategic game playing for adults over 60 and 70 had significant across the board effects on a variety of cognitive functions.
Strategy Games Improve Cognitive Functions In Older Adults
It’s not Pac Man we’re talking about. These are strategic games that they tested. And the results were very promising. The subjects of the study transferred their learning to the outside world, something pretty rare in the education and training world.
This is good news. We’re not wasting on money on games like the Sim’s and Rise of Nations (the game they used in the study.)
These games are not mindless retreats— even if they’re fun. Something we should keep in mind when designing learning programs.
It’s nice to see the global media picking up on a key value of technology to bridge the global devide of haves and have nots in education.
From the article: “The only hope of closing the literacy gap in developing countries lies in extending the reach of online education.”
View the Newsweek Article
Twitter, Flickr, Facebook Make Blogs Look So 2004
from Wired.com, By Paul Boutin, 10.20.08
While we never like the absolutist approach of some futurists to simply kill valuable technologies off and place them in the shelves right beside the Betamax VCR, there’s some real merit to the ease of Facebook and Twitter in comparison to the more formal “blogging” tools. This article spells out in more detail the reasons.
A new study was just released by technology supplier CDW-G, called “The 21st-Century Campus: Are We There Yet?
Some of this is “ok-no-duh” stuff, but some interesting feedback regarding student wish list items:
- More than 80 percent of faculty teach at least some of their classes in “smart classrooms,” yet just 42 percent of those faculty use the technology during every class session
- Topping students’ technology wish list is online chat capability with professors; just 23 percent of higher education IT staff say their campus offers it
- Faculty and IT staff agreed that lack of technology knowledge among faculty is the biggest barrier to technology on campus
Find the press release here
And download the study here
An end to MTV’s Total Request Live (a.k.a., “TRL”) is another lesson to learn about the new way media is distributed and how people now prefer to consume content.
This interesting article points out that TRL died, much like newspapers are dying, because people are prefering to control their viewing experience. Yes, TRL was based on viewer ratings of music videos but the aggregate ratings of all audience members weren’t personalized enough.
Learning organizations should take note that the traditional ways of “distributing” training and education are handled in much the same way that these older media formats are— and therefore should take note that similar ends could be on the horizon.
From Newsweek: “Omg! ‘Trl,’ R.I.P.”, a quote:
“Whether it’s movies, music, television, books or video countdowns, everyone who makes their money providing content as part of a pre-Internet model works in a dying industry.”
…. if so, it only hurts Mozilla for market share and initially those technologists (like us) who build for the web and already must account for Internet Explorer, Firefox, and a fast rising Safari (especially for iPhone).
In the short term, it’s going to be a challenge and the clear benefits of working in the highly flexible Google framework may not outweigh the pains.
However… . if Google proves its might, there will be key advantages to their approach. It seems, this is really their way to take over the desktop. Essentially, Google Chrome is the “new Desktop” if Google wins in this. If all apps can run on Chrome, why do a local install on your computer, right?
Interesting development, somewhat perplexing too. If it were any other company, we’d say this is not a good move. However, Google seems to defy convention — usually to a positive end.
Checkout the CNET gallery on Google Chrome
“The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has announced that starting in January 2009 it will require its members to complete four hours per year of continuing education focused on sustainable design, constituting half of the eight hours required for topics in health, safety, and welfare.”
- It’s important to note that this traditional membership organization is incorporating such emerging issues into their body of knowledge requirements.
- On a negative note, it’s seems the new requirements disallow self-study, which seem to be contrary to the trends in the workplace.
Taken from The Arcitectural Record:
AIA Requires Sustainability in Continuing Education
No, it’s not You Tube, but similar functionality of video sharing but for the companies and organizations using Google Apps (paid version).
An interesting move and a potentially valuable resource for an increasingly mobile workforce in need of training and support videos on-demand.
Read the story from newteevee.com here: Google Launches Video Sharing for Business.
