How I Learned More About Technology Than I Ever Intended

Modified: 2023-11-05 (9:53 pm CST)

• Teaching Technology
  • Socratic Method
  • Platonic dialogues
  • Scrolls
  • Printed books
  • Blackboard and chalk
  • Mimeograph
  • Copying machines (Xerox)
  • Punch Cards
    • "Do not fold, spindle, or mutilate"
  • Overhead Projectors
  • Typewriters
  • PCs
• Learning and Using the New Technology
  • Nights with BASIC using a PDP-1170 and a dumb terminal
  • Earliest Personal Computers
    • Apple II+ vs. TRS-80 Model III
      • color made the difference
    • Mac XL (Lisa)
    • Mac SEs
      • 4 mb of RAM for SYSTAT
  • HyperCard
    • Sample page
    • Sample image (made with 4" hand scanner)
  • APA e-mails about Gopher (the daddy of the WWW)
    • How Gopher nearly won the Internet--Chronicle of Higher Education

The Near Past (1991-1996)

• NSF Grant (with James Willis)
• First Courses Developed Using HyperCard
  • Carrying an SE to Class and Connecting to B & W LCD Projector
  • Used handheld scanner for images
• Internet at SAU
  • Mac LC was First CPU connected to saumag.edu
• Kardas, E. P. & Milford, M. M. (1996).Using the Internet for social science research and practice
  • Ahead of its time?
    • Emphasized cross-discplinary approach for research and practice in social science
    • Web was small enough then to include seven disciplines
• IV-E Grant
  • Family and Child Welfare Technology Project (mostly Milford)
    • Provided large infusion of people and technology ($500k+/year)
      • Social workers
      • Technology specialists
      • Laptops, servers, projectors
• First Web-based Courses
  • General Psychology
    • Good suggestion from VPAA for first course
  • Research Methods I
  • Cognitive Science

The Nearer Past (1997-2001)

• More Web-based Courses (these used to be on peace.saumag.edu and mulerider.saumag.edu)
  • 22 courses listed
• Kardas, E.P. (1999). Psychology resources on the World Wide Web
  • Web now large enough so only one discipline in book
• New Servers
  • bssdb.saumag.edu:591 Served databases
    • Usability issue
      • Students more likely to use than faculty
      • Not used any more
  • swpsych.org Serves SWPA Web Page
    • On-line submission of proposals
    • On-line registration for CE courses
      • 2001 image (Wayback machine)
• StudentAdvantage.com
  • FirstResearch.com
    • Collection of 40,000+ URLs in 22 academic disciplines
• SAU Faculty Development for Teaching with Technology Committee
  • Modeled on Research Committee
  • Served as chair
  • Grants monies yearly for "cutting edge" teaching with technology projects
    • Grace McLelland just won an award from the Research Committee
      • Impacts of sedimentation, fecal coliform, total fecal chloral chloriform in small ponds

The Nearest Past (2002-2021)

• Projectors and laptops
  • Used with overhead projectors
    • Early models sat on top of the projector
  • Portable self-contained projectors
    • Portable ones eliminated the overhead projector
  • Permanently mounted projectors
    • Look up
• Tablets
  • iPads and Other brands
  • Has tablet technology reached a plateau?
• Smartphones
  • Really are pocket size, multiple purpose computers
  • What are all the things you can do with a phone?

• Wireless networks

• Nearly everywhere
• Leapfrog effect for Third World
  • If you have never installed copper wires, why bother?
• "Big Brother?"
  • Are your texts secure?
• Social Media
  • Vast growth
• YouTube (epk49 channel)
  • Amazing what can be found there
• Digital Textbooks
  • Paper as a medium is disappearing
    • Paper journals are being discontinued
    • SAU no longer distributes paper Catalog
    • NCHC has online app
      • Program aids NCHC 2023
      • Kardas NCHC Poster
• Online Classes
  • I once vowed never to teach one...
  • Covid changed that
  • Learning Management Systems
    • SAU uses Blackboard, Canvas, and Moodle are also common
  • Most students prefer traditional face-to-face classes
  • Enhanced several courses by:
    • Adding information to course's web pages
    • Using Blackboard to give tests
      • Tests: open book/open notes
    • Allowed self-pacing for learning
    • Examples:
      • Old Page: Cognitive Science Introduction
        • Basically, a lecture outline
      • New Page: Cognitive Science Introduction
        • More detailed, incorportates images, video, and hyperlinks to other pages

• Zoom
  • Notice how I must start a Zoom session a 9 am?
  • That's because we now have three online students
  • But, wait, there's more:
    • Zoom converts it to am MP4 file
    • After, I rename the file and load it onto BlackBoard
    • Now the video file is ready for viewing

The Future

• Popular Mechanics Predicts (2012)
• The Internet of Things (IoT)
  • Smart refrigerators
    • "Your milk is nearly expired"
• Social Media
  • Think of all of the various platforms
    • Twitter and Musk, for one example
• Autonomous vehicles
  • Already here in small numbers
  • DFW
  • GMC Super Cruise ad
  • FYI, San Francisco recently banned Cruise self-driving taxis
• Wireless everywhere
  • Faster
  • More dependable
  • More secure
• AI everywhere
  • Medicine
    • Diagnoses
    • Telemedicine critiqued
      • See Science article
  • Vehicles
    • Self-driving vehicles
  • Security
    • Ransomware
      • SAU hit twice, once in 2022 and once in 2023
  • e-Commerce
    • eBay
    • Amazon
    • Walmart
  • Careers
    • AI screening of resumes
• Loss of privacy
  • "People who bought this "X" also bought..."
  • Governmental surveillance technology
    • Don't do this: what would happen if you called in a threat to a governmental official?
    • EarthCam page
• Governmental controls (e.g., 1984's "Big Brother)
  • Edward Snowden
    • Traitor or Hero?
  • NSA
    • The Puzzle Palace