Seminar: Prof. Richard Noss, University of London

What we teach is dominated by what you could teach with pencil and paper 200 years ago.

The iPad is the moment when We discovered that office work is not the dominant mode of interaction.

I like any one who quotes Illich
Convivial computing anyone?

If your dealing with paper the starting with line graphs, the move to curves. With software why not start with curves and use lines as special cases.

AI is just getting to the point were is might be useful. AI ED is big but no AI in actual class rooms.

Technology is helping with inclusion.

We talk about using technology to affect how we tech but not what we teach.
Is Doing calculus on the bus is the definition of flexible learning?

Who,how ,what.

Personal inquiry project.
Simplifed problems in science are boring but the best you could with paper. Complexity is interesting and something you can do with computing.

Mi-gen some ideas look hard when you doing have the right way of dealing with them.
Find the right representation and you can teach anything.

People get lost at X and Y - when you get to the abstractions.


Xpresser the swimming pool calculator.

Algrebra is a set of rules for manipulating symbols.Algebra 1
Algebra is also way of thinking. The general case over specifics. Algebra 2

Algebra 2

Tool try's to use AI to diagnose problems make sense of what students are doing.
No ontology about how we think mathematically.
We don't need intelligent tutoring systems - we can't do them if we can't understand the ontology of the subject.

Responding to students emotional estate in maths panic is the emotional state.

Where is teachers facebook?


Personally I am tempted to wonder what would happen if you used a stream based programming language. Pipes moving data . Could you use this to create the balance





Like notion of jam jars on table with number underneath it.

Microsoft Surface watch out

Looks like the age of projector based multi-touch is over.




Here in the lab we are busy with experiments and failing email.

trains and interfaces

From my face book page. 


Turns out that the super saver ticket the web site sold me will not let me travel on the train to Newcastle( even with the seat reservation) . Now have to wait. Until 7:00 to leave so all the rush to leave work early was for nothing. Current choice pay£101 or disappoint kids b not being back in time to read to them. I hate you trainline.co.UK website


Eva Hornecker I still prefer going to the trainstation to buy in person cause the websites don#t really explain which ticket options are valid - and sometimes do not list all the options!


 Well I ended up going to the website because last time I spoke to the ticket office I was far to flexible. The ticket guy was irritated with how flexible I was. Unfortunately I am now living in small village with no ticket office so web is only choice.


Now I have had time to calm down I've started to wonder how complicit my dyslexia was. I find these very texty websites hard to follow and have noticed that for many non text centric tasks I find the iPhone/IPad interface much more comprehensible. 




This inspires an interesting bit of research 


eye track both web and mobile conditions for common web/mobile apps and see if there is any substantive usability issues. 

Finally the experiment begins!

Gonzalo's experiment has finally taken off with lots of visitors  I think he could easily get the base condition done this week. 


We also have three new visitors 

Vaiva Kalnikaite

Pablo Haya

Estefanía Martín

so things are going to be quite busy for a while! 

Microsoft gadgeteer

Just saw a gadgetter processor in the lab. 


Nice for building - less work connecting but more work programming. Processor much more powerful  (16Mb of ram) but the whole thing is much more expensive than the Arudio. Reminds me of the sunSpot. nice but the complexities of getting java working was just to much. 


perhaps this is better.