e-wot?

The Sydney Morning Herald has a good article on the dangers of email. Click for ‘Email becomes a dangerous distraction’smh.com.au

The article reports:

Dr Thomas Jackson of Loughborough University, England, found that it takes an average of 64 seconds to recover your train of thought after interruption by email

This adds up: we can waste as much as 8 1/2 hours a week if we answer our email as soon as we get it.

I like the reason they offer for why people might feel compelled to check their email every five minutes:

Tom Stafford, a lecturer at the University of Sheffield, England, and co-author of the book Mind Hacks, believes that the same fundamental learning mechanisms that drive gambling addicts are also at work in email users. “Both slot machines and email follow something called a ‘variable interval reinforcement schedule’ which has been established as the way to train in the strongest habits,”

Well, it made me giggle.

Now I don’t get any pleasure from email at all. In fact, I avoid it as much as possible. But then maybe I’m just a Misanthrope.

This whole ‘dangers of email’ thing got me thinking about Merlin Mann’s Inbox Zero idea: 43 Folders Series: Inbox Zero

Here’s his video (hour long Google talk about Inbox Zero)

Via Slashdot Slashdot | Why Email Has Become Dangerous

Derek Roberston showed us what can be done with existing game console and handheld technologies in a learning context. He talked about affecting positive change in the classroom through using games.

The most striking thing about what Derek is doing is it’s relevance. He’s using simple technology that kids are already familiar with, but in a learning context. It has currency. He showed lots of video clips. The one that really hit me was of a young lad totally absorbed in a timed game on the Nintendo DS. He was doing sums. Doing them faster than I could. He was clearly engaged, clearly achieving, clearly aware that he was doing well. Apparently up to that point he had been considered a ‘problem child’.

He also showed some impressive statistics, anecdotal accounts and testimonials to show the effectiveness of games on speed and accuracy in test results using brain gym. Learners also felt better about themselves: improved confidence and self esteem. Read More…

I’m biased, I know, but Angeline Khoo from NIE gave a great presentation on World of Warcraft and it’s relevance to learning. It was a shame we couldn’t read her slides, but she more than made up for it with her passion for the game and its educational value. And the live in-game conversations and action in World of Warcraft was very helpful in clarifying what gaming involves and how it might have practical value for learning.

She started by citing many examples of learning events from young kids who learnt to read, to social and cultural learning, to maths and economics… etc…

Then she logged into WoW to chat with some of her guild members. All this in front of an audience of 1200 conference attendees - very brave of her. She engaged her guildies in a conversation about Thanksgiving. She asked, “What are you giving thanks for?” and got a variety of answers, religious, social, historical - showing how the game can help to engage people in cultural conversations, adding “You see we don’t play the game to fight all the time. We have interesting chats.” Read More…

Interesting site:

Games for Change (G4C) — home

 A contentious point.

Video games rob reading, homework time: U.S. study | Technology | Reuters
Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine

actual paper http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/161/7/684