Blog 1: The importance of technology incorporation into pedagogy
Blog 2: Benefits, drawbacks, and potentials of using social media for teaching and learning
Blog 3: Learning as the future of learning and lifestyle
Blog 4: Maker Spaces for STEM, STEAM & STREAM
Blog 5: In search of instructional design
Blog 6: Analysis & design
Blog 7: Method of loci
Blog 8: Janice Thompson Blog
The importance of technology incorporation into pedagogy
Responding to a question of what one thinks is a subjective, biased, and a self-serving adventure into the world of yawns and blah, blah, blah. However, to critically inspect the topic to answer the question concerning the importance of incorporating technologies into the teaching and learning pedagogy, regardless of one’s opinions, the answer should always be the student. After reading this week’s articles, and sparing the reader a summary of each, presuming each has done same, one area of reoccurring contemplation wafted hither and fro. Where is the human consideration within the wires, processors, software, and minutia of technology? The human, whether teacher or student, is apodictically portrayed as intellectually superior in every regard, and only technology’s adequacies and inadequacies enhance or impede the educator’s and learner’s academic capacity. One would argue that there is a consciously avoided, unspoken fallacy buried in such a sentence, for not all humans, adult or child, have an intellectual capacity to learn with or without technology. The learner is ancillary to the mechanics of the education machine.
It is undoubtedly true that technology in education is now a developing adolescent and has put away the toys of its infancy, and has reached into many areas of individual lives and lifestyles. Some would argue to the detriment of humanity and some for the better, but regardless of its evolutionary effects on humanity’s future, it is here to stay in education and futuristically maturing into adulthood. None would argue that aerodynamics or the combustion engine have benefitted humanity in a myriad of ways, but one must consider the pollution, accidental death toll and disablement, climate change, and all the other nefarious environmental effects of these two advancements in the last century. One must subsume the negatives of technology in education and the human costs as well, not just the technological costs. As mentioned above, the student must be the focus. However, a reassessment of the realities of genetics and nurturing on an individual student’s capabilities must be recognized within the discussion. Although areas of sociology, psychology, biology theology and politics are beyond the scope of this writing, one can without hesitation infer that each is more significant to the discussion of teaching and learning than technology incorporation. The Educase Horizon report substantiates the dreams, hopes, successes, and failures of technology. It demonstrates that the sphere of educational technologies is fluid, fluctuating, and morphing, and has not yet reached stasis.
Technology in the last forty years has moved education to a new level. Would it be sacrilege even to consider that the new level might be downward and not escalating? One would not wish excommunication from the learning technologies program for such an egregious thought, but what if it were true? One was especially struck by Taylor’s 1980 book excerpt on educational technology and his discussion of technology as a “tutee.” He should also have included toy, for technology has become very toy-like in the years since his writing.
Most educators recognize technology as a tool in the classroom in the same milieu as hammers saws, and squares at a construction site. However, just as some carpenters do not have the mental capacity to build on the level or square, accordingly in the academic classroom, students cannot spell, write cursive or do addition in there head. The importance of incorporating technologies into the teaching and learning environment is to successfully educate the learner in the use of technological tools for practical purposes of self-sufficiency, literacy, lifelong learning, and participation in society.
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Benefits, drawbacks, and potentials of using social media for teaching and learning
The potential of using social media for teaching and learning is analogous to owning a shoe store. Footwear comes in a multitude of purposes from running shoes to Quinceañera slippers, all in a multitude of sizes and all in need of just a foot. Social media is similar. There are numerous social media venues, each with a purpose, each with an unique format, all in search of appropriate users. To presume that any current individual social media platform satisfies the criteria for successful educational use is ludicrous. What does become apparent is that the qualifications of social media to have educational value be comprised of age appropriateness, mentored communication and build collaborative community environments for students to augment their classroom curriculum. Unfortunately, in this writers opinion, they do not.
The article presented by (Ophir, Nass, & Wagner, 2009) and their research on multitasking was very informative. One would, however, question their definition of multitasking. What their paper describes are multiple events taking place simultaneously, but the participator in the tasks can only process cognitively one thing at a time. While attempting to learn, the music may be playing, the television may be on, they may have just received a text message, and perception of each may appear be simultaneous, but an individual cannot act on more that one perception at a time. True multitasking is not a skill that humans possess, in this writer’s understanding.
When radio was invented it was hailed as the newest technological innovation for use in education. Then the television came along and it also was touted as a great new hope for education. Neither really materialized to any meaningful success. In defense of both, audio books are a popular method of information retrieval with titles like Great Courses, and public television presents informational programming, but neither can be said to have accomplished a change in basic education. The use of social media in education can also be discussed as having potential but it misses in many ways and one would predict it will find a niche in the pedagogy but not ever be more that a minor component of education. Social media is a cultural form just as television was described by Williams (1971), but now modified by (Friesen, 2012) as informational design, architecture, and algorithm, but it does not make it an educational form.
If a drawback to social media can be extracted from lessons learned from radio and television, it will be the same ugly worm at the core: commercialization. How many hours of advertisements has one endured in one’s lifetime? The cunning manipulation of social media to include advertising of products and opinion, infects the enjoyment and undermines the value of everything, every day, and in every life on the planet. It is so pervasive it is hardly noticeable and insignificant, such as a fly in the room, but annoying just the same. Advertising is so pervasive, media businesses are built around a “no advertising” product such as Sirius XM, or cable TV. Revenue must be made, and all media must be paid for. Social media will not be an exception. And just like shoes, if you find the color, the style, and the fit, on the bottom of the sole is a price to be paid.
Friesen, N. (2012, June). The questionable promise of social media for education: Connective learning and the commercial imperative. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 1-13. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2729.2011.00426.x
Ophir, E., Nass, C., & Wagner, A. (2009). Cognitive control in media multitaskers. PNAS Early Edition, 1-5. doi:10.1073/pnas.0903620106
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Learning as the future of learning and lifestyle
To discuss mobile learning with futuristic projections as representing a new era of human intellectual development and endowed with life morphing qualities, pushes boundaries of the heuristics of learning and perhaps common sense rationality. Mobility suggests movement from place to place. Learning suggests the acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience, study, or by being taught. Mobile learning, as a conjunctive term, implies the anthesis to static learning. Mobile learning, therefore, should be construed as the acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience, study or by being taught while moving from place to place. Learning has been mobile under this definition for tens of thousands of years. Because humans are a mobile animal, wherever one’s perceptions of the environment are at any given moment, onward goes the learning; generally speaking, for every moment of every day, lifelong. “Learning happens regardless of location” (Gikas & Grant, 2013)
The greatest achievements in human history are in man’s cognizant ability to build tools. As researchers Lewis, Pea and Rosen, 2010 emphasize “By building tools, people build the material basis for consciousness, transforming the environments and restructuring the functional systems in which they act and learn” (Vygotsky, 1978; Wartofsky, 1983) as cited by (Lewis, Pea, & Rosen, 2010) The handheld portable computing and communication devices that have become ubiquitous in our personal and global purview have done as suggested. The glut of devices, considered only as tools, have transformed the environment and restructured the functional systems of social, economic education and some would say the psychology of generations. Arguments with diametrically polar viewpoints addressing the tool’s benefits and value in each of these areas continue, thus lending to the discussion of the learning potentiality with such tools as locus.
One would not like to be an iconoclast, but looking at the future of mobile learning from where it exists today in the pedagogy, and where it will be in the future, prefaced on a foundation of current research and general observations of technological growth, would indicate that mobile learning is not currently a viable learning tool. Researchers Callaghan and Reich (2018), found that pre-school mobile learning apps constituted 53% of the market space for ages 4-6. It is not surprising that their conclusions indicate that such apps represent no more than entertainment with a high percentage created with complete disregard to established learning design principles (Callaghan & Reich, 2018). One is personally aghast that parents would give a child of this age group a device and expect results anything more than distraction and preoccupation.
There are, of course, those who see mobile devices as a platform upon which to build connectivism learning environments. As learning from peers and social integration within the learning space has been shown to add value to learning, utilization of communication applications may serve to benefit the exchange of ideas. However, one would caution fostering a belief in the illusion produced by a magic box, for instantiation of long-term retention of knowledge or skills remains an open-ended discussion.
Subject matter knowledge and proficiency are not the same as social media. “Broadly, social media encompasses (a) social networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, (b) media sharing sites, such as YouTube and Flickr, (c) creation and publishing tools such as wikis and blogs, (d) aggregation and republishing through RSS feeds, and (e) remixing of content and republishing tools” (Greenhow, 2011, p. 140) as cited by (Gikas & Grant, 2013). The utilization of social media affords collaboration of projects which encourages the collective ideas of its participants, resulting in the potential for higher quality team-based learning outcomes (2013).
In the market place there are many form factors for digital/mobile devices that are in use today. From laptops to E-readers, Smartphones to tablets, each bring with it a clutch of issues. The first is the dimensional aspect of the mobile form itself. One’s personal Smartphone measures 2.75 inches across by 6.25 inches long which is large by mobile phone standards. If it did not come with a stylus, it would be frustratingly unusable to type on with one’s fingers. The second issue with mobile devices and learning is the distractive qualities, and some would argue addictive qualities of the device which conflicts with the concentration and attention needed for true learning. If a third issue with portable digital/mobile devices for learning can be raised, the context would center around the social aspect of peer pressure and social classification, for some students will have the latest device while others will be multiple generations behind the technology curve. All mobile devices come with cost, loss, monthly bills, maintenance, and connectivity issues. Not all students have the financial capability to be using a $1500 Smartphone.
In summary, one does not see the mobile device of value in learning just yet. One does recognize that the mobile device will change and morph, for Moore’s Law has held generally true for the better part of forty years. Today, mobile learning is best relegated to social groupings and communication between learning participants in the sharing of ideas and information. One does see mobile devices as an influencer of lifestyle, which is already apparent and would expect that in the years to come, the world will not be the same as a result.
“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”― Rumi
Callaghan, M. N., & Reich, S. M. (2018). Are educational preschool apps designed to teach? An analysis of the app market. Learning, Media and Technology, 43(3), 280-293. doi:10.1080/17439884.2018.1498355
Gikas, J., & Grant, M. M. (2013). Mobile computing devices in higher education: Student perspectives on learning with cellphones, smartphones & social media. Internet and Higher Education, 19, 18-26.
Greenhow, C. (2011). Youth, learning, and social media. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 45(2), 139-146.
Lewis, S., Pea, R., & Rosen, J. (2010). Beyond participation to co-creation of meaning: mobile social media in generative learning communities. Social Science Information, 351-369. doi:10.1177/0539018410370726
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Maker Spaces for STEM, STEAM & STREAM
Humans are trapped within our perspective interpretation of the universe around us, as are all animals trapped within the perspective scope of their purview. Be fish, bird, reptile, amphibian, or mammal; each evolutionary lifeform scales to its environment and existence in time and space, which in itself may also be a perception devoid of reality. As man interprets his environment, he foolishly defines the real with a self- indulgent, arrogant superiority. Man explicates transcendental qualities to his perspective existence with before life and afterlife teleology, which manifests as a self-identified egocentric reality which affords him a cogent explanation of the present moment as he extols the past and portends a future a priori; and thus he learns and then he educates.
Within man’s interpretive scope of dimensional perspectives, as defined by Euclidian geometry, the world of points, planes, shapes, and forms emerge with descriptive nomenclature, substance, and mathematical explanation. The sphere, the cube, the cone, and the cylinder become the three-dimensional derivative compositions in an infinity of space. Planar geometry brings the two-dimensional and three-dimensional into harmony, and some theoretical physicists perceive infinite dimensions. From the micro to the macro, dimension becomes the lattice upon which perspective is built. Upon this latticework, opportunities arise and become the point where theory, creativity and the tangible converge. It is at this junction that the maker space and the classroom merge, and the audible, visual, and kinesthetic become one. Perspective, and thereby one’s interpretation of what one perceives, sets the stage for the topic du jour. Specifically, this discussion examines the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of such a convergence within the scope of STEM, STEAM and STREAM curriculum delivery and examines the value of the maker movement in the pedagogy.
The topic of maker spaces, as discussed in this week's literature, describes a maker space as a scalable and potentially mobile volume of workspace exampled in cargo containers to library nooks and museum basements. Although small space benchwork with no more tools than a hammer, screwdriver and pliers can be adequate for the production of elementary projects, in this writers view, the real need and requirement is to expand the maker space/shop/studio to a viable entity built with purpose and in partnership with corporate sponsoring to develop real-world STEM education through internship, mentoring and applied theory projects and prototyping. The maker space should be a multi-function campus complex with extensive square footage and equipped with a cadre of professionals with a large and encompassing assortment of equipment from computers with CAD/CAM, CNC capabilities, and machinery designed to print objects in three-dimensions. Ideally, there should be multiple dedicated areas for the crafting of wood, metalwork, electronics, and robotics. Equally worthy of consideration is the inclusion of biology, chemistry, and physics laboratory space and equipment. There is, however, questions of maker space efficacy in STEM education, its economic viability and sustainability, and the ever-present liability for a school district, university, and business sponsorship.
Despite such an alluring façade, student interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education is a hard sell. One can only speculate that not all students are intellectually capable of commanding such difficult disciplines and prefer the core path of traditional liberal arts education. If maker spaces are to be the new wave in STEM education and will fundamentally change the paradigm of future education, then as an adjunct and inclusion such spaces should be considered within the maker space for the development of vocational skills for HVAC, plumbing, electrical, construction, transportation, agriculture, and ranching. Each holds equal promise and economic value and should not be overlooked.
The promotion of STEM education lies in the embarrassing fact that the United States educational system has been educating students away from science, technology, engineering, and mathematics for decades, leaving the demographics well behind the world in these disciplines (Kuenzi, 2008). The decline causes concern as an economic and national security crisis thus spurring funding and legislation to shore up and reinvigorate the next generations of students into these fields for the good of the country and capitalism. For the last decade, STEM education has become the focal point of education, and maker spaces exampled as an approach to integrate and package STEM curriculum in a more palatable and sellable product. Recognition of the value of creative thinking, as well as critical thinking aspects inherent in these core disciplines, finds a home in maker spaces through STEAM and STREAM curriculum enhancements.
An inherent strength of maker spaces can be found within the playful, creative, comradery of the environment. As a kinesthetic experience of learning, combined with the collaborative aspects of community cooperation, the student involved in a project, creates an authentic learning experience, or at least it is thought to do so. As the graduation exercise commences the academic facade falls away to the reality of making a living with one’s newly acquired skill, and it is thus that practical, hand-on, get dirty, learn to work with others, becomes the actual directive and value to the learner and the real strength of maker spaces.
A fundamental weakness of maker spaces, however, is the cost, scale, and the logistics of the maker space and the staffing of qualified experienced instructors. Each generally has a specialty concentration, e.g., a woodworking instructor, a welding instructor, a computer or an electronics engineer, or mathematician, in addition to an education degree and certificate.
It should be noted that because it is a creative environment, which generally is fun and enjoyable to all manner of student, the maker space should be regarded as an educational activity, not a hobby room. If the projects and events of the exercise do not apply itself to a rigorous STEM learning experience, its value is mute. One should also question whether such experiences lend themselves to prepare for university education and contribute to an advanced student skill for academic entrance exams and degree completion.
Wrapped within the discussion of strengths and weaknesses of maker spaces and the maker movement within STEM education, lay opportunities outside of the ordinary and threats inside the extraordinary. Without maker spaces for prototyping ideas and stimulating the creative components of education, labs will still be part of the curriculum, and students will continue to learn STEM in traditional classroom settings without such infrastructure. The opportunities to expand new methods with hand-on projects adds excitement to the program both for the student as well as educators and administrations. Maker spaces afford and encourage educators to think creatively and develop creative teaching curriculum with such facilities available.
As alluded to above, the unspoken threat is manifest in budgetary constraints, personnel shortages, and injury liability. Most significantly for any implementation is the underlying capacity for the program to be ineffective in transferring the curriculum of STEM into maker activities and thereby wasting valued learning time from the actual core purpose of STEM. Toss into the mix the politics, personalities, egos, and potential mismanagement of such programs, and one can foresee a failed program and career-changing outcomes for students, teachers, and administrators. One notes that the whole of the maker movement is young, minimally adopted, and although research appears to find positive and rewarding aspects to maker spaces, there are cautions noted to which one should take heed.
Kuenzi, J. (2008). Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education: Background, federal policy, and legislative action. Congressional Research Service Reports(Paper 35), 1-31.
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In Search of Instructional Design
A grey morning sky and the air thick with humidity bode ominous for one’s adventure in search of Instructional Design in its natural habitat. One headed out on the reconnoiter with anticipation and trepidation; the necessary equipment neatly packed in the back hatch of the car. Could one locate the lair of Instructional Design? Where to look? Where to go? Perhaps Instructional Design would be observantly languishing, emanating conveyance of facts, figures, direction, and knowledge. Subconsciously one questioned. Had it ever been seen before? In a grocery store? In a mall? Sure, Instructional Design had been observed in the places where it is traditionally expected to be in the school, the training center, the conference room, even cyberspace, but not out on the street, never in the wild. The expedition set forth, subtly cursing Dr. Warren for such an obtuse and ridiculous undertaking as one’s vehicle headed into the wilderness. Thus, the search began to locate two examples of Instructional Design to which one, as viewer and reader, might be expected to learn something. “Something” is a broadly exoteric term, compounding the scope of focus, but fortunately expanding one’s visual opportunities to find examples of Instructional Design. As one drove, and the mind wandered, the moniker “Instructional Design” wafted and wobbled in and out of one’s thoughts.
What was it that one was looking for, evidence of instruction or evidence of design? Design was everywhere and unbelievably ubiquitous. Instruction, as a word definable as a direction or order, was also demonstrated at every turn. As one previewed the surroundings, an epiphany occurred; “design is instruction and instruction is design!” Each dependent on each other, both inseparable and symbiotically bound to borrow a term from the organic world. A consideration occurs that Instructional Design might also be universally organic in nature, for it emanates from the perception of organic beings, utilized and is part of the fabric of everything biologic in its essence right down to the cellular level. Some might argue it is intelligently designed, i.e., theologically, others environmentally, i.e., evolutionary, but such an investigation is presumed to be beyond the scope of this discussion.
The directive for this blog was to locate two examples of Instructional Design. Upon reflection, one is surrounded by it every day. On every button, in every advertisement, on every box, on every doorway, on the street, in the market, on the Internet, descriptively. . . everywhere. It is easy to think that Instructional Design is the purview and relegated to only traditional classroom environments, but in reality, it is at the core of daily life so ubiquitous that one hardly notices.
As one example, just a simple sign at the corner satisfied both criteria of instructional design. The sign contains many design tick marks demonstrating its efficacy. It is a simple, recognizable, octagonal shape. It is visual and attention-grabbing with its primary red color. Its typographic message is bold and forceful with a contrasting color of white text on red. An instruction quickly read from an appropriate distance. The sign is a universally understood symbol in the context of the learner’s environment. The word “STOP” is instruction. To demonstrate conveyance to the viewer/reader, i.e., learned, should the driver not adhere to the knowledge, possible life threatening consequences might ensue. Was ADDIE (Analysis, Development, Design, Implementation, Evaluation) used in its creation? Most probably not, but it certainly would apply to the Department of Transportation in the traffic sign design department. Consider the billboard, the banner, the yield, the arrow, the speed limit, and the 60-foot-high McDonald’s Golden Arches rising above the horizon two miles away. Examples are everywhere.
In reflection, the goals of the instruction each have a purpose and directive to convey information and knowledge via design; be it to stop, to go, to buy, to eat, to promote, to caution, to direct, and educate. Each element of instruction being designed to elicit action, reflection, recollection, decision, notice, and thought, i.e., evaluation. To determine if the design was effective would be a statistical endeavor, requiring study and research, but a percentage of people stop at the corner STOP sign having learned to do so. People do respond to advertisement and men urinate in the appropriate restroom and women conversely. People learn how to act, what to do, where to go, make decision et al. from the signage.
The exercise for this blog began as a tenuous adventure. Sometimes learning only occurs when one is dragged kicking and screaming, only to find the wisdom of the Master. This experience has left one with a few lessons learned and not soon forgotten. First, never presume the height of one’s intelligence or the depth of one’s ignorance. Secondly, always look for the obvious in chaos. Finally, appreciate those who have traveled the path before you and respect their journey. Reading about Instructional Design as a topical is one thing, studying it as a science another. Embracing Instructional Design as a profession is a calling. Practicing its tenants and wisdom is a challenge. Grinding out the product is a job. Grinding out proper, deliberate analysis, undertaking directed development, producing creative design, proving a strategic implementation of the instruction, and then culminating the project with an appropriate evaluation of learning results; then one may cautiously call oneself a professional.
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Analysis and Design
For many years one has been a painter of pictures: All sizes, all subjects. One of the most challenging parts of any painting is when one has to decide what to paint, for the commitment of time and money are a significant commitment. Some paintings encompass 100’s of hours. Once the subject is selected, choices of media, for example, oil paint, acrylic, are required. Then one must choose the palette for the particular subject. The composition is next, addressing, style, and substrate. After all this preliminary work; design work begins.
Gathering photos, the composition, and the sketches comprise the next activity. Finally, implementation begins by blocking color, lines, making changes, repainting, working toward the finished product. When it is done one wait for months for the paint to dry, varnishing then takes place, a frame is selected, and the work mounted. Then the piece goes out for sale, and the website is updated. With luck and promotion, one sells the painting.
The purpose of this quick description applies to the process of ADDIE in instructional design. The collection of materials, photos, sketches, follow the analytical stages along the same lines as the development of instruction. It would be spot on if it were a commission work. Then the development phase begins the canvas preparation, the gathering of brushes, selecting a canvas, and getting set up for the project. The design phase of ADDIE comes next, and this is analogous to sketching out the scene or subject matter. Design principles and placement of objects to create the perfect alignment to the Golden Mean, and the selection of the colors scheme chosen. The implementation begins with the first stroke and continues until one is satisfied and the work completed. The evaluation of the work complete when a person opens their wallet and pull out cash to take the painting home or when it wins in the art show.
In earlier years, one would decide to paint and pick up a brush and go straight to the implementation. It did not take long to realize the importance of the analysis and design requirements. The lesson learned in this realm illuminate the need for structure in instructional design. One would like to think that ADDIE was the brainchild of some great sage. However, in the reality of things, each of the components of ADDIE is just common sense, and when given a view from a higher perspective, one believes that most things are undertaken to go through much the same process whether or not the individual or organization knows anything about ADDIE.
Sometimes the process is short-changed, and the analysis seems to be given little attention, however, every decision has some components of analysis or evaluation of the facts, projection, or speculation of the situation that influences the next steps. Sometimes the design is weak with little regard to what or how one can implement the decision. I have heard of the management quip” Shoot first, aim second”, as an example of such ignorance and disregard for the methodical process of understanding the problem, attentively examining solutions, designing a solution based on sound principles of judgement, applying the judgement to and implementation of the solution and then evaluating the success or failure of the solution. Much-preferred advice being “think before you leap.”
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The Method of Loci
The room was darkened and cool. One lay comfortably upon the bed with pillows propped up and fluffed. I shut my eyes and took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, then another, and another. The third eye opened, and the past, the present, and the future became one. Colors flashed and morphed like a kaleidoscope before me as I moved deeper and deeper into a trance. I entered the tunnel going deeper toward the center of the universe, directionless through space and time, to a special place in a special room.
I have taken this journey many times before. Some call the process meditation, some self-hypnosis, some call it prayer, and others time travel or astral projection. Following the directions to practice the Method of Loci took me to my special room. The place and time of my arrival are insignificant, but the light, the smell, the aura of it clearly visible in the minds-eye. I took inventory of all of the furniture, pictures, fixtures, draperies. Emotions, good and bad, happy and sad, settled upon and in me. I now began the practice of Loci. I associated various objects with each other and made a best effort to visualize the relationships, silly as they may be, with each other. Consciously, I opened my eyes and looked at the time. Thirty minutes had passed.
To say the Method of Loci worked or did not, one cannot answer. I can consciously visualize the room and the relationships and know that I can recall the experience, but I cannot account for the longevity of the memorization technique. Memory decay is real. I know myself well enough to recognize that if I don’t use it, don’t need it or perceive value in it, I don’t necessarily lose it, but bury it deeper than long term memory. I am a believer that everything I have seen, heard, touched, smelled, read, or experienced since birth is in my mind. Many times, I have to stop, focus, figuratively stare into the darkness and silence of my mind, to retrieve information. Sometimes it takes a long time to recall, sometimes not. Many times, a forgotten word or person’s name, just comes to the surface like a bubble rising from the depths of the subconscious, usually at three in the morning. I will practice the Method of Loci and further investigate its value as a memory technique.
The search for better methods, tricks, and gadgets to improve memory have been a dream, a science, and the wish for countless decades. When in junior high school, I checked out a book from the library, and on the inside cover was an image of a candle in a holder in a dark room. The inscription read, “A million candles have burned themselves out, but still I read on.” Is that not the truth of it? And perhaps a trillion brain cells have also called it a day as well. I recalled a book on Psycho-Cybernetics by Maltz back many years ago, taking language studies using the Berlitz method, Evelyn Woods’s Speed Reading, and being smacked by a Nun every time I could not successfully recite a Hail Mary; all with methods and techniques to improve the mind and hopefully the human condition. Truth be told, one cannot read fast enough, remember enough, know enough, or be creative enough to reach into the cloud of the unknowing.
From an educator’s perspective, all are apparently fair game to crush information into the skull. The vast scope of the subject of instructional techniques, technologies, and methodologies of education goes well beyond this blog, but as far as the Method of Loci as a memory retention tool, teach it . . . Can’t hurt, might help. If all else fails, go old school and get a ruler.
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