In class today, we were talking about “an internet of things” and how many different devices are now connected to the Internet. One student showed a screen shot from LaundryView.com, which monitors the washing machines and dryers at in the dorms at Bentley.
On my last day in Timisoara, I taught Diana Andone’s Multimedia class at UPT. These students are English speakers and will be working on a collaborative project with my honors IT 101 students, to evaluate multimedia or collaborative software applications and produce a short demo describing the application, and its potential business uses.
At the Web 2.0 Expo conference, there was a lot of talk this week about sensors, data, and the Internet of Things, and very little about “Web 3.0” or the Semantic Web. I asked Tim O’Reilly about the relationship between Internet of Things and the Semantic Web as we walked from the Moscone Center to the Marriott. This was one of the questions on my CS 299 final exam, so it was good to hear Tim’s perspective.
Last year Larry Press of California State University and I wrote a paper entitled “From Computer Literacy to Web 2.0 Literacy: Teaching and Learning Information Technology Concepts Using Web 2.0 Tools”. I presented it at ISECON 2009 and it is now published in the Information Systems Education Journal.
Abstract: Computer literacy has evolved from writing simple BASIC programs to using desktop productivity applications. The shift from mainframe to personal computer brought about the need to rethink computer literacy courses to introduce basic skills and familiarity using desktop productivity applications. While these skills remain important, the recent shift of applications and data from the desktop to the Web has brought about another stage in the evolution of computer literacy education to the extent that today’s students not only need to be “computer literate” but also “Web literate” or “Web 2.0 literate.” Computer literacy courses retained the old concepts, but had less time to cover them because of the need to introduce new concepts. This paper examines approaches to teaching first year college introductory technology courses and suggests practical exercises and skills required for today’s students to be Web 2.0 literate.
For the past three years, I’ve been working with JDRF New England Chapter send students to their annual spring researchb briefing. They record audio or video of the speakers, and post it online. It’s a great opportunity for students to work with a local organization and get experience interacting with multimedia. And they do a wonderful service by making these presentations available online to those who would otherwise not be able to attend their event.
Lauren Shields, public outreach manager, is coming back today to meet with this year’s team of students who will be assisting in this project. Last year, I was honored with a volunteer award by the JDRF, and the Bentley Observer covered the story.