ImagiLearning: Creating The Future of Learning
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Updating my Vocabulary
Over the past couple of months I've found myself having to explain and re-explain some of the words I've been using...sometimes even to myself. As I continue my study of the changes coming with the emerging digital culture, my use of language is reflecting some of the internal and very real changes taking place within me. Let me just give you two examples here.
First, I almost daily find myself discussing with someone the word "real". It usually begins by having someone stress that, while the work I am doing is probably interesting and entertaining, I need to be careful to log off of the computer and spend plenty of time in the "real" world so I don't lose perspective on what is "real".
I used to respond by just saying something like, "Yeah, probably so." But now I find myself taking that opportunity to mention some of the research that shows the brain does not distinguish between what it experiences in the digital-world from those in the carbon-based world. If I am in the mood, I may even wax on in a philosophical tone, wondering aloud in the words of the great philosophers: "What is real?" But the point I usually find my way to (eventually) is that my understanding of "real" has changed.
Some of the friendships I have made in the online environment are as meaningful and 'real' as some of those off-line. In fact, most of those online have a deeper feel to them...perhaps because of the frequency we keep those relationships active. While I find the work I am doing in the online virtual environments to be as meaningful as "normal" work, I also have good friends who now make their very comfortable physical world living from businesses that exist only in the "virtual" world. Like the one guy who is currently selling his flat in London to move to his new home on the Shetland Islands...purchased from the proceeds of his businesses in the virtual world. That sounds pretty darn "real" to me.
The other term I've adopted...though I'm sure I'm not its creator...the odds of that are just too high, comes from my former use of the term "hands-on" training. I've now replaced the term "hands-on" training with "hands-in" training. Just as I found "hands-on" training to be a step above other experiences, I'm finding the use of virtual environments to immerse learners in the training in a "hands-in" manner to be a step above that. It sounds like semantics, but somewhere inside me it has made some significant impacts.
So in short, "real" and "virtual" have morphed into something new for me. According to my family, I haven't exhibited any new and frightening disorientation (no more than the usual), and my overall satisfaction and productivity seem to be higher.
I just spend far too much time having to keep explaining all this to people...."real" people.
First, I almost daily find myself discussing with someone the word "real". It usually begins by having someone stress that, while the work I am doing is probably interesting and entertaining, I need to be careful to log off of the computer and spend plenty of time in the "real" world so I don't lose perspective on what is "real".
I used to respond by just saying something like, "Yeah, probably so." But now I find myself taking that opportunity to mention some of the research that shows the brain does not distinguish between what it experiences in the digital-world from those in the carbon-based world. If I am in the mood, I may even wax on in a philosophical tone, wondering aloud in the words of the great philosophers: "What is real?" But the point I usually find my way to (eventually) is that my understanding of "real" has changed.
Some of the friendships I have made in the online environment are as meaningful and 'real' as some of those off-line. In fact, most of those online have a deeper feel to them...perhaps because of the frequency we keep those relationships active. While I find the work I am doing in the online virtual environments to be as meaningful as "normal" work, I also have good friends who now make their very comfortable physical world living from businesses that exist only in the "virtual" world. Like the one guy who is currently selling his flat in London to move to his new home on the Shetland Islands...purchased from the proceeds of his businesses in the virtual world. That sounds pretty darn "real" to me.
The other term I've adopted...though I'm sure I'm not its creator...the odds of that are just too high, comes from my former use of the term "hands-on" training. I've now replaced the term "hands-on" training with "hands-in" training. Just as I found "hands-on" training to be a step above other experiences, I'm finding the use of virtual environments to immerse learners in the training in a "hands-in" manner to be a step above that. It sounds like semantics, but somewhere inside me it has made some significant impacts.
So in short, "real" and "virtual" have morphed into something new for me. According to my family, I haven't exhibited any new and frightening disorientation (no more than the usual), and my overall satisfaction and productivity seem to be higher.
I just spend far too much time having to keep explaining all this to people...."real" people.
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1 Comment
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Comment by Jim Sutton (Jeff Oatsmill) on June 2, 2009 at 7:24am -
I like the shift from "hands-on" ---> "hands-in"
"Real" is created uniquely for each person.
Is a phone conversation "real" because you are not physically seeing the other person but relying on electronics to bring a sound vibrations to you?
Email real?
This Ning network, cannot be "real" because I have not met most of the people here personally.
Could Linkedin.com be real? It resides on servers and the lists are connections only because some electrons hang out in certain places.
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