Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Book Reading 43 – Things That Make Us Smart

Chapter 1 – A Human-Centered Technology
Summary

Norman argues that technology is not human-centered enough.  Technology simply happened and was not planned to happen as it did.  Therefore, it was not possible to perfectly tailor is to the needs of humans.  He explains that if we want technology to truly help us, we need to begin designing it specifically with humans in mind and have it cater to our needs.

Discussion
What Norman was saying made sense.  Now that we are aware of this issue, maybe there is something we can do about it.  However, this might difficult since technology is constantly mutating entity.  Sometimes people don’t know what they until it’s actually available.  It seems like it would be difficult to control technology to the extent that Normal is recommending.  It could be worth a shot.


Chapter 2 – Experiencing the World
Summary

The main topic of discussion is various ways of learning.  Norman explains the difference between standard lecture-type learning and more informal learning.  One example was how action games are successful in keeping the attention of the player and constantly engaging them in activity.  This is an effective way of learning.  Formal methods of learning in the classroom are not always very effective, so more informal methods are pointed out and recommended.

Discussion
I can definitely vouch for good computer games and how well they can keep your attention.  Yes, some are mindless.  But others keep me engrossed because of how they make me think differently and are rewarding.  There is a reason why some games can keep someone’s attention for many hours at a time.  It’s probably not plausible to turn a classroom into an action game, but taking tips from games for how to improve the environment and engage students more could help a lot with the problem Norman was pointing out.

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