DL 291
Connect The Outside With The Inside
Published: May 15, 2021 • 📧 Newsletter
Welcome to Digitally Literate, issue #291. Your go-to source for insightful content on education, technology, and the digital landscape.
🔖 Key Takeaways
- School Noise Appreciation: Pandemic forced recognition that classroom "noise" represents vibrant learning communities we miss when absent
- Pandemic Preparedness Failure: Global leaders ignored warnings, delayed responses, and hoarded resources with deadly consequences
- Social Isolation Cognitive Impact: Research confirms isolation causes measurable cognitive decline even in absence of aging factors
- Digital Nomad Evolution: Remote work possibilities transformed from lifestyle choice to economic necessity during pandemic
- Pentagon UFO Acknowledgment: Military officially investigating unidentified aerial phenomena, breaking decades of taboo
Happy weekend all. It's good to see your faces.
This week I posted the following:
- Shine - A look back at the last year of my life.
- The Harm in Do No Harm - There’s a difference between do no harm and immersion, investing, and accompaniment.
- Intersectionality in Ed Tech - An intersectional framework acknowledges that there are social systems in place that create barriers and challenges for some individuals, while simultaneously providing privilege and power for others.
- Computational Thinking for the Educator and Researcher - This week I presented a session on computational thinking as a problem-solving practice that allows educators and learners to interact meaningfully with both content and CT practices and skills.
If you haven't already, please subscribe if you would like this newsletter to show up in your inbox. Feel free to reach out and say hey at hello@digitallyliterate.net.
📺 Watch
The NOISE of School
Many of us were told that a quiet classroom is a good classroom. Then we had a pandemic, and now so many of us miss the noise.
I can't believe I have not come across Trevor Muir until now. Thanks to Verena Edwards for sharing. :)
The story and discussion guides are here.
📚 Read
The world had a chance to avoid the pandemic—but blew it, finds report
This week, in a surprise announcement, the CDC updated their guidance to indicate that anyone who is fully vaccinated can participate in indoor and outdoor activities -- large or small -- without wearing a mask or physical distancing.
As we seem to be turning a corner on this pandemic, I'm hoping that we've used this as an opportunity to learn some lessons.
A new report from the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response lambasts global leaders who failed to heed repeated warnings, wasted time, hoarded information and desperately needed supplies, and failed to take the crisis seriously.
While some countries took aggressive steps to curb the spread of the virus, “many countries, including some of the wealthiest, devalued the emerging science, denied the disease’s severity, delayed responding, and ended up sowing distrust among citizens with literally deadly consequences,” said Helen Clark, cochair of the panel.
Social isolation during COVID‐19 lockdown impairs cognitive function
Research from Joanne Ingram, Christopher J. Hand, and Greg Maciejewski examining the effect of social isolation on cognitive function.
Results suggest social isolation is linked to cognitive decline in the absence of ageing covariates. The impact of social isolation on cognitive function should be considered when implementing prolonged pandemic‐related restrictive conditions.
More on this story here.
Remote work made digital nomads possible. The pandemic made them essential
Special visas. Free Vaccines. Tax breaks.
The pandemic was an existential crisis. For the first time, the community built around having no fixed address was forced to shelter in place.
Countries around the world are courting a new class of human capital that wants to mix travel and work forever.
It’s True. Everyone Is Multitasking in Video Meetings
Microsoft study finds just how often remote workers multitask during videoconferences—especially when the group is large and the meeting runs long.
The study shows that multitasking during virtual meetings is a coping mechanism to protect people’s mental well-being from … too many virtual meetings.
How the Pentagon Started Taking U.F.O.s Seriously
For decades, flying saucers were a punch line. Then the U.S. government got over the taboo.
In a memorandum issued this week to top department leaders, Assistant Inspector General for Evaluations on Space, Intelligence, Engineering and Oversight Randolph Stone confirmed a new probe and its primary objective: “to determine the extent to which the DOD has taken actions regarding Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP).”
The Pentagon’s watchdog is formally evaluating moves the Defense Department has made in connection to sightings of the unexplainable in military airspace. Next month, a government report is expected to be made public on sightings of unidentified aerial phenomena.
🔨 Do
How the Ancient Concept of “Shakkei” Can Enhance the Beauty of Your Home
The ancient East Asian concept of shakkei, which translates to "borrowed landscape" or "borrowed scenery," can help facilitate a greater connection between your home and the surrounding views.
While shakkei refers to the traditional technique of incorporating an outside view into a garden design, the concept also offers inspiration for connecting built forms with nature in a profound manner.
Applying shakkei successfully involves more than simply framing a view. It requires a careful analysis of the landscape and surrounding elements to create a composition with depth, scale, and texture that integrates the "borrowed scenery" in a poetic way.
🤔 Consider
Hard times are gettin' harder, the liars are acting strong
You better get a grip on yourself or you won't be around too long.
Rollins Band
I knew that I shared a birthday with George Lucas. This week I learned that I also share one with Mark Zuckerberg. Ugghhh...
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