Yesterday was the inauguration of CRAFT (Centre de Recherche et de d’Appui à la Formation et ses Technologies, Center for Research on Education and its Technologies), the new epfl lab directed by Pierre Dillenbourg, my phD director.
I’ve met interesting people, in various fields like architects or urban planners as well as guys from the Etat de Vaud who were obvioulsy looking for consulting about mobiles devices and integrated classrooms.
I realized that I should develop my own philosophy about educational technologies. So far, I propose two tracks (two “lignes de fuite” would say Gille Deleuze):
– superhigh tech stuff : beyond the desktop/laptop computers there exists a wide range of new devices : logitech I/O pen, PDA, mobile phone (the new device pupils should have after a calculator), tablet PCs, wristwatches… Thanks to that kind of devices, artefacts become more and more pervasive/invisble/transparent (from the user point of view). This is termed “calm technology”.
– low tech devices : I am convinced that pedagogical scenario that considers old devices could be imagined (cf. bruce sterling’s dead media project)