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Educon 2.1: Lunch with Jeff Han at SLA

Cool impromptu lunch session with Jeff Han regarding multi-touch screens and it's possible uses in education.
Multi-touch increases accessability and allows the power-user to do much more.
The bottle-neck now is how we interact. Multi-touch allows us to match bandwith with user.
Uses:
Information rich/graphical content
Medical Imaging
Energy markets
CNN!! On elections, now ABC and Fox-Small part of the business, but large media coverage!
The anchor in control of the information, not prepared by a producer ahead of time. The key to the success CNN had was John King's knowledge of the information he was looking for and his ability to use the tool! More engaging for the audience. Maybe the closest thing to how this might be useful to education.
Parallels in the lessons learned in the media with education.
The tech he's working on is having an impact on students.

Study Math if you want to do this!!!!
There's a lot of number crunching going on here!
He's interested in collaboration and collaboration in how this can be used in education.
The current computing world is one-handed. By allowing for 2 hands, you can capture more from the user.
Scalable-8 foot wall demonstrated.
He's interested in what we think this could be used for.
Technology missused in the classroom is a negative!!!
This isn't going to replace the tools we have now.

Need to make the technology invisible-Not the teacher up at the board....
Han-maybe it's ambient, always on and students go up when they need to.
Instead of 1:1, a tool like this could be 1 to many! A synthesis tool

What if multiple people could interact with a data-base and manipulate/collaborate.

Han-The hardware isn't the big issue, it's the software and pedagogy that he's interested in.
Showed video on Wired Taxonomy Browser. WOW!!! (called it a simple example...right!)
Special Ed teacher-It removes a level of abstraction. Very cool. 2 to 3 kids "playing with ideas"
English teacher-deconstructing text, showing references.
Ownership comes from touching!!!-Need to look at the research and psychology of this. (Eye tracking software to compare with mouse use)

Lehmann-comparing to the launch of turtle, logo, scratch...Is there a model where we could put this in the hands of kids and let them develop the application, content for this?

Me-How long before desks in classrooms have screens like this built in and are all wirelessly connected to a master, projection system.

Han showed a radiology tool that can slice and manipulate images. Currently, too much data, and few radiologists who can handle it.

Han said that the manufacturing and cost issues for being able to do this are "trivial!" The key is the pedagogy and need to drive it.
What would you do with one in your classroom?

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