Not only do chalkboard modulate the speed of lecture, its other benefit is simply the size. It's why mathematical institutes have 6 panel sliding chalkboards. Think of a slide presentation, but shows the last 6 slides side by side. This is particularly useful for complicated math, where you need to constantly cross reference previous part of the proof. P.S. if not obvious already, I am a mathematician. I didn't hoard chalks though.
There are often reflections on Education and the impact of AI, new technologies and so on. I really appreciated this issue (as always) because there is an important focus on the cultural dimension. Furthermore, country-to-country differences can also be an important topic in the adaptation and influence of tools such as chalkboards (and AI itself) in the classroom. Thanks for sharing.
Hey Josh, Indeed we are running on parallel tracks as we try to answer important questions about educational technology, old and new. You anticipate more than a few of the thoughts in Part Two of my thoughts on the coming fall, which I expect to post tomorrow.
Chalk + Chalkboards and the wooden pencil + manufactured paper are two of the most important educational technologies of the nineteenth century, enabled by new designs and industrial production of those tools. Imagine superintendents calculating the costs of that fancy new ed-tech as common schools came into existence. Imagine the old guard of teachers arguing for the sanctity of the oral exam and the recitation of poems, along with the declension of nouns in classical languages, as the the only sound methods of instruction. We don't think of it as a revolution, and it took place over decades, but that history provides a frame to think about the questions that confront us today.
This sentence stood out to me: "Course content is a necessary, but not sufficient condition for learning to happen."
I have a different experience. Sometimes I have to take courses I'm not the most excited about and then learning is a slog. But on the other hand, when I am excited about a topic, I am highly motivated to learn on my own, so in those cases course content is a sufficient condition for learning to happen and I have learned a lot from MIT OpenCourseware. But also I recognize that I am in the minority of students.
What I see as a huge problem in higher education, which is never talked about because it is accepted as the norm, is that somehow as you progress in your education, we as a society have decided that fun is less important. We go from drawing shapes to learn math and singing songs to learn grammar to sitting still and listening to someone talk for two hours. It actually gets worse post-education, because professionalism means the only fun that is allowed is the corporate-mandated fun. Anyways, that's a different topic.
Back to education: of course I was more interested in learning about Greek temples in 7th grade than I was learning about matrices in my first year of college. When I learned about Greek temples, our assignment was to actually build a Greek temple out of cardboard, making sure it had the correct parts. Of course I was more interested in learning about cells, we watched Amoeba Sisters video with colorful animations and listened to the cell rap. There is nothing inherently more "serious" about linear algebra, yet the methods of instruction become more and more serious as you progress. But who said adults can't have fun?
I probably would not say that fun is essential to learning—but it sure helps a lot.
Nice post, Josh. Austin Kleon had a good post on chalkboards back at the beginning of the pandemic. Also entertaining and thought provoking. https://austinkleon.com/2020/02/19/thinking-with-chalk/ Hope all is well with you!
Not only do chalkboard modulate the speed of lecture, its other benefit is simply the size. It's why mathematical institutes have 6 panel sliding chalkboards. Think of a slide presentation, but shows the last 6 slides side by side. This is particularly useful for complicated math, where you need to constantly cross reference previous part of the proof. P.S. if not obvious already, I am a mathematician. I didn't hoard chalks though.
There are often reflections on Education and the impact of AI, new technologies and so on. I really appreciated this issue (as always) because there is an important focus on the cultural dimension. Furthermore, country-to-country differences can also be an important topic in the adaptation and influence of tools such as chalkboards (and AI itself) in the classroom. Thanks for sharing.
> Are we in danger of repeating the same mistake of the MOOC era with generative AI?
Good grief yes.
Hey Josh, Indeed we are running on parallel tracks as we try to answer important questions about educational technology, old and new. You anticipate more than a few of the thoughts in Part Two of my thoughts on the coming fall, which I expect to post tomorrow.
Chalk + Chalkboards and the wooden pencil + manufactured paper are two of the most important educational technologies of the nineteenth century, enabled by new designs and industrial production of those tools. Imagine superintendents calculating the costs of that fancy new ed-tech as common schools came into existence. Imagine the old guard of teachers arguing for the sanctity of the oral exam and the recitation of poems, along with the declension of nouns in classical languages, as the the only sound methods of instruction. We don't think of it as a revolution, and it took place over decades, but that history provides a frame to think about the questions that confront us today.
Very good!
In this part of the world they’re known as blackboards and I started my teaching career using them. Still miss them and wrote about them as part of this - https://www.juliangirdham.com/blog/teaching-technology-a-personal-history
This sentence stood out to me: "Course content is a necessary, but not sufficient condition for learning to happen."
I have a different experience. Sometimes I have to take courses I'm not the most excited about and then learning is a slog. But on the other hand, when I am excited about a topic, I am highly motivated to learn on my own, so in those cases course content is a sufficient condition for learning to happen and I have learned a lot from MIT OpenCourseware. But also I recognize that I am in the minority of students.
What I see as a huge problem in higher education, which is never talked about because it is accepted as the norm, is that somehow as you progress in your education, we as a society have decided that fun is less important. We go from drawing shapes to learn math and singing songs to learn grammar to sitting still and listening to someone talk for two hours. It actually gets worse post-education, because professionalism means the only fun that is allowed is the corporate-mandated fun. Anyways, that's a different topic.
Back to education: of course I was more interested in learning about Greek temples in 7th grade than I was learning about matrices in my first year of college. When I learned about Greek temples, our assignment was to actually build a Greek temple out of cardboard, making sure it had the correct parts. Of course I was more interested in learning about cells, we watched Amoeba Sisters video with colorful animations and listened to the cell rap. There is nothing inherently more "serious" about linear algebra, yet the methods of instruction become more and more serious as you progress. But who said adults can't have fun?
I probably would not say that fun is essential to learning—but it sure helps a lot.
Nice post, Josh. Austin Kleon had a good post on chalkboards back at the beginning of the pandemic. Also entertaining and thought provoking. https://austinkleon.com/2020/02/19/thinking-with-chalk/ Hope all is well with you!
Thanks for mentioning How to Save a Marriage. I had never heard of it but binged my way through it today and thought it was amazing.