Jimmie Killingsworth (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} jimmiebluegoose) wrote,@ 2006-01-25 10:37:00 |
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What's cool
One crucial act of nerdism is to obsess over cool stuff. On the technological side, cool stuff is usually gadgets. A new program, a new game, a new tool. If it's cool, it demands your attention and nothing can get in the way.
For educators who think they can appeal to nerdism by making college courses into computer games, several problems arise. First, school is always decidedly uncool. Second, the educators themselves fall into a kind of nerdism and tend to get excited about their tools and then neglect what they wanted to teach in the first place.
One crucial act of nerdism is to obsess over cool stuff. On the technological side, cool stuff is usually gadgets. A new program, a new game, a new tool. If it's cool, it demands your attention and nothing can get in the way.
For educators who think they can appeal to nerdism by making college courses into computer games, several problems arise. First, school is always decidedly uncool. Second, the educators themselves fall into a kind of nerdism and tend to get excited about their tools and then neglect what they wanted to teach in the first place.
