Ruth Howard

Immersion in data. And I thought I was already over my head! What would Ken Wilber say or even Timothy Leary?

This gobsmacking TED video synthesises virtual reality (and human thinking) in its highest form courtesy of the University of California. Surely the AlloSphere’s creator Joann Kuchera-Morin and her research team are giving us insights into our spiritual dimension? It feels like the AlloSphere in some way is decoding mysterious unseen dimensions-it is! To manifest the quantum in such a sensually subsuming sphere, to audibly hear molecules and to ultimately interact with them is meeting ourselves at the deepest level.

• What if this model met with augmented reality? Would we all be using it for self healing?
• Would the medical practitioner be an adventure tour guide navigating tissue landscapes helping us to re pattern our own meta data for health?

Image via Wikipedia

Will Richardson’s post points out how social media tools exclude particular learning styles. The point Will makes about Blogs requiring good reading/writing skills is certainly true of how many people practice and teach blogging. But I think that’s an outcome of the current education system – we approach blogging like writing pads/books.

Blogs will become Vlogs and there’s so much that a human body can do in front of a video camera. (Did I say that?-having said that I’m not there yet!). YouTube is the second most popular search engine.

Surely Wii opens up huge possibilities for visual/aural/kinesthetic learners…Im in love with the possibilities/realities that new digital technologies are providing.

I’m also reflecting on the technical debate about Waldorf education that Will Richardson discussed. The ‘virtual reality‘ reality makes me want Harry’s (3 years old) world grounded so he can transit between worlds more consciously. Which is partially why I’m thinking about Waldorf education. I’m off to the Tarremah Steiner School on wednesday.

I figure that I myself expose Harry to technology (we dont have a tv) and it will be widely available to him elsewhere. So too  I’m exposing him to phonics, he naturally inquires about letters and words. I let him guide me there.

I get that my ideas may not fulfill the Steiner philosophy however every Steiner School openly interprets the original Steiner pedagogy, just as in Christianity and Buddhism each vision is so different! So I can give Harry things that Steiner education wont and that’s the beauty.

The underlying community/earth centred spirituality, the emphasis on imagination, sensory play, beauty these are child (human) essentials. Harry will be more than what he can do for a living. It’s the why he’s doing it, how he creates it and who (how many?) is he serving that will be significant. And how he feels about it of course!