TEL us a story ... Hard, Soft and being Smart

Sorting papers I'd saved I came across -

David Mossley and Clare Saunders: A revolution in philosophy teaching? from the The Philosophy Magazine. 3rd quarter. 2013. pp. 40-45. 

Checking back, I see I posted and cited this item in 2013:

https://hodges-model.blogspot.com/2013/08/drupalcon-portland-education-session.html

In the decade-plus since, how things have changed in tech, education and philosophy!

The story is ... that around this time I needed a new website and in the past I practised computer aided learning. Or should I say mCAL, microcomputer aided learning on the ZX81 and BBC Micro (related citations below). In 2013-2014, I started a PhD (as noted elsewhere) thinking I could recover and update some IT skills. Could I recapture the CAL days, by picking up TEL - technology enhanced learning? I stepped outside healthcare, and nursing specifically. I see now this was an error, but of course I still venture off-piste. The latest detour is even more extreme? On a personal - psychological level I'm visiting a subject maths - formal methods that simultaneously fills me with wonder (recognising its power and utility) and yet terrifies me with its complexity, made me feel sick at school, as a pre-teen and after.

My 'research question' was poorly formulated - which I did recognise. Two years were not wasted, far from it. The journey then was also driven by personal circumstances, married with events in 2007, 2010 and then 2015. 

 

Sticking with the current conference theme, I noticed a call for the 7th International Soft Computing and Engineering Applications Conference. Selected themes from track #4 include:

Track 4: Soft Computing for Smart Sustainable World

Smart agriculture and aquaculture
Smart cities
Smart communication
Smart disaster monitoring and management
Smart earth system
Smart education
Smart elderly care
Smart environment and ecosystems
Smart governance
Smart healthcare
Smart homes and buildings
Smart learning
Smart living
Smart machines and robots
Smart materials and fabric
Smart medicine
Smart social services
Smart villages
Smart wearables and implants

Amid all the (understandable) emphasis on 'smart' we need to retain a place for the human. That's the challenge in simultaneously considering the hard and soft of today's and tomorrow's world.

Citations

1982 CAPA: COMPUTER AIDED PATIENT ASSESSMENT, Sinclair ZX81, advertised in Nursing Mirror (see below) provided on audio cassette tape.

1983 THE NURSING PROCESS – Computer Aided Learning program, BBC Micro, published by Open Software Limited (OSL)

1984 HAEM. Blood Groups Computer Aided Learning program, BBC Micro – (OSL).

1989 SHADES OF GREY, Computer Aided Learning program, BBC Micro. Simulation of nuclear weapons, Based on Fanchi, J. Local effects of nuclear weapons, BYTE, Volume 11. Issue 13. Dec., pp. 143–155. Computer Aided Learning program, BBC Micro, published by Open Software Limited..

Jones, P. (1986) Computing in Nursing NEWS. Computerised Patient Assessment. Nursing Times. 85: 5. Sep 3-9;82(36):63-5. PMID: 3532039 (Describes 'CAPA', a BBC microcomputer program for student nurses.)

Jones P. 1988 Thunderbirds are Go? (Impact of technology in society, disasters, macro-engineering). Popular Computing Weekly.

Jones, P. (1989) Computers in Nursing NEWS. Creating a Program. Nursing Times. Feb 1-7;85(5):66-8. PMID: 2648342 (Describes 'HAEM', a BBC microcomputer program for student nurses on blood and blood groups.)

Jones, P. (1989) Information Technology is Good For You! (Effects of information technology) IT in Nursing, BCS-Nurs. Specialist Group. 1,1

Jones, P. (1990) Creating a Community Mental Health IS (Creation of a community mental health resource centre - a multidisciplinary research project). IT in Nursing and Paper at BCS NSG Conference. 2,4.

Jones, P., & Beckingham, D. (1991) The Ins and Outs of a small mental health Information System. Healthcare Computing 91 Conference Paper.

Jones, P. (1992) Nursing: All in the mind and machine? (Models of nursing and computing). British Computer Society -Nursing Specialist Group Conference Paper