Cognition and Computers

Use of Persuasive Technology in School Settings Date:29th Jan 2020 This blog post basically looks into persuasive technologies that could be used in school settings. The key points are taken from the article "The application of persuasive technologies to educational settings", written by Joseph Mints and Mortin Aagaard. The article basically talks about adding persuasion to systems design. It further says that persuasive technology has the potential to positively effect and impact student behavior in schools. Basically about using computers to persuade users to achieve a goal or target. There was an interesting example of a mobile app, myfoodphone which lets the customers track their food consumption. The user takes the pictures of the food he eats and uploads it on an online database and then adds some information about the food consumed. A food dietician responds back and gives feedback through a personalized video message. There is a similar app Health, which records ...

I was able to briefly skim through the first three chapters of the book Cognition and Tool Use, Forms of engagement in human and animal use of tools by Christopher Baber. The very first quote in the beginning of the chapters sums up the purpose of the book, the quote is by Francis Bacon 1620, and it states, "neither the naked hand nor the understanding left to itself can affect much, it is by instruments and aids that the work is done". Basically what it means is that the work is done using instruments or tools, just the hands alone or understanding of the functionality is not enough. The chapters explain the different uses of tools by humanbeings as well as animals. The book introduces us to ergonomics, laws that govern movement. My understanding is tool is an object which when used causes a change in the environment. For example, lets consider hammering of the nail in the wall, we need to consider a number of things, first how much force needs to be applied to push the nai...

Introduction Hi my name is Sheeba Ajmal. I have been in the education field for good 14 - 15 years now. I have done MBA with majors in IT , followed by a two year MS (IT) from Peshawar University. I joined Beaconhouse which is one of the most prestigious institutions in the country as a Teacher in Sep 2004 and resigned in Sep 2016. During these years I have had the opportunity to work in different capacities including teacher for OLevel (Computer Studies), Alevel (Applied ICT), and an ICT teacher for grades 5 to 8. I was selected as the ETAC Ambassador for my branch and I was trained through various professional development courses to train teacher to develop effective and meaningful lesson plans , integrate technology in their lesson meaningfully. I was promoted as the Regional Assistant Manager for Education Technologies in March 2013, my core responsibilities included training teachers to design and implement lessons using education technology. I am a certified trainer to teach ...