What Happens in an Internet Minute?

   What's an "internet minute?" It's an aggregate of all the data flowing over the internet over a given minute.  The numbers are staggering, and growing daily.  I won't get into data numbers; most eyes tend to glaze over quickly, and of course the information is readily available to interested people on the internet. Where else, right?
   To most of us, it is the trends and changes that command our attention.  For instance, more internet traffic now flows over mobile devices than over traditional computers.  Not sure who would have predicted that ten years ago.

By early 2014, mobile devices accounted for more than 50% of internet traffic. (a)

   Of course predicting where technology is heading is tricky business at best. At the dawn of the internet age, Netscape, Alta Vista and AOL completely dominated the newly emerging home page business, aggregating links, information and a browser. Only AOL has survived, but only barely. Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and Safari now are our browsers of choice and the Google search engine is the home page of choice.  But don't for an instance think that they are permanent fixtures. Inevitably, time will bring change.
    A fine example of changes in internet use over time is found in a Cisco-created infographic, "What Happens in an Internet Minute?" The graphic was first created in 2012 and revisited in 2014.
    In 2012, YouTube, Google, Facebook, Twitter and Flickr were the top five sites in terms of internet usage.  A short two years later, Netflix is the number one site producing internet traffic. Yes, Netflix streams video and thereby use quite a bit of bandwidth relative to a site like Flickr, but even accounting for video's bandwidth requirements, Netflix has to be seen as one of the real internet success stories of the last few years. It's simply amazing how much traffic moves through their site. Perhaps even more surprisingly, Netflix and YouTube account for over half of all internet traffic.
   Earlier, I mentioned that mobile devices were now carrying more than half of all internet traffic.  One predictable change that follows the trend towards mobile computing concerns applications. In 2012, there were 47,000 app downloads in an internet minute. By 2014, that number had climbed to 194,064. Likely, as I write this well into 2015, there are over 200,000 apps downloaded in an internet minute worldwide.
   Another interesting fact is found in the 2014 infographic in the And Future Growth is Staggering section.  Here, it is mentioned that in 2017, there will be three times more connected devices than people on Earth. This alludes to the "internet of things."  You may have heard this phrase associated with the next big wave of internet usage.  Smart appliances, cars that can connect to emergency services and industrial machinery that is wirelessly connected to remote sensors all are part of the internet of things.  It's a trend that is growing in visible and invisible ways, and its growth seems without limit right now.
   Want to take a good, close look at these infographics? Right click on an image below and choose the prompt "save as."  Then save the file to your computer. Now, you can open it up as a separate file and even expand the image for a closer look.  And, you can begin to think what this infographic will look like a few years from now.   

This infographic illustrates an internet minute in 2012 (b)

In 2014, just two short years later, the composition of an internet minute shows some significant changes. (c)

   (a) http://searchenginewatch.com/sew/opinion/2353616/mobile-now-exceeds-pc-the-biggest-shift-since-the-internet-began

   (b) http://scoop.intel.com/what-happens-in-an-internet-minute/

   (c) http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/communications/internet-minute-infographic.html

Filmmaking: A course for the 21st Century

    I was interested in finding out more about what are commonly called 21st century learning skills so naturally I fired up the Google search page and within half a second, had about 80,000,000 sites to check.  A couple of minutes later, I landed on Education Week's Teacher PD Sourcebook. The particular page was five years old but in this case, that didn't matter much. I had a succinct statement which seemed to accurately represent the consensus around the skill set in question.  Here's what I found on Education Week's site: The term "21st century skills" is generally used to refer to certain core competencies such as collaboration, digital literacy, critical thinking, and problem-solving that advocates believe schools need to teach to help students thrive in today's world.

   Reading that statement, my mind drifted to a conversation I had earlier this year with Ian, a student in my Filmmaking course. Class had just ended and as the students filed out of the room, Ian lingered.  We were chatting about this and that - basketball, college, his other classes - when he suddenly said "I'm really glad I decided to take this class." Of course that's music to any teacher's ears, so naturally I wanted to hear a bit more.  "Why do you say that Ian?" Ian's reply took me totally by surprise. I assumed he enjoyed the relaxed classroom environment and the creative independence given to students. But he said, "I think this class is really preparing me for whatever comes next."

   We talked some more and as Ian more fully explained his statement, I found myself thinking about the course in a very different way.  Ian noted that through learning about filmmaking, he was becoming far more adept at using digital devices.  Students in class will routinely use phones, video cams, tablets and computers in preparing films.  He also mentioned that he has a more through understanding of file formats and file conversion technologies than he had previous to the course. And these types of skills, he reminded me, are the types of skills likely to serve him well in college and the work world.

   That was our brief, after-class conversation some months back. But looking over the list of 21st century skills, I began to think of the Filmmaking course as an excellent delivery system for all the skills.  The Education Week site mentions collaboration as a 21st century skill.  In Filmmaking, students are often paired or put in small groups to work on a project. But to me, the real meaning of collaboration in a classroom means that students help one another as opposed to compete with one another. In class, even with students working on individual projects, it is very common for a student to be stuck with an editing challenge. "How can I layer visual images?" "How can I add a sound effect to this part of my film?" What's the best way to transfer a sound file from my phone?" The most common way these challenges are addressed is another student saying "Oh, I can do that" and showing the solution.  This is the essence of a collaborative environment. It's an environment where students do not compete; rather, they help each other.

   According to Education Week, digital literacy is another 21st century skill.  Digital literacy grows organically out of students' exposure to digital technologies, be they hardware of software.  Learning about file formats, file conversions and file sizes, students become increasingly literate.  As exposure to different hardware tools increase - cameras, phones, microphones, computers - literacy continues to increase. By course's end, all students are more comfortable in the digital world. Their 21st century skill set has improved.

   Another 21st century skill is critical thinking.  This skill implies an ability to carefully examine data and make decisions about how it can best be used. This skill is at the heart of creating a good film.  As filmmakers assemble footage, decisions are first made about how to shoot a scene. Those decisions include lighting, camera angles and scene set-up. Later, decisions are made when these scenes are edited and the film assembled.  Without critical thinking, the film is likely to be disjointed.

   Finally, problem solving is mentioned as a 21st century skill.  Creating a film is an exercise in problem solving. From the problem of what story to tell to gathering your equipment, setting up your shots, managing your actors and working with your software editing package, creating a film involves solving problems. To develop problem solving skills, students need to be left alone to solve challenges they encounter. They can pointed towards solutions, but genuine learning occurs when they are given room to fail as well as to succeed.

   Ian probably didn't know he was talking about how 21st century skills are developed in a Filmmaking classroom, but as I think about how students are learning in class every day, it's clear to me that Ian was on to something.

   One more thing about 21st century skills: I'm not really in love with the idea that somehow, in the digital age, a whole new set of skills will define a successfully educated individual.  The skills set that served earlier generations still remains relevant. Students need to be able to read, write and reason quantitatively (the 3 Rs). Students need cultural literacy as well, and that include knowledge of the sciences and social sciences. And the truth is, 21st century skills as we've come to know them were relevant far before the year 2000.

   Best to wind up this post with a few recent student projects from Filmmaking.  The assignment was to create an ad for a product.  All required collaboration, digital literacy, critical thinking, and problem-solving, skills that at least one student sees as invaluable as he looks ahead.