Disneyland in Anaheim, California, opened in 1955. For young Baby Boomers, this was Nirvana. The popular Disney TV show had become a reality that they could visit. All the familiar characters were there as well as the various "lands" they knew from the TV show. You could actually go to a place called Adventure Land, or Tomorrow Land, Frontier Land and even Fantasy Land, complete with Sleeping Beauty's castle.
Two brothers down the street from me went to that opening day. Their father worked for Technicolor and folks in the movie industry were among those privileged to go to the opening day. My sister and I went a few years later thanks to the generosity of a New York uncle who worked for a media agency and sent us credentials for complementary tickets. Even the E ticket coupons, the hardest to get. I was about 10 years old and my sister 11. We went with our parents and my Aunt Dorothy and her husband, my Uncle Clery. They had no children but were just as eager to see this much talked about new amusement park.
So, one day in the Fall of 1998 we made our way from the San Fernando Valley to the sunny skis of Anaheim. Until Disneyland, the area was just about all orange groves in those days. I recall the immense parking lot and the iconic entrance to the park. You could see the Monorail that circled the park from the parking lot. The future really was right here. Once inside the gates, we decided to make our way to Main Street USA, the section modeled after small town America in the early 20th century. To get there we boarded a replica of a horse drawn streetcar of the era.
My Aunt and I sat together on a small bench while the rest of my family sat behind us two by two. As we made our way toward Main Street, I began comparing this streetcar we were on with the electric streetcars I had ridden as a child growing up in and around Los Angeles. The obvious difference was there energy source. Looking at the large draft horse pulling the Disneyland streetcar toward Main Street, I began to think about the evolution of transportation that took place during my Aunt's lifetime. I figured she was born around 1910, and may even have ridden on a horse drown streetcar as a child. As the Monorail circled the park above us, the entire evolution of urban transportation revealed itself before me. I wondered, at that moment what forms of urban transportation I might see when I reached my 60s or 70s?
Most light rail rapid transportation systems today resemble offshoots of that Disneyland train. The BART trains of the Bay Area and the Metro system in Washington, DC, are notable examples that I have ridden. I often think of that horse drawn trolly car from Disneyland when I see or ride them.
II.
This past week, I got the newsletter of the Bay Area Writing Project, the organization of teachers at the UC Berkeley school of Education. I have been active in that group of educators for many years, since the time I became a teacher/consultant offering teacher workshops to recent years with many contributions to their digital magazine which appears 4 times a year online. The latest email newsletter described a series of workshops being offered recently at the beginning of the current school year. What stands out is that every one deals with how teachers can adapt and/or use AI. To be sure, AI represents a formidable threat and challenge to educators. It's on everyone's mind. Obviously, some training and new skill sets are on the horizon for professionals too. If I apply the same notion of evolution from the streetcar analogy mentioned above, it looks like this.
When I was a graduate student in the school of Education at UC Berkeley, a secondary credential was earned by completing a year of coursework and well as various requirements like taking a test on the California State Constitution. Another requirement was to pass a test on the use of audio-visual equipment. On the bottom floor of Tolman Hall, a media lab was set up ands various stations were available for credential candidates to learn and practice audio visual skills. This included showing a film after threading a movie projector, setting up various forms of slide shows including those synchronized with soundtracks. But the toughest skill was to record from phonograph to reel to reel tape recorder and then edit the recording to accompany a specific project. When we had a few minutes to spare from our days of student teaching in the morning and attending classes in the afternoon, my colleagues and I would drop into the media lab to brush up on the various skills needed to pass the test and be fully credentialed. Today, those skills are mostly passed. Videos come from You Tube at the click of a mouse. All manner of recorded material comes from a computer as well. Bringing a tape recorder of any kind today will probably be a new experience for students.
Today, that media lab has become a computer lab. Bringing audio visual materials into a classroom is a hundred times easier today than it was back then. Like that streetcar ride behind the horses, I wonder what will replace the computer lab that replaced the media lab?
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