Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology
McGill University
September 2003
Calendar Course Number and Title

EDPE650­001  Consciousness and Virtual Reality
http://www.education.mcgill.ca/profs/cartwright/edpe650

Original Title
CONSCIOUSNESS, VIRTUAL REALITY, AND CYBERSPACE IN EDUCATION (3 credits)
Course Description
An exploration of the nature and theories of consciousness both classical and contemporary and their relation to education. Some attention will be paid to models of consciousness and research design. The course will include an exploration of various states of consciousness, and will end with an examination of the possible roles of virtual reality and cyberspace in education.

Lectures, seminars, discussion, films, demonstrations, and an ongoing computer conference are integral parts of the course.

Professor
Dr. G. Cartwright
 

Homepage: http://www.education.mcgill.ca/profs/cartwright/
E-mail (preferred):  glenn.cartwright@mcgill.ca
Netiquette:  1. write from the e-mail address you want a reply sent to. 
2. do not include attachments
Fax: (514) 398-1527
Telephone: (514) 398-7041 (Secretary: Ms. Meena Mohan)
Honourary Teaching Assistant Mr. David Hoida
Important URLs (Universal Resource Locators)
 

The Professor: http://www.education.mcgill.ca/profs/cartwright/
The Course: http://www.education.mcgill.ca/profs/cartwright/edpe650/
The Texts:  none
The Department:  http://www.education.mcgill.ca/fedwww/depts/ecp/ecp.html/
The Faculty: http://www.education.mcgill.ca/
The University: http://www.mcgill.ca/
The Library: http://www.library.mcgill.ca/
The PERUSE system: http://peruse.mcgill.ca/
The Computing Centre http://www.mcgill.ca/ncs/
Dates
The class meets Wednesdays  in room EDUC B121 from 14:35 -17:25. Dates are from September 3, 2003 through December 3, 2003, inclusive.
McGill Today
If you need to know if classes are still on due to weather, etc, please telephone (514) 398-1234
This is a new service and will be updated as often as each hour in case of emergency.  So will the McGill web site http://www.mcgill.ca
Texts
Gibson, W. (1984). The Neuromancer. Mississauga: Ace Books.
Vince, John.  Essential Virtual Reality Fast : How to Understand the Techniques and Potential of Virtual Reality
Reading List (highly recommended reading)
Ornstein, Robert. (1986) The Psychology of Consciousness. New York: Penguin.
Rheingold, H. (1992). Virtual Reality. New York: Touchstone.
References
Abbott, E. (1991) Flatland: A romance of many dimensions. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Block, N., Flanagan, O., and Güzeldere, G. (Eds.) (in press). The nature of consciousness: Philosophical and scientific Debates. MIT Press.
Chalmers, D.J. (1995). The puzzle of conscious experience. Scientific American, 273(6), 80-86.
Chalmers, D.J. (1995). Absent qualia, fading qualia, dancing qualia. In Mettizinger, T. (Ed.) Conscious Experience. Ferdinand SchËningh.
Damasio, A. (1999) The feeling of what happens.  New York: Harcourt Brace & Company.
Dennett, Daniel. C. (1991). Consciousness Explained.
Dennett, Daniel. C. (1986) Content and Consciousness. 2nd edition. Boston: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Edleman, Gerald M. and Tononi, Gononi.  (2000) A universe of consciousness.  New York:  Basic Books.
Explaining Consciousness: The "Hard Problem". (1995) Special issue of Journal of Consciousness Studies, 2(3).
Fodor, Jerry (2000). The mind doesn't work that way. Cambridge MA:  MIT Press.
McGinn, Colin. (1999). The mysterious flame.  New York:  Basic Books.
Harnad, Stevan (2001). No easy way out.  The Sciences, 41(2), 36-42
Helsel, Sandra K. and Roth, Judith Paris. (1991). Virtual Reality:  theory, practice, and promise. Westport, CT: Meckler.
Kreuger, Myron. (1991). Artificial Reality II. New York: Addison-Wesley.
Ornstein, Robert. (Ed.) (1974). The Nature of Human Consciousness. New York: Viking.
Rose, Steven. (1989) The Conscious Brain. New York: Paragon House.
Tomasello, Michael. (1999). The cultural origins of humjan cognition. Cambridge, MA:  Harvard University Press.
Wallace, B., and Fisher, L.E. (1999).  Consciousness and  Behavior.  4th ed.  Toronto:  Allyn & Bacon.
Audio/Video Recording
Tape­recording of lectures is not permitted.
Auditors
Auditing the course is not permitted by University regulation.
Assignments
1. A term paper
2. A class presentation on a topic in consciousness or virtual reality.
3. A take-home exam
Evaluation
Term paper  35%
Class presentation 35%
Take­home exam 30%
Grading
A 85­100%
A­ 80­84%
B+ 75­79%
B 70­74%
B­ 65­69%
F 64 and below
Only the letter grade will appear on the official transcript.
Supplemental Exam
There will be no supplemental exam.
Philosophy of the Course
This is a course an exploration in consciousness from both classical and contemporary views. Above all, it is a course in ideas. The intention is to create a relaxed atmosphere in which new ideas can be explored. The last part of the course will concentrate on virtual reality and cyberspace in an attempt to show how these cannot be fully understood without an understanding of consciousness and consciousness processes. There are no prerequisites but the nature of VR necessitates the use of the computer and you should be willing to learn and to use the computer in the course. Everything you need to know about computer use will be provided for you. Lectures, films, hands-on experience, demonstrations, and field trips (if possible) will be used to supplement the text. A term paper requirement will permit you to explore a single aspect of consciousness and/or VR some depth.
What is "Virtual Reality"?
"Artificial reality, cyberspace, and virtual reality (VR) are concepts that researchers, developers, and prospective end-users are yet defining. There is a agreement that these systems are a type of human/computer interface that enables users to become participants in abstract spaces where the physical machine and physical viewer do not exist. Debate is ongoing, however, on whether bodily participation is necessary to the definition. One school of thought (exemplified by Joseph Henderson, M.D.) believes that virtual realities and cyberspace are different - though closely related - and do not require participation of the physical body. To those such as Nicole Stenger who define the technologies from an ethereal and intellectual perspective, cyberspace is an infinite, immaterial, recoverable 3-D computer generated environment where human beings penetrate for fundamental communications and resourcing. At the opposite end of the definition continuum is a hardware orientation whose adherents believe that bodily participation via head-mounted displays, hand sensors, and kinesthetic feedback units is inherent within the concept of virtual reality."

The world's first conference on Virtual Reality was held in San Francisco in December 1990. Prof. Cartwright attended.

This course is computer-assisted. The computer will be used to communicate with other students, and the professor. It may be used to access course materials, and to access discussion groups on consciousness. You do not need a computer to participate (use our terminals), you do not need experience with computers to participate, and all you need to know will be provided in class by the instructor. However, students with a home computer and a modem will find some advantage in that they will be able to perform these functions at home. If you are computer phobic, here is your chance to learn about some important bibliographic tools and gain some skills which will help you in your other courses at McGill. If you have any concerns in this regard, please talk with the instructor or teaching assistant who will be pleased to help you.
Academic Integrity
McGill University values academic integrity.  Therefore all students must understand the meaning and consequences of cheating, plagiarism and other acadmiec offences under the code of student conduct and disciplinary procedures (see www.mcgill.ca/integrity for more information).
Computer Communication
Students can use their e-mail account to send messages to the instructor, to other students in the class, or to students on campus or elsewhere on the Internet: the Information Highway. All necessary details will be provided by the instructor.
Course Website
The official website for this course is:
http://www.education.mcgill.ca/profs/cartwright/edpe650/

Computer Communications Hardware/Software

New McGill Internet Access Kit Released on CD

The Computing Centre has released a new McGill Internet Access Kit on CD. PC users (running Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows NT) and Mac users can use the new CD. It is available now through the McGill Computing Centre (Burnside Hall room 223) for $10.
(Also on the Internet Access Kit is a version of version of Netscape Communicator as well as Internet Explorer.  However the latest version of Netscape Communicator,  version of 4.73 (recommended) or version 7.1 can be downloaded from the Netscape site - GFC)

 Hardware and Systems (for information only)

McGill CrestMcGill Home Page

Mind-it - How can I tell if  course (or other) web pages change or are updated?
MUSE - The computerized McGill Library card catalog.
Access to MUSE is available from dedicated library terminals, from any full screen terminal on the McGill Campus (e.g. Rooms ED533 or ED538 in the Education building), or from your home computer by telephone through a modem. For further information, obtain an instruction sheet from the library or ask your instructor.

For more info on MUSE, go to http://www.library.mcgill.ca/muse/muse.htm


PERUSE - MUSE's Partner in Research for searching periodicals.
Printing Handouts
WebCT4
WebCT4 is the latest version of an instructional support program parts of which may be implemented in the course to help you organize and study course material.  The system was implented on a dedicated server for the first time in January 2001. It is vastly improved over previous versions (WebCT and WebCT2) and is being officially supported by the University.
World Wide Web (WWW or W3)