November 10, 2011
Transmedia Storytelling and Education at DIY Days @ UCLA
Meryl Alper,
New Media Literacies, November 10, 2011.
What I love about this space is that if you peek into one corner of a blog, you can shed light on a whole program of endeavours. Such is the case with this post, which describes a preview of Robot Heart Stories (R<3S), "a 10-day transmedia learning project in which two classrooms in underserved neighborhoods in Montreal (French speaking) and Los Angeles (English speaking) used collaboration and creative problem solving to help a lost robot navigate across North America." This takes us into a diversion looking at the concept of transmedia storytelling, "the best approach to tell a particular story to a particular audience in a particular context depending on the particular resources available to particular producers." The context was the recent DIY Days conference, and Michele Knobel and Colin Lankshear's DIY Media: Creating, Sharing and Learning with New Technologies, described as "a rich book on DIY culture and what it might contribute to reframing contemporary educational practices and pedagogy. (See part one and part two of their recent interview with Jenkins on the book's implications and core themes.)"
[Link] [Comment][Tags: Books, Project Based Learning, Web Logs]
Blinded by the light
Mike,
Mike's Blog, November 10, 2011.
Marshall McLuhan once famously said that a light bulb is a type of media. This post looks at the claim that lighting can have an impact on learning outcomes. I would believe it - put me in a dark room with no sunlight and trees, and I wilt. Mike in New Zealand writes, "'The Education Ministry's website says evidence suggests learning outcomes improve in spaces that have daylight as the main source of lighting.' So embrace classroom 'windows' (the first time a Mac guy like me has said that) and don't think that the Philips Company is going to lift student achievement any more than an interactive whiteboard company will." Fair enough. The blog post has a pretty good soundtrack, too.
Games for Change Symposium and an Interview by the Ed Tech Crew
Simon Crook,
Simon Crook's eLearning Blog, November 10, 2011.
Simon Crook, interviewed by Ed Tech crew, recently attended the Games for Change symposium at Macquarie Uni. He writes (giving us a bunch of useful links), "The event was run by Dean Groom and colleagues with Dean presenting and MCing. It was a great day with the likes of Derek Robertson skyping in regarding Game Based Learning, Annabel Astbury presenting on the Virtual History Centre and Jo Kay and several kids playing and discussing Minecraft. One of the highlights was actually meeting the Ed Tech Crew in person: Darrel Branson (The ICT Guy) and Tony Richards." Via Ed Tech Crew 182.
Minding Our Own Data
Bob Sprankle,
Bit by Bit, November 10, 2011.
More on the whole idea of our lives being recorded by Facebook or other social networks. Bob Sprankle spends some time imagining the various ways data could be collected. For example, "what if each student wore some type of sensor and a teacher could actually identify how often he/she spent time with each student." Or "moving into collecting data on which students get called on most frequently." The key question, though, is to what use the data would be put. It could be invaluable to a teacher seeking to improve his or her own performance, or to a student looking to increase his or her knowledge. Or it could be used as a weapon by parents or administrators seeking to punish teachers, or by teachers as a means to support disciplinary action against children.
Intro to Pearson’s OpenClass
Wolfgang Greller,
Reflections on the Knowledge Society, November 10, 2011.
Short summary of an introductory webinar hosted by Pearson to introduce its new cloud-based OpenClass learning management system (LMS). Worlfgang Greller relates assurances by Pearson that users will not be required to purchase Pearson textbooks. But questions on the enterprise nature of the tool - whether it would support LDAP-based logins, for example - were not clearly ansered. Greller writes, "My impression was that the tool, or at least the webinar demo, was very much geared toward individual teachers deciding to hop into the cloud with their classes." And he notes, "This is not normally permissible in institutions."
What I Didn’t Write About When I Wrote About Quitting Facebook
Michael Erard,
The Morning News, November 9, 2011.
I've been thinking a lot recently about whether I would continue to exist if I were not on social networks. It's easy - as this article notes - to quit a social network in a blaze of glory, especially if there's somewhere else to go. If I don't tweet about quitting Facebook, does it really happen? More seriously, while Michael Erard may write "I did tweet the observation that Facebook isn’t going to pay you a pension or 401k for all the time you spent there" I am wondering whether I would have a career without social networks - or at least online activities. Not that anyone should worry - I can't imagine not writing, I can't imagine not being online. But I do seriously want to reduce my reliance on social networks. And if I cease to exist - well, so be it, I guess.
Ed Radio Show Notes, November 10, 2011
- Dave Cormier Video of a Hangout interview, by Giulia Forsythe
- A map of the brain: Allan Jones on TED.com
- Ed Tech Crew number 182 - Google Reader Suicide
- Manfred Mann, Blinded by the Light
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