“The Class”

Just saw this video linked on Michael Wesch’s Digital Ethnography Blog which includes a brief discussion of its origins as a class project in Lynn Schofield Clark’s Innovation in Mass Communications class at the University of Denver, and some of the benefits of doing such a project. It’s a really nice framing of a few of the common problems that arise when people try to integrate technology in the classroom, and even has the Office theme song which is always a bonus.

Intelligence in Technology, 2010

The dtg this week was designed for two purposes. First, I was responding to Koedinger & Corbett (2006) and Schwartz, Biswas, Leelawong & Davis (2007). These two book chapters discuss technologies that were modeled in very different but interesting ways on the success of human tutors and interactions, as well as a rich understanding of the content domain. Second, we have been drawing and refining models of how technology can support educational ecosystems in class. This is my attempt to infer a general model from the two readings so that we can discuss the limitations of my inference and the underlying models in class. My goal is that this will serve as the center for an interesting conversation about both the readings and the modeling process in general.

(more…)

Google PigeonRank™; Skinner would be proud

I don't think any discussion of behaviorism is complete without this old April Fool's joke from google: http://www.google.com/technology/pigeonrank.html

The Next Big Thing, 2010

Framing Technology, 2010

This is in response to Nardi and O’day (1999) and Burbules and Callister (1999), which we read to help us problematize how we were framing the big issues before diving into specific technologies.

Labels and Learning, 2010

This week’s drawing is intended to capture some of the diversity in how theories of learning are identified and framed. This is in response to the first chapter of Driscoll (2005) which we read for this week’s p540 assignment. The labels you see as relevant, and features that you see as either important or puzzling in the drawing are intended to highlight your own personal view of learning and learning theories. Though, perhaps that design choice reflects my own?

Make sure you click on the image to see it full size!

Transmission Model, 2009

As we kick off the new semester, I am reminded that when talking about both learning theory, and the role of technology in learning, it is quite common to contrast new theories with the “straw man” teacher who believes in the transmission model of learning.  In other words, the idea that knowledge can just be presented to students who are like sponges and will just soak it all up…

Wrapping things up, 2009

This final 2009 dtg is intended to wrap up #p544 with a general commentary on some of our major themes while also addressing one of the specific papers that we debated in the final week of class.  Enjoy!

[Update]

For those of you who are wondering, one of the readings that we debated in class that this post references was:

Sfard, A. (1998). On two metaphors for learning and the dangers of choosing just one. Educational Researcher, 27(2), 4-13.

Representations, 2009

This was a particularly fun and challenging DTG to do, and I actually went through several iterations before I settled on this design.  There are still some subtle and key nuances I’m not convinced I captured, but I leave those either to the comments, or next year’s drawing!

Visualizations

More often than you realize as an academic, you will be representing data or other information. This might come in the form of a simple table, a straightforward graph, or a more elaborate visualization of data. Visualization of information is an incredibly difficult and yet outstandingly important task to focus on doing correctly. Not only does a good visualization convey information more clearly, but also in many cases more accurately.
(more…)