(Edit: I’ve been really ill for days, but I wanted to post all the basics before the deadline. The version linked at 11:57 P.M. April 29 was complete as far as the assignment is concerned, so feel free to just ignore any edits (which I will mark) and consider the original post and video only.) Read More…

In The Future of Thinking, Davidson and Goldberg observe, “Fourth, the ‘bowling alone’ pronouncements about the lonely life of the Internet-obsessed youth are over, initially undone by massively multiplayer online games and the popularity of social networking sites.” I’m not sure how I feel about that. On the one hand, many people today use the Read More…

Situated Meaning Principle: The meanings of signs (words, actions, objects, artifacts, symbols, texts, etc.) are situated in embodied experience. Meanings are not general or decontextualized. Whatever generality meanings come to have is discovered bottom up via embodied experiences. — Vasquez, Vivian; Smith, Karen. The Pokémon cartoon series first aired in Japan in 1997 and continues Read More…

Our group had an inspiring discussion this week about participatory culture. We discussed the benefits of this unique approach to learning and producing at school and work, and shared our hopes and concerns about providing all learners with access. @Randy (https://sites.psu.edu/randyoung/) observed that participatory culture through collaboration and networking offers a great opportunity for schools Read More…

Today, it’s harder than ever for people to claim ignorance of the consequences of a poorly-worded Tweet. We hear about someone being “Cancelled” over an incendiary social media post every day. The debate usually focuses on whether or not someone “deserves” to be cancelled; everyone knows it happens. When I was first online, today’s “social Read More…

As an undergraduate, I heard the phrase, “No, you can’t use Internet sources for your paper,” many times. This made sense when the topic was Shakespeare or Mary Shelley, barring some major new finding that upends everything we once thought we knew. But when I was working on an independent study project about the Human Read More…

Interview with Helena Smith   I interviewed the amazing Helena Smith. She is based in Chicago and has spent years working in Instructional Design, Curriculum and Content Development, and Online Education.  I chose to interview Helena because I was interested to learn more about her experience with bleeding edge ID tools like the Alexa Skills Read More…

  Did the Holocaust really happen? No. The Holocaust did not really happen. Six million Jews did not die. It is a Jewish conspiracy theory spread by vested interests to obscure the truth. The truth is that there is no evidence any people were gassed in any camp. The Holocaust did not happen. Are you Read More…

   How is the learner role being conceptualized within the context of connected learning? Is it different from how it has been conceptualized in the past? Why?   The first twelve pages of Connected Learning continue our conceptualization of learners “learning by doing” and “learning by making,” rather than passively accepting instruction. It also discusses Read More…

While I was teaching in New Hampshire, I co-founded and spent several years co-coaching our high school’s policy debate team. At the time, debate at the secondary level was not very prevalant in NH schools; despite being ubiquitous in some regions (like the South), extracurricular debate teams were relatively unknown in our area. To people Read More…