Disruptive Technologies in Teaching and Learning: Comments

Comment on "Laura's Reflection on Class (In Meme Form)"

Mon, 14 May 2012 10:54:02 -0500

hahahaha that is sooo true! This meme thing is hilarious !

Comment on "Girl Talk Intellectuals"

Mon, 07 May 2012 08:46:24 -0500

Another very important point for a truly creative artist is an ability to have a look at ordinary thing from a very unusual point of view.

- Andrew Claiton

Comment on "Dan 2.0"

Mon, 07 May 2012 03:30:34 -0500

It's normal our outlook to be changed by the events and the people we meet in our life. Questions will always arise before us, but I think that there is a little charm in it. I also hope we all continue to keep in touch and share our experiences.

- Moving

Comment on "Occupy Learning - Tuesday, April 17"

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 10:03:00 -0500

Dan dreams of making cardboard arcade games like his idol Caine...

- DANIEL JOSEPH MENDENHALL

Comment on "The Mendenhall Science Community"

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 21:56:49 -0500

I was thinking of hovercrafts, canoes with wheels, or giant spheres which you can get inside and roll at your leisure (American Gladiator style) to handle the diversity of terrain you might encounter in your travels. Or kites. You could build something out of kites.

- ROI KAWAI

Comment on "The Mendenhall Science Community"

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 21:53:24 -0500

That's a beautiful image, Dan. You thought about this in a very complex, highly integrated way. I appreciate your ability to dive out of a conventional rectangular room design and think more in a more pod-like, circular/spherical design. That seems to facilitate more movement and space. I also like how you considered outdoor space as learning space-- there's certainly a number of things to consider in designing outdoors which, in many cases, may not have the same limitations or even framework as indoors.

- ROI KAWAI

Comment on "The Mendenhall Science Community"

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 14:53:22 -0500

1. I went outside once in my undergraduate experience for an english class.

2. I did not go on a single field trip in my undergraduate experience.

- DANIEL JOSEPH MENDENHALL

Comment on "Millennials' Classroom Designs "

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 14:50:11 -0500

Along with your thoughts about windows, I could count on one hand how many times I went outside in high school (not counting fire drills which were a savior on particularly nice days). Should we incorporate outside learning spaces in our designs?? I am all for letting students produce their own vitamin D.

- DANIEL JOSEPH MENDENHALL

Comment on "Millennials' Classroom Designs "

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 14:49:11 -0500

- DANIEL JOSEPH MENDENHALL

Comment on "Designing Spaces"

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 14:43:48 -0500

Really interesting prospective from students. I LOVE CARPET SQUARES!!! They should be utilized more at the undergraduate level. Senior year in high school my English teacher brought in carpet squares, goldfish, and juice, and read to us. Miss those days...

- DANIEL JOSEPH MENDENHALL

Comment on "The Mendenhall Science Community"

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 23:06:57 -0500

...Also, apologizes for the use of Paint.

- DANIEL JOSEPH MENDENHALL

Comment on "Occupy 116 Chambers: A DT Effort"

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 15:36:19 -0500

You gave great information. Very easy to understand and thank you for sharing!

- Portable Storage

Comment on "Thanks Dragons, et.al. for sharing your Rivers of Lives"

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 17:19:49 -0500

Very powerful experience. Have already shared this activity with a friend in the soc department :)

- DANIEL JOSEPH MENDENHALL

Comment on "Class 4-2-12"

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 20:35:30 -0500

Re: brownies -- I predict standing-room only crowds at tomorrow's class.

- Phil Tietjen

Comment on "When you can't be there... Read about it: The value of participation by proxy to synthesize meaning"

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 09:41:48 -0500

Dan, great points. I hadn't thought about the signals that the brain receives. I am concerned about the learners who may not respond to the competitive method. I have been in the classroom with a fair number of students over the past 15 years, albeit under different learning contexts than the presenter, and I have to say that the majority of students stayed fairly close to their preferred ways of engagement. By this I mean that those who were volunteers stayed volunteers; those who tended to observe in large group but talk in small groups repeated that tendency; and those who looked for opportunities to compete with a peer found ways to do so even when I did not provide the context. I have welcomed the Wenger perspective in large part because his views on peripheral participation ring true to my own obervations and interactions in the classroom.

- JULIE FREAR SCHAPPE

Comment on "When you can't be there... Read about it: The value of participation by proxy to synthesize meaning"

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 20:19:58 -0500

I really liked your insight about the session that I attended on gamification. I think gamification could be used to support competition and to support collaboration. Personally, I would prefer that it be used for collaboration, but I guess it depends on the learning theory that you adopt and how you think gamification can encourage participation. I hadn't really thought about what the presenters were stressing (collaboration or competition) but the one professor talked a lot about the chemical signals that your brain receives when it takes risks and receives rewards. I wonder what signals we receive when we collaborate and whether these are as desirable as those that we receive when competing.

- DANIEL JOSEPH MENDENHALL

Comment on "TLT 13: Game on!"

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:06:37 -0500

Thanks Dan for the response. I hear and share your concerns. Yes, I think there can be adverse consequences that can result from these gaming systems that generally rely on popularity rankings. My recollection of the prof's talk was that she didn't delve into a whole lot of detail about the implementation and I'm not sure if that was due to time constraints (since she was sharing the stage with 2 presenters) or something else. In its actual implementation, she may actually do some different sorts of scaffolding which would ideally be designed to minimize these potentially adverse issues. For example, she could develop some sort of rubric related to the readings that the students would use as the basis for their rankings. So if a student ranks a post a 4 (with 5 as the max) then that same student writes a short explanation for their ranking by using the rubric. There could also be meta-discussions of the students' justifications by considering how well-reasoned and evidence-based they were.

On a quasi-related note, it might be interesting to set up a panel of students who might talk about their experience with such a gaming experiment. Where and/or how did they feel engaged? Where did the experience seem to falter ?

- Phil Tietjen

Comment on "When you can't be there... Read about it: The value of participation by proxy to synthesize meaning"

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 13:45:31 -0500

(albeit Phil clearly is a committed tech follower and likely would have attended..

Yeah, Julie, you're right, I tend to be a sucker for these kinds of events ;)

- Phil Tietjen

Comment on "TLT 13: Game on!"

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 19:31:11 -0500

Sorry, I didn't see your post before mine. I'm interested to hear your thoughts on the gamification of postings or blogs. Do you think this could lead to a consortium of students gaming the system instead? Could it become a popularity contest over an encouraging nudge to participate more fully? Extensions on the line is a pretty serious reward in the world of undergraduate students. What about adding a dislike button to discussion site? Oh man, cyber-bullying here we come. Because I don't particularly like you Phil, two stars out of ten on your post.

- DANIEL JOSEPH MENDENHALL

Comment on "TLT Symposium "

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 19:28:44 -0500

http://yourlife.usatoday.com/mind-soul/story/2012-03-26/Technology-can-push-our-crazy-buttons-rewire-brains/53792424/1

I have no agenda posting this. Just thought it could add to the conversation. I don't know how I feel about gaming and increased activity for the brain. All I know is that I had a roommmate that literally failed every class freshman year because he played World of Warcraft every day and night. Maybe he would have regardless of gaming, but that is up for debate. Good thing his dad was a doctor.

- DANIEL JOSEPH MENDENHALL