Blog final comments

It has been a lot of fun posting to the blog for this course. It has been a long time since I have had a class in which writing down overall thoughts for the week was part of the course. It is interesting the thoughts you gain when you just sit and ponder something. As I was thinking about this I came to the conclusion that this may be the largest advantage of a blog in an educational setting; it is fun and it may result in thoughts that were otherwise not there. So that is my final comment, blogs have an excellent educational purpose in thought generation (in a non-challenging, non-exam, non-paper format).

Good luck everyone, it was fun.

Dan

Oh yeah, have wonderful times with your familes over the next few weeks.

Dan

Thanks everyone for all of the discussions and everything I have learned.

Games

I don't think there is anyone who doesn't like games. I have spent in my past on games than I wish to recount. I like to think I learned something from all of them. In a lot of cases I learned how unlike real life a game can be. (You get to start over when ever you wish.) Anyway, I agree that the prevalence of simulations, games and simulation games should only increase. It is human nature, we all like to win.

Any possible negatives

I was wondering this week if there are any large negatives to the expanse of LO oriented design and delivery? I am not sure why, but if something seems to be a great idea, there must be some negatives attached. The one think that I have come up with and am nervous about is whether or not new information will be incorporated as quickly as it should be. The idea is that a LO is swapped for a different LO if / when necessary. However, what if only part of the LO needs to be updated? Is there a decrease in thought and design if it is all there for me to pick and choose. I am still pondering this.

This is Nevan and Amelia

Instant Messaging for Education

I am not sure I have gained substantially from the instant message exercise, at least from an educational perspective. I have become a little more proficient in the use of the newer software, but the few discussions I have had have not necessarily been over and above the topics discussed on the class site. In terms of instant messaging itself, I have used it for years, mostly as a cheap way to communicate with distant family.

Current results may be largely due to my lack of time this quarter however, as I have used instant messaging to setup group projects in other courses with excellent results. It does what it is suppose to do, bring multiple people together to communicate in real-time.

Dan:

I can't find a copy of your multimedia presentation. Could you send me one? Thanks

Dan:

Congratulations! I can't remember a happier time in my own life! Enjoy it every minute of it. It really doesn't get better than this.

Frank

Dan:

New member of the family

My son was born Saturday (2oth) at 5:52. He is amazing. I will kept up on the rest of class and life shortly. Thanks.

Great Site

Dan:

The http://www.nature.com/neurosci/neuropod/index.html site was great for use in my classes. I have provided the URL to my social scient students. It addresses theory as well as practice. Thanks


Frank

Miltipoint software

Dan:

The article that you found on new products from Microsoft was enlightening. I particularly liked the multipoint software program where students can interact simultaneously on one screen. It would certainly seem if the right kind of exercises were developed that it would be a great opportunity for social interaction, learning specifically using scaffolding.

Podcasts are definitely the take learning with you mechanism of today. For any science geeks out there the neuroscience podcasts are usually very interesting. http://www.nature.com/neurosci/neuropod/index.html

Check it out.

Relevance

I thought this article was interesting, in light of what some of our class discussions have been. For technology (in any venue) to be worth while it must be relevant.

http://www.news.com/At-Microsoft,-seeking-the-next-billion-computer-users/2008-1014_3-6212609.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&subj=news

I love the HHMI site, from both a researcher and an instructional aspect. Isn't it nice when the research is backed by lots of educational outreach. And in this case, well designed. Although it seems like an odd place, most large biotech companies also do a nice job of basic biology instruction on their site. (for those who might be interested.)

Just for the record, at the moment 75% of those in the poll think there should be a class blog.

Open ended learning environments are my idea of what the direction of education should be. Useful, educational, with a bit of a personal blog about them.

Week 3

The NASA site is nice, with lots of good info. I could have used a little less animated fields and a few more real pictures. A former co-worker of mine did microbial testing on the Mars Rovers, which I always thought was cool.

WBT and WBE both have benefits, just make sure you don't mistake one for the other.

Later.

AHHH, so many blogs. I will get to all of yours eventually

Welcome to the first post of Dan Harrigan's blog. And thanks for stopping.