In addition to cultivating our minds, Sharon and I enjoyed food for the soul at some of New Orleans' French Quarter hot spots, such as Brennan's for breakfast, Landry's Seafood House for dinner, and Pat O'Brien's for a late night Hurricane.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Presenting Research at AERA in New Orleans, April 2011
In addition to cultivating our minds, Sharon and I enjoyed food for the soul at some of New Orleans' French Quarter hot spots, such as Brennan's for breakfast, Landry's Seafood House for dinner, and Pat O'Brien's for a late night Hurricane.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Thomas and Seely Brown's book, A New Culture of Learning
I recently wrote a review of Thomas and Seely Brown's new book, A New Culture of Learning, which appears in the Summer 2011 issue of Education Canada. URL: http://www.cea-ace.ca/education-canada/article/playing-learn I believe that ALL education students, both graduate and undergraduate, and ALL Education faculty members should read this book to gain new awareness about participatory learning beyond school.
Here are the opening paragraphs:
"Play is neither trivial nor frivolous; it is how we learn. Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown take seriously the role of play as a mindset that needs to be cultivated in education. In A New Culture of Learning, they invite us to see how a world in constant flux is not either a problem to solve or a challenge to overcome. Via richly textured stories about what learning and play look and feel like in digitally connected participatory cultures, the authors invite readers to imagine how teaching might respond to a world in constant change."
"In a skillful analysis of shifting learning contexts and cultures, the authors explore learning as a cultural, social, and continuous process of inquiry, engagement, and participation in the world around us. Given that knowledge and information are dynamic and changing, that current technologies are participatory and emergent, they argue that learning environments must be transformed into knowledge building collectives that constantly create and respond to change".
I encourage you to read the rest of my review: URL: http://www.cea-ace.ca/education-canada/article/playing-learn
And of course, to read the book itself!! Thomas and Brown's, A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change. URL: http://www.newcultureoflearning.com/
Here are the opening paragraphs:
"Play is neither trivial nor frivolous; it is how we learn. Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown take seriously the role of play as a mindset that needs to be cultivated in education. In A New Culture of Learning, they invite us to see how a world in constant flux is not either a problem to solve or a challenge to overcome. Via richly textured stories about what learning and play look and feel like in digitally connected participatory cultures, the authors invite readers to imagine how teaching might respond to a world in constant change."
"In a skillful analysis of shifting learning contexts and cultures, the authors explore learning as a cultural, social, and continuous process of inquiry, engagement, and participation in the world around us. Given that knowledge and information are dynamic and changing, that current technologies are participatory and emergent, they argue that learning environments must be transformed into knowledge building collectives that constantly create and respond to change".
I encourage you to read the rest of my review: URL: http://www.cea-ace.ca/education-canada/article/playing-learn
And of course, to read the book itself!! Thomas and Brown's, A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change. URL: http://www.newcultureoflearning.com/
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
A bit of Educational Technology History and Meaning
Here is a short description of Educational Technology that I wrote a while back for my EDER 671 - Conceptualizing Educational Technology graduate course description.
Already a senior citizen in the educational research community, Educational Technology is a vibrant field of study that has undergone many changes in its 70+ year history.
While the field has worked with several definitions over the years, the current definition is: “Educational technology is the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using and managing appropriate technological processes and resources” (Januszewski & Molenda, 2008).
This course provides an overview of educational technology in the context of research on learning that bridges theory and practice. While the popular notion of "technology" is often associated with a variety of pieces of equipment, such as computers, video cameras and networks, and product development, such as web sites and podcasts, we will conceptualize educational technology more broadly as the systematic application of knowledge to solve instructional problems. Media, hardware, software and networks are considered in the contexts of design, development and utilization of technology that supports intentional learning environments, relationships and communities.
EDER 671 serves as an introduction to educational technology for those who are new to the program, students from other specializations, and anyone who wants to broaden their understanding of facilitating learning with technology. The possible topics for this course are unlimited and diverse.
Inquiry can range from social computing, virtual reality, multimedia, hypertext, simulation and game-based learning to distributed expertise, visual communication, cultural and political impacts, knowledge management and industrial design, to the role of library and information professionals, change and adoption models, corporate and public partnerships, and all the e-this and i-that topics, if you insist (i.e., e-publishing, e-marketing, e-learning, e-business, e-bay, i-Mac, iBalls, iPods, iCulture, and i-cannot-keep-up! ;-).
Instructor selected topics provide merely a broad foundation for discourse that can echo a diverse range of student derived issues and ideas. Students are encouraged to focus their individual scholarship on particular educational technology topics, key issues in educational technology, and emerging trends about which they are passionate and curious.
The instructional methodology for this course is largely inquiry-based. Students will inquire individually and collaboratively into educational technology issues, questions and concepts that define the field. Students will actively reflect on their learning, debate ideas in a scholarly community of inquiry, and will be encouraged to apply new knowledge in the design of a learning web and opportunity for their peers via a wiki. Students will construct philosophical perspectives, investigate diverse educational technology topics and dig deep into instructional problems that they define. The course will be a success if students end up with more questions and key issues to frame ongoing inquiry in the field of educational technology and the end of semester than they started with in the beginning!
For further commentary on educational technology, I suggest you read an article by Denis Hylnka and I wrote in Spring 2009, "What is educational technology, anyway? A commentary on the new AECT definition of the field", By Denis Hlynka and Michele Jacobsen, for the Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 35(2). URL: http://www.cjlt.ca/index.php/cjlt/article/view/527/260
Already a senior citizen in the educational research community, Educational Technology is a vibrant field of study that has undergone many changes in its 70+ year history.
While the field has worked with several definitions over the years, the current definition is: “Educational technology is the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using and managing appropriate technological processes and resources” (Januszewski & Molenda, 2008).
This course provides an overview of educational technology in the context of research on learning that bridges theory and practice. While the popular notion of "technology" is often associated with a variety of pieces of equipment, such as computers, video cameras and networks, and product development, such as web sites and podcasts, we will conceptualize educational technology more broadly as the systematic application of knowledge to solve instructional problems. Media, hardware, software and networks are considered in the contexts of design, development and utilization of technology that supports intentional learning environments, relationships and communities.
EDER 671 serves as an introduction to educational technology for those who are new to the program, students from other specializations, and anyone who wants to broaden their understanding of facilitating learning with technology. The possible topics for this course are unlimited and diverse.
Inquiry can range from social computing, virtual reality, multimedia, hypertext, simulation and game-based learning to distributed expertise, visual communication, cultural and political impacts, knowledge management and industrial design, to the role of library and information professionals, change and adoption models, corporate and public partnerships, and all the e-this and i-that topics, if you insist (i.e., e-publishing, e-marketing, e-learning, e-business, e-bay, i-Mac, iBalls, iPods, iCulture, and i-cannot-keep-up! ;-).
Instructor selected topics provide merely a broad foundation for discourse that can echo a diverse range of student derived issues and ideas. Students are encouraged to focus their individual scholarship on particular educational technology topics, key issues in educational technology, and emerging trends about which they are passionate and curious.
The instructional methodology for this course is largely inquiry-based. Students will inquire individually and collaboratively into educational technology issues, questions and concepts that define the field. Students will actively reflect on their learning, debate ideas in a scholarly community of inquiry, and will be encouraged to apply new knowledge in the design of a learning web and opportunity for their peers via a wiki. Students will construct philosophical perspectives, investigate diverse educational technology topics and dig deep into instructional problems that they define. The course will be a success if students end up with more questions and key issues to frame ongoing inquiry in the field of educational technology and the end of semester than they started with in the beginning!
For further commentary on educational technology, I suggest you read an article by Denis Hylnka and I wrote in Spring 2009, "What is educational technology, anyway? A commentary on the new AECT definition of the field", By Denis Hlynka and Michele Jacobsen, for the Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 35(2). URL: http://www.cjlt.ca/index.php/cjlt/article/view/527/260
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Leadership Breakthrough
Thank you! THANK YOU! Deanna Werklund, for sponsoring me for the Leadership Breakthrough I Training. I have taught for 16 years, and I have been a professor for 12 years - I learned so much about leadership, teamwork, passion, courage, teaching and having fun from my peers and trainers - my hat is off to these 25 dynamic and courageous individuals who are changing the world one day at a time. I am looking forward to sharing my experiences and my leadership with youth!!
I had FUN! I totally stepped out of my comfort zone and I do not want to go back! Groups of 400 people in a lecture? Totally my comfort zone. Being a strong leader who gives people positive feedback? No problem, and I will get even better at this. Giving people the feedback they need to improve -- gotta work on that. Getting closer to colleagues and building strong relationships -- I will get better at that.
I smiled and laughed and cried and also rediscovered my voice!
I have a powerful voice and I am not afraid to use it.
JFDI. Just Focus and Do It.
I am strong. I am powerful. I will overcome. I AM A LEADER.
I had FUN! I totally stepped out of my comfort zone and I do not want to go back! Groups of 400 people in a lecture? Totally my comfort zone. Being a strong leader who gives people positive feedback? No problem, and I will get even better at this. Giving people the feedback they need to improve -- gotta work on that. Getting closer to colleagues and building strong relationships -- I will get better at that.
I smiled and laughed and cried and also rediscovered my voice!
I have a powerful voice and I am not afraid to use it.
JFDI. Just Focus and Do It.
I am strong. I am powerful. I will overcome. I AM A LEADER.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Heat And Energy From Crap
For this, my 140th blog post, I will highlight an interesting, albeit unconventional 'crap' project by my Chemical Engineering colleagues, Dr. Ian Gates and Dr. Michael Kallos, in the Schulich School of Engineering: Turning human excrement into electricity. This is a serious project with some 100K in funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Congratulations boys and best of luck with this knowledge building and world changing innovative work.
And thank you, my loyal reader, for joining me on my short, but well-deserved break, from end-of-semester marking. Bye for now.
And thank you, my loyal reader, for joining me on my short, but well-deserved break, from end-of-semester marking. Bye for now.
Spring Snow in Alberta
Monday, April 18, 2011
Dementia - Getting used to a new reality
Today, I am taking a few minutes to capture my thoughts about dementia, and link to a few items that have recently been in the news.
My mom, sisters and I called it our family's "new reality" when dad was diagnosed as having progressive dementia. It was particularly challenging, emotionally, for us to learn about Dad's diagnosis when he was in the emergency room after suffering a stroke. Our fragile illusion and tenuous hope that he would recover were shattered by the emergency room doctor's frank description of the damage caused by the stroke, as well as the other damage, likely related to diabetes, that the scans had revealed.
Dad was still physically our dad, and still smiled his same smile. I cherished the moments when we had a conversation that echoed of the dad I knew and the relationship we had before the stroke. I also learned to cherish my new relationship with my dad - I touched him more often because he would let me and he needed me to do things for him. I held his hands or stroked his arm, he would let me put lotion on, or I would hold a straw to his mouth so he could drink, or feed him supper with a spoon - none of these things happened before the stroke or the dementia. Dad and I had new conversations and there was a different kinds of openness and sharing on both sides that did not occur prior to the stroke - like the time dad observed that my mom took on too many burdens, that my children were quite competitive, and when he reflected on the strength of our family. "We have a strong family, we are lucky", he said. Dad struggled to communicate at times, and I ached for him.
It is sad to see that Ralph Klein is suffering a form of dementia that robs him of his ability to speak [URL, URL, URL]. I was in grade 9 when Ralph Klein was first elected mayor of Calgary. As a leader, he touched many lives in Alberta, and will be remembered both fondly and not so fondly [URL, URL, URL].
Dawna Friesen's blogpost, My Dad and Dementia, also caused me to reflect on the many changes we observed when my dad was placed in long term care after his stroke and diagnosis of dementia.
Finally, today I learned about the Fred Lewicki Memorial Lecture, a series inspired by Sigrid Lewicki and her husband's experiences living with dementia for 9 years. From this article, I also learned that the number of people with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias is expected to double in the next 20 years, which is a New Reality for All of Us, and a call to action for our health and education systems.
My mom, sisters and I called it our family's "new reality" when dad was diagnosed as having progressive dementia. It was particularly challenging, emotionally, for us to learn about Dad's diagnosis when he was in the emergency room after suffering a stroke. Our fragile illusion and tenuous hope that he would recover were shattered by the emergency room doctor's frank description of the damage caused by the stroke, as well as the other damage, likely related to diabetes, that the scans had revealed.
Dad was still physically our dad, and still smiled his same smile. I cherished the moments when we had a conversation that echoed of the dad I knew and the relationship we had before the stroke. I also learned to cherish my new relationship with my dad - I touched him more often because he would let me and he needed me to do things for him. I held his hands or stroked his arm, he would let me put lotion on, or I would hold a straw to his mouth so he could drink, or feed him supper with a spoon - none of these things happened before the stroke or the dementia. Dad and I had new conversations and there was a different kinds of openness and sharing on both sides that did not occur prior to the stroke - like the time dad observed that my mom took on too many burdens, that my children were quite competitive, and when he reflected on the strength of our family. "We have a strong family, we are lucky", he said. Dad struggled to communicate at times, and I ached for him.
It is sad to see that Ralph Klein is suffering a form of dementia that robs him of his ability to speak [URL, URL, URL]. I was in grade 9 when Ralph Klein was first elected mayor of Calgary. As a leader, he touched many lives in Alberta, and will be remembered both fondly and not so fondly [URL, URL, URL].
Dawna Friesen's blogpost, My Dad and Dementia, also caused me to reflect on the many changes we observed when my dad was placed in long term care after his stroke and diagnosis of dementia.
Finally, today I learned about the Fred Lewicki Memorial Lecture, a series inspired by Sigrid Lewicki and her husband's experiences living with dementia for 9 years. From this article, I also learned that the number of people with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias is expected to double in the next 20 years, which is a New Reality for All of Us, and a call to action for our health and education systems.
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