vilberg.com

Game Over for GameStop and Video Game Retailers?

Tue, 29 May 2012 07:27:27 -0400

Game Over for GameStop and Video Game Retailers?: One of the themes of the early Internet was...

http://goo.gl/8Fp2W We are setting up a certification system...

Fri, 25 May 2012 07:27:15 -0400

We are setting up a certification system for our student workers on our Blackboard help desk. Inthe past we gave them raises based on their years of working with us. We are now generating a list of skills that must be mastered in order to move from one level to another. But what do we call our levels?how do we differentiate between them? I have been mulling this over, and came across this article on Martial arts belt colors. What a great strategy! We will e changing our terminology to badges and levels immediately.

This all relates to the gamification literature. We need to find ways to give them points for the number of tickets they complete, the n skills that they obtain, the training that they take part in and the training that they provide. Then we can post scores and display their badges. If they want the black belt, it is theirs for the taking.

(via Critical Technology: Martial Arts Badge Systems Design)

http://www.fontshop.com/glossary.php The language of...

Wed, 23 May 2012 07:39:11 -0400

http://www.fontshop.com/glossary.php

The language of specificity is important in every discipline. When dealing with people outside the discipline it is sometimes called jargon and seen as a way to confuse the public. In fact, it is an important feature of the discipline. The picture shows some of the technical terms for type. We don’t need to know the terms unless we want to talk about type. Then it is our responsibility to learn the vocabulary.

(via Typeface Anatomy and Glossary | FontShop)

http://goo.gl/oe1bs If you have heard about flipping the...

Fri, 18 May 2012 08:48:07 -0400

http://goo.gl/oe1bs

If you have heard about flipping the classroom, read this article. If you have heard of Bloom’s Taxonomy, read this article. If you haven’t heard of either, read this article. (That covers everyone, right?)

I admit to a curious error when I first saw the image for this article. I saw “cheating” as the starting point. Of course creating and cheating only differ by one letter, and “r” does resemble “h”, doesn’t it? But now I am wondering, do some (many?) teachers/faculty see Google as cheating?

We live in a Google world. With smart phones and iPads, the answer to most questions is available instantly, anywhere you are. They can use the facts before having to be told all of them. They can construct the rules, not perfectly or rigorously, but they can begin the construction of the scaffold of understanding, without all the practice and drudgery that we had to experience. Ask a question, and they have the answer immediately, if you let them use Google. How is that learning? They are cheating!

We feel sort of cheated, too, since we had to memorize all the facts before we could start creating. Now our students can access the information and start creating immediately. Their creations are not the high-level research that we are doing, but the creation of the relationships of the facts, creation of the basic rules of our discipline, and creation of learning tools that can be communicated with others to help them learn all of this.

How do we assess the attainment of the basic knowledge in our discipline? Normally we use low level testing. This article mentions having the students create an infographic. That sounds too much like fun. It isn’t fair. Why couldn’t I have learned that way. I feel cheated.

So maybe I need to let go of my feeling that students can learn in this new way, that it isn’t cheating, and that I was not cheated because I was born earlier and didn’t have this opportunity. They are not mini-me and they will not learn the way I learned. Maybe starting with “create” makes sense.

This article was written by a high school teacher. I wonder, how will higher education react if/when more of our students come to us having “learned” in this way? How does our mission in higher education differ from the mission in high school, and does that difference affect this flipped Bloom’s Taxonomy? This was a great article, for me. It generated far more questions than it answered.

(via Flip This: Bloom’s Taxonomy Should Start with Creating | MindShift)

Free, on-line courses. Look them over for yourself. Share them...

Thu, 17 May 2012 07:16:37 -0400

Free, on-line courses. Look them over for yourself. Share them with your students.

http://goo.gl/JJhDz

(via Plan Your Free Online Education at Lifehacker U: Summer Semester 2012)

Are we willing to relish in the many uncertain moments when...

Wed, 16 May 2012 07:31:59 -0400

Are we willing to relish in the many uncertain moments when we’re not sure yet where our efforts are leading?

It is commencement and graduation season. This is a good time to reflect on not only completing the journey, but the journey itself. E end points of education are becoming less defining. High school students dual enroll and have completed college courses at graduation. College students take internships and have job experience at commencement. The demarcations are fuzzier. So they are a more an opportunity to celebrate than a point of transformation. The transformation is continuous. During that transformation the end point is uncertain. Students change majors multiple times. That is part of the journey and deserves celebration as part of this uncertain journey. In “Something Wicked This Way Comes” Ray Bradbury wrote “We share this billion-mile-an-hour ride. We have common cause against the night.” We share this journey. Dn’t just stop and smell the roses, smell everything, all the time.

(via Tiny Wisdom: This Moment Is Worth Savoring | Tiny Buddha: Wisdom Quotes, Letting Go, Letting Happiness In)

"Understanding what Matters"

Tue, 15 May 2012 07:29:06 -0400

“Understanding what Matters” - http://goo.gl/X2zEh Seth Godin: We succeed by...

Teachers Use Twitter As Their Preferred CPD Tool

Mon, 14 May 2012 07:42:00 -0400

Teachers Use Twitter As Their Preferred CPD Tool: http://goo.gl/biQ6k Reading from new sources...

Commencement. Where are our students on the enthusiasm curve?...

Fri, 11 May 2012 08:21:12 -0400

Commencement. Where are our students on the enthusiasm curve? End of the semester. Where are our students on the enthusiasm curve. End of the course. Where are our students on the enthusiasm curve? (End of the week. Where are we on the enthusiasm curve?)

http://www.kanbanblog.com/article/enthusiasm-curve.html

1. “OK, let’s give it a whirl!”
2. “It’s harder than it looks.”
3. “It seems to be working!”
4. “We’re reaching the point of no return. Do we really want to do this forever?”
5. “Hey, we’re starting to get really good at this.”

It is worth taking a moment every so often to see how you...

Thu, 10 May 2012 09:18:58 -0400

It is worth taking a moment every so often to see how you measure up compared to others. Here is a look at worldwide Internet access. Interesting. Lots more to come. http://www.onlineuniversities.com/state-of-internet

(via The State of the Internet | Online Universities)

Interesting reactions to this picture: - Someone younger than...

Wed, 09 May 2012 09:29:00 -0400

Interesting reactions to this picture:
- Someone younger than 20 says, “What is the blue thingy?”
- Someone younger than 10 says, “What is the red thingy?”
- A techy says, “The disk won’t work. It is inserted backwards.”

Celebrate our differences!

"As designers we have to understand that the interface we create dictates the action of the people..."

Tue, 08 May 2012 07:47:26 -0400

“As designers we have to understand that the interface we create dictates the action of the...

"We’re going to see classrooms moving away from lectures to a more collaborative environment,..."

Mon, 07 May 2012 07:40:01 -0400

“We’re going to see classrooms moving away from lectures to a more collaborative...

http://goo.gl/6OotO How can (will?) the Internet and open...

Fri, 04 May 2012 09:54:58 -0400

http://goo.gl/6OotO

How can (will?) the Internet and open publishing of data and written material change scholarly publishing? Here is an interesting take on that question. It is part of a slideshare, available at http://goo.gl/6OotO.

"TheCN.com is a new LMS that provides a social network that enables global interaction of learners."

Thu, 03 May 2012 14:06:54 -0400

“TheCN.com is a new LMS that provides a social network that enables global interaction of...

"Some clumsy attempts at blended learning are to put PowerPoint slides online along with some..."

Wed, 02 May 2012 08:37:02 -0400

“Some clumsy attempts at blended learning are to put PowerPoint slides online along with some...

What computers are students using at the University of Miami?...

Tue, 01 May 2012 11:24:50 -0400

What computers are students using at the University of Miami? In the last week we have been monitoring usage of a link that students use to evaluate their courses. As you can see in the chart, more students are using Macintosh computers than Windows computers. Not a lot more, but there is a lead. Since, by observations, far more students seem to own a Mac than a Windows PC, perhaps they are using the computers in the library (all Windows PCs) or computers at home in larger numbers.

Guy Kawasaki on enchantment for achieving influence

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 17:51:55 -0400

Guy Kawasaki on enchantment for achieving influence: Guy Kawasaki was the Macintosh Evangelist. He...

"Remind me, why are we using an LMS again??."

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 07:58:05 -0400

“Remind me, why are we using an LMS again??.” - http://goo.gl/e3a2K This provides an...

"Among the problems on college campuses today are that students study for exams and faculty encourage..."

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 08:50:05 -0400

“Among the problems on college campuses today are that students study for exams and faculty...