ALT Lab

" I am fortunate to be teaching a course this semester that I have successfully taught before and I have always loved to teach. I must admit that when it comes to my course rotation roster, I am always happy when it is time to teach this one. But, this semester, my new approach feels like I am hanging on a limb. I am uncertain. I feel vulnerable. I fear my experiment will fail. (Despite the fact that I know we really need to rethink this notion of failure.) So why do this? Because somewhere down in my gut I know that vulnerability is the heart of learning, and I know I need to learn too."

Here's the course site for Mia Zamora's #WritingRace course.

Nice student blog post on virtual reality, meditation, and nature.

Pretty much the pattern I use for most things . . . "I started by examining her portfolio, moved on to the portfolios of other student fellows, then further into whatever I could find through Google. The process helped me see concrete examples and visualize what I was trying to learn. My website now is more or less a melting pot of all cool things I found on about 40 websites along with my own additions and stylistic choices and is completely different from any of them. With all that in mind, I wanted to share how seeking inspiration from existing projects can help you. "

Great way to offer tech support to students in an online course, by the great Laura Gibbs at U. of Oklahoma

Some say Connected Learning, some say Networked Learning... This is an important primer on the topic, from back in 2005

Yes, it's MIT, but this is a very interesting report.

A nice video done by my friend Ben Grey for the US DoE. Are we prepared for these kids?

Does space matter?

Maybe this is a framework/concept for doing some of the ALT Lab documentation. It mixes tutorial/tool guide/example in a way that works pretty well.

I like this concept we can show examples of various interesting things faculty are doing and explain the creation process. That way faculty work is always at the forefront of what we do

"Stephen Downes, a co-creator of the first Connectivist learning environments, offers an even more radical framing: he argues that the content is a MacGuffin, the plot device in a Hitchcock movie that starts the story but ultimately proves unimportant. "

"Audrey Watters: It's gonna take more than a 'genius hour'. I've tried to do something somewhat like this - it's essential for my team to have time to explore, create, play, discover, etc., and they can't do that if they're expected to be "on task" 100% of the time. A big part of our role in the Technology Integration Group is to go deliberately off script, off-piste, and do things that we think are worth trying. Even if (especially if?) it's not an Official Project. But, it's hard to sustain when Real Projects and Deadlines loom and suck up all of the available time. So we have cycles. There are weeks where we're all "on task", and weeks where we're exploring new stuff. "

Something I might consider as an alternative to Feedly. It has some nice features like looking across your Twitter network for the most shared items.

"Some may consider online learning to be the anti-classroom.  A rebellion against the chalkboard and the Blackboard in favor of virtual classrooms, avatars in sweater vests lecturing in a Charlie Brown monotone…  I simply look at it as a different kind of team approach to learning.  More opportunities for inputs.  If anything, it makes the scholarship more rigorous.  As both teachers and students, it is becoming increasingly difficult to hide behind airs of academia when the scholarship can be researched, published, evaluated and revised in a nano-second.  It makes educational leadership even more important when the skills necessary to synthesize information both in person and on line are changing, and changing quickly."

"Online Learning, like any educational tool, requires utilization, evaluation, reflection and modification.  We cannot engage in that process unless we actually DO IT. "

" The mentors seemed to effortlessly navigate the onslaught of information and identify the most pertinent information and then tweet it or post it in a way that was intriguing to the reader.  I want to be able to do this!!! I think the ultimate thing the availability of all the information does is make one appreciate the importance of being a student of life and to never stop seeking ways to grow.  Therein lies the modeling and mentorship of the digital age professor!"

"I'd say the biggest observation I've come across in the last couple weeks, is that the online co-learning model breaks down the barriers of the traditional teacher/student relationship. Collaborating, sharing, and building ideas and understanding through open discuss instead bland lecture (here's the information, learn it, regurgitate it for a test). Creating the open platform to express ideas, and then expand upon them with easy reference to the information on the web (i.e., youtube videos, spotify, etc.). The responsibility then lies with each of us (student and teacher) to clearly express our meaning, intention, interpretation, and understanding of material, and back it up with an openness to build on criticism, and defend our viewpoint. And as we've discussed, they, the students, have full ownership of their work, so they may use it for future reference, when needed. In a way, it's like what Beethoven, Debussy, and punk rock have done with music. Each in their own right said, screw the "rules" I'm going to create the music I feel is necessary. The music inside me." h/t to Joyce

"He finally put the Rift off his head, his eyes were in a total state of blown away. He put the Rift away and just sat there, saying nothing. Some colleagues were giggling and I asked how he liked it. It looked like my question was just some noise to him, and he replied, "sorry, it's just so much information that I have to process" after 5 minutes of staring he shook his head and stood up. "I would never expect this", "the building isn't finished, and I've already been there" "as an architect, this is cheating, my god". "

"Biology was once largely a descriptive science, largely limited to agriculture and medicine. This is no longer true. Biology is Technology. From programmable microbes to human-machine symbiosis, biological technologies are expanding our definition of technology and redefining how we interact with and use biology. We now have the opportunity for a radically new approach to developing game-changing applications and solutions to intractable problems. "