Just a quick run through of what the Supercool School platform can do . . . using it as an experimental teaching and learning tool for the Wounded Warrior Project. Check it out:
:)
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
Wedding Slideshow Snippets
So I'm getting married on Valentine's Day . . . that's like 6 days from now. Here are some photos that will be on the slideshow. I love technology. Makes things easy.
Live Love Learn as always,
B.
Live Love Learn as always,
B.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Video Games For Learning Pt. 1
So recently I've been digesting James Paul Gee's "What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy" and I wanted to document some of the principles in it to serve as a reference point for me in my educational projects. Very good info for designers, teachers, system architects, and of course gamers.
Oh last thing, the definition of SEMIOTIC DOMAIN is this "any set of practices that recruits one or more modalities (images, equations, symbols, sounds, graphs, artifacts, etc.) to communicate distinctive types of meanings."
Here are the first 12 principles:
1. Active, Critical Learning Principle: all aspects of the learning environment(including the ways in which the semiotic domain is designed and presented) are set up to encourage active and critical, not passive, learning.
2. Design Principle: learning about and coming to appreciate design and design principles is core to the learning experience.
3. Semiotic Principle: learning about and coming to appreciate interrelations within and across multiple sign systems (images, words, actions, symbols, atifacts, etc.) as a complex system is core to the learning experience.
4. Semiotic Domains Principle: learning involves mastering, at some level, semiotic domains, and being able to participate at some level, in the affinity group or groups connected to them.
5. Metalevel Thinking about Semiotic Domains Principle: learning involves active and critical thinking about the relationships of the semiotic domain being learned to other semiotic domains.
6. "Psychosocial Moratorium" Principle: learners can take risks in a space where real-world consequences are lowered.
7. Committed Learning Principle: learners participate in an extended engagement (lots of effort and practice) as extensions of their real-world identities in relation to a virtual identity to which they feel some commitment and a virtual world that they find compelling.
8. Identity Principle: learning involves taking on and playing with identities in such a way that the learner has real choices (in developing the virtual identity) and ample opportunity to meditate on the relationship between new identities and old ones. There is a tripartite play of identities as learners relate, and reflect on, their multiple real-world identities, a virtual identity, and a projective identity.
9. Self Knowledge Principle: the virtual world is constructed in such a way that learners learn not only about the domain but about themselves and their current and potential capacities.
10. Amplification of Input Principle: for a little input, learners get a lot of output.
11. Achievement Principle: for learners of all levels of skill there are intrinsic rewards from the beginning, customized to each learner's level, effort, and growing mastery and signaling the learner's ongoing achievements.
12. Practice Principle: learners get lots and lots of practice in a context where the practice is not boring (i.e. in a virtual world that is compelling to learners on their own terms and where the learners experience ongoing success). They spend lots of time on task.
So this wraps up the first dozen. I will hopefully be able to use these in my future pursuits and projects in relation to online education, educational gaming, and the like. That is all.
as always continue to Live, Love, and Learn . . .
B
Oh last thing, the definition of SEMIOTIC DOMAIN is this "any set of practices that recruits one or more modalities (images, equations, symbols, sounds, graphs, artifacts, etc.) to communicate distinctive types of meanings."
Here are the first 12 principles:
1. Active, Critical Learning Principle: all aspects of the learning environment(including the ways in which the semiotic domain is designed and presented) are set up to encourage active and critical, not passive, learning.
2. Design Principle: learning about and coming to appreciate design and design principles is core to the learning experience.
3. Semiotic Principle: learning about and coming to appreciate interrelations within and across multiple sign systems (images, words, actions, symbols, atifacts, etc.) as a complex system is core to the learning experience.
4. Semiotic Domains Principle: learning involves mastering, at some level, semiotic domains, and being able to participate at some level, in the affinity group or groups connected to them.
5. Metalevel Thinking about Semiotic Domains Principle: learning involves active and critical thinking about the relationships of the semiotic domain being learned to other semiotic domains.
6. "Psychosocial Moratorium" Principle: learners can take risks in a space where real-world consequences are lowered.
7. Committed Learning Principle: learners participate in an extended engagement (lots of effort and practice) as extensions of their real-world identities in relation to a virtual identity to which they feel some commitment and a virtual world that they find compelling.
8. Identity Principle: learning involves taking on and playing with identities in such a way that the learner has real choices (in developing the virtual identity) and ample opportunity to meditate on the relationship between new identities and old ones. There is a tripartite play of identities as learners relate, and reflect on, their multiple real-world identities, a virtual identity, and a projective identity.
9. Self Knowledge Principle: the virtual world is constructed in such a way that learners learn not only about the domain but about themselves and their current and potential capacities.
10. Amplification of Input Principle: for a little input, learners get a lot of output.
11. Achievement Principle: for learners of all levels of skill there are intrinsic rewards from the beginning, customized to each learner's level, effort, and growing mastery and signaling the learner's ongoing achievements.
12. Practice Principle: learners get lots and lots of practice in a context where the practice is not boring (i.e. in a virtual world that is compelling to learners on their own terms and where the learners experience ongoing success). They spend lots of time on task.
So this wraps up the first dozen. I will hopefully be able to use these in my future pursuits and projects in relation to online education, educational gaming, and the like. That is all.
as always continue to Live, Love, and Learn . . .
B
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Playing w/ Intua Beatmaker Again
When I'm alone in my room sometimes I stare at the wall and then I jump on my phone and make some music for y'all!!!
:)
In the Hotel, Can't Sleep
It was like 4am and I just needed something to do . . . please don't judge me, it was late.
:)
B
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Brandon Plays w/ Beatmaker for iPhone
So I got done with my work a little earlier than I anticipated today and decided to throw together a video of an app that I've been enjoying for a while now, Intua's Beatmaker. I make a quick beat in this video, drop a verse, and show you another beat that I finished up on earlier. Enjoy it.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
SMART Phones vs. PTSD & TBI
I've been tasked with putting together a computer basics curriculum that would benefit the American wounded warriors from Iraq and Afghanistan. These men and women have served their country with honor and are looking to take on a computer trade in the service or out in the civilian world. There are a couple of challenges to pulling this curriculum together: (1) most of these soldiers have very limited knowledge about technical matters (2) most of these soldiers suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and/or Traumatic Brain Injury. These disorders make it difficult to focus on tasks and they also make it hard for soldiers remember things. So taking that knowledge into account, I am going about my journey of creating something that would benefit an individual in this condition.
Let's talk about what SMART phones can do to help us out here. I will use the iPhone as an example just because I have one and we have been given 30 of them (thank you Apple) to carry out this pilot with the soldiers. I am playing around with the concept of using apps for learning. I firmly believe that apps can be a nice way to introduce/demonstrate/reinforce course material. Working under the assumption that this approach isn't flawed we proceed.
In learning something new there are a couple of things that always take place: (1) the new concept is defined and explained (2) the learner's knowledge of the facts around the new concept are repetitively exercised/affirmed (3) the learner's knowledge about the new concept is tested by demonstration of procedures (exams, lab experiments, etc.). So if we take a look at the iPhone at these three stages we are able to see that there are apps out there that address the needs of new learners for each stage. Let's go stage by stage and sample some apps that would help our soldiers.
STAGE 1: A new concept is defined and explained
Almost every app out there has some sort of explanation to help guide you as you use it. I play a lot of game apps and part of my ritual before playing for the first time is checking out the tutorial. This should provide a high level explanation of the major concepts of the game and visual reinforcement for the user so that the app (in general) is understood. This stage can be likened to a professor delivering a lecture to a class of students. High level concepts are described, but much of the low-level work is left out. Some examples of apps with high-level tutorials are Tic Tac Toe Ten and Bailout Wars. Tic Tac Toe Ten has a tutorial video while Bailout Wars has a couple of slides to flip through for users to understand how to play. The main point of this stage is to introduce the learner to the concept and to provide any background knowledge about the concept that would help the learner digest it easier in the stages that follow.
STAGE 2: the learner's knowledge of the facts around the new concept are repetitively exercised/affirmed
Let's talk about what SMART phones can do to help us out here. I will use the iPhone as an example just because I have one and we have been given 30 of them (thank you Apple) to carry out this pilot with the soldiers. I am playing around with the concept of using apps for learning. I firmly believe that apps can be a nice way to introduce/demonstrate/reinforce course material. Working under the assumption that this approach isn't flawed we proceed.
In learning something new there are a couple of things that always take place: (1) the new concept is defined and explained (2) the learner's knowledge of the facts around the new concept are repetitively exercised/affirmed (3) the learner's knowledge about the new concept is tested by demonstration of procedures (exams, lab experiments, etc.). So if we take a look at the iPhone at these three stages we are able to see that there are apps out there that address the needs of new learners for each stage. Let's go stage by stage and sample some apps that would help our soldiers.
STAGE 1: A new concept is defined and explained
Almost every app out there has some sort of explanation to help guide you as you use it. I play a lot of game apps and part of my ritual before playing for the first time is checking out the tutorial. This should provide a high level explanation of the major concepts of the game and visual reinforcement for the user so that the app (in general) is understood. This stage can be likened to a professor delivering a lecture to a class of students. High level concepts are described, but much of the low-level work is left out. Some examples of apps with high-level tutorials are Tic Tac Toe Ten and Bailout Wars. Tic Tac Toe Ten has a tutorial video while Bailout Wars has a couple of slides to flip through for users to understand how to play. The main point of this stage is to introduce the learner to the concept and to provide any background knowledge about the concept that would help the learner digest it easier in the stages that follow.
STAGE 2: the learner's knowledge of the facts around the new concept are repetitively exercised/affirmed
So at this stage the learner has become familiar with the definitions of words that relate to the concept at hand. He/She should be able to recite a canned (memorized) response to very high level questions concerning the concept in question. This stage can be equated to a professor giving out homework once the lecture has been given. The learner now has to wrestle with the concept and do exercises and problems that reinforce the knowledge from the lecture. Apps like Kaplan GRE Exam and Cram fit this stage perfectly. Both apps allow the learner to drill himself/herself in a repetitive manner until the objectives are met. For the Kaplan GRE Exam app the objective is to learn words and their definitions. For the Cram app, a learner can create flashcards on any subject matter and drill themselves until they have internalized the concepts. The notion of repetition and drilling is a very key component in acquiring information and retaining that information.
STAGE 3: the learner's knowledge about the new concept is tested by demonstration/explanation of procedures
STAGE 3: the learner's knowledge about the new concept is tested by demonstration/explanation of procedures
At this stage most of the heavy lifting has been done by the learner. This stage is the equivalent of a written or an oral exam. The learner's knowledge of the concept is now revealed for what it is just as long as the examination is detailed enough. An app like SAT Practice Tests (math) is a perfect example of this examination concept. In the app, the learner must answer multiple choice questions from the domain of geometry, algebra, and trigonometry. There is really no faking it (unless you happen to be an awesome guesser). For the most part, the hard work from Stage 2 (or lack thereof) will come to the surface when demonstration or explanation are required. Research shows that learners who have the best grasp of a concept are individuals who can teach others how to do the very thing that they just learned. The aim at the end of the SMART phone activities would be to get the soldiers to teach each other the very concepts that they have just internalized themselves. If we are able to get to this point then our objectives have been accomplished!!!
More to come in the future ... check out the apps above if you get a chance ... we'll see you soon
B
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About Me
- bware218
- entrepreneur, writer, counselor, gamer, musician, hustler, bookworm, lyricist, engineer, salesman, friend, athlete, dreamer . . .