TLDR 14

Too Long; Didn't Read Issue 14

Published: 2015-09-25 • 📧 Newsletter

Thank you once again for signing up for this newsletter. Thanks again for the support.

This week I got a lot done:

• Interviews for the Hybrid & Blended Learning: Modifying pedagogy across time, place, path, & pace column - As Department Editor of the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy (JAAL), I'm tasked with submitting three to four columns per year. In these columns, I've been investigating and trying to summarize/synthesize the current work in a given area. As a supplement to the print columns, I interview experts in the field to provide more insight. For the latest column on hybrid/blended learning in education, I interviewed Tim Flanagan, Kathryn Kennedy, Amy Hutchison, and Whitney Kilgore. If you're interested in learning more about hybrid/blended learning spaces...I recommend reviewing these interviews.

• The 30-Day Challenge - In this post I discuss my use of regular 30 day challenges to hack my behaviors and develop new routines in my work and life. Take a read, and let me know how you'd like to challenge yourself.

• Meditation, Mindfulness, & Gaining Headspace in my Workflow - Results from my latest 30 day challenge. I've been meditating every morning using the Headspace app. I also share some of my research about meditation/mindfulness.

🔖 Key Takeaways

• Hybrid Learning Experts: JAAL column interviews—Tim Flanagan, Kathryn Kennedy, Amy Hutchison, Whitney Kilgore on pedagogy across time, place, path, pace.
• 30-Day Challenges: Habit hacking through regular challenges—developing new routines in work and life.
• Meditation with Headspace: Latest 30-day challenge results—morning meditation workflow integration.
• Makerspaces Pedagogy: Don't let 3D printers become facilitators of flashier dioramas—focus on learning philosophy, not tools.
• Tree of Life Complete: First comprehensive attempt mapping relationships between all living species—data and code available to play with.

📺 Watch

Theory vs. Hypothesis vs. Law… Explained!

This video from It's Okay to Be Smart explains the difference between theory, hypothesis, law...and the truth involved in each. We've been discussing "theory" and the need for theory in class this week. This video from the PBS series skillfully explains it.

"Yeah, we did science."

📚 Read

Musicians hear songs when they read music, non-musicians seek visual patterns

Over the past couple of TL;DR issues I've shared some research and posts discussing what our brains "see" while reading. In this post from ArsTechnica, research presented in PNAS discuss "training-related plasticity" in our brains. Put simply, training in music fundamentally changes our brains. Very cool.

Time to get my son signed up for those piano lessons. :)

Researchers draft the first comprehensive tree of life

Researchers from Duke University and ten other institutions have published the first attempt to look at the relationships between all living species and connect the dots. You can read the full work here at PNAS.

Better yet...the entire data set and the source code is all available here. You don't have to take their word for it...go play with the data yourself. :)

This is what the Internet looks like

Most of us take the Internet for granted, and could care less about how it gets here. Heinrich Holtgreve doesn't appear to be one of those people.

For the past three years, the photographer has been capturing and sharing the spaces and places that are used to connect us. His series titled The Internet as a Place takes you on a thought-provoking journey of the cables, routers, and black boxes that bring us our cat videos and GIFs.

For something simpler...check out this collection of patent drawings detailing the shape of the Internet.

Situating Makerspaces in Schools

Quite a bit has been shared over the past week in regards to makers and hackers in society and or schools. This piece from Colin Angevine and Josh Weisgrau in Hybrid Pedagogy discuss the need for focusing on pedagogy in these spaces.

The summary:

Laser cutters and 3D printers are expensive tools for schools just as desktop PCs once were. And yet, in the interests of supporting STEM education, schools continue to find funding for high-tech tools. Computers in schools have largely became very expensive spell checkers for writing essays. We can't allow new tools for digital fabrication to become the facilitators of ever flashier dioramas. Defining making in education in terms of tools, spaces, or disciplines is insufficient. Learning through making is a philosophical approach that can affect classes across the curriculum and schools across the globe. It's time to change the paradigm.

Six ways to tell if that viral story is a hoax

I've done a lot of research on critical evaluation of online information. Heck...it was the focus of my dissertation. With that being said...these search mechanisms to evaluate the credibility and relevance of online content are beyond me. I definitely think you should pick up these links and skills and incorporate into your repertoire.

I don't think this is a good way to see if your students are copy/pasting their papers. I do think it's a great way to have your students build their critical media literacy skills in class.

MoocNote - Add timestamped questions and comments to videos

I'm a big fan of Vialogues to add dialogue and build a discussion room around a video. I've been testing it with students and they seem to like it as well. MoocNote seems like an interesting new product to test out for the same purposes.

MoocNote will allow you to add timestamped comments, questions, and links to videos. Much of this is already accomplished by Vialogues. I'll continue to test it to see if the user interface is easier to use.

🔨 Do

Peanutize Yourself

I'm obviously not afraid to create & share avatars of myself. As I guide students and colleagues as they create and curate their digital identity, there is often a question about the image or photo they need to share. Sometimes we're reticent to share a photo, but perhaps an avatar will do.

In that spirit, have some fun and play as you create a digital representation of you...or who'd like to be. Better yet, have students create and share their representations...and talk about how their perceptions.

🤔 Consider

"Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens." — Carl Jung

This week was productive—four expert interviews on hybrid/blended learning, launching a 30-day meditation challenge, documenting habit hacking strategies. The JAAL column work reminds me that synthesis requires conversation. You can't just read the literature; you need to talk to people doing the work.

The 30-day challenge framework is simple: pick something, do it every day for a month, document the experience. Meditation through Headspace became my latest experiment. Morning practice, 10 minutes, building awareness. The research on meditation and mindfulness is compelling, but theory without practice is just reading.

The makerspaces pedagogy critique from Hybrid Pedagogy cuts deep: computers became expensive spell checkers, 3D printers risk becoming flashier diorama facilitators. Tools don't transform learning—philosophy does. Laser cutters and STEM funding won't matter if we don't change the paradigm from making things to learning through making.

Heinrich Holtgreve's photography exposing the Internet's physical infrastructure—cables, routers, black boxes—reminds us that "the cloud" is just someone else's computer. Cat videos and GIFs flow through material spaces we rarely see or think about.

The tree of life research represents open science done right: publish the findings, share the data set, release the source code. "You don't have to take their word for it...go play with the data yourself." That's how knowledge advances.

Jung's quote resonates after weeks of meditation: looking outside creates dreams, looking inside awakens. Both matter, but awakening requires turning inward.

🔗 Navigation

Previous: TLDR 13 • Next: TLDR 15 • Archive: 📧 Newsletter

🌱 Connected Concepts:

• Hybrid and Blended Learning — JAAL expert interviews: Tim Flanagan, Kathryn Kennedy, Amy Hutchison, Whitney Kilgore.
• 30-Day Challenge — Habit hacking framework, behavior modification through daily practice.
• Meditation and Mindfulness — Headspace app integration, morning meditation workflow.
• Makerspaces — Pedagogy over tools, avoiding flashier dioramas, philosophical approach.
• Tree of Life Research — Comprehensive species relationships, open data and code.
• Internet Infrastructure — Heinrich Holtgreve's photography, cables and black boxes.
• Critical Information Evaluation — Dissertation focus, hoax detection, media literacy skills.
• MoocNote — Video annotation alternative to Vialogues, timestamped discussion.
• Peanutize Avatars — Digital identity curation, representation vs. photo.
• Music Training Plasticity — Brain changes from musical training, piano lessons for kids.
• Theory vs Hypothesis — PBS explanation, classroom theory discussions.

Part of the 📧 Newsletter archive documenting digital literacy and technology.