TLDR 15

Too Long; Didn't Read Issue 15

Published: 2015-10-02 • 📧 Newsletter

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This week I posted:

• The video trailer for The WalkMyWorld Project - If you're a regular reader of my blog, you've heard about the WalkMyWorld Project. If you haven't, it's an open learning, open research experiment I've been running over the last couple of years with my colleagues. In the next two weeks, I'm presenting a session in the K12online conference on the project. As a teaser for the project, I produced the video trailer I shared below for the project. I'll share the full session once I'm finished producing it.

• Building critical media literacy in the deictic & ambiguous nature of text - Funny name, funnier video. This is a video recording of the Pecha Kucha session on "text" that I presented at the LRA Conference last December. Thanks to Greg McVerry for editing it together. I learned from watching the video that I need to stop moving around...and it's okay to pause and have silence. :)

• Four Questions for Kristy Pytash about hybrid and blended learning in education - These interviews are supplements for the Hybrid & Blended Learning: Modifying pedagogy across time, place, path, & pace column we published for the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy.

🔖 Key Takeaways

• WalkMyWorld Trailer: Open learning/research experiment video teaser for K12online conference presentation.
• Pecha Kucha Lessons: LRA presentation on text—learned to stop moving, embrace silence.
• Amy Burvall's getsmART: Keynote on art's influence on thinking, learning, and teaching—let's get creative.
• Secret Coders: Gene Luen Yang's comic teaches computer science fundamentals—meaningful gateway for coding in classrooms.
• Google Cardboard Education: VR/AR possibilities for instructional opportunities—future will be terribly fascinating.

📺 Watch

The WalkMyWorld Project video trailer

I produced this video trailer to build anticipation for the upcoming presentation at the K12online conference. Last week I shared the Web Literacy teaser I produced for the session I'm working on with Greg McVerry.

📚 Read

getsmART keynote from the Building Learning Communities Conference

This keynote from Amy Burvall at the recent BLCC 2015 strikes a chord with a lot of this I've been trying to build in recently. She talks about the influence of art on thinking, learning, and teaching.

You can (and should) watch the video of her keynote here (13:48). The slides for the keynote are available here.

Let's get creative!!!

How to do nothing in web design

I wanted to share this resource as we continue this look at art, creativity, and visual thinking. This essay is an excerpt from the ebook Interaction Design Best Practices: Mastering the Tangibles.

I believe in the need to balance white, or negative space with content as we design and develop online. The guidelines and checklist are a great resource to follow as you consider your own design principles.

To really dive in, I recommend either the ebook shared above, or the Web UI Design for the Human Eye ebook.

Teens, Technology, and Romantic Relationships

This latest Pew Research Report discusses the technologies that play a role in how teens seek out, maintain, and end relationships. I thoroughly recommend reviewing this visual story Pew produced of the research and findings.

Some of the key takeaways (IMHO):

• Relatively few American teens have met a romantic partner online
• Social media is a top venue for flirting
• Digital flirting has "entry-level" and more sophisticated elements for teens, depending on the nature of the relationship and their experience with virtual flirting strategies
• Girls are more likely to be targets of uncomfortable flirting tactics
• Boys are a bit more likely than girls to view social media as a space for emotional and logistical connection with their significant other

Secret Coders: kids' comic awesomely teaches the fundamentals of computer science

I just submitted a column on computational thinking and participation as a possible gateway for coding and programming in the classroom. In this work, we were challenged with the multitude of issues as we figure out a meaningful way to shoehorn computer science knowledge and dispositions into a classroom...even if your goal is not coding/programming.

I think this text by Gene Luen Yang provides a good starting point. Check out this review from good friend Sterg Botzakis.

Google Virtual-Reality System Aims to Enliven Education

A couple of weeks ago I shared news that Google was looking for researchers to help advance and test Google Cardboard. This piece from the NY Times talks about some of the work involved in finding instructional opportunities for these devices.

Whether it's augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR), I think the future will be terribly fascinating.

50 Apps to Improve Your Smartphone

Most of us walk around attached to incredible super-computers that are always connected to the world of information available online. We might use these powers for good...we might use them for evil.

I sometimes enjoy lists like this that provide an overview of the possible tools and uses for your smartphone. Whether it is lifestyle/health, travel, entertainment, social media, or productivity...there is probably a better way to do what you're currently doing.

Apps I use:

• PocketCasts
• Google Photos
• Feedly
• Slack
• Trello
• Sunrise Calendar
• Pushbullet
• IF
• SwiftKey

Apps I want (need) to start using:

• Telegram

🔨 Do

Making a Moving, Mechanical Pumpkin

Halloween and all other spooky parties and festivals are just around the corner. Yes, you could buy an inflatable pumpkin for your yard, or play eerie music. But...why not work with the kids to develop your/their expertise in mechanics, physics, and wiring. You'll definitely have the coolest pumpkin on the block/Internet. :)

Watch the video overview of the directions here.

🤔 Consider

"What we usually consider as impossible are simply engineering problems." — Michio Kaku

The WalkMyWorld Project represents years of open learning and research experimentation with colleagues. Building the trailer this week reminded me that documentation matters, not just for others, but for clarifying thinking. The video trailer forces synthesis: what is this project really about?

Watching myself present the Pecha Kucha on text at LRA taught me uncomfortable lessons. I move around too much. I need to embrace silence. The discomfort of watching yourself present is valuable. You see habits you can't notice while performing.

Amy Burvall's getsmART keynote strikes the right chord: art influences thinking, learning, teaching. We separate "creative" from "analytical" as if they're opposites, but they're not. Let's get creative isn't permission. It's necessity.

Secret Coders provides a gateway I've been searching for, meaningful computer science without shoehorning. Gene Luen Yang understands that comics teach computational thinking through story, not syntax. Sterg's review confirms what I suspected: this works.

The Google Cardboard VR/education work fascinates me because whether it's AR or VR, the future will be terribly fascinating. Not good or bad, necessarily, ust fascinating. That uncertainty feels honest.

Michio Kaku's quote resonates: impossible is just engineering problems. Weather balloons recovering after two years, mechanical pumpkins teaching physics, Google Cardboard bringing VR to classrooms. These aren't miracles. They're engineering.

🔗 Navigation

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🌱 Connected Concepts:

• WalkMyWorld Project — Open learning/research experiment, K12online conference presentation.
• Pecha Kucha — LRA presentation on text, lessons on movement and silence.
• Amy Burvall — #getsmART keynote on art's influence on thinking and teaching.
• Visual Thinking — Web design negative space, art and creativity integration.
• Pew Research — Teens, technology, and romantic relationships findings.
• Secret Coders — Gene Luen Yang's comic teaching computer science fundamentals.
• Computational Thinking — Gateway for coding without shoehorning into classrooms.
• Google Cardboard — VR/AR instructional opportunities, terribly fascinating future.
• Smartphone Productivity — Apps for good: PocketCasts, Feedly, Slack, Trello, Pushbullet.
• Mechanical Pumpkin — Halloween project teaching mechanics, physics, wiring.
• Michio Kaku — Impossible is just engineering problems.
• Kristy Pytash — Hybrid/blended learning interview for JAAL column.

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