Mostly Technology & Teaching

I tried to reblog this post from a site where I am documenting a special project, but the image went all wonky because it was from Wylio, so I’m just going to paste it here with a new image.  After thinking about gaming this weekend, I recalled this post from last summer that wondered whether … Continue reading »

Yes, I’m modding one of my own post titles for a new topic, after borrowing it from the Magritte original. And yes, I’m appropriating the term modding as I understand it from Friday when I ventured off “The Island of Misfit Toys” to attend THATCamp Games 2013. This post will be a combination of how … Continue reading »

I’ll never use a keyboard with my mobile devices, because they are mobile devices and have built-in touchscreen keyboards. That would be my ideal one-sentence post, so move along, unless you want to hear some more justifying. I have a nice Apple wireless keyboard that I have used with my laptop when I have it … Continue reading »

I’ll try to be more positive about MOOCs in this post, since it’s claimed that they’re here to stay. So let’s leave aside, kind of, my worries from the last post, because you probably don’t teach writing anyway, and see what’s interesting about the MOOC model. The first day of the ELI 2013 Spring Focus … Continue reading »

This is just part one of my thoughts on finishing the EDUCAUSE Leaning Initiative (ELI) spring session on the MOOC phenomenon, if that’s the right word for it, “Learning and the MOOC.” Fad, hype, innovation, new wave, learning thingy, or as someone noted MOOCOW (massive open online course or whatever). Anyway, the information is still … Continue reading »

Reading through the table of contents of the recent PMLA–yes, I still have that MLA membership–reminds me how far I am from what I thought would happen with my degrees in English. I guess this is going to be one of those dumb posts about the path taken, so stop here if you know the … Continue reading »

Steve Wheeler gathers a few sources on unlearning in his short but effective blog post, “Learning, Unlearning and Relearning.” He cites a futurologist, a philosopher, and, as far as I can make out, a gamer interested in brain science. Anyway, Wheeler’s post immediately rang true for me as an instructor of composition–yes I’m on a … Continue reading »

The Pew Internet report, “How Teachers Are Using Technology at Home and in Their Classrooms,” is making the rounds among my peers in higher ed, and I see we are looking at the news about “middle and secondary school students” with interest, but still not too worried about what to do with them when they … Continue reading »

I was asked recently, on Twitter, which social media platform I prefer, and the answer was easy, not only because I’m taking an extended break from Facebook. @BryanAlexander I like Twitter for the lower commitment to conversation and as more of a PLN. Like the packing of info in short space.— Barbara Pittman (@grinnpidgeon) February … Continue reading »

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the MOOC from the perspective of a student–how to be engaged with the material, how to engage in discussion with an army of peers, whether I can engage with the professor. As a student myself, first in the Blackboard CourseSites MOOC with Curtis Bonk (from which I … Continue reading »

Is technology, in MOOC form, going to be the Skynet of higher education, leading to the subordination of the professoriate to the machines? All of a sudden, doom is on everyone’s lips with the jumping on board the Coursera train of a platoon of top universities, and we all wonder where it’s heading at breakneck … Continue reading »