Thanks for this post. I strongly believe that a lot of students need to figure out how to take notes. I am also a huge supporter of old-fashion note taking. I don’t like note taking on computers. I remember in undergrad, folks would watch videos or look at comics, and it would be so distracting. At the same time, it’s necessary to leave info for students to fill in on their slides in class to maintain their attention span.

Thanks for the post. I’m interested in the Ted Talk. I’ll take a look at it. However would you fully rely on gaming in the classroom? One of our colleagues had a post regarding why computer time on a non-stop basis would be too much for kids… Do you agree with that? How would you strike a balance?

Thanks for a insightful post… Yes, I agree with you. Playing games all day long isn’t an ideal thing for kids. However, when I read your post… I realized, well yes… What if students learn things using real-world games… Games that need problem solving to win… to go on to the next level. Things that physically need their engagement. I think it’s something good to consider.

This is really cool! Thanks so much for sharing. I wanted to put the #codedwithlove Gif that I made for Valentine’s day here, but the comment field won’t take it. ?

I think there are lots of ways that instructors can be (and are being) evaluated, and many ways to improve on that, but have some concerns about the system you propose. My interests in evaluating the quality of instruction fall are similar to my approach to evaluating student learning. The first question is: What’s the point of the assessment? Are you trying to measure / quantify how good or bad something is against a real or ideal scale? Or is the goal to develop a nuanced picture of what’s working and what could be better?
Learning environments are complex systems, and I always remind myself (and others) of that whenever we get all excited about “assessing” the “effectiveness” of one component or another — especially, as is nearly always the case, when that kind of assessing happens in contextual isolation.
At VT, most higher ed institutions, faculty are required to use a range of tools to monitor and improve their effectiveness as teachers. These include peer reviews (having people sit in on your class), teaching support groups, syllabus / curriculum consultation, etc. The paper trail left by peer reviews and student evaluations becomes an important part of tenure and promotion dossiers.
One of the concerns I would have about compulsory taping of class sessions is that 1) it reinforces the idea that lecturing is the only / best form of teaching; and 2) it suggests that the F2F class session is the only place where learning happens. I know some of the best learning happens outside the classroom and I think that also holds for teaching. What we do in class is important, but is just one aspect of a much more complicated picture.

Is there someone who you could talk to about making the lab? For now there is a place called “innovation space” in Torg just a little down the hallway from our classroom that might be able to help you create some of the projects or videos or other media for the class/lab.

Hope this helps.

What could be a way of translating the textbook into a video game? I remember the jumpstart series which taught facts and lessons through the use of games and they had games for every grade level. How would you see something like fluid dynamics becoming fun in a game?

See this other post here about fluids: https://blogs.lt.vt.edu/yiliu16/2016/02/15/come-on-lets-play/

Let’s take a step back.

I agree that there are issues with digital learning, then what are some potential solutions? We might not be able to give the same technology to everyone immediately, but we can share a method of learning.

Cost will always be prohibitive, are there some other ways to enact the same dialogue Noel mentions without high cost? I believe so. We have the potential for role-play activities and other group methods of engagement and co-learning without needing to be high-tech. Maybe this is a scavenger hunt outside where they have to do physical activity as a part of the tasks. I do not have a solution for the headaches and other vision-related problems other than we ask the students how they are doing and limit screen time.

There is always a positive take-away: we have the opportunity to take the message that we can engage students with a type of learning. In this case it is problem based or project-based learning.

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I feel the reason that these movies inspire us is because we can see ourselves there. They speak to our curiosity and drive.

They can be in fantasy, creative non-fiction, and more, but the task lies in the connection we make with others. They engage our senses. The Martian could do that because we could relate to the struggle and the process of learning how to survive. We all have the drive.

But how do we identify it? How do we push our students to take that one step further? I wish I could have seen the faster than light plane as well. So how can we inspire action? I believe it is by being engaged in the process with a teacher who is a mentor and a guide, and an inspiration to their students.

What is stopping us from still making our own versions of a faster than light plane?

I love this comment! My thoughts were suggestions and the possibilities of combinations or things you can do in what order are boundless. It could be totally interactive and the first leading the direction with the other modes building off of what was just covered. If you started with an activity, then there could be an on-line discussion about what occurred, followed by someone sharing a video that links to what was being learned (or even an off-shoot of what was being learned), that could lead to an instructor based talk to bring the ideas together, followed by creative way to synthesize all those things previously covered. I think it could work well both planned or allowing things to happen organically. As long as you are hitting on the marks of what needs to be learned, why can’t it not be an interesting journey? Sometimes the best routes are the ones that take us a little out of our way, but we find or learn the most interesting things. Thanks for commenting and keeping me thinking! :)

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