very cool! exactly same as what I experienced regarding Harry Potter! I really enjoyed your instructor exciting approach using Harry Potter as a base for further learning!

I totally agree with you! In my Previous post “laptops in classroom yaaaayyy” I exactly mentioned how in higher education we have control and some level of choice regarding what we learn but in K-12 (at least in my country) students are forced to take certain compulsory lessons without having any choice!

Thank you so much for your reply and your perfect explanation of how we can practically give students choice without endangering educational goals.

Thank you for sharing the link. I do think that meditation or some form of exercise would help students. Yoga also helps students de-stress. I had a undergraduate course that incorporated these breaks to assist with learning after learning new concepts.

I really enjoyed the approach that you took with this week’s reading. I do think that learning can be enjoyable, but it is dependent on how students are engaged.

Thanks Sevda. I agree with you.

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Sogand, Thank you for your post! I like the title and the figure. I agree with your comment. My mind is easily filled with some assumed “pre-known” knowledge, especially when I started my study in graduate school. The lecturers need to work harder on the active learning for the students who might have the same full mind as me.

Really interesting read on the google glass. I’m curious if there’s simpler methods than banning phones outright, given the potential phones can play for safety and socialization. As most carriers still do not offer affordable unlimited data plans, perhaps session control on school wifi could apply sufficient pressure to disincentivize cellphone use without disabling their more important functions.

For one positive outcome, nobody abuses collect calls anymore:
“Hello, you have a call from ‘PLZ PICK ME UP NOW MOM KTHNXBAI,’ do you accept?”

We have invested a lot to establish extensive infrastructures for our educational systems. Then, we have gradually got used to them and found ways to use them in the most efficient ways. We have undergraduate classes of up to 300 students (maybe more) at Virginia Tech taught by one professor. We then find out that there is this need for making a change to all the infrastructure and the way we worked for so many years. Making a change is very expensive but it is inevitable to the economy and the society to maintain its position in the global market. I think one aspect of our solution should be to develop infrastructures, workplaces, and work styles that are highly flexible and maximize the potential for change.

Interesting take on the Star Wars analogy. This theme was super strong in the new one. They never outright stated it, but if you read between the lines the old bad guys were a pretty pale shadow of their own reputations and those that came before them. Naturally it tied into the hero’s journey approach, but it was interesting to see the masters-to-be-defeated being a little less Emperor Palpatine and a lot more Wizard of Oz.

It’s pretty fitting when applied to the present, there’s enough crisis of the day which the knowledge and systems of the past are comically ill prepared to solve. Seems a better time than ever to foster that rebellious spirit?