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?

That’s a pretty cool approach to try to satisfy learner’s needs! I’m curious if they had their minds set on the acronym character before they fleshed it out. Still, I remember most of my classmates’ complaints against a course over time having to do with a failure to address one of these goals.

Thanks for the post, Ali. I totally agree with you. The traditional education system is not fair and equal at many points and considers every student as equal. And when they are not the same with others, then the system punish those students. I think this punishment or the climate of fear kills creativity, being themselves and unique, and affect the learning process as well. And this culture of fear also affects most students’ mental health, unfortunately.

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I agree with all of your comments. I constantly have felt like there was something wrong with me for forgetting. I don’t know how students can be expected to retain so much information, yet be expected to pass everything with flying colors. I don’t think standardized learning also takes into account the personal issues students may be facing in their personal lives. I wish I had, had more instructors that were invested in my learning in secondary education

Thank you for your post. This is a really important and valuable connection between mindfulness and health. Actually, when I consider my own and my friends’ experiences, traditional learning styles are not as effective as mindful learning. If mindfulness is that much effective on our mental health especially, I do not understand why we are still using other traditional teaching/learning styles.

We should consider that “mindful” learning is dependent on the context of the information. I agree with Langer that pure repetition and over learning is a detriment to grasping a subject on a higher level. She mentions that there is a certain level where repetition is important to understand the basic skill required. Beyond that, we should look at information in a “mindful” way to reach a higher level of understanding. The level of repetition is different for different information. How much effort students should spend learning integrals is not the same as the effort students should spend learning historical events.

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Great post, Erin!! You’re so right!! This is so similar to how it is being a female – pretty much being taught to not speak up unless you’re spoken to, being a good girl and not questioning authority, etc…. We are taught to NOT be the black sheep and listen and trust your teachers because they know more than you and they are never wrong. This isn’t always the case. I think that we SHOULD question more because questions are thought-provoking, and thought-provoking questions lead to greater learning!

All I am going to say is that it takes very special people to teach. Someone who truly have a passion for what they do and do it well in and outside of the classroom.