I guess I have some sort of built-in bias, because when I read the "debate" between Merrill and Wilson, I sided with Merrill. Maybe the bias is that I naturally want to side with someone who I've seen speak before, and someone who's well-respected in BYU's IPT department—or maybe I just agree that there ought to be standardization in our field (maybe we could have...ORANGE beanies!). I think Merrill's "proper study of instructional design" is very interesting. The same way web developers and computer science people have now made it so that anyone can publish a website, or even build their own computer programs, Merrill says that instructional designers should be building similar tools and frameworks to empower others to teach better. Now that would be open education, eh, Dr. Wiley?
In other news, Merrill may have given me guidance on what kind of project I could do for my Master's Degree. And in a way, it's kinda cool that many corporate instructional design jobs overlap heavily with project management and business stuff. Maybe I'd enjoy that?
Friday, December 9, 2011
Skinner and Khan
For those of you who don't know a thing about B.F. Skinner's teaching machines, click to learn more. For those of you that don't know about Khan Academy, click to learn more.
For those of you that, through whatever means, do know about Skinner and Khan, aren't the parallels crazy? Very structured presentation, order and hierarchy of knowledge, teachers acting as facilitators and oversight instead of being in the trenches. Pandemonium.
For those of you that, through whatever means, do know about Skinner and Khan, aren't the parallels crazy? Very structured presentation, order and hierarchy of knowledge, teachers acting as facilitators and oversight instead of being in the trenches. Pandemonium.
I'm a Hypocrite — or I'm gonna be one....
So after just finishing reading Wineburg's (2004) comment about 10 rules for presenting (to make it palatable), I realize that I'm gonna eventually break some of those rules. In two of my classes this semester, we end with a big group presentation, using (you guessed it) Powerpoint. I tried to convince my group members to at least use Prezi, and in one case I succeeded! But I know that with the other ones, and probably with Prezi too, I'm gonna end up reading off the screen, giving way too much detail and not having enough time for questions. Although, I do admit I'm not eager to hear questions about our projects, since they're already flimsy enough without giving an audience of 30+ people the time to find and/or poke holes in our work.
So I guess I'm glad there won't be much time for questions, but I still feel bad about the rest of the presentation. It's like I have some sort of "conscience of craft" (Osguthorpe, 2003) or something. Weird.
So I guess I'm glad there won't be much time for questions, but I still feel bad about the rest of the presentation. It's like I have some sort of "conscience of craft" (Osguthorpe, 2003) or something. Weird.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Testing, Testing
Hi All! Michael here, just testing to see if the people I've chosen will get e-mails when I publish this posting. More importantly, if you don't want to receive an e-mail every time I post, comment on this post and ask to be taken off. Some people prefer to check whenever they're online, and don't want to be heckled. That's cool, let me know if you're one of them! Mucho danke!
P.S. - Happy Belated Valentine's Day! (aka Singles Awareness Day)
P.S. - Happy Belated Valentine's Day! (aka Singles Awareness Day)
Thursday, February 10, 2011
"Where is you been all my life?"
It's been a long time since I've blogged, and I apologize to my readers. You may have been wondering, "What has Michael been up to all this time that he hasn't been blogging?" I'll tell you...
But not just any schooling—finally doing actual Psychology classes at BYU during the day, instead of generals by evening. And boy howdy, let me tell you about these Psyc classes—they are like the kind of schooling Ben went through. They are, surprisingly, some of the most spiritually uplifting classes I've ever taken. Philosophically engaging, high-scholarship, and LDS-faith-promoting!
To explain what I mean, or to give examples, will take time, because the things I'm being taught are big concepts that take some time to wrap one's head around. I will say, for now, how blessed and grateful I feel, for being able to study Psychology at BYU. I have heard one-too-many stories about someone who went to college, took a Psychology class, and grew disillusioned with the Church as a result of what they learned in that class. I wish every LDS person could learn some of these basic things I'm learning now.
So you know, the Psyc classes I'm taking right now are "History of Psychology" (a basic course), and "LDS Perspectives on Psychology" (a more advanced course). My professors are cool, but mostly it's the material that I love. Both profs, though teaching very different subjects, are covering almost all the same things.
In both classes, we've covered philosophical disagreements between the Western Intellectual Tradition and what we know to be true through the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. It has been so fascinating to me to see how like-a-Greek I sometimes think, as well as to see how a non-Greek worldview (like a Hebrew one), is actually closer to the reality we know as human beings (vs numbers to be crunched or objects to be acted upon).
"It's all a bit technical, but the important thing is", I'm having a great time learning these things. My faith is being confirmed and validated and given a strength and reality it's never had before.
On a completely different note, this past week Katherine and I have been feeling very ill. We both have thrown up and have a hard time processing food—mostly it just runs right through us. Prayers would be appreciated!
Thanks for tuning in again, and we'll see what I can attempt to explain next time!
P.S. - Check out this cool technology that I was just introduced to (in person) yesterday!
But not just any schooling—finally doing actual Psychology classes at BYU during the day, instead of generals by evening. And boy howdy, let me tell you about these Psyc classes—they are like the kind of schooling Ben went through. They are, surprisingly, some of the most spiritually uplifting classes I've ever taken. Philosophically engaging, high-scholarship, and LDS-faith-promoting!
To explain what I mean, or to give examples, will take time, because the things I'm being taught are big concepts that take some time to wrap one's head around. I will say, for now, how blessed and grateful I feel, for being able to study Psychology at BYU. I have heard one-too-many stories about someone who went to college, took a Psychology class, and grew disillusioned with the Church as a result of what they learned in that class. I wish every LDS person could learn some of these basic things I'm learning now.
So you know, the Psyc classes I'm taking right now are "History of Psychology" (a basic course), and "LDS Perspectives on Psychology" (a more advanced course). My professors are cool, but mostly it's the material that I love. Both profs, though teaching very different subjects, are covering almost all the same things.
In both classes, we've covered philosophical disagreements between the Western Intellectual Tradition and what we know to be true through the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. It has been so fascinating to me to see how like-a-Greek I sometimes think, as well as to see how a non-Greek worldview (like a Hebrew one), is actually closer to the reality we know as human beings (vs numbers to be crunched or objects to be acted upon).
"It's all a bit technical, but the important thing is", I'm having a great time learning these things. My faith is being confirmed and validated and given a strength and reality it's never had before.
On a completely different note, this past week Katherine and I have been feeling very ill. We both have thrown up and have a hard time processing food—mostly it just runs right through us. Prayers would be appreciated!
Thanks for tuning in again, and we'll see what I can attempt to explain next time!
P.S. - Check out this cool technology that I was just introduced to (in person) yesterday!
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