This post may feel a little awkward on my professional blog.  But one of the aspects of attending Brigham Young University as opposed to a secular university is that we openly strive to blend academic learning with spiritual knowledge. So before we dive into the academic literature that might help develop a framework for blended … Continue reading Robbins on Becoming, Dweck on Doing

During the fall semester, I took IPT 520, a "foundations" course for the program in Instructional Psychology and Technology.  For one of our assignments, Dr. West had us review various journals for trends in topics and methodologies. Dr. West approached the editor of Educational Technology, who agreed to publish our journal analysis papers as a … Continue reading Publication!

I am so excited to be working with Dr. Charles Graham on a theoretical framework for blended learning.  He saw overlap in our interests through my paper about instructional conversation. As I do readings for this research, I'll continue to post my ideas to this blog. In addition, this semester I will be taking IPT … Continue reading Theoretical Framework for Blended Learning

I finished my paper for Dr. Graham's class!  It's a relief to have completed it.  It's not perfect, but it was a good effort for a pretty huge topic. I sometimes wish I had developed a research project, as did my classmates, around a narrower topic.  However, as they spoke in class today, I know … Continue reading Final Paper on Conversation-Instruction Metaphor

This article by David Brooks in today's New York Times is interesting to me, as I work with conversation as a metaphor for instruction.  Brooks quotes Lakoff, who I was reading last night.  Brooks writes that: In his fine new book, “I Is an Other,” James Geary reports on linguistic research suggesting that people use … Continue reading NYT: Poetry for Everday Life (Metaphors!)

I hadn't read much on connectivism, but Terry Anderson's email to the ITForum caught my eye.  Anderson mentioned that the most recent issue of IRRODL focused on Connectivism.  I looked at the issue's contents, and found an article by Ravenscroft entitled "Dialogue amd Connectivism: New Approach to Understanding Networked Learning.”  This opened up a whole … Continue reading Ravenscroft on Dialogue & Connectivism

As I have tried to flesh out the components I think are essential to an instructional conversation, I used the term "mutual engagement." By this I meant that no conversation is real if it just involves an instructor posing questions to which the instructor herself is not engaged.  Though this may seem idealistic (especially for … Continue reading Enthusiasm & the Dr Fox Effect

Article in today's New York Times about the rise in online education -- and the subsequent debate over its quality.

I was rereading Anna Sfard's article "On Two Metaphors for Learning and the Dangers of Choosing Just One."  I first read this piece last summer, as part of Dr. Yanchar's Learning Theory course.  This time, I did not spend a lot of time reviewing her discussion of acquisition vs. participation metaphors (though that was very … Continue reading On Metaphors

For Dr. Graham's course this week we read several articles about blended learning.  Graham's introduction (2006) discusses various uses of the term "blended learning," providing this definition in the end: "Blended learning systems combine face-to-face instruction with computer-mediated instruction.... Blended learning is part of the ongoing convergence of two archetypal learning environments. On the one … Continue reading Blended Learning