How many times have you played miniature golf? Did you ever wonder how this game came to be?
Turns out the invention is credited to a Tennessean named, Jack Garnet Carter, from Sweetwater, TN. Did a little Google search to find out more…http://inventors.about.com/od/mstartinventions/a/Inventions_M.htm.
So how did we get here? Amazing where the search for a flag’s symbolism will get you.
Today I find that the first facilitator for Week 2 of Change2011 uses “blogspot.com” and anticipating I may want to respond to posts of now two people using blogspot, there I was again at the * of needing to create blogspot blog. Sometime we conform to get to where we want to go, hence I created a blog titled “redirect” within Google. While clunky, it does work. Hope such rewiring doesn’t need to happen too often. Grumble-conform-grumble.
Today, reading through the extensive blogs list in the Change11 newsletter, I found a connection with a fellow #change11 MOOConian, Allan Quartly, and wanted to leave a comment on his post as follows:
A resonating and high hand waving “AMEN” from a fellow wavelet insisting on progression and continuum. To be human is to learn, and to learn is to connect, and to connect is to show the power of AND.
That said, technology got in the way. In order to post a comment to Allan’s blog, I needed to login to Google and doing so I was stymied * when it appeared I had to begin yet another blog? I baulked, good technology is invisible technology. I did not want more than one blog to my parduespring-iness. So, I forged an alternative approach of posting my response here.
Orientation week of the Change MOOC and week three of HON4013 Honors Colloquium on STEM Education and ENGR1020 Introduction to Univ Life, what do these three courses have in common? Participant in all, one as learner, two as instructor. Ready to soak in as much new information as possible on one side and being responsible for moderating flow on the other. The MOOC is what decided me on blogging again. What began three years ago as an personal exercise might as well take on a more public voice. Rather like running by myself or running in a group. Have you ever noticed how some of your best conversations with other people are while driving in a car? Captured time, moving in the same direction, but free to see things in different ways.
#change11
I googled “old dogs”+blog and found some neat links. Here is my Fav
The lead pic of Champ in SD reflects my inner soul. I’ll take this as a metaphysical sign that this blog name is as good as any.
In early Fall 2008, I began blogging, primarily for myself, as a working and reflective exercise to capture my transition from lecture delivery as a teacher to designer of learning experiences for students.
I got stuck with the redesign using Fink’s guide, but did indeed see evidence of a changes during Fall 2008 and spring 2009. However, these were not noted in the blog at the time – really it is hard to sit down and reflect when you are used to just doing things, and adapting as you go.
Step 2 is establishing what my Significant Learning Goals are for the course. There’s a worksheet for this one as well on p11 of the SDG. The task here is to identify two to three main items in each one of the six areas (foundational knowledge, applications, integration, human dimensions, caring, and “Learning-how-to-learn”) of the significant learning taxonomy that Fink has proposed in his text. This selection is to be guided by constantly considering the phrase “Two to three years from now after this course is over, I want and hope the students will ____________.”
Read the book, its really good. If you don’t have time, you can always try the 37 page Self-Directed Guide (SDG) to Designing Courses for Significant Learning.
I am in the Initial Design Phase otherwise known as Building Strong Primary Components. There are three phases Initial, Intermediate, and Final. there are 12 total steps to the design process, 5 in the Initial Phase.
Step 1 Identify important situational factors (Page 6/37 SDG)
old dogs can indeed learn new tricks! I hope so anyway.
More specifically, Lecture Style Teaching can become Active Learning. I am undertaking a redesign of a junior level measurements course in mechanical engineering. After reading (and re-reading) L. Dee Fink’s Creating Significant Learning Experiences I am ready to give it a go. It goes live in three weeks and of course I am not ready. But I intend to share some experiences in the creation of such a re-write with Fink as my guide.