Immersion, Spring Semester -- Week 2

Struggling to Comprehend Design-Based Research

As I mentioned in last week’s post, the iTeam is responsible for writing a collaborative paper on design-based research (DBR). I am still struggling to understand what DBR is all about within an educational context. I found this post on Learning-Theories.com, hoping to generate a better understanding of the concept. After reading it three times, I understand that DBR considers context as well as the intervention itself. But, the quote that jumps out at me is this:

The intention of design-based research…is to inquire more broadly into the nature of learning in a complex system and to refine generative or predictive theories of learning.

Since context can be such a fluid aspect within the design process and can change on a dime, how can “predictive theories of learning” be generated?

And my first week as Scribe has been … interesting. While I was rather happy to stop facilitating the team work, I am finding it difficult to focus on the task at hand in team meetings since I have to concentrate on note taking. In addition, I feel like I do not have a grasp on where we are in the design process since I am not facilitating the agenda. As facilitator, I prepped for meetings by reviewing references and notes to make sure that we were on track. It enabled me to create a more thorough understanding of where we were, what we were trying to get to, and what we needed to do. There were also a few times when I had a very strong urge to jump up during the meetings and start writing on the board to clarify ideas and help with the focus of the meeting. I’m finding it harder to “take a back seat” and sit on my hands (where appropriate) then actually facilitating the group.

On a lighter note, I thought I would share this amusing video on Second Life:

Best of 2007 -- Late, Late Edition (Videos)

Okay, so I really should have posted this about two weeks ago, but better late than never, right? Someone remarked at the videos I posted recently, and I thought it would be interesting to post my favorites from '07. You may notice that some of the videos were actually created/posted earlier than '07 ... I'm just going by when I first stumbled upon them.

Web 2.0/Tech





Education?

A co-worker was working on a presentation that showcased how educators can use free Web 2.0 tools in their courses ... she came across this video, which has spawned several imitations on YouTube. We discussed creating our own ... but we came to our senses.



Music



I wish they would record another version of this to say -- DC city bottoms are bitter!



Fun Stuff







One of the best for last: