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Author: courtney

Construct a solid vision to boost your impact

Categoriesall design learning

We all have good ideas, but people who create lasting change dedicate themselves to ideas with impact. Impact means change beyond our immediate environment. We can’t know exactly how much impact our ideas will have, but there are ways to ensure we’re starting off on the right foot. For starters, we can establish goals to keep our project on track. It’s deceptively simple, but taking the time to develop practical and precise goals and pausing regularly to consider how we’re addressing them makes a huge difference in our potential for impact. What’s the problem? To begin, we need to focus on thekeep readingConstruct a solid vision to boost your impact

Listens well and follows directions

Categorieslearning

Paul Tough’s book, How Children Succeed, recently put the spotlight on character development in education. He examines education, psychology and neuroscience in an effort to provide evidence for what what we know intuitively: that character is as important as intelligence in producing productive members of society, and though intelligence level is relatively fixed, character can be learned. … keep readingListens well and follows directions

Reflecting on failure at games for change

Categoriesdesign learning

I revel in failure. The size of a failure correlates with the size of the the opportunity it offers. Failure is how we learn. It helps us evolve and grow as individuals and as a society, which is why I was surprised to see  a very public aversion to failure at the Games for Change Festival last week. The festival attendees were roughly split between designers and educators, and everyone had come together to discuss the development of interactive experiences that enact real change. During one session, a teacher admonished game designers for producing what I, too, consider the scourgekeep readingReflecting on failure at games for change

Games for sustainability

Categoriesdesign learning

I was reading recently about sustainability in the U.S. and abroad, and I was curious if  games could teach me about sustainability. Sust., a Scottish company, has created a pair of flash-based games that teach the basic concepts of sustainability. The games are a mix of short videos and interactive questions that ask the player to make responsible, eco-friendly decisions relating to building and lifestyle. In both these games by Sust. the Sustainability Meter is the scoring system, and it fluctuates depending on your answers to multiple choice questions. Sust. Environment Game explains the fundamentals of sustainability; location, energy usage, water usage, wastekeep readingGames for sustainability

Trends in copyright infringement offer a lesson in merit

Categoriesdesign

There has been a large amount of talk lately about copyright infringement. SOPA and PIPA recently illustrated how ill-equipped the federal government is to handle the complexities and minutiae of maintaining an analog copyright system in a digital society. Recently, Banksy’s dispatch  – adapted from his books Cut it Out and Wall and Piece, eloquently articulated relationship between advertising, infringement and the plight of the modern consumer and starting me thinking. We are definitely in a transitional period (and perhaps we will forever be), because technology has changed a rate most senior and respected offices of government cannot maintain. With inadequate regulation, copyright infringement runs rampant online, governed mainly bykeep readingTrends in copyright infringement offer a lesson in merit

Learning is multiplayer

Categoriesdesign learning

An interesting perspective on Gamification from designer and author Gabe Zichermann. He points out that people often ask, “Do games help children?”, instead of asking a more useful question, ” What kind of help do games provide?”. Evidence shows that at least part of the “help” games offer is an increase in fluid intelligence (i.e. critical thinking) because games continuously focus on 5 things that encourage growth of gray matter in the brain- seeking novelty, challenge yourself, thinking creatively, doing things the hard way, and networking. Combine that with the positive reinforcement that is intrinsic to games (we wouldn’t makekeep readingLearning is multiplayer

Information as currency – is this a two-way street?

Categorieslearning

At least three notable universities, Harvard, Yale and Stanford are pushing the envelope in higher education by offering their “product” for free. This is wonderful news, but I can’t help but wonder – what are they getting out of this? If this model is anything like we’ve seen in the past, the currency is information. But how will they use it? We’ve seen information-as-currency model work for tech companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon. The warm fuzzy feeling many of us get when we think about them is an intricate ruse to court and keep us so we’ll keep feeding them information aboutkeep readingInformation as currency – is this a two-way street?

Experience life experience

Categorieslearning

I returned from the CAEL International conference last week with a renewed interest in adult education. Anymore, it seems like there are few “traditional” students and the education system has failed to support adult learners in getting credit for what they know. The contemporary workforce is increasingly expected to be more technically adept, well-rounded and agile, and yet there is little support for adult learners in the higher education system. Think about how many things you’re managing when you do something as simple as cook dinner; raw ingredients, cooking times, cross contamination, seasoning, presentation. Now think about a job inkeep readingExperience life experience