Other Notes & Dodads, for which I need to find a place
Game Related
What made those old, 2D platformers so great?
Significant Bits blog Posted by The Management in design on May 13th, 2009
“A little while ago I dug into Scary Girl for not being a very fun game. This brought up some discussion about what actually makes a good 2D platformer, so I decided to expand on the topic. Below is a list of what I see as three common aspects of many classic platforming titles. These point are not the only things that made those games great, but they’re a shared base that appears again and again.” (see article for more.
RPG and the WorkPlace (article)
May 9, 2009
Slash, Burn, and Learn By Pat Galagan
They may drip blood and gore, but virtual role-playing games may be just the thing to bring innovation to a workplace near you.
Would you be surprised to be told that nerdy war-gamers may embody traits that are prized by organizations seeking innovation? Would you accept the premise that teaming up with people you’ve never met to defeat a tribe of virtual elves breeds collaborative learning?
Metaplace
Raph Koster's Game; out on beta May 2009
The top 12 trends of the video game industry, Dean Takahashi | May 15th, 2009
What more is there to say?
Casual Collective
The 400 Project
Other
Portal to Media Literacy
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The Nature of Emotions
Bloom's Taxonomy
Benjamin Bloom created this taxonomy for categorizing level of abstraction of questions that commonly occur in education settings. The taxonomy provides a useful structure in which to categorize test questions, since professors will characteristically ask questions within particular levels, and if you can determine the levels of questions that will appear on your exams, you will be able to study using appropriate strategies.
Web 2.0 and Scholarly Communication
Report: Reinvent schools for digital age
21st-century learning environments must break through the barriers that separate learning from the real world, P21 says
From staff and wire reports
Primary Topic Channel: 21st Century skills
Successful 21st-century learning environments both give and receive support from families and the community at large, the paper explains.
“Too often, schools have been silos of isolation–classrooms isolated from other classrooms, teachers isolated from other teachers, schools isolated from the outside world,” it says. “Research shows, though, that positive and productive relationships within and outside an organization enable it to carry out its mission more effectively. When people are connected through technology and/or collaborative arrangements, their effect is multiplied, for communities ‘can accomplish goals that would be impossible through more isolated efforts.'“
Mon, Jan 26, 2009
white paper
Sugar Labs—learning software for children
Sugar Labs Announces Immediate Availability of Sugar on a Stick; Learning Platform Runs on Any PC or Netbook In The Classroom
24 Jun 2009 - english
Framework for 21st Century Learning
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills
The framework presents a holistic view of 21st century teaching and learning that combines a discrete focus on 21st century student outcomes (a blending of specific skills, content knowledge, expertise and literacies) with innovative support systems to help students master the multi-dimensional abilities required of them in the 21st century.
The key elements of 21st century learning are represented in the graphic and descriptions below. The graphic represents both 21st century skills student outcomes (as represented by the arches of the rainbow) and 21st century skills support systems (as represented by the pools at the bottom).
Group urges city to allow chickens in Calgary backyards
Last Updated: Thursday, July 16, 2009 | 7:14 PM MT
The Calgary Liberated Urban Chicken Klub, known as CLUCK, is lobbying city council to allow people to raise chickens in the metropolis.
A city bylaw currently forbids raising livestock in most urban areas. Section 27.1 makes an exemption for keeping pigeons.
“We're asking for 27.2 that we allow anywhere up to six chickens — hens only, not roosters — in a backyard setting,” said Paul Hughes of CLUCK. **go to CBC article**
IMS Learning Tools Interoperability
IMS Global Learning Initiative Yet another attempt at creating a formal standard for instructional designs, seeIMS_Learning_Design
Dumb Money or Dumb Coverage?
Steven Downes, Monday, August 03, 2009
According to Newsweek, U.S. educators should be learning from the Canadian example. “According to an April report by McKinsey, the United States' GDP would have been 9 to 16 percent—or $1.3 trillion to $2.3 trillion—higher in 2008 had U.S. high-school graduates attained the average skills of their peers in Canada, Finland, or South Korea.”
Alexander Russo writes,
This Newsweek article (Dumb Money) tells us that it's not just the US where use of data to evaluate teachers is controversial, that most of what is popular to do in education – class size reduction and school modernization, for example – is least effective, and that Toronto has eliminated the achievement gap has allegedly been eliminated despite a substantial immigrant population. All aboard!
The Newsweek article cited here is misleading, and this description adds to the misrepresentation.