Digital Media and Learning Conference
I wanted to capture some of my thinking as a result of the opportunity I have to attend the Digital Media and Learning Conference at U.C. Irvine.
The Keynote talk- Danah Boyd – https://dml2017.dmlhub.net/people/danah-boyd/
This talk was Very thought provoking and got me to think deeply about the need for information literacy in our world. The impossibility of effective and non-biased information filtration necessitates the development of skills in information literacy. It is imperative for the future of a fair and just society, for the general person to be able to interpret information and make decisions while minimizing the effects of everything from misinformation and intentional manipulation of information. CRAAP test anyone?
I learned some new words in this talk. Among them were the following:
- Boomerang effect – accidently convincing someone of the opposite of what you believe. Example: pushing my learning worldview obnoxiously and causing someone to turn off their openness to the ideas because of the delivery.
- Overton Window – The domain of possible considerations in a public conversation around a topic.
- Strategic Silence – Not speaking on a subject to prevent the boomerang effect and other phenomena.
I also attended a session called Games and Learning in Research. Several presenters shared their research projects and as I listened, I thought about the epistemological conflict between constructivist learning through games and simulations, and the cognitivist epistemology of most formal learning experiences.
Distributed Teaching and Learning
- Big “G” Games- Play spaces
- Big “L” Learning
“Distributed Teaching and Learning Systems, or DTALS (Gee & Gee, 2016; Holmes, Gee, & Tran, 2017, in press), can provide a useful framework for characterizing and analyzing elements of such systems. In a DTALS, teaching and learning are enacted not through a top-down model of knowledge transfer, but rather across a spectrum of designed and emergent experiences, negotiated between learners and experienced teachers, peers, mentors, or leaders in the community.” DTALS- Distributed Teaching and Learning Systems
Designed Resources
- Tutorial
- Library
- Guides
Coach mode-screen draw and coaching from other players
Spectator Mode-watch any live game play
Theorycrafting- Message boards, youtube channels, determines underlying theory, demonstrates underlying structure and algorithms.
Emergent- Comes from people playing the game
All in all it was a good reminder of some key ideas:
- Technology can be thoughtfully employed to help people learn in multiple contexts
- Agency and pursuing one’s own interests in learning is valuable
- There are real problems that we could be solving while we learn
- School is a social construct that DOESN’T represent best practices in what we know about how people learn
Until next year!
Mike
