Learning Futures: The Podcast

Serendipitous Connectability… a short history of an idea

Mar 23, 2009

A while back I had written about the idea of "serendipitous connectability;" the idea that the web allows us to "to run across things that are stunning in their ability to connect to us in powerful, emotionally touching ways." I was prompted to do this by clicking on...

Origin-al Interface snafu!

Apr 27, 2017

The Origins Project at ASU is an attempt to explore humankind's most fundamental questions about our origins. As the website says, This project brings "together a diverse collection of the world’s leading scientists, scholars, and public intellectuals...

Dabbling to see: A rant

Jun 9, 2010

My friend and colleague Leigh Wolf forwarded me this article on Edward Tufte: The Many Faces (And Sculptures) Of Edward Tufte. I have been a fan of information design guru Edward Tufte's work for years (decades?). I love his emphasis on clarity and simplicity in...

Unpacking McLuhan’s “The medium is the message” (1/3)

Aug 9, 2022

This is the first of a series of blog posts about how media influence our thinking. This, the first post, uses the invention of writing and print to unpack the meaning of McLuhan’s statement, “The medium is the message.” The second post, focuses on a story by Ted...

Jeff Keltner from Google Education to talk today

Nov 6, 2008

There has been a great deal of interest in the educational use of cloud computing tools such as Google Docs in the College (and at MSU at large). Though these tools are often free and easy to use, they come with concerns about intellectual property and ownership of...

Can a computer program be sentient? Insights from Rodolphe Topffer, the father of comic books

Jul 6, 2022

Can a computer program be sentient? Or are machines just getting good at "behaving" in ways that make it seem that way? And what does the work of a 18th century caricature artist (and father of the modern comic book) help us understand what is going on when we...

7 tools… one big job: Video Explore II

May 3, 2009

A few months ago I had created a video mashup of a commercial (see the original and my mashup here). This video ended with three key words, encouraging people to Explore, Create, Share! I then got the idea for creating short videos to represent these three ideas. I...

Let go of what you think you know

Jan 24, 2008

An ongoing series of posters designed by graduates of University College Falmouth for the purpose of passing on advice & inspiration to first year students. You can see the entire series here... [Thanks for the link to the Daily Dish]

The Allegory of the Cave

Feb 17, 2009

Plato's Allegory of the Cave (see Wikipedia entry) illustrates "our nature in its education and want of education." It is maybe one of the most famous allegories in literature and philosophy, a precursor to the kinds of mind-games (think brain in a vat) that...