The tensions inherent in creativity

Contemplating Design: Remixing the 5 spaces framework

Dec 10, 2023

The Five Spaces for Design in Education framework argues that design in education happens in 5 interrelated spaces: artifacts, processes, experiences, systems and culture. We have typically represented this as follows. We, however, are also very aware that any...

By Design & by Chance: New Publication

Sep 6, 2016

Dinner in Bangalore with some of the keymembers of the MSU-APU partnership * One of the highlights of my career at MSU was the partnership we built between the College of Education and the Azim Premji University / Azim Premji Foundation....

Curt becomes Bonk (and vice versa)

May 30, 2013

Curt Bonk is Professor of Instructional Systems Technology in the School of Education at Indiana University. Curt is one of the most fun academics I know. He is also a good friend. That's us at the COSN conference earlier this year. What I didn't remember was that...

eduPUNKing a course website!!

Jan 11, 2010

I had written about the EduPunk movement earlier, in fact had even designed a logo for it. A brief description of Edupunk can be found on Wikipedia (a google search will reveal many more). Wikipedia describes it as follows: Edupunk is an approach to teaching and...

Of Math and Ambigrams

Dec 10, 2013

Mathematicians love puzzles—they love to play with numbers and shapes but often their love can turn to words and other areas that, at least on the surface, have little to do with mathematics. One form of visual wordplay with some deep connections to mathematics, and...

Help me, find a story by Ursula Le Guin

Sep 7, 2020

I am looking for a short story by Ursula Le Guin that I read many years ago growing up in India. The story has stayed with me but I cannot find it, despite many deep dives into the internet. I have posted on reddit, on the Ursula Le...

Visual proofs

Aug 3, 2009

I just came across these lovely visual mathematical proofs. For instance consider the following sequence: 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 + 1/16 + ... = 1 and then see the following image on the blog!! How cool is that!!!! I had posted about something similar earlier (see visualizing...

Article in WEF Global Information Technology Report

Apr 22, 2015

Everybody has heard of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. As Wikipedia says, "The meeting brings together some 2,500 top business leaders, international political leaders, selected intellectuals, and journalists to discuss the most...

Seeing patterns with eyes closed

Feb 14, 2008

Oliver Sacks has a fascinating piece in today's NYTimes (titled Patterns, as a part of his NYTimes blog, Migranes, perspective on a headache). Oliver Sacks describes the visual auras he has suffered through his life as follows: tiny branching lines, like twigs, or...