Last week I attended the 20th Annual Online Learning Consortium International Conference.  While there, I was inspired by an excellent presentation entitled, A Disruptive Innovation: MSU’s Surviving the Coming Zombie Apocalypse – Are You Ready to Survive a New Way of Learning?   The four team members from Michigan State University included:

  • Glenn R. Stutzky | Course Instructor
  • Keesa V. Muhammad | Instructional Designer
  • Christopher Irvin | Instructional Designer
  • Hailey Mooney | Course Librarian

Check out the intro clip on the website about the course:

 

MSUZombie-Oct2014

 

From the description for the presentation:

This session highlights MSU’s award winning, groundbreaking online course that fuses social theory, filmmaking, social media, and viral marketing while students survive an apocalyptic event. http://zombie.msu.edu/

MSU created and used powerful digital storytelling and multimedia to overlay real, experiential, immersive learning. Important content was relayed, but in a way that drew upon your emotions, your ability to solve problems and navigate in a world where you didn’t have all of the information, your ability to work with others, and more.

“This innovative course integrates current research and science on catastrophes and human behavior together with the idea of a zombie apocalypse. In doing so, we actively engage with students as they think about the nature, scope, and impact of catastrophic events on individuals, families, societies, civilizations, and the Earth itself.”

“Our innovative approach to teaching and learning features: students as active participants, the instructor becomes the facilitator, storytelling replaces lectures, zombies become the catalyst of teaching, a “zombrarian” (librarian) drives research, and the students emerge as digital storytellers as a way of assessing their own learning.”

Others outside MUS have found out about the course and have requested access to it. As a result of this, they’ve opened it up to non-credit seeking participants and now various people from police forces, Centers for Disease Control, and others are able to take the course. To make this learning experience even more accessible, the cost has been greatly reduced: from $1600+ to just $500. (So this talented team is not only offering powerful pedagogies, but also significant monetary contributions to the university as well.)

For me, the key thing here is that this course represents what I believe is the direction that’s starting to really pull ahead of the pack and, if done well, will likely crush most of the other directions/approaches.  And that is the use of teams to create, deliver, teach, and assess content – i.e., team-based learning approaches.

So many of the sessions involved professional development for professors and teachers – and much of this is appropriate. However, in the majority of cases, individual efforts aren’t enough anymore.  Few people can bring to the table what a talented, experienced group of specialists are able to bring.  Individual efforts aren’t able to compete with team-based content creation and delivery anymore — and this is especially true online, whereby multiple disciplines are immediately invoked once content hits the digital realm.

In this case, the team was composed of:

  • The professor
  • Two Instructional Designers
  • and a librarian

The team:

  • Developed websites
  • Designed their own logo
  • Marketed the course w/ a zombie walking around campus w/ brochures and a walking billboard
  • Used a Twitter stream
  • Used a tool called Pensu for their students’ individual journals
  • Made extensive use of YouTube and digital storytelling
  • Coined a new acronym called MOLIE – multimedia online learning immersive experience
  • Used game-like features, such as the development of a code that was found which revealed key information (which was optional, but was very helpful to those who figured it out).  The team made it so that the course ended differently for each group, depending upon what the teams’ decisions were through the weeks
  • Used some 3D apps to make movies more realistic and to create new environments
  • Continually presented new clues for students to investigate.  Each team had a Team Leader that posted their team’s decisions on YouTube.

They encouraged us to:
THINK BIG!  Get as creative as you can, and only pull back if the “suits” make you!  Step outside the box!  Take risks!  “If an idea has life, water it. Others will check it out and get involved.”

In their case, the idea originated with an innovative, risk-taking professor willing to experiment – and who started the presentation with the following soliloquy:

Syllabi are EVIL

Syllabi are EVIL and they must die!
Listen to me closely and I’ll tell you why.
Just want students to know what is known?
See what’s been seen?
Go – where we’ve been going?
Then the Syllabus is your friend,
cuz you know exactly where you’ll end.
But if you want to go somewhere new,
see colors beyond Red, Green, and Blue.
Then take out your Syllabus and tear-it-in-half,
now uncertainty has become your path.
Be not afraid because you’ll find,
the most amazing things from Creative Minds,
who have been set free to FLY,
once untethered from the Syllabi.

Glenn Stutzky
Premiered at the 2014
Online Learning Consortium International Conference
October 29, 2014

 

 

They started with something that wasn’t polished, but it’s been an iterative approach over the semesters…and they continue to build on it.

I congratulated the team there — and do so again here. Excellent, wonderful work!

 


By the way, what would a creative movie-like trailer look like for your course?


 

 

GreatCollegesToWorkFor2014

 

Also see:

 

Excerpts:

Over the next several years, at least, new technologies are expected to drastically reshape the way professors teach, and when and where people on college campuses do their work.

For those who do end up in the academic workplace, how to best use technology in teaching and scholarship will be a challenge for the foreseeable future. Although massive open online courses, or MOOCs, are hot topics of conversation, even professors who have never taught online have seen the effects of technology on their work lives.

Some advice from Ms. Austin to graduate students who want to be professors: Get experience teaching online.

 “You’ll be expected to teach fully online and to use technology quite skillfully in class,”says Ms. Austin, who has taught all-online courses in the College of Education’s online master’s programs.

As for senior faculty members, “we can’t just stay up on what’s happening our fields, but we have to stay ahead of the technology as well,”*** Ms. Austin says. “It’s more than just learning some technology. We need to think about it in the context of what are the most effective ways of helping students learn.”

“If you look to the future, it’s really going to be necessary for faculty to have a good degree of flexibility,” Ms. Austin says. “They’ll need to be flexible enough to use new technology, flexible enough to respond to the changing student body. Appointment types are changing.

“Flexibility is going to be key.”

 

 ***  From DSC: 
Though I applaud what Ms. Austin is saying throughout this solid piece, I don’t see faculty members being able to stay ahead of the technology as well as staying up on what’s happening in their fields. Even keeping up with (vs. being ahead of) the technology is something that even Educational Technologists struggle to accomplish!  Given limited resources as well as the pace of change, it’s very difficult, if not impossible to achieve such a feat.  This is why I think TEAM-based content creation and delivery will be the predominant setup in the future.

 

 

WorkLab-By-Custer-

 

Excerpt from custerworklab.com:

The floor plan includes 10,000 square feet of co-working space.

  • 13 private offices
  • Two mobile offices
  • One executive office
  • One team room that can accommodate up to four people
  • Seven meeting spaces with seating for four to 35 people

All the meeting spaces include display and switching technology with video conferencing available in three of the rooms. Other features include a work lounge, cafe and a variety of other workstations. Plus more social accessibility, ergonomic furniture and the best technology available.

 

WorkLab2-By-Custer-

 

WorkLab3-By-Custer-

 

 

From DSC:
I recently toured this space and I can tell you that you can quickly get a sense of how much thought and effort went into the design of that collaborative workspace. 

Check out the photo gallery and 360 degree tour to see what I mean.

I think you will agree that each and every thing that you see in that space is approached from a sense of design and functionality.  Everything is there for a reason.  The technology.  The furniture.  The esthetics and accessories.  Everything.  It’s very well done.  If you get a chance to use it or tour it, I would highly recommend it.  Custer’s Worklab lays out so many things that are helpful in a collaborative learning/workspace.

 Also see:

 

 

 

The Kalamazoo Promise
A program whereby qualified students of the Kalamazoo Public Schools (Kalamazoo, MI, USA) can get up to 100% of their college tuition paid for them.  Recently this program was expanded to include 15 other private liberal arts colleges.

NOTES:

 

 

Starbucks to provide free college education to thousands of workers — from nytimes.com by Richard Perez-Penaju

Excerpt:

Starbucks will provide a free online college education to thousands of its workers, without requiring that they remain with the company, through an unusual arrangement with Arizona State University, the company and the university will announce on Monday.

 

NOTE:
EducationDive has some solid comments and advice, however, re: the fine print here –> Highly praised Starbucks program requires large upfront tuition payments first

 

 

 

 
 

“Learning in the Living [Class] Room” — as explained by Daniel Christian [Campus Technology]

Learning from the Living [Class] Room  — from Campus Technology by Daniel Christian and Mary Grush; with a huge thanks also going out to Mr. Steven Niedzielski (@Marketing4pt0) and to Mr. Sam Beckett (@SamJohnBeck) for their assistance and some of the graphics used in making these videos.

From DSC:
These 4 short videos explain what I’m trying to relay with a vision I’m entitling, Learning from the Living [Class] Room.  I’ve been pulse checking a variety of areas for years now, and the pieces of this vision continue to come into fruition.  This is what I see Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) morphing into (though there may be other directions/offshoots that they go in as well).

After watching these videos, I think you will see why I think we must move to a teambased approach.

(It looks like the production folks for Campus Technology had to scale things way back in terms of video quality to insure an overall better performance for the digitally-based magazine.) 


To watch these videos in a higher resolution, please use these links:


  1. What do you mean by “the living [class] room”?
  2. Why consider this now?
  3. What are some examples of apps and tech for “the living [class] room”?
  4. What skill sets will be needed to make “the living [class] room” a reality?

 

 


Alternatively, these videos can be found at:


 

DanielSChristianLearningFromTheLivingClassRoom-CampusTechnologyNovember2013

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A first look at how educators are really using Google Glass — from by Stephen Noonoo

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

Per Andrew Vanden Heuvel:

What Glass does offer, Vanden Heuvel said, is a shift in perspective, particularly because teachers can use it as a tool to engage students faster and more easily than before. After returning from Geneva, Vanden Heuvel launched a YouTube channel devoted to his experiments with science–and Glass–called STEMBite. To date, in more than two dozen videos, he’s guided viewers through the physics of ball spin on the tennis court to the polarization of light through (appropriately enough) a pair of glasses.

“What I’m excited by making these videos is not only that they’re filmed with Google Glass, but they’re high engagement videos, so they’re meant to be really short and to get kids to think about how math and science is all around,” he said. “I suppose I could have done that before, but it’s just so easy now.”

Per Hanna Brown:

“I’ve had videos in my classroom before–that’s not a novel thing–but I’ve never been able to take a video from my eye perspective,” said Hannah Brown, another early Glass adopter who works as a high school art teacher at Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow, an all-online statewide charter school in Ohio.

 

HannahBrown-9-11-13-Art-and-Google-Glass-thejournal

 

From DSC:
Virtual field trips, mobile learning, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, Human Computer Interaction (HCI), and other topics come to my mind when I see this.

 

 

Optimizing informal learning spaces: Ten tips for universities — from gettingsmart.com by Dr. Lennie Scott-Webber, Steelcase Education Solutions

Excerpt:

Below are ten guiding tenets for those who plan education spaces to reimagine in-between space real estate to better capture these moments of learning for more effective informal learning spaces…

 

Top Ten: Classroom Seating — from media.designerpages.com

 

toptentablet2.steelcase

 

From DSC:
I’d rather see more of these “Top 10” chairs on wheels — i.e. be movable — like the above Node Chair from Steelcase.  Ideally, chairs and tables in classrooms should be able to be easily moved around, reconfigured, etc. — in order to facilitate greater student-to-student interaction, group work, and/or for reconfiguring the room to more of a lecture/presentation style format.

Also see:

 

 

 

 

symbaloo-KaraSevensma-Aug272013

 

Per Kara Sevensma, Assistant Professor of Education at Calvin College:

This Symbaloo includes links to iPad apps that are essential for any educator. It also provides links to recommended educational technology resources and standards/guidelines.

 

 

 

Detroit goes bankrupt, the largest city to do so in U.S. — from nytimes.com by Monica Davey

Excerpt:

DETROIT — Detroit, the cradle of America’s automobile industry and once the nation’s fourth-most-populous city, has filed for bankruptcy, an official said Thursday afternoon, the largest American city ever to take such a course.

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From DSC:
First of all, thanks to George Siemens for posting this item on Twitter.  Secondly, as I mentioned there, many people have left Detroit through the years, leaving an aging infrastructure that still needs to be paid for, but with a constantly dwindling tax base. 

What are some of the lessons other cities, towns, and villages can learn from this?

One potential item that comes to my mind is to not put all of our eggs into one basket.  Detroit was too focused on the automobile; we should have diversified more.  (This could also be said of our careers/skillsets I suppose…)

Anyway, the people of Detroit have been on my heart and mind for years now.  I internally pitched an idea a while back whereby our student teachers in our Education Department could employ web-based collaboration tools to help the youth of Detroit in their studies.  It seemed like a potential WIN-WIN situation — providing real-world teaching experience to our current EDUC students (and most likely opening up completely new experiences for them) while at the same time providing some solid/free tutoring/assistance for the students of Detroit.

 

 

Addendums on 7/19/13:

 

Verizon-AccessibilityInEduc-July2013

 

DrewWoznickGradSpeech-6-5-2013

 

HermanMillerSketchbook-2013

 

Excerpts:

Learning Space Insights
The following insights result from ongoing testing of new approaches to learning spaces and are not intended to be prescriptive. We hope each insight causes you to consider new approaches to learning space design. As our research continues, we look forward to a continued dialogue on each of the following insights, which will lead to discovery of new ideas for learning space design.

Enhance Collaboration
Idea: Traditional classroom design often limits engagement (due to rows, etc.). Space should enable and encourage student and faculty engagement, as well as student-tostudent interaction.

Foster Engagement
Idea: Spaces that encourage engagement remove barriers, get faculty out from behind the traditional lectern, and allow them to move freely around the space.

Let Learning Happen Everywhere
Idea: Consider adding “lingering” spaces that connect faculty and students outside scheduled learning spaces.

Flex to Meet More Needs
Idea: Furnishings selected with flexibility in mind allow spaces to be used in different ways. Consider a simple kit of furniture parts that will allow you multiple layouts and space options.

Make Technology Work for You
Idea: Technology should serve your teaching and learning needs and not dictate how, where, or when teaching or learning happens.

Provide Supportive Choices
Idea: Whether you spend 50 minutes or several hours in a learning environment, the need for comfort and variety is clear. Learning space design needs to offer options that support variety and comfort—for both faculty and students.

Blur the Lines Between Learning and Work
Idea: Consider spaces that mirror corporate spaces and support the collaboration and engagement skills vital to post-graduation success.

Michigan district fires all teachers, closes every school — from takepart.com by Suzi Parker
A funding crisis caused the Buena Vista School District to close its schools for the rest of the year—and perhaps permanently.

 

From DSC:
This is not right.

If the State of Michigan can’t resolve this…
I hope that a corporation or two — or a major philanthropist or two — steps in here to insure that all these students have Internet access. Then provide/allow these students to go online.  Let these students take any class that they want to — and help them enjoy learning as much as possible. They will learn things along the way — without even knowing that they are learning (along the lines of what Sugata Mitra has been saying).

Are there issues with this idea? You bet. I can think of several off the top of my head:

  • Parents out at work, kids at home…
  • Online learning works best with disciplined students…
  • The students may take courses that are not STEM-related
    (However, if they are interested in another discipline or topic, these things could be brought into their learning along the way.)
  • The students may not take courses related to the Common Core standards
    (However, this is not a big concern for me; as pounding everyone into a similar “mold” goes against the reality that each of us is different.  We each have different gifts, skills, abilities, strengths, weaknesses, passions, interests, and preferences.)

But we’ve let these kids down — and make no mistake, we will all pay the price for this type of thing — one way or another. We need to help these kids discover the joy of learning…before it’s too late. 

  

 

 

 

 

 

Calvin College professor: 18 reasons to save art education in elementary schools — from mlive.com by Jo-Ann VanReeuwyk

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artistjpg-07eaac856a9e51ae_large.jpg
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Jo-Ann VanReeuwyk holds a piece of art she created called “Sheath, ”
which she made from grapevine and is displaying during a
Calvin Symposium on Worship in 2010.
Paul Newby II | MLive.com

 

From DSC:
A valuable list of contributions that we receive/experience from the arts!!! Here are 5 of them:

  1. To participate in the arts is to be fully human.
  2. Art is a way of knowing and a form of communication.
  3. The arts teach problem-solving, risk-taking, creative thinking, collaborative thinking, innovative thinking. Indeed all of the higher level thinking skills.
  4. Art helps form multiple perspectives. It gives voice. It helps us identify and express issues that are global, common to all people groups.
  5. The arts emphasize value.

 

 

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