-
What an Instructional Designer Learned from The Great British Baking Show
I am late to the party. I just finished one season or the Netflix Collection 5 of The Great British Baking Show (aka The Great British Bakeoff), the one where (spoiler alert!) an army officer won. Have you watched any of the shows? If you plan on watching the series, you can opt to stop reading now. If not, you may proceed! I’ve read many things about the show. Many people find it charming to the point of becoming addicted to it. I binge watch some Netflix or Amazon Prime…
-
Oct 2018 PADLA Meeting Notes: Case Studies and New Collaborative Technologies
I signed up for my first Pennsylvania Delaware New Jersey Distance Learning Association, PADLA, professional development event at Norristown, PA, at the Corbett Experience Center, a beautifully renovated 1700’s mill. October 11, 2018 came soon enough. The heavy rain made the drive to the Corbett Experience Center a hairy experience; the Center was about 1.5 hours away. But I was there to learn, and according to the information webpage, from a mix of “Corporate, Non-Profit, K-12 and Higher Ed professionals” about the issues and technological/pedagogical advances that could enhance human performance in…
-
Digital Inclusion: It’s Not All or Nothing [repost]
[Originally posted in November 2015 for Digital Writing Month but the post has gone missing, so I’m reposting it on my own site Kreher, Y. W. (2015, November 3). Inclusive design: It’s not all or nothing. [Guest blog post] Retrievable from http://www.digitalwritingmonth.com/2015/11/03/digital-inclusion-its-not-all-or-nothing/] Do we have to talk about accessibility? (Again?) (Since we are talking about digital creations, I’d much rather use the less frequently hyped phrase “Digital Inclusion.”) Text Equivalent (Opens up a Google Document) To be honest, the first time around I was intimidated by these responses. I…
-
“Picture This”: Some Foundational Principles on Graphic Design
IMHO, the best instructional designers are not just learning scientists, they also have an eye for the aesthetics. The best combination of formal educational training for an instructional designer, to me, is a BFA/MFA and a MS in instructional design. Since I don’t have a BFA/MFA (though I contemplated doing a MFA instead of a PhD in instructional design), I have consistently worked on developing and enhancing my graphic design and media authoring skillset. Recently, I read a book called Picture This by Molly Bang, a recommended text for wannabe graphic artists or…
-
Tips to Create Engaging Live Sessions
[First published Feb 7, 2017 at Engaged Learning blog.] Live sessions (LS) offer opportunities for interaction between students and with the instructor in an online learning environment. Download PDF 7 Things to Know When Facilitating Live Sessions (text-only format) Acknowledge your students’ presence. Call them by name. Cultivate a sense of community. Start and stop the session on time. Show how the live session topic is relevant to the course and students’ work. Don’t repeat what’s in video lectures. Provide real life, current examples / cases / situations. Help…
-
How Do I Know My Students Are Actually Learning in an Online Class? [draft]
[This is a first draft of some of my preliminary thoughts] I was asked this question during a consultation with a new online instructor. Sounds simple but I was somewhat stumped. I recall recovering in time to furnish a response. In hindsight, I want to put together a more thoughtful response. Essentially, this concern confounds most first-time instructors of online courses. They fear that they can’t engage with their learners and will not know whether these learners are keeping up with the class. The gap in space and place, the asynchronous…
-
Arts-Based Research, Post Qualitative Deleuzian Inquiry, and Other Vignettes from ICQI 2018
[Marj (aka Marjorie DeVault) was my dissertation supervisor.] Dear Marj, I attended my first International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry last week. It’s been a while, you know, since you last told me that ICQI takes place right at my doorstep, on my campus. I finally took the plunge and attended some sessions while juggling a busy work schedule. The opening keynote was a call to action; a call to resist and experiment using critical qualitative inquiry in these troubled times. Bronwyn Davies and Karen Staller spoke eloquently about the “spectacle” we…
-
How to Turn Off Subtitles or Closed Captioning in Amazon Fire TV
Recently, I have been watching French movies on Amazon TV as part of my self-directed French studies. I turned on Closed Captioning (CC) for one of the movies last week because it didn’t have English subtitles. When I watched the French movie (Roman de Gare) today, I was saddled with both the movie’s subtitles and Amazon’s CC texts. Figuring out how to remove CC (or Subtitles) from the movie drove me crazy. I googled and didn’t find any “solution” I could understand or that worked. Amazon’s instructions were of no help.…
-
Wanna Go to SXSWEDU 2019?
With a click of the mouse, I selected the last radio button on the SXSWEDU 2018 evaluation form and hit “Submit.” The conference evaluation form was merrily on its way to the organizers. There were the usual questions about takeaways, the learning experience, about what would make me want to go back again, and what would stop me from doing so. I would go to SXSWEDU again because … The values of SXSWEDU resonate with the core of who I am. I value access and equity, social justice, arts for learning and…
-
SXSWEDU 2018: Building a Higher Ed Movement
[Me: Scrolling through the sessions I had selected on my conference mobile app] There is a pattern in the things I was interested in. I had checked a lot of sessions that dealt with narrowing inequity and addressing social injustice on My Favorites list. And my favoritest of favorites is the one by the President of Paul Quinn College, Michael Sorrell. He delivered a moving keynote address that wrenched my gut. Live your life wisely; use your education and experience to fight for a cause bigger than yourself.” So-o-o, Yin, what are you doing to bring…
-
SXSWEDU 2018: Things I Remember
Check out the following padlet for things I learned at the conference. Padlet URL: https://padlet.com/ywbkreher/6qk74qw8wvbb
-
SXSWEDU 2018: Navigating the Conference
Campfires, Future20s, Innovation Hub, Meetups, Mentors, Performances, Policy Forums. I had to learn a whole new language before I could assimilate into this new learning ecosystem. #Lesson1 Learning the conference lingo. #SXSWedu pic.twitter.com/TtSRyw0pvw — Yin Wah Kreher (@yinbk) March 4, 2018 The mobile app came in useful but just four days back from Singapore before landing in Austin, jetlagged me wasn’t adequately prepared to navigate a new conference. No app could make up for the work I hadn’t put in to plan my learning in advance. Line up for school. #Lesson2 I learned that many (some?…