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    Deaf Coffee 11-26-2010

    How long has it been that I haven’t seen BB, my Deaf ASL instructor? I took 2 ASL classes with her and then practiced sometimes with her at my corporate office. But we kept in touch via email and with Facebook, socializing became a cinch, a matter of clicking buttons and pressing keys. Thanksgiving break was a good time to meet up; everyone was relaxed. There were more people at Panera’s that night. BB was already there when I arrived, looking beautiful, unravaged by time. Straight blond hair, pinned up…

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    The things we learn from TV

    Today, I had a break from writing and watched TV, yes, passive leisure in a way, but my brain needs a break, right? How I Met Your Mother. What a witty show. I like the characters, and I love Barney, Neil Patrick Harris! The actors were competing today to win some kind of competition. In the end, though, each of them learned something about what real winning is. Well, what I learned was what a “walking calculator” ad had pointed out to Barney and Ted, “CE- clear everything; -, subtract…

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    Cyberbullying

    It is inconceivable how invasive and disrespectful some people are to the privacy of others, especially with respect to online privacy. It is unfortunate and tragic how some have succumbed to the bullying, like Tyler Clementi, who saw no way out. I have been a victim of people who blatantly disrespect the wishes of others to be unsubscribed from their online news. Unfortunately, some people cannot be reasoned with. I used to request, failing which, command, failing which, delete entire email accounts, just so I can escape the harassment. Subsequently,…

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    Celebrate and Come Learn

    Completed the final course on ID theories! Yes! Yes! And Yes! Onward to generating my own theories and extending the research of others. Of course, I still have 2 more courses to wind down. But I’ll get there. Multiple regression and fun stuff with SAS. My favorite course is of course the Social Action Research Course where I work in an interdisciplinary team with law students, lawyers, social scientists, bioethicist, sociologists, etc. Thursday and Friday will be our busy public event days. Campaign for Access: Expanding Communication in Health Care.…

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    Instructional Science: Notes from Reigeluth, Bunderson & Merrill

    RBM writes in the 1978 article about the design science of instruction. They use their own terminology for ID/IDev: 1. a prescriptive design science with 3 phases: design (methods of instruction), production (methods of organization & media production), validation (methods of measurement) 2. 3 approaches for each phase: artistic, empirical and analytic 3. design science of instruction is foundation of design 4. 3 types of professionals in instructional science: scientists, technologists, technicians 5. theory construction procedures:a) development of a taxonomy of instructional variables;b) formulation of a few basic postulates that…

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    Linear ID: Models, Challenges & Myths (Braden 1996)

    With an IDE 830 design and development exam (and also D&D qual) just around the corner, I’m trying to note down some of my re-readings/exam prep in this blog: [First summary of key Braden (1996) thoughts about ISD, linear ID/IDev] The jargon problem in the ID field leads him to find commonalities in what instructional designers do. Linear ID and IDev: 1. systematic – follows a prescribed set of steps2. linear – predetermined order (I don’t buy this need to do ID/IDev in a linear way)3. design – calls for…

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    Gardner’s Blessing of Influences

    Howard Gardner (2006) of the multiple-intelligences fame wrote “I see my research and writing as having four phases. First I studied how minds developed. Then I studied how minds break down. Third, I studied how minds are organized. Now I study how minds change.” I suppose after 62 years, one’s professional and research interests can be viewed with greater clarity. See, I’m not a psychologist like Gardner, I’m an instructional-designer-researcher who doesn’t seem to have a content background to fall back on. When I was teaching in Singapore, I taught…

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    Second RAP drafted

    I finished a complete draft of my second RAP, but after letting it settle a bit, I started to pick on a few things. Well, it’s a narrative research paper. But I do have visual representations of ideas based on my observation and interview data. Is it ok to have some preliminary theoretical framework based on the small sample of my single case study data? Then I started thinking which journal such a paper might be tailored to fit in. Narrative Inquiry? International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education? Qualitative…

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    AERA 2010

    This time, it’s Denver, here I come! Air tickets are not booked yet. But I am planning to be there (at AERA’s Annual Convention) because I have a poster session to co-present with my peer, ML and I have fun stuff to do as a Junior Rep. I am very excited about the people I’ll be meeting up with. My first time too at an AERA conference. I hope to talk to some experts in my research area and attend some mentoring sessions. Just checking out the online program and…

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    Beyond cognition

    Back to my research focus on motivating creativity. As Amabile (1997, 1998) posited in her Componential Theory of Creativity, abilities and skills alone are insufficient to bring about creativity in a domain unless one is motivated and willing to do so. How can we motivate people to be innovation-oriented? What is it in the environment – including human and non-human resources – that can inspire someone to be creative and willing to work at it? Let me know. Just finished submitting my AECT 2010 proposal. Yay!