My classroom is a game...

Not only does this video advocate for the type of collaborative learning environment I mentioned in my last post, but it also applies to the subject of learning through gaming (which I am currently working with in my Theory and Practice course).

Japan has robots in the classroom!?

Foremost, I would like an interactive educational robot for my classroom. Yes! Where do I sign up? Second, reading this short article made me think of something I am learning in my Sociological and Philosophical Foundations of Education course. Paulo Freire wrote an extremely wordy and academic article that can be (overly) summarized by stating that teaching is often mistakenly thought of as a linear transfer of knowledge from instructor to student. In contrast, effective teaching happens when the learning environment is something shared by the students and the instructor. An instructor should give students as many opportunities to contribute to the learning as possible. That was the theory, and the robot put it into practice.

Is my red your orange?

This video, aside from being packed with interesting content, reminded me of a conversation about perception. How could you ever explain to another person that you are viewing the world in the same way they are? Could some one being seeing another color that you understand to be red, as something entirely different? The topic only gets more interesting with scientific explanations of colorblindness and the outrageous relationship our eyes and brain have with the world around us. Let's not cram too many tangents in here, and simply enjoy the video...

Reddit in the classroom.

What is University of Reddit's mission?

University of Reddit aims to become a community for anyone looking to teach or learn. We strive to provide an environment in which students need not pay tuition or dispense personal information.

Most of you have probably heard of reddit.com/, the self proclaimed "front page of the internet". But what you might not know is that a faction of this internet giant is using their open source platform to offer a free education forum. University of Reddit (or "uReddit") focuses on bringing opportunities to learn from the members of the community who are fit to teach. The reddit community is already well known for being a dynamic group of progressive/dedicated/complex thinkers: science enthusiasts, philosophers, mathematicians, musicians, writers, artists, PhD holders, and societal outcasts are all encouraged to contribute their thoughts. Nothing is excluded from discussion or debate by reddit's 8 million active users. Ureddit seems to be the next natural step for the community.


While browsing reddit, I have come across suggestions of creating a "subreddit" for a classroom. Many of the courses I have taken in college have used blogging services such as
Wordpress (and sure enough - this very blog!) to organize and distribute information and discussions. Why not use the versatility of a subreddit? Using reddit for its powerful networking capabilities is something we should all keep in mind while the classroom continues to utilize more and more technology. And we can certainly encourage students to participate in a ureddit course. Here is a course I found teaching Fine Art Theory!