August 17, 2013

Canvas Guides for Math and Chemistry

For those of you gearing up for the Fall Semester, I want to make sure that you know that (1) Canvas upgraded the math editor recently and there is a lot of new functionality available and (2) there are print-friendly guides for using the Canvas Equation Editor. You can include these in your syllabus or as handouts if you are planning to do some intensive Canvas stuff with equations in the fall.

Basic Equation Tips (simple 1-page PDF)

Advanced Equation Tips (for using the new LaTeX feature to do matrices, tables of values, piecewise functions, and more)

Chemistry Tips (writing formulas, scientific notation, and chemical equations/reactions)

You can always find these links on the top of the How do I use the Math Editor? Canvas Guide.

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Filed Under: eLearning, TALDA (Teaching and Learning in the Digital Age) Tagged:
August 16, 2013

My New Work Colleagues

Last month, I took a new position as Director of Learning and Innovation for Area9 - they build personalized learning software and learning simulations (e.g. LearnSmart, SmartBook, and SmartLabs). In this new position I am something of a learning software ninja. I propose, improve, design, spec, manage, test, and document new software features. I get to follow features and improvements from conception to completion and it is super fun!  I even write a little code here and there, which I haven’t done seriously since I was a chemist (a long long time ago when I was just out of college). I think the most rewarding thing is that in this job, I’m using almost every domain of expertise that I’ve accumulated over the years: math, science, social media, eLearning, student learning, research, higher education, game design, analytics, and personalized learning.

Since Area9 is based in Denmark, I am now a remote worker (a daily commute to Denmark seemed a little much). I get up super early (5am … my choice) in order to have some overlap in work hours with the Denmark office. While 5am may sound awful to you, the bonus is that my work day is half over by 9am (see, that part doesn’t sound so bad, does it?). Also, my commute time from bed to work is approximately 2 minutes (I have to stop in the kitchen for coffee). I do remember to take showers and get dressed properly, but sometimes not until lunchtime.

It’s a bit strange to think that I used to work in an environment (a College) where I interacted with hundreds of people every week in person. Now my in-person world is much smaller.  I actually take a couple-hour break in the late morning to exercise and go out to lunch with friends just to get out of the house and make sure that I have some human contact!  But I do have some company at the little home office – here are two of my colleagues:

So far, I’ve found that this new remote worker lifestyle is giving me greater flexibility (duh) to actually place some emphasis on having more balance in my life. I’ve gone back to taking karate and yoga classes. I have time to learn some of the things I’ve been meaning to (like programming in Python). And I’m really looking forward to winter because I can easily put in my work hours and then go snowboarding any afternoon I want!

Back in 2011, when I finished my Ph.D., I’m not sure what I imagined myself doing (I probably didn’t imagine myself as a remote worker living in Utah), but this new position seems like a particularly good fit!

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Filed Under: Adventures, Mental Reboots, Remote Working
June 3, 2013

NPS and Gamification

Last weekend I visited Bryce Canyon National Park and Cedar Breaks National Monument for a 3-day digital detox. [Yes, believe it or not, I can put away the Interwebs for 3 whole days.]

While hiking in Bryce Canyon, I stumbled across a bit of gamification of the hiking trails called Hike the Hoodoos Challenge.

With all the hype about digital badges and gamification lately, I can’t help but wonder why the NPS doesn’t take this a step further and develop a digital mobile game where you can earn activity badges in all the National Parks and Monuments by hiking the trails. It seems that you could just as easily use QR codes on the signage to “check in” to various trailheads via a mobile app. Better yet, let state parks get in on the action.

Maybe you’d rather just see the pictures though … here’s Bryce Canyon and our hike to the Queen’s Garden.

And here’s Cedar Breaks National Monument (we took the 2-mile hike to Spectra Point/Ramparts Overlook Trail)

Of course, if the NPS did create a mobile app game for hiking (Hiking the National Parks with Zombies?), then I suppose I would have to carry my phone with me, huh? Here I am, sans Internet-enabled digital devices.

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Filed Under: Adventures, Digital Badges, Game Design and Designers, Life in the West
May 28, 2013

Board Games that Change Attitudes

Two weeks ago I attended the APF ProDev Gathering in Orlando on the future of Games and Simulations. A great time was had by all, and we had an enlightening time thinking about what games and simulations would be used for 10-15 years from now. Several games I learned about are worthy of mention here:

Buffalo (by tiltfactor) is a game that has been shown to change your attitude about stereotyping careers based on gender and ethnicity. You wouldn’t really know that from playing it, but players walk away being more aware of how much they know (or didn’t know) about women and minorities holding non-traditional positions (CEOs, programmers, scientists, etc.).

Cards Against Humanity is really an “Apples to Apples” style game that should only be played by adults (and possibly only by adults that are consuming alcoholic beverages). This is a game that is interesting in many ways – one is that the game was originally a kickstarter, and the designers have made a small fortune on the game.  But secondarily, I’m pretty sure that playing this game lowers your moral standards (so yes, it changes your attitudes). I don’t have any research to back that up, but trust me on this one. Don’t play this game with your parents.

Pox: Save the People (and, of course, ZombiePox) is about stopping the spread of a deadly disease. You can choose to vaccinate against the disease or cure the disease. Curing takes more resources than vaccination.

One more game that I think is worthy of mention (though it is one I’ve known about for a while) is Train, by Brenda Brathwaite. This is a game that explores the “devastation and tragedy of the Holocaust.” Read more in the WSJ article: Can you Make a Board Game about the Holocaust?

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Filed Under: Game Design and Designers, Play and Learn
May 4, 2013 Leave a Comment

Navigating Twitter Tutorial: The Basics

This is a short 6-min tutorial to help new and existing Twitter users learn a bit more about navigating in the Twitter web application. Do you know where to find the code to embed a tweet? How about where to make a new list or follow a list? How do you view a tweetstream as a conversation? What’s the difference between a mention and a reply?  Who can see a mention? Who can see a reply? Learn it here.

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Filed Under: Digital Life, Social Media and You
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