Wk 2 Assignment: Find & Critique 2+ Websites on Brain Research and Brain-Based Learning

Trying to understand so many perspectives about brain research can be very confusing as observed by several students, including myself, this past week commenting on the reading assignments.  Partly the problem is that the authors of the textbook are providing a historical perspective as well as focusing on current theory and studies.  In one way that’s good because it provides depth to our understanding by comparing theories.  The disadvantage, though, is that one is tracking a great deal of information, losing the historical framework, and reaching “system overload.” 

I’ve observed difficulties in Chapter 4, for example, in comprehending the material because the authors hadn’t always provided a definition for some terms, often didn’t give examples that would concretize a concept, or didn’t explain a concept sufficiently.  Some paragraphs began to look simply like a collection of unrelated sentences.  

Because the topic of brain research and learning theories is both abstract and complex by nature, I wonder if visual and auditory support wouldn’t perhaps be desirable.  Listing conclusions from research in bullet form would provide an easy summary.  I personally also like a site that provides links to outside sources as well.  It suggests the author isn’t afraid to acknowledge that there are others out there in the field.  So these are criteria I used in selecting this week’s suggestions of internet sites on brain research and its application for education and the classroom.

The first site is  Funderstanding.com .  I’m suggesting this one specific article from the website but by all means check out the other categories on the site.  Although Funderstanding doesn’t have the visual and auditory scaffolding to help better understand the topic of brain research, this article is short and readable; it uses a listing format; and it provides a connection to education for those of us who teach.  It certainly reads easier than our textbook and so would make a great supplemental resource.

The next site is  Teacher Tap .  Click on the site name and it takes you to one short summary on brain-based learning.  The strength of this site, however, is the plethora of outside sources that are available – not necessarily on the topic of brain-based learning - but of interest to teachers.  Take a look at the Internet Resources link in the index.

The next two sites provide more substance to the topic of brain-based learning; so they’re already providing the connection to education.  Both sites provide ample linkage to outside resources but watch out for the skepticism toward brain research’s connection to education.

The first of these sites is  DesignShare .  Although the site focuses more on school design for the 21^st century, this particular article provides a refreshing look, compared to the scholarly objectivity of our textbook, about brain research.  The author is a bit skeptical and confrontational about the current status of educational application of brain research and concerning how we design schools in the 21^st century.  I’ll suggest, though, whether the skepticism is valid or not, it’s good to change perspective in order to better view the topic. How can we make an informed decision for ourselves without having the benefit of comparative understanding?   I don’t know if you recall the movie Dead Poet Society (1989) with Robin Williams as private high school English teacher John Keating.  There are 2 scenes especially appropriate here.  I’ve linked 2 clips from YouTube that provide scenarios for different perspectives and commitments: 
The universe is wider than our views  and  O Captain, My Captain!     


 I have saved the most interesting site for last -  IllinoisLoop.org  - if you prefer a stronger sense of skepticism about brain research and its proven connection to best practices in brain-based learning.  Be careful, though.  Don’t get sucked in to the confrontational perspective without good reason.  Look at all this topic from all sides and decide for yourself.  Are the critics right? Think back to what Dr. Jean Ormrod stated in the second class-video for Week 2 and consider all the remarks make in our text concerning limitations of brain research.  This is not to close the door on what the future may hold for research, learning theorists, school divisions, or product manufacturers in this area.   Check out the pages on In-Service Workshops and Education Research, both under the Teaching tab.  The website provides many links to outside resources which together with other readings can help provide counter thoughts to balance the debate on this complex topic.

Wk 1 Assignment: Find 3 Blogs - Critique and Reflect

I went blog hunting this week as a graduate course assignment to see what’s out there and available for instructional design, e-learning/on-line learning, and web sites and tools for the face-to-face or electronic classroom.  I found three blog sites that I would like to suggest for your consideration.  I was looking for sites based upon topic variety, perceived reader ability level, and usefulness for e-learning and on-line learning.

The first blog site is The Rapid E-Learning Blog  hosted at www.articulate.com.  As its subtitle states, it provides “practical, real-world tips for e-learning success!”  The layout (the typical 2-columns with 2/3 for the blogs and 1/3 for the resources) is very clean, simple, and friendly-looking; the organization of the site is very easy to understand and very easy to get around in.  It may not look scholarly or have professional “bells and whistles” but don’t let that fool you.  Tom Kuhlmann has been in the instructional design business for 15 years and his information and advice is down to earth but real jewels, just like to subtitle says.

In addition to the home page with a snippet of the blog, there is a category section called “Resources” which is one way to organize his past blogs.  There also is an archive link at the bottom of the page (the only negative point about the site – I’d advise moving it to the 1/3 column under “Resources”) with blogs organized typically by month/date/year going back to July 2007.  The volume of blogs tells us this has been quite an active site since its inception. Click anywhere on the top banner to return home, or click the home button at the bottom.   

The articles are well written: easily readable for a teacher or do-it-yourself-er, segmented with subtopics, using static visuals, and not overly technical in explanation.  Reader comments appear below the article followed by the field for providing your comment when you go to view the site and read some of the blogs.  This definitely seemed like a user-friendly site for novice or intermediate users of web technology and makers of e-learning or on-line learning materials.

The next blog site is Weblogg.ed  hosted at www.edubloggs.org.  This is one of the virtual homes for Will Richardson, author, consultant, and presenter; you can see more of his publications and web promptings on his wiki and on MySpace.  He writes and speaks prolifically about teaching and learning with technology and the “Read/Write Web”.  Eaton Web: The Blog Directory (oldest blog directory) describes his commentaries as “current and insightful” and states that he “elicits great conversations” from his readers.

The layout of the site is set up in the typical 2-column format (2/3 for blog and 1/3 for categories and archive).  Click anywhere on the top banner to return to the home page.  Above the banner are 9 tabs, most linking to his many writing and speaking activities: SPEAKING – one paragraph summaries of a web concept he addresses at conferences and workshops; VIDEO – recordings of some of his conference keynote addresses; RESOURCES –a link to his wiki which is a hub connecting to other resources; ED BLOGS – a link to SupportBlogging.com – an outside source which is a hub to other resources; and MY STUFF which didn’t seem to work.

The posted blogs are called “On My Mind” (nice), and the Categories section to the right organizes the blogs into 44 topics.  The archive for the blogs shows active use and the blogs are organized by month/date/year.  They go back as far as July 2002, but strangely the archive is not listed on the home page.  You must click on the SPEAKING or VIDEOS tab to access the archive list. 

The articles are definitely thought-provoking and attempt to challenge ideas about the traditional tools and methods of teaching in light of the information-age and the 21^st century.  The entries are short and easily readable, not filled with technical and educational jargon.  Although the blog site is about education, it is not a “how-to” about tech toys and doesn’t provide sample lessons.  It is a site devoted to sharing and discussing innovative concepts about the intersection of teaching, the web and its tools.

The third blog site is Sasha's e-learning Blog hosted at www.wordpress.com.   This definitely is a blog site for intermediate, advanced, and expert web technology buffs and professionals.  The site has a professional look to it and is intended to “share knowledge and discuss approaches and techniques in the field of e-learning.”  The blog site has only been in existence since September of 2010 although the author Sasha Scott has been in Instructional Design since 2002.

The layout of the site is basically set up in the typical 2-column format (2/3 for blog and 1/3 for categories and archive).  There are 8 tabs at the top of the page covering skins, discussion, opinion, design, theory, tips, tools and tutorials.  At the bottom of the page are 3 equal sections for links and the archive listing.  Five of the links are to other blog sites, a great sign of networking and “community,” and 2 links are to product vendors.  The 8 tabs above are not distinct categories but inter-related in terms of content.  The articles are not just on the same topics but are close variations of each other.  At the present time the categories seem grouped: discussion/opinion; tips/tools/tutorials; and design/theory/skins.

The articles so far cover sophisticated tools (dynamic powerpoints through animation and interactivity which Sasha created) and complex concepts of design with an emphasis on explanation and demonstration. Each blog has a number of links embedded in the article as well as a demonstration link that shows his own interactive design.  So secondarily the blogs are directed toward advertising the author’s skills.  Readers are able to make comments related to an article.  Currently the comments are compliments and not discussions.  As the site ages I suspect readers will go further in their comments, and the 8 categories will eventually cover separate and distinct topics.    

Why Latin; Why Yet Another Blogsite?

I suppose the first order of business as we inaugurate this adventure would be to explain what the blogsite name is.  The site name is Latin for "Site for Group Opinion Concerning All Things Educational".  There are several reasons for using Latin; the first because the Latin is more catchy than the English.  The reasoning behind the site name is historical also.  Many may remember from their World History course in high school or college that for centuries Latin was the common language of all the top universities of the time.  It was a universal language and anyone who attended "university" knew, read, and spoke Latin as a second language.  So the title seems appropriate as we delve into "all things educational".  The third reason for a Latin title is more personal.  My undergraduate degree is in Latin and I've taught it for a few years; not so many years, though, as the other foreign language that I've taught - English.                                    

                                                                                                                                                                     This blog is an activity that represents partial fulfillment of requirements for a graduate course on Learning Theories that I'm taking through Walden University.  That makes the title ironic, doesn't it, because we link educational practices of the distant past with 21st century educational technology of today and tomorrow.  This blog is one forum for discussion of relevant topics in education and teaching, both face-to-face but probably more so for online learning.  I'd be interested in "hearing" thoughts from those of you in the corporate world, from government / military institutions, as well as the K-12 or higher realm of education.  That's what will make the discussions interesting; seeing theory applied in so mean areas and so many ways.