Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 3,800 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 3 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

To kick-off my journey back into academe as a student, I’ve created a new site. I’ll use it to document and share research and activities related to my Masters of Arts program. It’s partially a blog, partially a journal, partially whatever you want it to be.

So far, so good. Have a visit, if you’re interested. Follow along, if you’d like.

kylemackiemasters.wordpress.com

This site will still continue to see some action.

cc: flickr.com/photos/smemon

Great times of change here.

On the work front:

• new department: Centre for Open Learning and Educational Support
• new job title: Manager, Teaching and Learning Technologies
• new (expanded) team
• renos to the office

On the learning front:

• back to school for all of us it seems, in some way, shape or form

On the blog front:

• new theme…like it?

Stay tuned for a wild ride.

Matt Cutts: Try something new for 30 days

Derek Sivers: Keep your goals to yourself

Last night was my daughter’s year-end piano recital. She did an awesome job, despite losing her place in her solo piece. “At least you finished”, was my feeble attempt at consoling her. Reflecting on it now, however, I don’t know if it’s “just about finishing”. It’s about putting yourself in a position where you can finish, isn’t it? It’s about entering a space where you’re able and willing to showcase what you’ve been working on. It’s about being brave and confident enough to try and to be assessed, and to potentially fail. I think that’s a big part of what learning’s about. Learning is important. It *has* to be.

Reflecting on all this, and internalizing it, tonight marks my first attempt at a public 5k run. I’ll be running through the streets of my hometown of Grimsby:

Last time I was running through Grimsby…well, maybe that’s a story for another time. Despite a tender ankle and a muscle strain, I’m committed to doing it. I was thinking it was going to be about finishing, but I’m not convinced that that’s the case anymore. Wish me luck, y’all.

Onyx Ashanti: This is beatjazz

Daniel Tammet: Different ways of knowing

Did you know that William Henry “Bill” Cosby, Jr. earned a Doctor of Education degree from the University of Massachusetts? It’s a fact.

What can we learn from the gang’s stories?

• Effective learning should be relevant and take into consideration the learners’ contexts. Learning is highly situational. The Gang learned on their terms, on their turf.
• Media can be an effective tool for learning. The Brown Hornet cartoon-within-a-cartoon bumbling superhero episodes were short, brilliant, engaging learning-bytes and conversation starters.
• Learning is social.
• A song or 2 can always help. People learn in different ways, and let’s not forget what the arts can teach us.
• The show is built around the power of experiential learning. Cosby guides the gang through Kolb’s model of concrete experience, reflection, abstract conceptualization and active experience.
• Learning can be fun. “And if you’re not careful, you might learn something before you’re done.”

Steve Keil: A manifesto for play, for Bulgaria and beyond

Damon Horowitz calls for a “moral operating system”

I started to dissect it for her: describing the formal course of study (Mondays and Wednesdays, lead by the instructor), the community of practice (Fridays, more of a study group), and the independent activities (Saturday/Sunday, optional, self-study). “It’s a lot like blended learning”, I suggested.

cc: flickr.com/photos/barkbud

As her eyes glazed over, I went on to equate the program to a piece of curriculum, with learning objectives, milestones, assessment criteria and the rest. Then it started to flow: the importance of the learning community, critical reflection of the practice, using evidence and analytics to show progress and guide decisions, goal setting and celebrating accomplishments…