How can we best teach a hybrid or HyFlex class? This week I’m starting my gaming in education seminar and the students are almost exactly balanced between in person and online.  I’ve taught a series of blended classes in Georgetown’s LDT program before, yet wanted to redesign this one with some new ideas and to share my plans here. First, some general notes, then I’ll dive into my plans for

Next week I’m launching my gaming in higher education seminar for Georgetown University’s Learning, Design, and Technology program. I am very excited, as ever, because it’s a great topic and one I’m eager to see my students engage.  I have many plans and ideas, which are about 99% set.  Here I’ll share those plans and ideas, partly for feedback, as well as to document some of my teaching practice in

Check out January’s courses available at no cost to all students, faculty, and staff. Visit SpartansLearn for more information and to register. Featured Course of the Month  Microsoft Teams – Getting Started Monday, January 13, 1:30 p.m. Teams is one of the best tools at MSU for effective communication and collaboration. Join us as we dive into the basics and share how to chat and host meetings with individuals, groups,

Happy New Year, everyone!  Welcome aboard, 2025! And what better way to celebrate the new year then to recognize a whole slew of cultural objects just entered the public domain?  Yes, books, movies, and more from 1929 (and audio recordings from 1924) just left copyright as of this very day, according to United States law.  Other titles enter public domain from different years, depending on national laws (see below). So

I want to close out 2024 with a look back at the year on this blog. You see, one of the rewards and pleasures of blogging is the way it expresses and illuminates emerging ideas. A blogger might have plans for what they’d like to do with their site over time, but life often intervenes.  New topics appear.  The process of writing yields emergent themes.  Over time some unexpected patterns

Pew Research has a new report on how American teenagers use social media and related technologies.  I’ve long admired and drawn on their research.  Today I’ll share highlights and some reflections on this publication, especially aimed at educators. Much of what follows will be unsurprising to people paying attention to the topic, but there are details media coverage tends to downplay.  And it’s useful data to consider instead of anecdotes.

Finding the right technology solution to fit campus partner needs is a deeply held value of MSU IT. MSU’s multimedia call centers are a prime example of how collaboration and leading with user experience in mind is essential to a successful solution.  Over several months, MSU IT’s Unified Communications team worked closely with eight departments on campus that operate multimedia call centers — IT Service Desk, Department of Police and

Since the advent of ChatGPT it seems like everyone is talking about Bloom’s 2 sigma problem. The quick version is this: the average student who is taught using a combination of (1) one-on-one (or small group) tutoring and (2) mastery learning performs about two standard deviations better then the average student taught in a typical classroom setting. The “problem” in Bloom’s 2 sigma problem is that, while we know that

MSU IT WINTER BREAK HOURS The hours and availability for the MSU IT Service Desk, Tech Store, and ID Office will be modified for the university’s winter break. IT Service Desk Availability The MSU IT Service Desk will be open 8 AM to 5 PM on Monday, December 23. The MSU IT Service Desk will be closed Tuesday, December 24 – January 1, 2025. The IT Services Desk’s regular

Inspired by Tom Whitwell’s annual collection of things learned, here are my ’52 things I learned in 2023′. The list is usually presented under the comment that ‘no explanation or context of what it is about the article I learned, just a title and link of something important to me personally or professionally in [year]’, but this year, like others before, has been quite the challenge. As with previous years,