One of the best metaphors I have heard when it comes to talking about identifying those barriers that are created around student learning in our instructional design has to do with fish and the water they swim in. A fish may not be fully aware of the water they are swimming in as it is…
Today I had the pleasure of taking our Overwatch 2 team to the state tournament as part of the Iowa High School Esports Association (https://www.iahsea.org/). We finished the regular season 6-1 and entered the tournament as the #3 seed. We won the first round against Williamsburg HS but would lose the next round to Linn-Mar,…
Google seems to be constantly updating Sheets to make it easier to not analyze and use data but also easier to enter data. One of main features I have always used is the ability to have a dropdown in a cell. This dropdown makes it easier to either enter the same information time and time…
Esports in K12 schools has exploded over the last few years with schools creating clubs and competing in either state leagues or in some of the paid leagues (my preference is always for the state leagues). I first really thought about Esports at our schools when at FETC in January of 2020. While being someone…
Although ISTE 2017 was almost 2 1/2 months ago, I am still thinking about all of the great conversations I had with other educators after my Ingnite presentation. I was ecstatic to be able to share how my learning as a kid was affected by a piece of technology. Without that piece of technology, a…
About 10 years ago, I was in a Master’s program at Iowa State for Curriculum and Instructional Technology. As part of that program, I had to write a lot, and I recently uncovered one thing I wrote that I had to post to a site I made back then. The interesting thing about this post…
One of my weakest traits as a learner revolves around my poor working memory. This impacts me as a learner and as a teacher. Working memory is basically how you handle that information you only need for a short period of time. A great example of this is when people try to give me a…
Although it is only almost spring break, I am looking forward to summer and days when my schedule is whatever I want it to be and I will get the chance to slow down for a bit. One thing that I will keep doing throughout the summer, though is revolved around my desire to continue…
I am a huge fan of using different media formats in order to give the best possible feedback to students. Feedback is not all created the same and I do think that we waste a lot of time by creating ineffective feedback that never helps the student learn and improve. If our feedback does not…
In my quest to get healthier in the past, I have tried taking on new challenges that force me to work out and do things I have not tried before. One of my friends was helping to put on a local sprint triathlon (500m swim, 15 mile bike ride, 5K run) and since I feel…
At the start of the 2020-2021 school year we started the inaguaral season for our high school esports team. As part of the IAHSEA league, the fall season consisted of Smash Ultimate for the Nintendo Switch and the winter season consisted of Overwatch. While getting students to join the team and compete against other schools…
Craig, Maggie, and I were able to get together to chat about our jobs and various topics related to education and the impact COVID had on accessibility and instructional design for our students. We may try to get together again this winter but watch the video below as we get back together to talk learning,…
I remember being bored a lot in school when I was a student, not because the teacher was not engaging or that I did not like the content, it was just that the pace was not right for me. The pace was slower than what I would have preferred but that is the problem when…
One of my favorite phrases that I have written on a board in my office is: “You can’t expect it if you don’t teach it, and model it”. Along those lines, I think there are two things that we really don’t do enough of but yet expect students to already know them. They are how…
With the move to online, hybrid, or other form of learning that is going to be put in place during this upcoming school year as we continue to traverse the unknown world of pandemic teaching, the amount of technology use is increasing immensely. For some, this is unknown areas where they have not had to…
Donovanscience 