Free-range learning
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Aphids around the world
When I was in my early teens, I used to stay overnight on Friday nights at my best friend Debbie’s house, because her mom would let us stay up late and watch really bad 1950’s horror movies (and eat huge bowls of popcorn). We binged on cringe-worthy movies like Them! (a 1954 hit about giant…
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Curiosity vs Learning
I’ve had fun the last week or so, visiting many interesting, intriguing web places using the beautiful ‘Festive Calendars’ created by Oxford Continuing Education from 2023 to 2017. Each year’s calendar begins and ends with the following explanation: “Our gift to you: each day during the month of December, explore free, educational online resources –…
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Different views
Happy New Year! We all hope it will be a good year, despite the current cold (and snow). I continue to procrastinate, dealing with every other task or person around me, before returning to write on my blog! I have files of ideas and collections of research for various articles and posts I’ve never completed.…
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New place for open textbooks
As a past user of and contributor to open textbooks in BC, I was pleased to see that BCcampus has created a new home for their growing collection of open textbooks and course material packages (see B.C. Open Collection). You can still explore the linear arrangement until February 2024 but I found the new site…
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Gleaning the web
LOL, I just reviewed the latest WP 6.3 tutorial video Embedding media and third-party content on your website and I’m left wondering why there are no warning of copyright infringement? In the old days, people used to display content from other websites in frames I think. They took that away and I seem to remember…
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Intriguing structures 2
Despite my good intentions, I have neglected my blogging for the past several months! So, I’m diving back in with another look at visualizations that interest me (and that seem useful for learning). Recap: Intriguing structures 1 was about interactive online calendars that could be used to catch a learner’s attention and encourage them to…
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Pathways
At last, I’m starting a new website, a blog that allows me to write about anything that I am curious about, or that I find intriguing AND a place where I can get back to exploring visualizations, h5p learning activities and whatever else I find. It’s also a way to ‘encourage’ myself to be more…
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Social learning online
I spent some time, during the summer, learning how to contribute to an iNaturalist project based in a small corner of our local UNESCO Biosphere Region. In case you haven’t tried iNaturalist before, it’s an amazing “what’s this” service that allows you to identify flora and fauna you encounter on your nature walks, just by…
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Intriguing structures
Sparking interest and capturing the attention of busy learners can be a challenge at times especially if you aren’t present (either virtually or in-person). But online environments and free or inexpensive digital tools (apps) can make it easier for you to curate or present a collection of intriguing information, encourage critical thinking and develop self-directed…
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Accepting loss
As we get older, things change in ways we may not have anticipated. I was certainly surprised at the unfriendly tone of the recent emails I received from the most recent owners of my Flickr account (SmugMug). I hadn’t uploaded anything since about 2015 but kept my Flickr photo site primarily as an archive of…
Got any book recommendations?