Week 4 - Reflection on class

I left town last Friday morning and just returned - a very much needed break - and so I am now finally getting around to my weekly blog . . .

I was intrigued by Leslie's presentation and have been thinking and thinking about the implications of using what she called locative media. As a science educator, I envision so much that could be done with this in terms of field science - taking students on a tour of a particular habitat, stargazing from a particular location, or even some type of scavenger hunt. The possibilities seem endless! I really want to learn more about this stuff! I found myself talking about it quite a bit with friends I was visiting.

Since I will be talking about GIS/GPS on the March 1st, I will say more then about ideas I've had concerning geo-spatial/place-based/locative media learning and things that I am aware of where GIS and/or GPS have been used for student projects.

In terms of everyday things, it was fun to hear what different people had to say about their chosen objects. I have never thought in much depth about the design of the stuff around me with respect to constraints or mappings or visibility, etc, however, analyzing an object in light of these principles more clearly reveals the specific flaws in a design. Though I have definitely faced my share of frustrating contraptions and instructions over the years, I had never put terms or definitions to those attributes of the object that vexed me. I am enjoying Norman's book and see very clearly how what he speaks of is so important to designing instruction to truly meet the needs of a learner. Because of what I've read and what we've discussed, I don't think that I will continue to look at the stuff around me in quite the same way.