In higher education, the boundaries that constrain creativity and create a culture of uniformity extend beyond the constraints imposed by individual academic disciplines and extend their reach in areas that affect student’s perceptions of their ability to succeed, their place relative to peers and within …
When I was at Dreamforce 2015, I was part of a panel that discussed how technology is changing higher education. While Saleforce is penetrating the administrative side of the house, it has yet to establish a presence on the academic side. Of course, the academic side is …
Imagining a World of Possibilities / Making the Impossible – Possible Rethinking the curriculum is essential as we transition from an industrial to a creative economy where the arts and sciences are more important than ever before and business acumen commands a premium. Today it …
Many students seem to be more interested in managing risk than achieving success. Whether they are trying to prevent losing points on an exam, looking foolish answering a question in class, or selecting easy rather than difficult courses to take, it is more about averting …
Gamification is often thought of as being nothing more than the addition of Points, Badges, and Leaderboards. However, the process of gamifying the learning experience can contain so much more. What does it mean to gamify the learning experience? Narrative Many games rely on narrative …
Imagine standing at the front of a large lecture hall. Half the students are missing. Moreover, half of those in attendance are hunched over their smartphones furiously typing with both thumbs and a large smattering are still half asleep in their pajamas even though it’s …
As a practitioner of gamification, it is easy to lose sight of those critics that believe it is the manifestation of a broader conspiracy to trick consumers into buying goods they do not need, is an affront to freedom by compelling individuals to behave in …
excessive alcohol consumption is the social norm on campuses At the University of New Hampshire (UNH), almost all conduct problems are related to alcohol consumption.The prevalence of alcohol is not, however, something unique to UNH. In a 2009 UCLA survey of freshman, 34.2 percent of …
Reality is not as compelling as virtual gaming environments Castranova (2007) writes of a massive exodus from reality as virtual gaming environments entice larger numbers of people to abandon the boredom of the real world for the more engaging life found in synthetic worlds. Concerned …
When Milton Friedman wrote his famous book Capitalism and Freedom in 1962, the Cold War had enveloped our collective psyche and, along with it, a global debate about free markets versus centrally-planned economies. The question of whether or not a central authority is needed exists …
