I have distinct musical memories from visiting my grandparents' house when I was younger. We’d enter the living room and there would be my grandfather, reclining in this horrifically tan Lay-Z-Boy chair, a book of crossword puzzles open on his lap, listening to classical music on massive tower speakers that dominated either side of the TV. I couldn’t tell you…
The hardest (and most critical) part of any design process is the last 10-20%. Not just because that's where a lot of the detail and polish comes in, but because that's where it's easy for things to seize up. We become increasingly aware of deadlinesWe get cautious and conservativeWe acquiesce to the temptation of "good enough"We stop looking for new…
There is no doubt injustice in the world. There always will be. It's easy to be mad about it. To rant and rage and let the unfairness of it all drive you to insanity. We work ourselves into a lather until our anger turns potential into action, like some sort of energy catalyst. Any too many people will tell you…
This first image from the James Webb Space Telescope encompasses a portion of the night sky equal to the size of a grain of sand held at arms length. We're looking at galaxies as they were some 4.6 billion years ago. I had a whole big thing I was gonna write this morning about my own fascination with space, the…
Creating meaningful learning isn't about aspiring to some ephemeral concept of "academic rigor." Determine what skill(s), process(es), or knowledge your learners should come away with and use those to craft your experiences. Inserting arbitrary difficulty spikes, busy work, or tasks designed to "weed out" learners is actively detrimental to, you know, helping people actually master the material. And it's often…
As the world begins to slowly open back up over the next few months, rejoice and be glad in returning to those people and activities you’ve dearly missed over the past year. I know there are several things I’m desperately looking forward to; it’s been hard, but we are close. But please, don’t abandon everything you’ve learned and adapted to.…
“War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.” – Faramir, Captain of GondorJ.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers I have no right to this…
DISCLAIMERS: I was extremely fortunate to not need to take nearly as many loans as many of my peers for university. The loans I did take I’ve paid back, and I currently work for a community college. With that out of the way… There's been a lot of talk recently around forgiving student loan debt. Hold on! Before you click…
We know games can change behavior.We know games can make arguments.We know games can promote learning.We know games can expose us to new ideas.We know games can share narrative.We know games can change our thinking. So take that all together, and here's my question. Can (and if yes—how can) we create games that are -specifically- designed to cultivate wisdom?
The nature of creative work is that there are times you reach for it and it just isn't there. Sometimes, this happens for days (or even weeks) in a row. Sometimes this happens with an encroaching deadline. You camp your ass in the chair, glue your fingers on the keyboard, and there's just...nothing. It's not block. You're not stuck—it's just…