CLRN Blog
Blog Archive by Principle
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While many may not associate the screenshot above with an electronic engineering workshop, the players in the pictured Minecraft game above are actually engaged in an impromptu circuitry workshop. This is thanks to the game’s robust and intricate ‘red stone circuit’ (link) system, which emulates the capabilities of real... read more
In exploring the fandom of a young boyband called One Direction (1D), I am often struck by the serious forethought and complexity woven into the lighthearted artifacts produced by the band’s fans. The fan artifacts they make include fanfiction stories, book covers, song remixes, and gifs. In this blog post, I’d like to zoom in on some of these production practices... read more
As a CLRN Research Fellow, I spend a lot of time thinking about Connected Learning and what it means for schools. At its core, Connected Learning is about equity and empowering students to become change agents in their communities now, and not just when they reach adulthood. But what does connected learning look like in practice, in a school setting?... read more
Figure 1. An example of what a pattern looks like. This excerpt is from a free pattern for baby slippers and is unrelated to the patterns mentioned in this text.
Recently, there was a very public argument between two well-known pattern authors and their fans on the authors’ Facebook business pages, blogs, and Ravelry patterns. The issue... read more
Guest blogger biography: Amanda Ochsner is currently a PhD student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Interim Research Manager at the Games+Learning+Society Center. Amanda’s research interests focus on learning in online game communities. She is also working on a team project for the design of an online space for young women to learn computational literacies... read more
Compiled by Courtney Santos and Amanda Wortman
The 2013 Digital Media and Learning Conference (DML2013) at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers in Chicago, IL on March 14-16, 2013 offers many opportunities to connect with researchers, including members of the Connected Learning Research Network, and to make inquiries into the role of connected learning in... read more
One of the more interesting assertions of connected learning is the need to create new approaches to education that recognize the vitality of learning and the fact that it happens in many different ways. There is widespread agreement among researchers from sociology, economics, and education that the academic achievement gaps in the U.S. are... read more
The House Unity Projects of Hogwarts at Ravelry began with Ravenclaw filling the Great Hall (discussion area) with crocheted and knit fireworks in the summer of 2011. After that summer, the House Unity Projects became a ritual performed by every House and in every “school rotation” as an expression of House Unity and pride. They have become important... read more
It has been almost a year since the release of the connected learning principles in March 2012 on connectedlearning.tv. For those of us who are part of the Connected Learning Research Network, this has been a year of digging into our research agenda for connected learning, and testing our hypotheses with ethnographic case studies, design experiments, and the... read more
There was a lot to take in on my first day at Fashion Camp. Although the formal lessons weren’t scheduled for another few minutes, I had apparently arrived late for the first lesson: the teacher was talking with five youth about the latest trends. One young woman, about 13 years of age, said that she was into “ombre.” The teacher expressed that ombre is “very in... read more
