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
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
In early February of this year, I visited a middle school near a historic district in Chinatown. The school is one hundred years old with a rich colonial history. I met Gary, the head of information technologies at the school, who is also a math teacher. Gary mentioned to me he wants to develop an app to help their 800 students learn about the school’s heritage... 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
WWE Wrestlemaina 28 (The Rock vs John Cena. Photo credit to: Simononly)
WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) is the largest professional wrestling organization in the world, with fans across the globe. Professional wrestling has been around in some form since the late 18th century, and in something like its current form since the 1930s. Professional wrestling... 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
