Fair Play is a five-chapter simulation game that helps players learn about common racial biases and the professional work of graduate students. Players in this game embody the character of Jamal, a new black graduate student, and navigate through different phases of graduate studies, including finding advisors, interviewing for jobs and other funding opportunities, writing conference proposals and research papers, and working with peers and scho...

Title: Discourse Patterns During Children's Collaborative Online Discussions (2007) Authors: Il-Hee Kim, Richard C. Anderson, Kim Nguyen-Jahiel, & Anthi Archodidou Source: Journal of the Learning Sciences Research Question: What kinds of argument stratagems are found in online discussions, and are they ...

Code Hour is a free app developed by Codeacademy that aims to teach learners with no prior programming experience about the basics of coding in an hour. The app has seven sections that introduce basic ideas of data types, variables, comparisons, and if-else statements in programming and HTML syntax. Each of these sections contains three to four sub-sec...

Minecraft is a 3D game about creation and exploration through building and breaking blocks. Unlike most other popular games that use points and levels as the major ingredients to engage players, Minecraft features an open platform that makes it easy for players to create their dream worlds. As such, it has drawn young people from around the world who want to participate in virtual adventures. Educators have joined this mania by using it to teach variou...

Technological advances such as 3D printers, laser cutters, and programming software have propelled a new maker movement. Many young people enjoy making robots, electronic gadgets, video games, and apps with these new tools. While all these exciting developments might make people associate maker projects with investments in new technologies, the unbounded imagination of kids remains the core of any great maker project. In fact, it took only one kid's in...

Title: Six Provocations for Big Data (2011) Authors: danah boyd & Kate Crawford Source: A Decade in Internet Time: Symposium on the Dynamics of the Internet and Society Research Question: What are the popular assumptions and biases in big data research? Study Design: The analytic phenomenon of big data has become commo...

Title: Changing ''Course'': Reconceptualizing Educational Variables for Massive Open Online Courses (2014) Authors: Jennifer DeBoer, Andrew D. Ho, Glenda S. Stump, & Lori Breslow Source: Educational Researcher Research Question: How can we reconceptualize educational variables of enrollment, participation, curriculum and achievement for MO...

Title: Deconstructing Disengagement: Analyzing Learner Subpopulations in Massive Open Online Courses (2013) Authors: René F. Kizilcec, Chris Piech, & Emily Schneider Source: Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge Research Questions: What are the different types of learner engagement trajectorie...

I recently reviewed a great research paper from Educational Researcher about learning activities in MOOCs for New Learning Times. The authors present great observations about the incompatibility between traditional educational variables and the MOOCs learning context. I think it is worth an earlier preview here on the blog as we continue conceptualizing a new learning platform and novice learning experiences online:Reconceptualizing Enrollment: Unlike conventional college course registrants ...