Experiencing Awe
We are in the midst of a once-in-a-lifetime celestial event. Comet 2022 E3 (ZTF) is approaching Earth for the first time in 50,000 years. Astronomers discovered it in March 2022…
Making an Astrophotograph
Making an astrophotograph starts with equipment. For this image, I used a stock Canon 6D that I have had for years and a Canon 50mm f1.8 lens that I bought…
Obsession, Learning, and Teaching
I didn't write a single blog post during the Fall semester. My blog post from the end of July gives a little bit of a hint about the reason. In…
Ungrading and Learning
I taught the introductory class, called Game Design Principles, for our new Game Design major this Fall. I think this first offering went pretty well although there are some things…
Astrophotography and Teaching
I have been interested in photography for years. I have a good understanding of composition, the exposure triangle, depth of field, and many other photographic concepts as well as how…
Teaching, Learning, and Atomic Habits
I wrote earlier this year about using the book Atomic Habits by James Clear to think about how to help students develop good academic habits. This summer, group of faculty…
Biographies of Women
About 15 months ago, I wrote a blog post about my pandemic project of listening to biographies of creative women. I have continued listening to biographies (and memoirs in some…
Photo Sharing Work Flow
Since April 2, 2019, I have been taking and posting a #DailyPhoto. This project started when my friend Sally asked if anyone wanted to join her in a #100DayProject where…
Being Hannah Gadsby: Some Thoughts on Disciplinarity
I recently rewatched Hannah Gadsby's two Netflix specials, Nanette and Douglas. I've linked here to the trailers for each of these specials but the trailers don't hint at the brilliance…
Why Wordle Matters
I'm sure you've heard of Wordle, the new word game that has taken the Internet by storm in the last couple of months. I'm always curious about why some games…
My Bullet Journal Experience
In my last blog post, I mentioned that I recently started using a bullet journal. I came across the idea when I was doing research about habit formation. There are…
Developing Academic Habits
Last semester, I had a student who told me that he had been the kind of student in high school who just sort of skated through his classes, not taking…
Cultivating Creativity
I wrote two new chapters, Creative Thought in PSU's Gen Ed Program and Cultivating Creativity, for my Creating Games OER. I think there are a lot of lessons for me…
Info-Environmentalism
Now that the Fall 2021 semester has ended, I have been thinking a lot about how my section of Tackling a Wicked Problem (TWP) went. My section was focused on…
What is Tackling a Wicked Problem? Revisited
Back near the start of the Cluster Pedagogy Learning Community (CPLC) at PSU, I wrote a blog post called "What is Tackling a Wicked Problem?", documenting the history of our…
Cluster Learning: Focus on Process and Complexity
To prepare for the next meeting of the Cluster Pedagogy Learning Community (CPLC) at Plymouth State University, I (re)read three articles, each of which is focused on one aspect of…
The Cluster Initiative at PSU
For the past five years, Plymouth State University has been working on the Integrated Cluster Initiative, the vision of President Donald Birx. Our ideas of this initiative have evolved but…
Teaching Philosophies
In June, a group of Plymouth State University faculty members, including me, participated in "a month-long emergent exploration about the intentional design of teaching and learning," called Design Forward. At…
The MDA Framework and Teaching
I've been thinking a lot about instructional design lately because I'm participating in Design Forward, "a month-long emergent exploration of the intentional design of teaching and learning" created by Martha…
What Can I Salvage?
I don't think anyone would disagree that this has been a challenging year. As part of the work of the Cluster Pedagogy Learning Community at Plymouth State University, my colleague…
