Learning Ahoy! Setting sail for Anchored Instruction Island with the Vanderbilt Crew!

Okay - so I couldn't think of/find a "perfect" quote for this week's theory - hereafter called AI (not to be confused with Artificial Intelligence or some other fancy name with the acronym AI). So, I decided to do the next best thing if you can't find a cool quote - play off the imagery of the title. ;)

I’m actually writing this post from 33,000 miles in the air!  One of the research projects that I’m working on right now is studying how technology can be used to enhance short-term Study Abroad experiences – and I’m en route to my research site as I type!  You’ll have to excuse the exclamation points.  We’ve been talking and planning and thinking and talking some more about this trip for MONTHS … and here I am on my way across the globe.

I am back on track of my loving the instructional theories.  I really enjoyed this week’s – and I think that that is due in large part to it’s grounding in the previous week’s theory, Cognitive Apprenticeship/Situated Learning.  I know that there are many similarities to GBS (Yikes! – See my previous posts), but this theory (AI) fits more with the CA/SL theories.  Maybe I just want it to fit more with my favorite theory thus far. ;)

I appreciated the extensive examples that were provided by the authors.  I got a little tired of reading the phrase “our group” – I get it, your group did it all and wrote a lot about it – but I think they were smart in how they approached their publications.  I had heard of the “Jasper” problems before, but I’ve never actually seen them “live and in living color.”  I have a vague memory of hearing about a set of very hard “problems” that students between the elementary and college years could work on and still be challenged by, that had content/skills built in.  I can only assume based on the readings that these problems I’m thinking of were Jaspers.

I may have mentioned before that I have a developing theory in my head about teaching as storytelling.  If I haven’t ever mentioned it before, I have a theory about teaching as storytelling. J  AI feels very much like it could fit nicely into that schema for me.  And – for some unknown reason – the contextual story that is used to frame the modules we read about which could be paralleled with the GBS “cover story” doesn’t feel exactly the same to me.  They feel like two sides of the same coin, but still, two different sides.

The main challenge I’m seeing/thinking about is how intense these experiences would be to create.  I mean – did you read how many different examples/projects that they were working on to experiment with their theory?  (And also the footnote that all of their research is being funded by a seemingly large grant?)  And all of that technology being on DVDs (or compact discs I think they say).  How long and how intense is the design process?  I’m imagining needing to hire a company to come in and help me design all of the components!

So practically speaking – how to use this.  I can see using a form of Digital Storytelling (there are tons of sites out there to help with this).  I’m also thinking about ways to use something like YouTube where you could have linked videos… based on where/what the student needed to go you could have any number of videos linked.  I also immediately go to Flash… and then shudder a bit as I remember how steep the learning curve is for Flash.  I guess I’m thinking that with something like AI you’d have to literally build a content-world from the ground up.  That’s some pretty intense web design I’m seeing happening in my head!

Since I’m composing this post in Word (thanks American Airlines for no wifi on a plane – why hasn’t this just been figured out already???) I’m pretty sure I’m way over my normal post length.  I’ll stop while I’m ahead and post this when we land and I get some decent Internet.  On to reading and figuring out how to sleep upright.  Probably more of the former than the latter.  Will see you all in the Comments section!  Enjoy your Spring Break!