courseware

Ask “What is the role of colour in our lives” and you’ll get one of two responses -- “Yes, colours influence us in many ways,” and “Hmm, perhaps they do… I don’t really know.”

A long time ago, illustrations and photos—in magazines, newspapers, books—used to be pretty much a straightforward affair.

They followed one rule: Put in the picture that's needed here.

That is to say, they were descriptive, or of immediate value. A few examples:

Pedagogy is about teaching things differently: differently based on who is being taught, who is doing the teaching, what is being taught. I tried to look at it from a clean slate, but that got muddied by too many established conclusions — each of them useful, no doubt:

With user interfaces, there's always been the tussle between cluttered and minimalist, what people are used to versus what is better, aesthetic versus functionality. What garners the most debate is minimalistic versus rich interfaces. Each has its (de)merits, as Craig Grannell points out in a short post on reverttosaved.com.

Here's an imaginary Q/A session about simulations I had in my head. Why do so many people talk about simulations in learning?

I’d never considered using simulation-based training. I’ve been hearing too much about it recently, so I’m wondering: What exactly are simulations good for?

Bad question. It’s probably more like “what are they not good for?”

So you can use simulations for every kind of learning?

An earlier post looked at a range of ways in which post-quiz remedial feedback can be constructive. What about pre-course assessments, or pre-assessments? Apart from setting the tone and context for a course, a pre-assessment is useful for instructor and learner alike; in fact, it can work towards improving learner motivation too.

Between July 2010 and now, there have been many opinions and posts about brain research and ID, so I thought I'd take a first-hand look at what research I could lay my mouse on.

An earlier post looked at open courseware—free online courses from universities. From 2002 to 2010, the idea has caught on in so many places, Free does seem to be the way ahead!