Lara L. Schenck
Computing researcher, maker of monsters
Category: Research
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Computer Science Bootcamp
I’m studying up for a real-deal interview. There will be whiteboards. There will be coding questions much more involved than FizzBuzz. There will be algorithms and math and data structures and all of the things I have successfully avoided for much of my career. This is potentially a dream job, and if I put the…
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Pricing and Economic Relativity
I’m usually not one for non-fiction, but the times have changed. I’m currently reading Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions by a cool dude named Dan Ariely. In short, we humans are constantly influenced by “hidden forces” that cause us to make decisions that don’t always make logical sense. Can’t say I’m…
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On Progressive Enhancement
In a nutshell, progressive enhancement is building “content out”, separating the structure of a website (HTML) from its presentation and behavior (CSS and JS). Content should be available regardless of the capabilities of the device, and should not rely on styling or scripting to function at a base level. There are some strong opionions for…
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There is no fold.
…the amount of time in view steadily rises as we move downpage to a peak between about 1200 pixels down. This portion of the page is viewed for nearly three times as long as the top of the page. Amen to that – awesome reference point for clients stuck in the ’00s. Via this tweet.
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Cargo Cult CSS
About every other day I read a blog post about a new take on CSS best practices. I think either “I’m doing right!” or, “Ohh that makes sense, I’ll change my ways”. Cargo Cult CSS is another of these posts, and resulted in an “Ahh…now I’m really confused, but this was an excellent read.”
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Embodied Learning: Research & Thoughts
Chemistry in the SMALLab. Credit: Ken Howie Photography> In this post I’ll go over two applications of embodied learning. First is SMALLab, a learning environment using motion-capture technology and large scale projections to track movements in space, and second is Science Choreography, a project through Wesleyan University and the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange that combines…
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Reinventing Board Games
Dominic Crapuchettes (founder of North Star Games) talks about the renaissance of modern board games. A few main points: Tablets are making traditional board games obsolete. Similar to books vs. ebooks: the production process is very expensive compared to buying a game from the App Store, and the convenience of a tablet is certainly desirable.…
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Themes from DML 2013
Had a great weekend at DML 2013: met a ton of excellent people, heard excellent talks, and had some excellent dinners in Chi City. A few resonant themes and takeaways: Civics are not in crisis, agency is. It seems like civics are the problem because of widely popularized (and hilarious) media showing ignorance (Jaywalking). The…
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DML Conference 2013
In a couple of weeks (March 14-16) I’ll be heading to Chicago for the annual Digital Media and Learning Conference organized by the DML Research Hub. The theme this year is “Democratic Futures: Mobilizing Voices, and Remixing Youth Participation”. There has been a longstanding narrative of youth political apathy and disengagement from democratic life. As…
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Research on Curriculum Design and Quest to Learn
Article: Quest to Learn as a Model for Higher Education Pretty much exactly what I want to do. In this article, Justin W. Marquis goes through a few key features of Q2L and examines how they might be applied to higher ed, particularly the application of design and systems thinking. Tools: Q Design Packs from…
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Notes on the Principles of Game-like Learning
I just watched a great webinar at Connected Learning with Katie Salen who is a co-author of Rules of Play, and director of the Institute of Play. Below is a recording followed by some notes. Katie Salen: Making Learning Irresistible: 6 Principles of Game-like Learning Key Design Principles How do we to take a theory…
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Educational Games Research
Article: Learning to Play to Learn – Lessons in Educational Game Design by Eric Zimmerman and Nick Fortugno Excellent article summarizing the state of educational games. It addressing the split between educators and developers as well as the importance of using games to communicate process, not raw data: …if your aim is to create a…
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New Experiments in Self-teaching [TED Talk]
Indian education scientist Sugata Mitra tackles one of the greatest problems of education – the best teachers and schools don’t exist where they’re needed most. In a series of real-life experiments from New Delhi to South Africa to Italy, he gave kids self-supervised access to the web and saw results that could revolutionize how we…
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A Template for Analyzing Game Design
A note about analyzing vs. reviewing a game: an analysis mainly consists of what is actually present in the game, not what you think should be. Pick it apart and see what choices the designer made and think about why. I figured it’d be helpful to have a template for guidance when critiquing a game.…
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Scathing critique of Digital Natives/Immigrants [Bad Websites]
It’s a cliche by now, but really, Comic Sans? Doesn’t that pretty much prove the Natives/Immigrants arguments? Disclaimer that I haven’t read it at all (likely won’t) so the content could be legitimate. Of course this is in large part design snobbery from my end. On a for real note, I reference the Digital Natives…