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Some recent blog posts. Note - if you want to keep up on more of my ramblings you'll have to get a livejournal account to read the protected entries. Subscribe:

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008

From The Interaction of Color by Albers - a book I was not that thrilled with (probably due to it being the 1972 condensed edition which has few color plates to refer to), but in which I did enjoy this quote:

"In the end, teaching is a matter not of method but of heart. Therefore, the most decisive factor is the teacher's personality. His enthusiastic concern with the student's growth counts more than how much he knows. It is well known that "the teacher is always right," but rarely does this fact elicit respect or sympathy; even less often does it prove competence and authority.

But the teacher actually is right and always will gain confidence when he admits that he does not know, that he cannot decide, and as is often is with color, that he is unable to make a choice or to give advice.

Besides, good teaching is more a giving of right questions than a giving of right answers."

Friday, July 11th, 2008

A quote I enjoyed from a recent conference session:

"Civil societies become democratic when there are opportunities for people to learn the importance of listening to all views, even those they dislike, of 'working through' conflicting approaches to solving a problem, and of building common ground for action" (Matthews, 1998)

Monday, June 30th, 2008

pen-and-paper RPGs

On another note (since I still can't sleep... I suppose sitting around on the computer is not generally sleep-inducing is it?) - lately I started playing pen-and-paper role-playing-games again. I'm running a science fiction space opera based on a modified old TSR setting from the 80s - Star Frontiers. I'm looking for additional players. If you're interested in playing, leave a comment or send me an e-mail.

Tuesday, May 13th, 2008

GTA IV Liberty City vs. New York

For those playing GTA IV, I thought you would find this interesting!

Friday, April 4th, 2008

Immersive gaming and pain management

Yesterday I had an interesting meeting with a nurse from UW Hospital who works in pain management. She saw an article on my department's sims/games program and contacted the writer who pointed her to me. I normally work with instructional or research application of simulations and games in higher education, but as you'll read below, I thought this was a worthwhile cause to provide some help to.
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