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I’m set to defend my dissertation this winter. Given administrative routing, bureaucratic wait-times, and committee member scheduling, I’d guess that mid-January, before the Spring semester starts, will be the time. I’ve diagrammed the outline for the dissertation here. All of the papers that constitute it have either been presented at refereed conferences.

Last week was the College and University Faculty Assembly (CUFA) and National Council for Social Studies (NCSS) in Houston, TX (link). Proposed by Steve Camicia of Utah State, the symposium I was on included Simone Schweberof UW-Madison, Jeremy Stoddard from the College of William and Mary. The Discussant was Diana Hess of UW-Madison.This is a […]

On Friday, November 7, at the Green Charter Schools Conference, I was invited to present on my research on place-based games in the “Outta-The-Box” Schools & Anywhere, Anytime Learning section.
Technological innovations are changing the ways young people learn. In innovative new environment-focused schools, students can attain knowledge and skills through mobile and wireless technology no matter where they […]

The other day I met with Mary Sisock, a doctoral student in Forestry here at UW-Madison. She’d been told to track me down and ask about using AR in her research. My initial thoughts were “how can AR be used in Forestry? — I don’t know…” and I wondered how fictional stories about real land motivating […]

Last Spring, Gwen Drury contacted me about incorporating AR in the planning for a new Union South at the University of Wisconsin Madison.  Problem: The UW is redoing Union South to the tune of a couple million  bucks, and she wanted to know if AR could help them figure out how best to do that.  Solution: Was not available then (Jan. 2008) […]

I’ve been working on my AERA presentations and actually touching up the papers that have been submitted. I’m not sure I can adjust the official versions, but I’ll try…In the meantime, there are copies available here: regardingjohn.com/papers.

The biggest announcement at Macworld San Francisco Keynote was not the MacBook Air. It was that the Google Maps “App” on the iPhone is now location-sensitive.
Press the “Location button” to the left of the Search button in the pic, and the map shows you where you are. It’s based on the triangulation of signals (cell […]

Running: I hadn’t mentioned it before, but I’ve been running for the past two months. I’m currently doing 30-45 minute runs every other day with Rufus at the dog park. One of these days I’ll bring a GPS unit and see what that is in miles.
Biking: I found a possible replacement frame for my 54cm […]

[Update, Sep 30th: In retrospect, this is a good idea if the goal is to waste time, because it takes time just to post something. So, I’m not doing it. I am, of course, still wasting time every day.]
As a goal for the semester’s worth of writing that I must do, I promised myself that […]

I just read an opinion article in the NY Times today by Verlyn Klinkenborg titled “On the Recentness of What We Know” — here’s the excerpt that quite nicely sums up my ontological stance:
Unlike scientists, most of us tend to live easily, almost unknowingly among our assumptions—another word for our ignorance. But the business of […]

Last week, at Maple Dale Middle school, just north of Milwaukee, we played our Hip Hop Tycoon — AR game, designed by Ben Devane and Chris Holden. It was at the Ridge Point Mall, and the weather was crappy (wet and cold mist), and the GPS units had what MIT diagnosed as a “Bluetooth stacking” […]

58.099. Research on Learning in Virtual Environments.
SIG Advanced Technologies for Learning
Sheraton, Sheraton Ballroom, Section I, Level 4
8:15 am to 9:45 am
Chair: Sharon Tettegah, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Posters: 1. Learning Physics Through Playing Games: What Is Learned and How? Aroutis Nathaniel Foster, Punya Mishra, Matthew J. Koehler, Michigan State University 2. MathGirls: Virtual Peers as Change […]

60.069. New Literacy Studies and Video Games.
SIG-Media, Culture and Curriculum. Fairmont, Crystal Room, Third Level. 10:35 am to 12:05 pm.
Chair: Constance A. Steinkuehler, University of Wisconsin - Madison
Participants: Alice J. Robison, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Constance A. Steinkuehler, Katherine A. Clinton, Kurt D. Squire, University of Wisconsin - Madison.
Discussant: James Paul Gee, University of […]

51.064. The Role of Pretend and Improvisation in the Development of Children and Adults. SIG-Cultural-Historical Research. Swissôtel, Grand Ballroom, Section III - Ballroom Level. 12:25 pm to 1:55 pm.
Chair: Artin Goncu, University of Illinois
Participants: Lives in Play: A Lifespan Approach to Pretend Play. Anthony T. Perone, University of Illinois - Chicago; Artin Goncu, University of […]

50.019. Educating for Innovation. Division C-Learning and Instruction. Hyatt, Crystal Ballroom, Section B, West Tower - Green Level. 10:35 am to 12:05 pm.
Chair: Keith Sawyer, Washington University
Participants: Teaching and Creativity in the Knowledge Society. Keith Sawyer, Washington University. Using Epistemic Games to Teach for Innovation. David W. Shaffer, University of Wisconsin - Madison. Creativity in […]

5:30 GSC business meeting. get involved. email Stacy. Eat yummy food. Yay GSC!.
7:30 Arizona reception. Ran into Shelley from Loyala (in my CHAT session this morning). We talked shop, about schools, our work, the process of grad school, etc. ate some fine food. Thought about getting a beer, but for $6 I can get a […]

34.014. GSC Chair Fireside Chat: The Publishing Process - How to Successfully Publish as Graduate Students and Junior Faculty Members. Graduate Student Council Hyatt, Regency Ballroom, Section C, West Tower - Gold Level 12:25 pm to 1:55 pm
Chairs: Hugo Garcia, Claremont Graduate University; Stacy L. Dezutter, Washington University - St. Louis
Participants: Sonja L. Lanehart, University […]

28.012. Cultural-Historical Activity Theory in the World of Educational Quality.
Professional Development Training Fairmont, International Ballroom, Second Level 8:00 am to 12:00 pm
Director: Ana Marjanovic-Shane, Cultural Educational Center “ZMAJ” Instructors: Chrysoula K. E. Fantaousakis, Kean University; Natalia Gajdamaschko, Simon Fraser University; Kris Gutierrez, University of California - Los Angeles; Artin Goncu, University of Illinois; Lois Holzman, […]

I found two canvases on the curb the other day. One was a figure drawing of a nude man. The other was a self-portrait of the inside of a mouth. I’ve been sitting on an unfinished canvas for what seems like years, and it’s going nowhere. But these two I’m having great fun with! Although […]

This past week Micah, Mark and I finished a first draft of an Augmented Reality game set in a 1959-era Greenbush neighborhood. Micah was one of Mark’s 5th grade students who’s been researching the Greenbush neighborhood, over the past year or so. He was the storyteller, and came up with the basic theme of […]

It happened last Tuesday, February 6th, 2007. It took about 75 minutes. I brought bottled water, Trader Joe’s dark chocolate-covered ginger, fresh pineapple and strawberries, and a 10-minute Apple Keynote presentation (on YouTube here, or at a better resolution on my site here, but with me explaining things instead of music by Moby). My committee […]

I live on the shore of Lake Monona in Madison, and if I’m lucky it’s frozen in the winter. When it snows, and people walk on it paths occurs. Because I take Rufus out for a walk on the lake in the morning, I’m often the first person on it after a night snow, so […]

The date is set!
Having handed it in before Thanksgiving, I’ve been waiting in painful uncertainty for my advisor to read it, then a senior committee member left the university (and committee), and I had to find a replacement (found a good one!), and finally I had to find a room and date that all could […]

As I’ve been waiting to defend my dissertation proposal, I’ve been reading more place-based education books, like Richard Louv’s Last Child in the Woods. There’s a lot in it that I agree with, but a few things that I find somewhat disturbing. Perhaps they’re written with a light dose of sarcasm, or with tongue-in-cheek.For example, […]

After years of hearing that being married is better for longevity, I have to admit (as a single guy still dedicated to the idea that learning is one of the best ways to go through life) that I’m a bit pleased to hear that education improves longevity.
“If you were to ask me what affects health […]

Here’s what I see happening:

Global Positioning System devices are flooding the “buzz” of the tech world. MacWorld San Francisco is taking place in the next few days and just about every Apple rumor site mentions the possibility of Apple adding GPS to its computers. It’s not really important that they do, but the fact that […]

I want to be an RML.Isn’t a PhD in Educational Technology enough? No.
Here’s why: I want as much flexibility in my career choice as possible so I can move wherever I *want to live* rather than wherever I *need* to move in order to get a job. I’m currently well-positioned to work at what I […]

With all the humility and full understanding of the extent of what I do not know, I present a theory of learning that I feel needs to be in academic discourse. I don’t give a whit about the name of it, but since I haven’t seen it elsewhere under another name, I tentatively pencil in […]

Title: Place-based Learning with locative technologies: situating learning in the cultures of place.
©2006 John Martin
Abstract: All human activities are constrained by the interconnected and overlapping factors of: biological abilities, time, space, and social narratives. My research focuses on how the interplay between two of these factors, space and narratives, can be mediated with the cultural […]

I see these things all the time, much like when I’m in the market for something I notice the thing or references to it all over the place. I am developing an in-tune-ness for it — Community and place.
In the New York Times today, in two diverse articles.
The first article is on Microsoft’s new portable […]