David’s Posts – Play Make Write Think

Lifesize Model of Earth in Minecraft

April 30, 2020 David David's Posts

Who had the best silent movie reenactment?

April 21, 2020 David David's Posts

For the final hometask, Jessica’s video showing true sisterly love thawing a frozen heart won the top spot.

Keita’s very clever reenactment of the Columbia Pictures logo and Will’s Indiana Jones swapping an avocado for an orange came in right behind Jessica for second place.

George’s multiple pies in the face, Ruohan’s Pennywise, and Wenyi’s Joker all tied for third place in the voting.

Final Conference Sign Ups

April 21, 2020 David David's Posts

Here’s the sign up sheet for final conferences.

Email me if you have questions as you finish up the portfolio reflection letter, editing your site, or revisions.

Who had the most ambitious and enjoyable silent reenactment of an iconic movie scene?

April 18, 2020 David David's Posts

Who did the most extraordinary thing with a pair of trousers?

April 17, 2020 David David's Posts

Here are the results for the penultimate hometasking challenge for this course. There were four different students whose extraordinary trouser dancing, screeching, skateboarding, or folding had them tied for the top spot:

Jessica
Wenyi
George
Kimberly

Then right behind them came Kathy’s trouser sundial.

Austin, Ruohan, and Rachel tied for third place with their more utilitarian trouser couch, mask, and pull-up handles.

Check the leaderboard for full results and to see who is in the lead for the overall competition.

Vote for the most extraordinary use for a pair of trousers

April 15, 2020 David David's Posts

Who turned their kitchen into the most epic kitchen sporting arena?

April 15, 2020 David David's Posts

There’s definitely a running theme here as, once again for this task, George received the most number of votes and he came in first place.

Jessica defeated her sister to take the gold in Pan Pong, but that was only enough to land her second in the voting for the most epic kitchen sporting event perhaps because she and Giovanni split the vote of those who were delighted to see kitchen islands turned into a ping pong venue.

Right behind those three, Kathy, Cherie, Michael, and Rachel‘s efforts tied them for third place. How were the voters not more impressed with Rachel hitting an egg off a racket and banking it into the pot to fry it up for breakfast?

Once again, check the updated leaderboard to see where everyone stands in the overall competition (hint: George has a big lead and it’s looking to my eyes like only Jessica has the potential to overtake him with only two hometasks remaining before the semester winds down.)

Gamefulness in Physical Distancing

April 13, 2020 David David's Posts

Rachel Kippen writes a column for the Santa Cruz Sentinel about gamefulness in the time of covid and the work of Jane McGonigal, “How I learned to stop worrying and love the internet“:

When I lived in San Francisco in my twenties I was gifted a pair of tickets to see Dr. Jane McGonigal in conversation at the Herbst Theater. McGonigal is a Ph.D. game designer and author who embraces technology as a tool to create positive connections among physically disconnected people, oftentimes towards a beneficial societal goal such as reducing oil consumption or improving mental health.

[…]

But what I’ve seen of late is a society pivot, in a flash, working collectively towards the “epic win” of not harming the lives of those we hold so dear.[…] Adults, kids, and organizations across the Monterey Bay region are essentially playing massive games together, all day, every day from a distance.

I see new silver linings in the cloud. Does the virtual and distance-learning sphere increase freedoms to express our true selves and shed inhibitions? Are we more creative, humorous, sarcastic, verbose, and daring? Have we been galvanized by the ideas projected by others and then riffed off of them to further produce remarkable content, in real time? I can’t remotely begin to cite how many of my better thoughts were inspired by subconscious musings informed from exposure to virtual content. Internet avatars can give people and organizations permission to share in ways that they may never have before.