Dear Commons Community,

Early tomorrow morning I will be traveling to the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative Meeting in New Orleans. The entire ELI Program is full of provocative presentations on a number of issues related to instructional technology.

I have two sessions (see descriptions below) on Tuesday with colleagues from the University of Central Florida and Brigham Young University.  Please stop by to say hello if you will be attending.

Tony

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Seeking Evidence of Impact in Blended Learning: New Models, Designs, and Results

Tuesday 9:15-10:00 am.

The presenters will describe their work over the past two years with 53 researchers in blended learning from all over the world. The result of the project was the book Blended Learning Research Perspectives: Volume II, which summarizes the evidence of impact in blended learning in numerous educational settings and extends the scope of research in this area. Topics include scaling blended learning, long-haul impact in specific disciplines, improved pedagogy, nontraditional settings, and international perspectives on blended learning.

Blended Learning: The Ideal Instructional Model?

Tuesday 3:45-4:30 pm.

Why is blended learning evolving into the instructional model of choice at all levels of mainstream education? The basic premise for this session is that even with the media attention that MOOCs and other online modalities are getting, blended learning is viewed as the most practical approach for scaling up and integrating online technology into teaching and learning. Questions to be addressed in this learning circle include: Why does blended learning appeal to mainstream institutions? Is blended learning a graceful approach for integrating technology that minimizes “disruption”? What are blended learning’s pedagogical foundations? How flexible is it, and what are the types of “blends” that are evolving? What issues does blended learning pose for faculty development? Does the role of teacher change in a blended learning environment? How do students respond to learning in a blended environment?

Dear Commons Community,

In 1936, a sixth grader, named Phyllis wrote a letter to Albert Einstein asking him: Do scientists pray?  Einstein’s response was published in 2002 in a book:  “Dear Professor Einstein: Albert Einstein’s Letters to and from Children,” edited by Alice Calaprice.  Below is the actual exchange as reprinted in The Huffington Post.

There is elegance, grace, and wisdom in his response.

Tony

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January 19, 1936

My dear Dr. Einstein,

We have brought up the question: Do scientists pray? in our Sunday school class. It began by asking whether we could believe in both science and religion. We are writing to scientists and other important men to try and have our own question answered.

We will feel greatly honored if you will answer our question: Do scientists pray, and what do they pray for?

We are in the sixth grade, Miss Ellis’s class.

Respectfully yours,

Phyllis

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He replied a mere five days later, sharing with her his thoughts on faith and science:

January 24, 1936

Dear Phyllis,

I will attempt to reply to your question as simply as I can. Here is my answer:

Scientists believe that every occurrence, including the affairs of human beings, is due to the laws of nature. Therefore a scientist cannot be inclined to believe that the course of events can be influenced by prayer, that is, by a supernaturally manifested wish.

However, we must concede that our actual knowledge of these forces is imperfect, so that in the end the belief in the existence of a final, ultimate spirit rests on a kind of faith. Such belief remains widespread even with the current achievements in science.

But also, everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that some spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe, one that is vastly superior to that of man. In this way the pursuit of science leads to a religious feeling of a special sort, which is surely quite different from the religiosity of someone more naive.

With cordial greetings,

your A. Einstein