About Melanie McBride is a researcher at Ryerson University’s Experiential Design and Gaming Environments (EDGE) lab. See her About page for more information.
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By Melanie, on August 22nd, 2010 My first-year teaching at an inner city school was one of the most challenging, yet rewarding, of my life. Despite five years instructing post-graduate industry tech courses at the college level, I was very much the noob high school teacher. But it wasn’t just any high school but a program for at-risk learners, aged 18-20, [...]
By Melanie, on August 27th, 2009 For months, I’ve been trying to connect my wired educator network with ideas from critical pedagogy while looking to traditional academics (specialising in critical pedagogy, social justice and anti-oppression education) to share the key questions that might inform a meaningful assessment of web2.0 tools in relation to social justice, equity and diversity.
Here are a [...]
By Melanie, on July 3rd, 2009 I was recently solicited for my thoughts on the key priorities for 21st Century learning and surprised myself – and my client – with the answer. Prior to this query, I might have rhymed off the usual classroom2.0 mantra: blogging, social media, virtual worlds, mobile technology and, of course, multi-tasking. But the more I reflected [...]
By Melanie, on May 2nd, 2008
“The job of a citizen is to keep his mouth open.” – Gunter Grass
Gunter Grass’ message is especially critical to those early-to-late majority users (i.e., everybody) who may not know the value or importance of their voice in the battle for a many-to-many democratic internet.
This post seeks [...]
By Melanie, on April 29th, 2008
For those who have experienced inequity on the wrong side of the social and digital divide, social networking sites may not be experienced in quite the same way as those who enjoy material privilege and/or stability. In this sense, webby fun is relative to inclusivity. Especially in spaces that are not designed [...]
By Melanie, on April 26th, 2008 As today’s wired learners become increasingly alienated from an education system that is 50 years out of date, innovative teachers are exploring ways to make learning more relevant to learner’s social and cultural identities.
In addition to making learning more meaningful, these explorations have the potential to revolutionize education and transform it into something that [...]
By Melanie, on December 11th, 2007 As some of us funwall our way through the day, others are using social and participatory media to shape the future. One of these people is Social Signal’s Rob Cottingham who asks Can web2.0 change the world?
“It’s easy to get fixated on the shiny toys of the Web 2.0 world: the latest invitation-only [...]
By Melanie, on April 19th, 2004 My article was originally published in Mindjack Magazine (2004)
April 19 , 2004 | As I write this, another journalist is explaining what a blog is for the first time. Quite possibly, they are describing blogging as a trend created by actor Wil Wheaton. Most likely, they’re announcing how blogs have just “hit” the mainstream. [...]
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