Dr Matthew J. Koehler

I’ve just managed to get the website for CEP955 (Fall, 2008) up and running. It’s still undergoing some major construction, but at least it’s something. It’s my chance to learn DRUPAL this semester…. yay drupal!

Angelica and I just returned from San Francisco for one of the World’s most famous “Races” — The Bay to Breakers. Obstensively, it is a 12k race for some, that goes from San Francisco Bay to the Breakers of the Pacific Ocean. Read the rest of this entry »

Koehler, M.J., & Mishra, P. (2008, May). What do teachers need to know to integrate technology in their teaching? Introducing TPACK, Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge. Plenary Address at the Annual Meeting of Global Chinese Conference on Computers in Education (GCCCE), East Lansing, MI, May 5-8.

Read the rest of this entry »

Flagging a few articles about gaming here for my own purposes:

1) “The beauty of destruction” — An article in Wired News. A great read about an affordance of video games to satisfy a guilty pleasure many have: watching things get smashed up. Destruction can be beautiful! Also a nice sidebar about music in video games.

2) The joy of dying — A new study released show that video gamers actually enjoy the experience of watching their avatars die!

I have a dream … When you type in “Koehler” into google (just “Koehler”, not “Matt Koehler”), that I’ll show up somewhere on the first page. Since I put my webpage up at MSU starting in 2000, I started somewhere around the 25th page or so. Now I’m up to the 3rd page (it varies from day to day between page 3-4).

I have a rant, maybe you’ve heard it. I grew up in Sheboygan, WI which is just 4 miles from Kohler, WI. I frequently (even then) get called Kohler. Living in Sheboygan it was a bigger deal — if you were a Kohler you were rich and set for life (if you were a Koehler, not so much). When you google search on Koehler now, the number of hits it gives you for Kohler (specifically Kohler plumbing) is simply annoying.

Of course this is a silly pursuit, and partially vain. But its also intellectually intriguing as to how rankings are done. I’ve also become curious about a whole lot of other Koehlers out there … so I’ve decided to track them on a page. Mostly for my amusement. Call it my page for all things Koehler (not Kohler).

As you may or may not know, came to MSU unable to run more than 2 mins w/o collapsing over in exhaustion. By 2002, I ran the chicago marathon. Since then, I’ve had to cut back running. First to take a break, increasingly now because of a bulging disc in my back. At first I was down to 1/2 marathons. Then 10 miles, then 10k. Now, if I spend some time in physical therapy and take a few weeks off, I can start running again. I can get up to 6-7 miles or so, then the pain comes back. Then I have to scale back to 4-5 miles the next week, then 2-3. Then I can’t run again. Same cycle, over and over. I’m currently thinking about buying a bike to try to find some other way of not blowing up to 300lbs.

Anyway, the new line of new-balance commercials just really taps into my relationship with running. They are funny, poignant, and entertaining. Enjoy! Read the rest of this entry »

So, you win an award for the course you’re teaching. You have to send in a recording of you describing the course. You know it’s going to be boring, right?

Wait a minute! You have audacity (the sound editing software), and a microphone. You can do anything! Including making a fake radio show and making a complete fool of yourself! Read the rest of this entry »

Our course, TE150 wins first place in the 2008 MSU-AT&T Instructional Technology Awards Competition. The award responds “to the growing use of online technologies for instruction” and recognizes “and encourage best practices in the use of technology to enhance teaching and learning.” Read the rest of this entry »

…a wonderful, rich book with a bold, audacious premise, clear writing, and a reader-friendly structure and plot line.

–Richard Delgado, University of Pittsburgh School of Law

Clearly the law professor is talking about the latest legal drama, or perhaps a NYTimes bestselling spy-drama, right? WRONG! He’s talking about the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK) Handbook for Educators. That’s right, he’s talking about the famous and thrilling book in which Punya and I have authored a chapter about TPACK!

Don’t believe me? Read the review for yourself!

The animation style that you see in Waking Life, A Scanner Darkly, or even those Charles Schwab commercials has been a constant source of fascination for me. That technique, called rotoscoping, has a simplistic elegance appearance to it on screen. Yet, it is accomplished by hand painting over every frame of live film. I’m not that talented. So recently, armed with my new Adobe Creative Master Suite, I tried to see if I could do it with filters. My test film was an apple commercial. Read the rest of this entry »