voyeurism

the invitation to tarry

i have been blessed to have been able to share a Christmas podcast with you for each of the past ten years. This year, instead of focussing on a particular verse in the Bible, i would like to invite you to think about the word ’tarry’, and the various instances it is used in the Old and the New Testaments.

for example, Luke 24: 29 records that the risen Jesus “went in to tarry” with His disciples.

on a prior occasion, at Gethsemane, both Matthew’s and Mark’s gospel record that our Lord Jesus invited His disciples to “tarry ye here”, and to watch with Him.

in the excitement of preparing for and celebrating the festivities of Christmas, i believe our Lord’s words still ring true.

i wish each of you a very blessed and meaningful Christmas :-)

when the starry host is not enough at Christmas

this Christmas, i would like to share with you the following passage from Isaiah 40: 26-31.

"Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God"? Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

please join me in my annual Christmas podcast, as i share why a short testimony inspired by verse 31.

the Christmas Light

this Christmas, the verse i would like to share with you in my annual Christmas podcast is taken from the first chapter of the Gospel of John.

John 1: 5 reads "… and the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not."

in a world in which people just like you and i are searching for answers to some very difficult questions, it can often seem as if the darkness has triumphed.

John 1: 5 tells us otherwise.

the verse speaks of a light that the darkness cannot begin to deal with, and it is this same Light that Jesus brings into the life of all who confess their sins and believe in Him.

may the Light that only the Christchild brings, shine in your life now, and evermore.

Disciplinary Intuitions and the Six Learnings now on iTunesU

i am very pleased to share that a short self-paced course on the theory of learning known as Disciplinary Intuitions - and its accompany curricular framework known as the Six Learnings - is now available on iTunesU :-)

many thanks to the Centre for e-Learning at the National Institute of Education, Singapore, for kindly facilitating this :-)

recording of Matthew Ong's presentation at ICTLT 2012 on the citizenship education game The Rise of Li' Ttledot

the one-hundred-and-ninety-fifth episode of ventriloquy is a recording of a presentation by my friend and colleague Matthew Ong on the citizenship education videogame The Rise of Li' Ttledot, at the recent International Conference on Teaching and Learning with Technology (ICTLT) 2012 conference.

Li' Ttledot was conceptualized by Matthew and his former colleagues at the Anglo-Chinese School (Junior).

we enacted it in a Primary Five class last year. the 16.2 MB download is chaptered and is sync-ed with the presentation slides.

the Christmas truce

for this year's Christmas episode, i invite us to pause and consider one of the names of the Christchild, namely, the Prince of Peace.

2011 has been a turbulent and unpredictable year, and this Christmas it is my prayer that the Peace and Joy that only Jesus can bring, will fill the hearts of you and your loved ones.

do join me in this 3.2 MB download, with the scripture passage taken from Isaiah 9: 6. it's a familiar passage, but one that bears prayerful contemplation.

for to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders, and he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

photo credit: PJ Trenton, Frideswide Second Life

RGS 2011 my presentation on the Sea-faring Community Aboard the SS Galaxy in Second Life (recording)

the one-hundred-and-ninety-third episode of ventriloquy is a recording of my talk today entitled the Sea-faring Community Aboard the SS Galaxy in Second Life during the annual Royal Geographical Society conference (RGS-IBG 2011).

please do join me as i share my ideas in this 11.8 MB download, which represents the first time the SS Galaxy has been shared at an academic conference!

visit the SS Galaxy :-)

RGS 2011 my presentation on Design Considerations for a Field Studies Centre in Second Life (recording)

the one-hundred-and-ninety-second episode of ventriloquy is a recording of my talk today entitled Design Considerations for a Field Studies Centre in Second Life during the annual Royal Geographical Society conference (RGS-IBG 2011).

please do join me as i share my ideas in this 16.0 MB download.

visit the Raymaker Field Studies Centre at Bowness :-)

(unlike earlier in the month, this time my brain was firing on all cylinders, thanks be to God :-) )

SLCC 2011 my presentation on learning geography through Second Life (recording)

the one-hundred-and-ninety-first episode of ventriloquy is a recording of my talk yesterday entitled Developing adolescents' map literacy with Second Life during the annual Second Life Community Convention (SLCC 2011).

please do join me as i share my ideas in this 24.4 MB download.

(the Ustream video is here, sincere apologies in advance that brain wasn't firing on all cylinders)

Teaching and Learning in 3D Immersive Worlds (a little more detail)

the one-hundred-and-ninetieth episode of ventriloquy is an extract of a rehearsal of an address to be delivered on Wednesday the 27th of April, at the Dunman High School, on the occasion of the opening of the Singapore schools' East Zone Centre of Excellence.

the complete address will be delivered by a team of my colleagues (led by Professor David Hung, Associate Dean, Office of Education Research at the National Institute of Education), and the extract i'm sharing here is just my contribution. you've heard most of it before :-)

on a related note, my copy of Cheney's and Sanders's edited book Teaching and Learning in 3D Immersive Worlds: Pedagogical Models and Constructivist Approaches was delivered today :-)

i've contributed a chapter entitled What are Avatars made of? Fictive Worlds and the Zone of Regulatory Development. It's positioned in the final section of the book - New Models for Constructivist Learning. To quote the editors, this section "includes three chapters offering new ways of thinking about constructivist pedagogy in 3D virtual worlds. The first suggests a new learning theory, Ecology of Culturally Competent Design. This is followed by a chapter that discusses new ways in which the Zone of Regulatory Development can be applied to virtual learning environments. Finally, the last chapter suggests a model of constructivist learning based on a Katamari-style learning environment."

Do join me in this 9 MB download :-)