MKThink: Cultivating Dynamic Physical and Virtual Learning Spaces

Last week whilst in San Francisco I had the utmost privilege to sit on a panel with two brilliant gentlemen- David Meckel from California College of the Arts  (who worked with Charles and Ray Eames!), and Z. Mike Wang of the Minerva Project (which has always intrigued me). The event was hosted by San Francisco Design Firm MKThink (their space is unbelievably cool!) and the panel moderated by MKThinker Allan Donnelly.

I must say I was a tad apprehensive, because if you know me you know I like to rehearse and prepare my talks and rely heavily on my visuals (usually hand-drawn hot pink and black sketches of metaphorical icons which have become my signature). Speaking impromptu and fielding audience questions was admittedly frightening to me, but I’ve learned sometimes you just have to go for it and see. My one splash of pink confidence was my new pink fox fur collar (I kept wanting to pet it when nervous).

In the end I think we had a mighty fine conversation. I was able to discuss my “Cafe, Studio, Stage” concept and the fact that I don’t make much of a distinction between physical and virtual space. I also tested out some new material (blogs to come!) linking mobile device use in education to the Impressionist Art Movement.

It was great seeing NoTosher David Bill (I like to call David “Brill”) and other friendly faces like Shannon Grant of MKThink, as well as Sergio Villegas and Isis Cerda from my Googlely/ Twitter world.

Here’s the write up by Mr. Mark Miller of AIACC: CLICK HERE

and of course the video (sound quality gets better at about 8 minutes in):

Wes Fryer was kind enough to tweet some of my quotes:

#edtech #virtuallearning #design #notosh #californiacollegeofthearts #blendedlearning #architecture #technology #learningspaces #digital #amyburvall #mkthink #minerva