I have also commented on my blog (and published in the Learning Technologies magazine) on how we should be less focused on “rapid development” and instead look at accelerating the overall learning “intervention” so that we are supporting the right learning, reaching the right learners at the right time, so that they can genuinely improve their performance. That leads to real change and real returns on the investment made, even if that investment may appear initially larger. A hard pill for most people to swallow in these times, perhaps.

Would value your comments on my article found here.

But life is more complex. The show your are speaking of seems to show the complexity of relations and life, with no simple answer and the need for a deeper understanding. My daughter and son do not do as well on standardized tests because they “overthink” the questions and answers.

BTW, the middle schooler who finds out she is a god…isn’t that true of most middle schoolers?

Mike, interesting thoughts, and agree it does have to do with context and expectations. But perhaps we could play with those more than we do? Revisiting, e.g. spaced practice, leads to better retention, after all. “Welcome to this week’s episode of Cost Accounting; last week Dexter had just discovered that the old accounting methods were costing the company thousands of unnecessary dollars.” (NB: I know bugger-all about accounting)

Norman, I’m not looking to go back (rip my laptop out of my cold dead hands), but I think we could be more reflective, and have a healthier mix than “rush rush rush”. A longer discussion.

Is it bad to use music in that way? To not make it an event? I don’t think so. Listening to music while driving or doing chores reduces the tedium of life, results in wonderful discoveries, etc. But to each thing it’s context, right? Seventies album rock existed at a time when the context was the album — that was the event, the unit of experience. The 60s psych-pop hits I’ve recently come to appreciate come from a place where the unit of experience was a radio playlist.

Similarly I think what you’re noticing with Kamichu, at least partially, is the unit of experience is the series, which is somewhat unique in current children’s entertainment.

I don’t know that we have really lost this, the long form — I think in the case of adult entertainment the pacing of TV series is more long-form than ever — Dexter is an example of a show which has an elegance to the glacial pace of it’s larger story arc. But what both Dexter and Kamichu have in common is an understanding that a) you will see every episode b) in order — an assumption Dexter (and Lost, for all it’s faults) feels free to make in a world of DVRs and instant net replays. And an assumption many musical artists don’t feel free to make in the world of the 99 cent download.

In any case, I think your point about pacing is interesting — certainly the rebirth of the modern television series shows there is a large market for longer form experiences — things with an arc that pulls you in from week to week and doesn’t let you go.

ANyway, I’ve rambled enough I suppose…