Private Universe -

"Can everyone see?"

While listening to Heather try to explain the phases of the moon and the seasons and watching her diagram and use 3-D models, I had a hard time pinpointing where she went off the facts until she arrived at the figure-8 orbit of the sun. I realized then that she was clearly misinformed, but I had been with her up until a point.  Had I stopped listening, assuming that since she had been identified by the teacher as one of the smarter students, she was going to be the one student who breezed through the explanation?

I thought it was interesting that everyone in the class, teacher included, had stopped listening.  They may have been hearing, but they weren't processing.  The teacher wasn't processing that some students really didn't "see." The students weren't owning up to the fact that they still didn't completely understand.  And some of the students looked like they literally couldn't see the model in the classroom - it was blocked by their classmates' heads. 

I was unclear on the chronology of the video.  Did the teacher go back and reteach the same concepts using the 3-D model after seeing the footage of her students?  She recognized with the second video of Heather that when Heather was able to hold models of the sun, the earth, and the moon she could better explain the concepts.  Did that influence the teacher to use the 3-D models herself?

Three things jumped out at me from the Khan video.  First, that one student had identified that he or she was "listening but I wasn't really paying utmost attention" to the video about the juggling balls.  That seems to be the crux of this problem. Good for him/her, I guess, for at least being self-aware enough to recognize his lack of attention.  Secondly, I was struck by the 5 things that happened after students watched the videos - especially #3, which was "They don't recognize that what was presented differs from what they were already thinking." Which again, I think, goes back to active listening.

The third thing was that at some point during the Khan video, the narrator mentioned that students couldn't remember what they had just watched minutes earlier, even when they knew they would be interviewed.  And I wondered, when the students watched the juggling balls video for the first time, did they watch it all together as a group?  Did they have the ability to pause it?  Could they all see it?  Was there also a written transcript of the video that they could read/review during the video?  The student speaking in the video that the students watched was British or Australian, perhaps (I'm not good at identifying accents). Were the students watching also of the same nationality?  Did they have a hard time paying attention because of a language barrier, however slight? 

These videos support, for me, a few ideas about education:
+ Students have different learning styles. The more ways the same information can be presented, the better.  Using 3-D models with live teacher time with one-on-one instructor/student time with multimedia with text would probably be ideal, though probably unrealistic in terms of school budgets.
+ Personal accountability is key and it needs to be okay to say either "I don't understand" or "I was wrong."  Heather realized that her figure-8 orbit was wrong, and she was able to voice that, and move forward.  In the Khan video, the student who knew he wasn't paying attention was right, but he also thought that he already understood what was being said, which he didn't.  Even the guys at the end of the "explain the seasons" video realized that they had said the wrong thing - that the earth takes a year, not a day, to travel around the sun.
+ Active listening is hard and distractions are everywhere. If students are given the power to control the speed of information presented, would they use it? Would it make a difference?

The usage of new media in US and global education is valid and can be powerful.  I don't think it can or should replace the interaction between a live instructor and a student.  Even if the live instructor begins to serve as more of a guide, directing students to different avenues for obtaining information, I think it is imperative to have someone who checks in with you, making sure that you "see."

# # #

PS - I watched the Khan video all the way through, pausing it to write down bits to remember.  Then I went back and watched a portion again. And now I'm thinking about the arc of the basketball and the multiple choice answer to the question.  I remember that I picked "b," but even watching the explanation video seconds later, I couldn't remember what "b" was! And I immediately was unable to recognize whether the explanation offered was suggesting that I had chosen the right answer or whether the explanation offered new information that conflicted with the choice I had made.  Add to that the fact that I thought Heather's explanation of indirect rays made a lot of sense, and it has become clear to me that I need some rudimentary science review! 

 

Digital Ethnography: The actual post -

Students are "becoming creators, not just consumers" - Michael Wesch

This statement was, for me, the "a ha" moment. The "wrapping it all up in an awesome 3-dimensional bow" moment. The "forget about an image of a kitten in a hard hat with one paw clawed into a branch captioned 'Hang in There,' this is my new motivational poster" moment.

Contenders for the motivational poster were Wesch's other statements regarding his teaching style. He teaches students "how to ask good questions" and to ask not what they'd need to know to pass the next test in class, but what they'd "need to know for this test of our lives."

At this point in my life, I am rolling the dice on a potential new career. I am trying to be a creator, answer and ask the important questions, and figure out what tools and lessons I need to build the life I picture for myself and my family. The questions that I have asked have somehow led me to this program and to this degree. Because I want to stay in Asheville and remain working in the arts, and because Asheville is a town where I've heard "BYOJ" over and over again ("bring your own job"), I am hoping to carve out a tiny little niche combining educational media - new media - and arts education. I want for a class of third graders to attend "Aesop's Fables" at a local theatre, and then go back to their classroom and do a virtual backstage tour of the same theatre. Meet the lighting designer via video, and then be able to adjust lighting levels and colors themselves using a 3-D model of the set. Use math skills to create a simple budget for the show, then choose costume and scenic pieces for a fable they've written based on that budget.

So how do I get there from here? What tools are out there? What can I download without giving myself another virus (laptop is in the shop for the second time since I started this program)? What can I design that can be accessed universally?

Here are a few pages that inspire me:
+ The multimedia page on the Kennedy Center's blog ARTSEDGE
+ The SPENT game on the Urban Ministries of Durham's page
+ A recent study guide from Seattle Children's Theatre, one of the best children's theatres in the country.  Wouldn't it be so cool to see and hear the interview with the three creators instead of reading it?  Hopefully, this is where I come in.

Digital Ethnography: Initial Notes -

Just finished attending the seminar and thought I would admit outright to all of the platforms mentioned with which I am unfamiliar:
diigo
delicious
netvibes
4 chan (though I've seen lolcats and knew about rickrolling)

Not a platform, but JSON feed - and after reading its wikipedia page, I am still in the dark.

I had heard of Zoho Creator and obviously Google docs, which I still have never used.

And this reminded me of the "Share" button in the header of the e-newsletters that I send out from the theatre, and the hundreds of social networking sites that are out there (316 on this list) - few of which have crossed my radar (26 to be exact). My friends are reluctant to get on Twitter or Google+ - so who is on Bobrdobr or BonzoBox?

There's so much to learn!

Now hiring -

Smarter Study Guides, the leading designers of innovative educational resources for arts organizations, is searching for a creative team member familiar with all things Web 2.0. Successful candidates will help to design interactive games and other activities, videos, and discussion elements that enhance and expand a client's production, performance, or exhibit for K-12 students. Please send resume to info@smarterstudyguides.com.

CI5530 Personal Objectives -

1) To experiment with different platforms/mediums: Second Life, podcasting, wikis

2) To discover tools for designing effective interactive lesson plans/study guides

3) To learn how to use social media in a more effective way

4) To read and watch how other people are using Web 2.0 in their classrooms, businesses, studies, etc.

Defining Web 2.0 -

I have to admit, I'm not familiar (yet) with using or collaborating via wikis (note to self: add into personal objectives for this class), but it seems like it would certainly work for an assignment like this. And it would make sense to use a Web 2.0 medium to define Web 2.0 rather than a chain of forum posts.

That said, I did like reading everyone's full definition before taking a stab at the editing and I don't know that that could happen by using a wiki.

Here's the definition with my edits:

Web 2.0 is associated with web applications that easily allow the user to share information and collaborate, including social media sites like Facebook and Twitter and interactive sites like Moodle, Gaggle and Blackboard. However, Web 2.0 even goes beyond these. Web 2.0 is any website that is interactive, and therefore non-static, allowing the viewer to make an entry to the website, whether that entry is a “like”, “+1”, “friend”, “comment”, “clarification” or question. Web 2.0 sites should grow and improve with user input and never remain stagnant. Web 2.0 allows communities of people to interact with one another as if they were "face to face." This literally allows users to be participants in creating their own experiences.

Filming the Intro Video -

Almost immediately after posting my "Intro Video" link to the forum, my son Levi woke up from his nap. Grumpy.

I thought more about this video in a "when is my window of time to shoot it" frame of mind rather than a "what do I want to say." At work, I share an office and there are always people in and out, and at home, my "office" is a portion of the kitchen table.  And with children ages 1 and 4 who are not always interested in quietly entertaining themselves, I thought I should shoot to shoot during nap time.

Once that time rolled around, I thought, "Okay - just do it like a Band-Aid. One motion, right off!" 

After watching the video, I thought that I could have shared more interesting details - like the name of the artist who does the Nature Matching System (Tattfoo) or what some of the different colors represented (the first row is tomato, banana, broccoli, apple, and olive - all things I currently have in my kitchen - I could have actually matched them to the grid) or that we got our toaster from my friend who now lives in Buxtehude, Germany. Not that there's anything interesting or telling about a toaster, per se, but it is funny to hear the word "Buxtehude."

I also didn't realize that I have an "extended blink" thing going on at times. What is that? I knew that I was going to have a lot of "ummmms" - I worked as a phone clerk for a catalog order house for about 3 months, and my supervisor would hand me progress reports that showed how times I had used a "non word" during a call.

I wish that I had done a little more with the "time and mental energy and tools" part of the assignment and a little less with the "don't spend too long on it."