Monday, May 21, 2007
2D Foundations Open Source Textbook
2dFoundations.wetpaint.com
Last year I began to contribute to the open source textbook wiki Intro to Art at the Wiki Books site. The idea of using an open and editable textbook fits neatly into the goal of student engagement that the Polychronic classroom aims to achieve.
For my summer 2007 2D Foundations course at BGSU I have assigned a project in which my students will write the textbook for the course. Using open information from Wikipedia, dictionaries, and in class lectures groups of 2-3 students are assigned a topic page. They must add text, examples, and relevant links.
The exercises and assignments the students complete will also be used to illustrate elements and principles of 2d art at work. Look for more illustrations to be added as the semester rolls on.
When the wiki is complete, the students and I will move the information from our free and open wiki text to the wiki book site where more contributions may be made from the general public. For now, however, our site may only be edited by my students.
How well does this project engage the students? How has interaction with the text, rather than the normal one way transfer of information, changed or modified their learning process? Do different roles (adding text, finding links, adding or creating illustrations) fit different students? These are questions this project aims to answer to determine the role of the wiki, or interactive editable and open textbook, in the classroom.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Realize > Now Adapt
From a presentation on new media and "digital natives" at Penn State:
1. Media and gadgets are ubiquitous parts of everyday life
2. New gadgets allow people to enjoy media, gather information, and carry on communication anywhere and any time.
3. The internet (especially broadband) is at the center of the revolution
4. Multi-tasking becomes a way of life
5. Ordinary citizens have a chance to be publishers, movie makers, artists, song creators, and story tellers
6. Everything will change even more in the coming years
--
As always, I am happy to find that others are subscribing to these realities. The next big step is for teaching bodies in higher education become acclimatized to these facts. How will that change pedagogy?
What I am seeking is a common resolution to the problem of integrated technology for users at all levels of development and deployment of pedagogies that allow for both traditional methods to remain and effective strategies to emerge for a generation with different learning methods.
I say "development" in place of being "native" or "immigrant". Levels of technological integration into one's life may happen at any age, regardless of date of birth or complexity. My toddler has her own digital camera. Her grandfather uses GPS to measure the distance from his golf ball to the green.
Traditional methods must remain for those students (some I have in my classes) who dislike technology or have not yet reached a level of higher integration.
However, pedagogy must adapt and allow for students who have a different way of learning and communicating due to these realities (listed above).
1. Media and gadgets are ubiquitous parts of everyday life
2. New gadgets allow people to enjoy media, gather information, and carry on communication anywhere and any time.
3. The internet (especially broadband) is at the center of the revolution
4. Multi-tasking becomes a way of life
5. Ordinary citizens have a chance to be publishers, movie makers, artists, song creators, and story tellers
6. Everything will change even more in the coming years
--
As always, I am happy to find that others are subscribing to these realities. The next big step is for teaching bodies in higher education become acclimatized to these facts. How will that change pedagogy?
What I am seeking is a common resolution to the problem of integrated technology for users at all levels of development and deployment of pedagogies that allow for both traditional methods to remain and effective strategies to emerge for a generation with different learning methods.
I say "development" in place of being "native" or "immigrant". Levels of technological integration into one's life may happen at any age, regardless of date of birth or complexity. My toddler has her own digital camera. Her grandfather uses GPS to measure the distance from his golf ball to the green.
Traditional methods must remain for those students (some I have in my classes) who dislike technology or have not yet reached a level of higher integration.
However, pedagogy must adapt and allow for students who have a different way of learning and communicating due to these realities (listed above).
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Making Online Learning Mandatory
Making Online Learning Mandatory: "college trustees want all students to be well versed in independent research and discovery — skills that employers demand, they say — and feel that online education is one way to accomplish that."
Saturday, April 7, 2007
"no iPod left behind"
Michigan's "no iPod left behind" budget proposal - Engadget
Michigan subscribes to the idea of providing content transfer in modes most familiar to the student.
Michigan subscribes to the idea of providing content transfer in modes most familiar to the student.
Friday, April 6, 2007
Thursday, April 5, 2007
IDEAL Podcast #1 - Interview with Anthony Fontana
Interview with (me) Anthony Fontana, about art, technology, online teaching, and the classroom of the future. Anthony Fontana is an Instructor for the School of Art.Scroll half way down.
A recent interview I had with the IDEAL Distance Learning Center at Bowling Green State University.
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Digital Division, Polychronic Multiplication
On the SLED board recently, someone quoted Robert Benchly who said,
"There are two kinds of people in the world, those who believe there are two kinds of people in the world and those who don't."
Then I found Kim Flintoff's site: Grip,Fix,Turn which has been examining "the limits of these (the Prensky) metaphors in relation to education."
"While there are ever expanding communities of open-source developers and others resistant to the thrust of monopolising corporations, we cannot assume that students are likely to be a part of that movement."
The idea of a Polychronic Classroom should first and foremost take into account EVERY student, be they Polychronic, Monochronic, or anywhere in between. Take this test and find out where you are on that scale.
I have found many who disagree with Prensky's terms and some who are just glad he used them just to start this discussion. I thank everyone on SLED for their wonderful feedback and insight into this matter.
This idea from the Learning Games Blog and Mark Owens clearly supports the idea of a Polychronic Classroom:
"If people assume that what Prensky states about digital natives to be true - and it turns out to be false - then they might end up delivering teaching that is less well suited to their students than they believe to be the case. "
A Polychronic Classroom must provide multiple channels of content transfer MOST familiar to the student and therefore would allow a monochronic student to function and thrive in a very linear, task oriented manner. It should not force a student to work outside of their normal mode of operation, in which they will learn best. The classroom may only benefit from providing a multimodal approach that incorporates both traditional and technologically savvy approaches to pedagogy.
Perhaps the word polychronic insinuates or defies the idea of a monochronic state, but in theory a monochronic state exists inside a polychronic one.
"There are two kinds of people in the world, those who believe there are two kinds of people in the world and those who don't."
Then I found Kim Flintoff's site: Grip,Fix,Turn which has been examining "the limits of these (the Prensky) metaphors in relation to education."
"While there are ever expanding communities of open-source developers and others resistant to the thrust of monopolising corporations, we cannot assume that students are likely to be a part of that movement."
The idea of a Polychronic Classroom should first and foremost take into account EVERY student, be they Polychronic, Monochronic, or anywhere in between. Take this test and find out where you are on that scale.
I have found many who disagree with Prensky's terms and some who are just glad he used them just to start this discussion. I thank everyone on SLED for their wonderful feedback and insight into this matter.
This idea from the Learning Games Blog and Mark Owens clearly supports the idea of a Polychronic Classroom:
"If people assume that what Prensky states about digital natives to be true - and it turns out to be false - then they might end up delivering teaching that is less well suited to their students than they believe to be the case. "
A Polychronic Classroom must provide multiple channels of content transfer MOST familiar to the student and therefore would allow a monochronic student to function and thrive in a very linear, task oriented manner. It should not force a student to work outside of their normal mode of operation, in which they will learn best. The classroom may only benefit from providing a multimodal approach that incorporates both traditional and technologically savvy approaches to pedagogy.
Perhaps the word polychronic insinuates or defies the idea of a monochronic state, but in theory a monochronic state exists inside a polychronic one.
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