Friday, April 29, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Ignite Presentations
I think that I really ended up liking this assignment, both composing my presentation as well as viewing and hearing each of the presentations.
The main thing that I realized is that my presentation, as a composition, greatly challenged my preferred mode of composition. I was not able to mull it over in m mind as I do for most the other pieces I create. Instead, I found myself more focused on the images I wanted/needed to use in order to complete the 20 slides. I wonder if I let the focus on the image took my focus a little bit away from my content.
Jana's image use was really intriguing. I faled to think of using negative space as an attention point and to draw the focus back into the content as well as into the reader/listener's mind.
The main thing that I realized is that my presentation, as a composition, greatly challenged my preferred mode of composition. I was not able to mull it over in m mind as I do for most the other pieces I create. Instead, I found myself more focused on the images I wanted/needed to use in order to complete the 20 slides. I wonder if I let the focus on the image took my focus a little bit away from my content.
Jana's image use was really intriguing. I faled to think of using negative space as an attention point and to draw the focus back into the content as well as into the reader/listener's mind.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Distance learning
I have never been in a true distance-learning situation, mostly through my own choosing. I enjoy direct social interaction. I like being able to chat directly with my students, to hear the intonation and emphasis in their statements and questions. I like hearing their laughter and their perplexed or confused tones as they verbalize their thinking and problem-solving efforts. It's not that I believe that this direct contact is inherently better, but I do believe that it is valuable. Learning separated from a direct social construction worries me as I feel that much of our personalities can be lost through on-line postings.
My email or Twitter interactions (and even blog posts for that matter) rely on the groundwork that I have already formed through direct personal interaction with my students and colleagues. They, more often than not, know my tones and moods and can understand my written (typed) words better due to the background relationship that we already have.
I guess that all this shows that I value the learning community in which all members can contribute to the learning of others and learning does not need to be strictly teacher-centered delivery of material. The teacher is responsible for creating a learning situation and helping to make sure that fair and equal opportunities for learning are available to each individual student. I see this as problematic for many of my high school students since technology and computer access, including web connectivity, are not equal throughout the variety of socio-economic conditions of my students and their families.
Peterson seems to acknowledge the changing roles and modes of education due to technology, but I feel that she does not wish to construct a model of one model being the ideal for all students and that teachers must not "abdicate their responsibility to actively participate in the shaping of new roles for instructors" (377). This is a valuable statement as we will continue to be reactive rather than proactive in the manner in which we teach our students as well as the technology we choose to incorporated into our learning situations. This seems to be the case for my school district as decisions are made on the district-wide administrative level rather. Thus, technologies are adopted and instituted without our input and we are forced to incorporate those technologies or be faced with wasting tax-payer resources.
So, if I do not best utilize network, email, web, or inter-active whiteboard technologies, I am judged to be failing to fully utilize school funding, when the root failure may lie in the adoption process.
Please don't be confused as to where the blame should lie; teachers are as much at fault as the administrators who made the purchasing decision.
My email or Twitter interactions (and even blog posts for that matter) rely on the groundwork that I have already formed through direct personal interaction with my students and colleagues. They, more often than not, know my tones and moods and can understand my written (typed) words better due to the background relationship that we already have.
I guess that all this shows that I value the learning community in which all members can contribute to the learning of others and learning does not need to be strictly teacher-centered delivery of material. The teacher is responsible for creating a learning situation and helping to make sure that fair and equal opportunities for learning are available to each individual student. I see this as problematic for many of my high school students since technology and computer access, including web connectivity, are not equal throughout the variety of socio-economic conditions of my students and their families.
Peterson seems to acknowledge the changing roles and modes of education due to technology, but I feel that she does not wish to construct a model of one model being the ideal for all students and that teachers must not "abdicate their responsibility to actively participate in the shaping of new roles for instructors" (377). This is a valuable statement as we will continue to be reactive rather than proactive in the manner in which we teach our students as well as the technology we choose to incorporated into our learning situations. This seems to be the case for my school district as decisions are made on the district-wide administrative level rather. Thus, technologies are adopted and instituted without our input and we are forced to incorporate those technologies or be faced with wasting tax-payer resources.
So, if I do not best utilize network, email, web, or inter-active whiteboard technologies, I am judged to be failing to fully utilize school funding, when the root failure may lie in the adoption process.
Please don't be confused as to where the blame should lie; teachers are as much at fault as the administrators who made the purchasing decision.
Web literacy -- Sorapure et al.
Even though this article dates from 1998, I think that the question of web site "reliability and usefulness" is vitally important as a teacher AND as a researcher (333). The authors speak of the "increasing importance of Web literacy" (335). I certainly agree that the "importance of Web literacy" has increased even more since the publication of this article especially in light of the concerns Sorapure et al. list including "reduced attention span, alienation from print documents, and isolation from human interaction" (335).
I don't know if I agree with their list of detrimental effects of web publication. The reduced attention span man not be directly related to web publishing, but to texting and television broadcasting impacts. I wonder if the affinity for published texts (whether printed on paper or published electronically, may be increased due to a greater ability to access those publications due to the web. Lastly, I initially agree with the concern regarding "isolation from human interaction" as it seems that the more social networking and interactivity found in web sites, the more we may lost the identity of the writer who may wish to hide behind the anonymity (real or imagined) that the web may offer.
One of the main points that I hear from Sorapure et al. is the need to teach ourselves and our students to be discerning readers of web sites and postings. One great message for me is that "there are potentially valuable Web sites available to student researches that should not be dismissed just because they are dissimilar to sources found in the library" (388). I see a raised importance for evaluating each site individually, especially the linked pages.
The discussion of the "coolness" of a web site struck a particular chord for me, as I have thought about this since the publication of USA Today in 1982. One of the appealing items of the national newspaper was the layout and graphic elements incorporated into each daily issue. Nearly daily is a readers' poll as well as the use of color and info-graphics -- one of the first newspapers to incorporate these elements. So I often wonder if the paper is successful due to its coolness rather than its content, just as many web sites.
At the same time, If people don't read the daily issues, the newspaper will never successfully communicate news to anyone, just as web sites may contain the best information, but will never relay any messages if it fails to attract readers. So form and design are valuable and the 'coolness' does carry legitimate weight.
I don't know if I agree with their list of detrimental effects of web publication. The reduced attention span man not be directly related to web publishing, but to texting and television broadcasting impacts. I wonder if the affinity for published texts (whether printed on paper or published electronically, may be increased due to a greater ability to access those publications due to the web. Lastly, I initially agree with the concern regarding "isolation from human interaction" as it seems that the more social networking and interactivity found in web sites, the more we may lost the identity of the writer who may wish to hide behind the anonymity (real or imagined) that the web may offer.
One of the main points that I hear from Sorapure et al. is the need to teach ourselves and our students to be discerning readers of web sites and postings. One great message for me is that "there are potentially valuable Web sites available to student researches that should not be dismissed just because they are dissimilar to sources found in the library" (388). I see a raised importance for evaluating each site individually, especially the linked pages.
The discussion of the "coolness" of a web site struck a particular chord for me, as I have thought about this since the publication of USA Today in 1982. One of the appealing items of the national newspaper was the layout and graphic elements incorporated into each daily issue. Nearly daily is a readers' poll as well as the use of color and info-graphics -- one of the first newspapers to incorporate these elements. So I often wonder if the paper is successful due to its coolness rather than its content, just as many web sites.
At the same time, If people don't read the daily issues, the newspaper will never successfully communicate news to anyone, just as web sites may contain the best information, but will never relay any messages if it fails to attract readers. So form and design are valuable and the 'coolness' does carry legitimate weight.
Sirc and Cornell's box
I am always amazed when things make full-circle connections. While showing a PBS Art documentary series on American Art (written and hosted my Robert Hughes) to my Honors sophomores last week Wednesday (, I was reminded of Joseph Cornell's boxes of 'collected stuff' art and the way that the collection and arrangement of the items themselves made the art.
The class participated in a discussion and they seemed to come to the realization that 'collecting' was where ideas came from. They came to the conclusion, mostly on their own I think, that their ideas stem from the way they perceive information and then how they put it together and process it. it seemed that many of them liked the idea that writing could be assimilating, reorganizing and restructuring 'collected stuff from their observations and experiences.
The class participated in a discussion and they seemed to come to the realization that 'collecting' was where ideas came from. They came to the conclusion, mostly on their own I think, that their ideas stem from the way they perceive information and then how they put it together and process it. it seemed that many of them liked the idea that writing could be assimilating, reorganizing and restructuring 'collected stuff from their observations and experiences.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Symphony
All I could think about for a while was Lotus Symphony, but now I am over it.
Logic -- Analysis -- Synthesis -- Intuition
It will take a great deal of work to get int incorpoating all of those into a 'chat' (my word to use rather than "presentation). I think that may be while so many of us fail at using PowerPoint effectively. We are so focused on the bullets and designs (not to mention the animations) that we have seen that we often forget about the entirety of the content and we end up dialing in on the minutiae. The key is knowing what is most important for which situation?
Logic -- Analysis -- Synthesis -- Intuition
It will take a great deal of work to get int incorpoating all of those into a 'chat' (my word to use rather than "presentation). I think that may be while so many of us fail at using PowerPoint effectively. We are so focused on the bullets and designs (not to mention the animations) that we have seen that we often forget about the entirety of the content and we end up dialing in on the minutiae. The key is knowing what is most important for which situation?
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