The tree had been there for over 200 years, unadorned. But now that the buildings were torn down, and the power turned on, it wore its streetlight like the jewel in a necklace.
Take a picture of nature through a building.
Original prompt - http://tdc.ds106.us/tdc1256/
It’s been argued that the key problem of the 21st century is not the availability of information, but the ability to connect, parse, and make meaning of that information. Week 1 has solidified that belief for me as I’ve struggled to connect, parse, and make meaning of the various “streams” I’m involved in as a member not only of the cudenver class, but also the ds106 (4 life!) group. But it’s also been exciting and rejuvenating. It’s fun to have opportunities to be creative throughout the week and to have a greater element of choice in the assignments we complete. And creativity is one of the ultimate digital literacy skills. Education wrestles to try and make meaning of it even after the CCSS has gone a long way to push it to the forefront, particularly with its emphasis on narrative writing and use of digital technologies in writing and speaking and listening standards.
Moving forward I’ll need to revise my schedule so I can address class tasks earlier in the week as well as my peer responses. I’m excited to continue to complete the TDC tasks, as well as address the digital storytelling critiques with my focus on “Truth in Absurdity.”
The hype machine is my constant enemy. I love getting recommendations for books, tv, movies, podcasts, but I also fear the inevitable tipping point where my goodnatured nods and affirmation become more bitter and cynical. “Serial? No I haven’t listened to it. Mmhmm, I hear it’s good. Yep, I know I have to listen to it. Yes, I do believe it will blow my mind.”
“Satisfaction (b1) must be equal and opposite to the effect of expectations (- b1)” - from Handbook of Research on Contemporary Theoretical Models in Information Systems edited by Dwivedi, Yogesh K. It’s entirely unnecessary to pull that quote from such a weighty text, but the toothpaste is out of the tube here. The higher the level of expectation the lower the satisfaction, and vice-versa. This is my roundabout way of saying that I entered the Serial podcast with clenched teeth: “Ok, here we go. Time to hear what everyone is talking about.” And it was…good. Really good. The pacing was mostly effective and thoughtful. The earnestness of Koenig was particularly refreshing - some of my favorite moments where when she wrestled with her inner doubts right along with her listeners: Did he do it?
Serial is arguably the most recent example of a new era of “digital storytelling,” which is funny since it is fundamentally based on a pre-digital technology (radio). In reality, it has a lot working against it - an old story (15 years in the past), and a thin cast of characters (not many people are interviewed). But what it does have is Koenig’s compulsion to figure out what happened - not only for the truth of the story, but also to be set free herself. Koenig’s narration is closer to Poe’s narrator in the “Tell-Tale Heart” than it is to a confident, careful investigator (say…Matlock). Her own sense of truth and justice and the integrity of her moral compass quickly become caught up in the puzzle and I found that most compelling of all.
“With respect to literacy and economic growth and well-being, it was increasingly believed that the average literacy level of a country’s population is a better indicator of economic growth than is educational achievement as measured by credentials.”
Startling stuff for developed nations that are busy using other metrics to determine economic growth: job creation, trade deficit, inflation, etc. As Freier identified, literacy is closer to critical thinking than it is to alphabetic decoding. So if it’s so important than we must need to legitimize it in quantifiable ways (particularly with data).
“New Literacies
As an institutionalized activity of the state, education is seen to be
legitimated through the principle of performativity (Lyotard 1984). This is
the principle of optimizing the overall performance of social institutions (like
schools) according to the criterion of efficiency: the ‘endless optimization of
the cost/benefit (input/output) ratio’ (Lyotard 1993: 25).
“
It’s a slippery slope. I think that Knobel and Lankshear are saying what many teachers would echo. Data is a priority, yes, but if we don’t look at the validity of the data, the quality of the data, then we are building our next steps off faulty premises. I really like the concept of “performativity” that something can only be legitimate if it can demonstrate performance.
Attention has to be given to what this chapter is primarily discussing: “new” literacies. Though Knobel and Lankshear are careful to delineate between “new” and “digital” I think the point is clear, that there the contemporary avenues of literacy (or thinking if we can be so broad) involve but are not limited to digital competencies, the importance of which are equal to Freir’s work (though the technologies and “forums” may have changed). I don’t know how comfortable I am with “new” literacy. The first half of the chapter spends time discussing why the “old” literacy model has largely failed, or at the least, been called into question.
The chapter ends soon after this revelation and I’m left wondering what this means for literacy - here’s the only analogy I can think of: should we use current lingo because it is current, or should we use it because it creates something fresh, and new, and intentional that wasn’t there before. Do we really need to acknowledge Yuh-Gi-Oh as a means of more deeply understanding the critical processes that undergird literacy? Or is our time better spent drawing more inclusive lines around what has been deemed to be the English “canon.” I am in favor of the latter, but for every argument about “dead white guy” bias, we oversimplify the argument to author instead of theme. Ideas have no race, or class, or educational status.
This flower is for @Peachey_Pie who brought me into the twitter fold for Digital Storytelling. May this crazy Dr. Seuss-ian flower bring you joy and happiness and may your enemies tremble before you.
Original Prompt - Create the background story for a photo of two people falling in love.
They had grown up in separate parts of the country and attended separate schools, but they shared one dream: to become Muay Thai grand champion.
Over decades of preparation they trained, taut sinew and striated muscle, their bodies like hard plastic. And now the time was here, the American Muay Thai Championship in Denver, Colorado. Both advanced easily to the final round, their competitors stood no chance, and finally, with the end in sight, they gave in to their friends’ demands that they go out and enjoy themselves. What could one little drink hurt?
Jason sipped his whiskey slowly. He knew to pace himself, his whole life had been a war between his mind and his body, and his mind had emerged the victor. Now his body did only what he told it do, like kick through the door of a Volkswagen.
Just down the bar Samantha sipped her vodka/tonic. Her friends always begged her to stop being so serious, and she’d decided to indulge them - one drink before the big match. Besides, she knew she was in phenomenal shape, her body would metabolize the alcohol seconds after she imbibed it. Her body did what she wanted it to: like kick through the door of a slightly smaller Volkswagen.
Samantha was finishing her drink and crafting her get-away speech when she heard a commotion at the end of the bar.
“You’re Jason Throatkicker! You’re the most famous Muay Thai fighter in America!” A slightly disheveled man was yelling at another man bent over his drink farther down the bar.
“Happy to meet you,” Jason replied, “I was actually just on my way…” Suddenly Samantha’s friends jumped up excitedly and yelled: “He’s not the most famous Muay Thai fighter in America! Samantha Firefoot is and she’s going to be grand champion after tomorrow!” A crowd had begun to gather. The chant began quietly at first then grew louder and louder. “kick off…Kick Off…KICK Off…KICK OFF! KICK OFF!!!”
Samantha sighed, this was not what she had planned…
When you make it an acronym, it looks pretty aggressive. My random act of kindness occurred last week, but I feel like it’s close enough to count. A woman’s car was broken down on a major road. There was steam coming out of the hood and she looked frazzled. I jumped out of the car (much to the dismay of my fiancee) and ran over to help her push it off the road. When I arrived, she didn’t speak English, so we communicated through some purposeful charades. I got her to turn the heater on, put the car in neutral and steer as I pushed. Another kindly soul pitched in and soon the car (and driver) were safely off the road. I left her to call a tow truck and addressed the 4 missed calls by my, now very angry, fiancee. She looped back and picked me up, but I was given the silent treatment all the way home. Sometimes RAKs have unintended effects: :(
IcarusPad is a Networked Learning Space (NLS) dedicated to collecting the best writing tools on the web in a clean and consistent design. We want to empower young writers by allowing them to practice aspects of Style, Voice, and Mechanics independently. Explore our terms and exercises, then, when you’re ready, post to our Submissions page.
We’re excited to see what you can do!
Many teachers are content experts. They are instructed on content and the main focus (particularly in higher level degrees) is demonstrating their content knowledge (i.e. a thesis, dissertation, etc). But there are limits to the utility of content. How do you teach skills if you are a content expert? How do you teach content for that matter in a way that ensures your students retain it? Teachers need the skills to teach content AND skills.
Content cannot be modeled. It’s why we are more likely to read a recipe from a cookbook rather than youtubing it. However, if I’m trying to learn how to do a handstand, or add layers in photoshop, or learn to juggle, I’m going to youtube it. To learn a skill, we need someone to model it for us, which is what video provides.
How does this fit with the future of synchronous learning? I’m really interested in the “Daylight” concept of audience participation and a fluid and changing game environment. I think that synchronous learning is heading away from video chats towards cooperative learning through gamefication (sorry if this is too much of a buzz word). Multiplayer and connectivity have emerged as the prevailing winds - both the Xbox One and PS4 are crafted specifically to remain online and interconnected at all times - but the cultural shift necessary for education to embrace games and online cooperation is considerably slower moving. Why? I believe it ties back to Desiree’s (extremely popular) assertion. Americans view true educational knowledge as experts in ivory towers, not gamers with headsets.
Have you checked out the Prelinger Archives? It contains hundreds of films that are free to use, edit, and reproduce in any form you wish for any reason you wish.
The majority of the films are from the 50’s and are in glorious technicolor. It was a simpler time, and now we all get to profit from it. Literally! Make a video and post it to our blog. The winner will receive absolutely nothing!
Check out the first CapeApe Industries Film!
The film aims to answer a simple question: “How can you make a film about William J. Rapaport’s famous grammatically corrrect, although extremely redundant, sentence: ’Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.’”
Community Question: Horton uses the metaphor of parts of speech (Noun, Verb, Conjunction) to explain differences between Absorb, Do, and Connect activities. However, Many Webinars rely almost exclusively on “Absorb.” Is this a problem? What opportunities might be missed in neglecting Do and Connect activities?
Shouldn’t webinars be structured in terms of: Connect, Absorb, Do, Connect? As a teacher, it significantly increases student investment and retention when I start the lesson by framing it in a way that allows students to draw on their own background knowledge so that they are making connections before we reach the “absorb” phase.
I think most people would agree that learners (webinar or not) need to be active participants, but it seems like (careful, this soapbox is slippery) that there is a certain element of “prestige” reserved for lecture style lessons. Hence why so many experts feel most comfortable with strictly “absorb” based webinars. - James
We recently reviewed Appear.in as a synchronous tool that could play a big part in webinars and instructional design. Check out our review below:
Appear.in - A Videoconferencing Tool with a Sense of Humor
Appear.in is cool. It’s website is sleek and extremely user friendly. No downloads or widgets or updates or money is necessary. Your immediately invited to create your own room, which you can name yourself, or choose one of the randomly generated room names that all seem to involve adjective/animal combinations (my first was “Superb Aardvark” my second was “Capricious-Dugong”). I already appreciate the site’s sense of humor. The room was created quickly and I had audio and video with my friend in seconds. Inviting people is a snap, you just send them the link (based on the room name) and they’re ready to go. Supposedly, the rooms can handle unlimited participants, the only restriction being your bandwidth. Unfortunately, I could only get one friend to join me in the room so I wasn’t able to test the limits. Additionally, the owner can lock the room so that only people with the room’s password are allowed in.
There is no sign-up to speak of, but by giving the site an email and password you can become the “owner” of the room, which also gives you a nifty crown icon in the corner of your camera. You can also customize the background with any picture you like. I uploaded a picture of a cloudy day on a riverboat and was impressed with the quality of the image when it was automatically converted into the room’s background.
Any user can mute their microphone or video at anytime, and the owner can kick out any user they wish. There is a “Screen Share” feature, but you have to navigate to a page to enter this: chrome://flags/#enable-usermedia-screen-capture - a line of code that I wasn’t excited about inputting into chrome’s settings.
There is an interesting chat feature, a translucent box appears that uses a live snapshot of the person who typed the text. In other words, each time you hit enter, you may have a different facial expression. Another cool, although possibly useless, feature.
Appeal.in is undeniably cool, but it doesn’t seem to have a great deal of functionality for instructional purposes, and its limited screen sharing abilities don’t give it any additional possibilities for A,D,C instruction then any other videoconferencing tool.
The biggest pain is that you have to use some other form of communication (email, facebook, IRC, etc.) to let people know that you have a room that you want them to join. There is no instant messaging feature or anything that allows you to invite people from the site, only the cut and paste link.
It seems instead best suited for posting the room link on a social media site and then letting a huge number of random people join you in a, hopefully more refined, chat roulette type of venture.
Finally, when you logout of the room you’re greeted with a black screen that offers only one link: “I’ve made a horrible mistake, take me back!” Love it.
