1. mraarona

    Word Cloud: Cloudy Experience

    by
    DS106AB VisualAssignment1489 I choose to design a word cloud using words that would relate to this course and my focal theme of overcoming challenges in learning. I started my Word Cloud creation journey with trying Wordle (www.wordle.net/create). I had difficulty getting it to work. I first needed to update Java on the computer. After fixing […]
  2. burgoynem

    Reading Response: New Literacies Chapter 8 – Social Learning in Formal Education

    by


    The final chapter of New Literacies, by Lankshear and Knobel, beautifully ties together the discussions around social learning and practice with the examination of two very interesting case studies in learning – one with adult learners and the other with grade school students. As one trying to enter a brand new field (eLearning) I find these studies eye-opening and inspiring. I credit the authors for the way they organized the content of the book with principles building on each other. I admit, in the beginning chapters on “new literacies” and how they’ve become defined, I asked myself, “Who cares?” I now see how important it is to understanding literacies, especially in today’s learning culture. It’s through these literacies that the paradigm shift in formal education can take place. These empirical examples in the text illustrate this.


    Within this last chapter I found a few sentences from the authors that I feel highlights the message of this book:


    The ideal for all learning at every point in time - and which is especially significant when thinking about learning within formal education institutions - is that it be efficacious. For learning to be efficacious, 'what a child or adult does now [wherever they are along their trajectory] must be connected in meaningful and motivating ways with "mature" [insider] versions of related social practices'. (2011, p. 252)


    The words meaningful and motivating were written throughout the description of the second learning study as attributes that aided the students throughout their experience with such a new learning platform. What’s interesting is how the platform incorporated games as part of that experience. I’m sure some old school thinkers believe games to be trivial and distraction. But games absolutely can bring meaning and motivation – so why not make it a tool for learning?


    The main question that came to mind from this week’s reading was how I can establish a collaborative learning platform where I work today. I’ve mentioned this in previous posts but I work for a large technology security company - tied to the sales department. Our onboarding and training for newly hired sales reps is atrocious. Learning modules are boring and outdated, information is scattered everywhere, and there is no sign of an onboarding plan anywhere. However, because of a lack of “push”, new hires today are already relying on social collaboration and what resources they can find online. The problem they face is the immediate expectation to hit sales quotas regardless of product knowledge or other process aptitude.


    This situation is a perfect example of “tribal learning” which is really a form of social learning. It makes me believe that not only is the shift to pulling a necessity, it is also a preference – especially when it comes to corporate learning. The personalities of those working within a sales organization are more adept to pulling information in order to meet their personal desires and motivations. Sitting through a day-long training or logging time in a classroom does not appeal to them (or their attention spans), in my opinion.


    There is a great opportunity within workplace learning to create a platform where information can be pulled and shared through collaboration and gaming. Yet where there is pulling and trajectory, there needs to be guidance. I believe eLearning is the solution to providing that guidance and making corporate learning, as the authors put it, more efficacious.

  3. emilysmayy

    Confusion to Confidence: A Reflection on Learning with Digital Storytelling

    by

    As part of my coursework in Professor Remi Holden’s INTE 5340 Learning with Digital Stories Summer 2015 course at the University of Colorado Denver, I’ve included below, a written reflection on my experience as a learner with (digital) storytelling given my participation throughout the semester. This reflection is complementary of my final portfolio and builds on my seven prior weekly… Read more →

    The post Confusion to Confidence: A Reflection on Learning with Digital Storytelling appeared first on Emily S. May.

  4. mraarona

    Week 7: Critique

    by
    Remix Critique 1.) Identifying music: The music that was chosen for remixing worked well. 2.) Paying attention to rhythm: The video complimented the rhythm of the music. 3.) Seamless transitions: The transitions of the remix were not noticeable. 10/10 -Identifying music, songs, or samples that can be remixed to form a coherent new song or […]
  5. kirklunsford

    Creative Education Compilation: VideoAssignments1736

    by



    Creative Arts in Education

    Throughout the semester while researching scholarship related to ‘the importance of creative arts in education,’ I’ve looked at many YouTube videos. I’ve critiqued and examined mostly creative everyday remix practices of teachers and the works of Ken Robinson. To round it all out, I wanted to create something that showed the students. What does it look like when creative arts are implemented into education?

    Different Colors

    I chose to compile the videos set to Walk the Moon Different Colors. Since the first time I heard this song it made me think about why teachers do what they do and fight to make better experiences for their students. Hence the lines, “this is why we’re biting the bullet, we know the kids are right.” It’s not easy to change the landscape of ‘high stakes testing’ and integrate engaging, creative curriculum. Although there have been great improvements at some schools, as can be seen in the compilation video, others still lag behind due to governmental policies and funding. Never the less, we can see instructors “biting the bullet” as they may struggle to implement creative curriculum.

    The lines, “Different colors! We carry each other,” I also thought were poetic in regards to education. We know from Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences that everyone has several modes of thinking and learning. When assessed, we find some are more dominant learning perspectives than others. In the classroom and school setting these different ways of being and thinking must be attended to in order to fully engage students. This is why the arts are so important, because they engage students in several other ways that are otherwise alienated by sitting in a chair quietly studying for a test. There is additional poetry in the lines, “Different colors,” that can be seen in this compilation by the various ethnicities and cultures. As a member of various cultures one may belong to various Discourses through which they develop a sense of being and seeing the world. These often are expressed in the typical school day and must be respected and appreciated. I believe through various means of expression whether it be physical activity, the creation of visual art, or music, one can find ways to relate to another who may identify with a very different culture. These means of expression bring out potential collaboration and social learning.

    How This Video Was Made

    I first had to watch many YouTube videos to get a sense of some that may work for what I was trying to achieve. I tried to find some videos I knew would work with the lyrics and structure of the song. Fortunately, I was able to find most of what I needed on the Edutopia YouTube channel. I also used a video from Institute of Play. To edit these videos, I had to convert them into a format that I can import into Adobe Premiere. I used “clipconverter” to do this. This tool is nice because it is all web based and does not require the user to download any software. It is important to note that with ‘“free” to use software and web tools there is always potential for malware and viruses. I noticed the tutorial for this assignment linked to tools that were considered malware by my virus scanner. Hopefully I dodged a bullet on that one, but it’s another important lesson to learn about engaging with ‘new literacies’ to not blindly trust these “free” softwares or sources linked by others.

    Once I had all of my videos and music collected in Adobe Premiere, I was able to make different cuts and arrange them as I saw fit to sort of sync with the music. I also created a title screen and credits roll, and a few other transitional effects such as the flashes for “tonight we raise a fire!” I learned how to do all of these things previously last week when I created “Fish Out of Water - Boundaries Exercise tdc1276” a daily create. I was able to accomplish all of this simply by spending a half hour to an hour watching tutorial videos about Adobe Premiere.

    Disclaimer
    The intent of this remix is for educational purposes only. The work is intended to be transformative in nature. The work is not for sale and it is not to be used for profit. This work was a requirement for a graduate course INTE 5340 Digital Storytelling. Please see citations for additional links add credits.

    See 17 U.S. Code § 107 - Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use.

    Citations
    Walk the Moon (December 2, 2014) Different Colors, Talking is Hard ℗ 2014 RCA Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment

    Edutopia, (June 15, 2015) “Rolling Out” a Game in the Classroom

    Institute of Play, (December 5, 2014) Say Yay to Play: The Anti CookieCutter School

    Edutopia, (May 21, 2013) How a Longer School Day Can Improve Academics

    Edutopia, (August 29, 2012) Arts Integration for Deeper Learning in Middle School
  6. ekeating

    Backyard Photo Safari

    by
    For this week's DS106 assignment, I decided to stick with the visual assignments because they are my favorite.  I chose one that might be boring for some, but the application to the classroom could be very powerful.  It is a backyard photo sa...
  7. lishna68

    Gameful Learning

    by
    Two learning instances from my youth stick with me to this day. At a ripe young age, I knew all of the states and their capitols. I could also recite every country in the world and their capitols (Mom was so proud). Interestingly, I did not acquire thi...
  8. emilysmayy

    The Ways of Our Kind: A #CUDenver15 Collaborative Story

    by

    Earlier this week, one of my Digital Storytelling classmates, La Dawna Minnis tweeted out asking if anyone was interested in writing a collaborative story. Hey #ds106, anyone interested in writing a collaborative story with me over the next couple days? http://t.co/asF0g6a2U9#writingassignments — La Dawna Minnis (@llminnis) July 21, 2015 Taking the initiative, she started working in Google Docs and once… Read more →

    The post The Ways of Our Kind: A #CUDenver15 Collaborative Story appeared first on Emily S. May.

  9. mraarona

    Response to L&K: Chapter 8

    by
    Social learning and new literacies in formal education The final chapter of L&K reveals what we have experiencing in this course within two case studies. The last chapter reflects on two case studies of social learning within new literacies. One is a study of teachers in a Master’s program. The second is an innovation within […]
  10. amalthea13

    The Ways of Our Kind

    by
      This week's creative project for digital storytelling was SO MUCH FUN, YOU GUYS!!! Not finding any assignments that stood out to me in relation to my focal theme of heritage conservation, I came across a #writingassignment called Sharing Credit. What wonderful timing to take the plunge on a collaborative assignment, aligning in serendipitous ways with our readings on social learning platforms.   After reaching out on Twitter early Tuesday morning to find some collaborators, I set up a google
  11. amalthea13

    The Ways of Our Kind

    by
      This week's creative project for digital storytelling was SO MUCH FUN, YOU GUYS!!! Not finding any assignments that stood out to me in relation to my focal theme of heritage conservation, I came across a #writingassignment called Sharing Credit. What wonderful timing to take the plunge on a collaborative assignment, aligning in serendipitous ways with our readings on social learning platforms.   After reaching out on Twitter early Tuesday morning to find some collaborators, I set up a google
  12. thanh76

    Reading Response- Chapter 8

    by
    For this week’s final chapter of Lanksear & Knobel, I spent a lot of time reflecting and comparing my own experiences with education compared to my younger brothers. It fascinates me how different our experiences are and how much education is changing. From our reading this week, I was immersed in Quest to Learn and how institutions are changing education. Being a big fan of game learning and wanting to know more about Quest to Learn, I began my research on YouTube. I found both educational
  13. thanh76

    Reading Response- Chapter 8

    by
    For this week’s final chapter of Lanksear & Knobel, I spent a lot of time reflecting and comparing my own experiences with education compared to my younger brothers. It fascinates me how different our experiences are and how much education is changing. From our reading this week, I was immersed in Quest to Learn and how institutions are changing education. Being a big fan of game learning and wanting to know more about Quest to Learn, I began my research on YouTube. I found both educational
  14. leetran91

    Reading Response- Chapter 8

    by
    For this week’s final chapter of Lanksear & Knobel, I spent a lot of time reflecting and comparing my own experiences with education compared to my younger brothers. It fascinates me how different our experiences are and how much education is changing. From our reading this week, I was immersed in Quest to Learn and how institutions are changing education. Being a big fan of game learning and wanting to know more about Quest to Learn, I began my research on YouTube. I found both educational
  15. nubowski

    Makerspace Infographic

    by
    I’ve been working this summer on a class devoted to media literacy and maker spaces. As part of my final project for the class, I played around with making an infographic. This is created with Google Drawings and it’s adapted from the “Maker Space Playbook School Edition” by Maker Media (2013).  It’s been fun to […]
  16. amalthea13

    Fairy Tales & Learning To Be

    by
      In the final chapter of Lankshear & Knobel's Everyday Practices and Social Learning, my understanding of the connections between social learning and storytelling were further clarified through the empirical case studies presented. In the case of the teacher education Master's programme, the students taught themselves and each other how to use new technologies in their efforts to create a digital media artifact that told some kind of story. Through social sharing of resources and collective
  17. thejasondunbar

    Social Learning & New Literacies – Response to L&K Chapter 8

    by
    I have spent the last several week reading and reviewing Lankshear and Knoble’s New Literacies: Everyday Practices and Social Learning. This week, however, my journey comes to an end. Unlike previous sections, chapter 8 provides more of a contextual commentary, addressing ‘new’ literacies in the form of two distinct case studies. One case study discusses principles and procedures of field-based research […]
  18. amalthea13

    Fairy Tales & Learning To Be

    by
      In the final chapter of Lankshear & Knobel's Everyday Practices and Social Learning, my understanding of the connections between social learning and storytelling were further clarified through the empirical case studies presented. In the case of the teacher education Master's programme, the students taught themselves and each other how to use new technologies in their efforts to create a digital media artifact that told some kind of story. Through social sharing of resources and collective
  19. kirklunsford

    Social Learning Trajectories: A Response to Lankshear & Knobel Chapter 8

    by

    Digital Storytelling For The Illiterate Generation(s)

    The eighth and final chapter of New Literacies: Everyday Practices and Social Learning Third Ed by Colin Lankshear and Michele Knobel was like reflecting on the past seven weeks of my life from a programmatic point of view as a digital storytelling student. My first response to this was “Why didn’t I read this chapter first so I knew what I was getting into?” Then I realized, I probably would not have understood any of it had I not experienced ‘digital storytelling.’ As I was reading the chapter, I was constantly analysing the program Lankshear & Knobel suggest, and comparing to what I am experiencing in current curriculum. The first major difference in the curriculum noted in the text versus what students at CU Denver Masters in Information and Learning Technologies program experience was some limited face to face and group instruction. The MA program at CU Denver is completely online. Students may meet face to face if they reside in the same relative geographic location, however many students in the program live in various ‘out of state’ locations. This changes the dynamic of the course. We did not work in groups in face to face or even telecommunicative means. We instead, entered a much broader network more similar to a MOOC. Where students created their blogs, set up Twitter accounts, and participated in the online practices as described by ds106. None of which are centralized in a typical classroom or even online practice of a university such as the use of a LMS. Canvas was used in the course as the LMS but it wasn’t by any means critical to the course and was only seldom used for logistic reasons. By doing this, students were expected to ‘pull’ information and resources from any number of places in the larger network of online social learning. In fact, in many instances fellow ‘ds106ers’ contributed to the more intimate conversations and inquisition on Twitter #CUDenver15 or on personal blogs of students. In essence, the course experience by CU Denver masters students can be viewed as many overlapping networks and communities of practice.

    Although students did receive, help, guidance, comment, and critique from fellow students and members of the broader communities of practice online, there is a sense of isolation. This, at first, makes engagement challenging, especially during the first two weeks when ‘learning to be’ a digital story teller. However, reflecting upon the solitude of the experience in digital storytelling with CU Denver, I appreciated the autonomy and ability to ‘win or fail’ through my own desire to ‘pull’ in various directions. This of course, creates a more stressful situation perhaps, but the reality of the situation rapidly prepares students for meaningful participation on their own terms. Successes and failures are our own publicly seen. There’s no ‘secret’ LMS hiding intellectual gems from the world. This motivates participators to succeed because anyone, co-workers, colleagues, classmates, future employers, and the like, may have the ability to witness the products of the course, and perhaps it will mean something to someone else. In final reflection of this, I prefer to engage with ‘the rest of the world,’ instead of limiting Discourse and discourse to the secret minds and murmurings of the few who would choose to take a digital storytelling course that only uses a LMS.

    “Because the ‘natural home’ of social learning is the everyday world of social practice at large, it maintains points of connection to human lives as trajectories in ways that are often lost by hiving off formal education into contrived spaces, time frames, and idiosyncratic ways of doing things.”
    (Lankshear & Knobel, 2011, p. 248-249).

    Preparing The Next Generation

    The second interesting part of chapter eight in Lankshear & Knobel describes scenarios in which ‘new literacies’ and social learning is deployed in K-12 settings. In short, this is inspiring and fascinating to me because what is described aligns with the focal topic ‘the importance of creative arts in education,’ and prepares young students for the world in which they live, whether they intend to go to college or not. According to Ken Robinson,

    “In practice, teachers in all disciplines usually do, and should, use a wide repertoire of approaches. Sometimes teaching facts and information through direct instruction, sometimes facilitating exploratory group activities and projects. Getting that balance right, is what the art of teaching is all about.”
    (Robinson, Ken Ph.D. 2015, Ch. 6).

    What Lankshear & Knobel describe as ‘gamelike’ instruction at the Quest to Learn school, exemplifies social learning practices that are engaging both ‘push’ and ‘pull’ influences. Essentially, a pedagogy that is ‘balanced’ and relevant to the everyday practices of the times. Students understand complex identities in situated learning scenarios where they must assume the roles of designers, scientists, historians, mathematicians, inventors, etc. These roles are assumed by the deployment of various quests that include group and solitary activity. (Lankshear & Knobel, 2011, p. 247). What’s really inspiring, is the curriculum spelled out in the Lankshear and Knobel text. In summation, I have taken points from the text to provide in list form. This can be understood as:
    1. “Five key conditions for learning: sharing, reflecting, responding to and providing feedback, evaluation, and distributing knowledge and understanding.”
    2. “Three competency dimensions: Civic/Social-Emotional Learning, Design, and Content. Across these dimensions include: learning for well-being and emotional intelligence; design and innovation; complexity (or ‘systemic reasoning’); critical thinking, judgement and credibility; learning using a design methodology; and learning using smart tools (ibid.: 46).”
    3. “Five learning practices: system thinking, play design, intelligent resourcing, meaning production, and tinkering (ibid.: 66).” (Lankshear & Knobel, 2011, p. 248-249).
    The list is impressive by higher education standards let alone K-12. If these things are truly engaged one can see extreme value of pedagogy that brings these things out through social learning and creative thought processes. All of these things are, in essence, designed to develop one’s way of ‘doing or being’ along the trajectory of their lives. The ultimate goal of this trajectory is to become mature learners who can engage by various means and roles necessary to solve problems, or at the very least, be literate or know how to become literate in ‘new literacies.’ (Lankshear & Knobel, 2011, p. 252-253). Additionally, these learning trajectories, in theory, should create ‘prepared’ students for college or life in general.

    Designing To Learn

    It is in these practices of social learning and ‘new literacies’ that I find great passion and motivation to implement new pedagogy into the design classes I teach. The next semester is just around the corner but there is still some time to plan and implement a few of the many great things I learned this semester. Although I am not sure it is possible to do so, I am starting to think through some of the questions I have about applying social learning and online practices such as: Can students set up blogs to post and discuss their assignments? What platforms and social networks are best for design students to engage? Other than the LMS, how can I engage students outside of the classroom in hybrid courses? Will these social learning practices be accepted by the college where I teach? Will my students be motivated to engage in social learning? How does this all align with the competencies of the courses I teach? In truth, to address all of these things may be a huge undertaking. For the moment it is worth focusing on a few things that will promote engagement and relevance to ‘the everyday lives’ of design students. For the future, I dream of design MOOCs and ‘game like’ scenarios. I know if I continue on my own ‘trajectory’ by designing to learn, many great things are possible.

    Citations
    New Literacies: Everyday Practices and Social Learning Third Ed by Colin Lankshear and Michele Knobel. McGraw-Hill Education 2011.

    Aronica, Lou; Robinson, Ken Ph.D. Creative Schools the Grassroots Revolution That’s Transforming Education. 2015. Narr. Robinson, Ken Ph.D. Tantor Media. May 8, 2015. Accessed June 20, 2015. Digital File.
  20. thanh76

    DS 106 AB: Motivational Poster!

    by
    For my DS 106 Assignment, I chose to create a Motivational Poster!   I have always wanted make one, I remember they were a huge thing growing up until demotivational posters came out. I based mine on gaming, it is simple and the point! I hope you all enjoy!    
  21. leetran91

    DS 106 AB: Motivational Poster!

    by
    For my DS 106 Assignment, I chose to create a Motivational Poster!   I have always wanted make one, I remember they were a huge thing growing up until demotivational posters came out. I based mine on gaming, it is simple and the point! I hope you all enjoy!    
  22. leetran91

    DS 106 AB: Motivational Poster!

    by
    For my DS 106 Assignment, I chose to create a Motivational Poster!I have always wanted make one, I remember they were a huge thing growing up until demotivational posters came out. I based mine on gaming, it is simple and the point! I hope you all enjoy!

UMW Spring 2024 (Bond & Groom)

Welcome to Paul Bond and Jim Groom’s Spring 2024 ds106

Student Blogs

(9 posts)

[feedroll tag=”spring24bond”]

Spread some comment love! Find a random post from this section