1. mitchellwoll

    Reading Response: Chapter 8 – “Social learning and new literacies in formal education” / War of Art, Forward

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    Reading through Chapter 8, I see that many of the strategies used in the Master's coursework and Quest 2 Learn were used in this Digital Storytelling class. In this course, students were asked to develop “a digital media artifact of a kind they previously knew nothing about" (Lankshear, 2011, p. 232). Huh, sounds familiar.

    Firstly, to confirm mine and other classmates’ assessments of the “push” and “pull” models of instruction last week, Colin Lankshear and Michele Knoble write that some push is needed, saying “naturally, there has to be some ‘push’” (2011, p. 232). I agree that in most instances of instruction, there is some element of ‘push’ required. In high school there is a lot, as student are required to takes certain curriculum. In undergrad programs, students must complete certain courses listed in their “general education,” or, as in my case, their “liberal arts core.” Lankshear and Knoble write the some push is required in this Master’s program. My sister who is currently pursuing her doctorate says she is influenced by push as well. In my new job, I experienced some push during the onboarding process.

    After reading Chapter 7, I think readers of Lankshear and Knoble want to vilify push because A.) it’s technique can be rather ineffective, and B.) we’ve all experienced forms of push, and it doesn’t feel very good! Nevertheless, I think if it is used in limited quantities, push can be helpful. It should be used as gentle guidance, rather than forcefully jamming facts, practices, philosophies, etc. into brains. Instruction should, as Lankshear and Knoble write, “try to promote as much immersion as possible in the logic of ‘pull’” (2011, p. 232). Unfortunately, trying to pursue pull in certain situations, like high school, may be met by barriers of standardization. Circumventing these barriers may require a lot of creativity on the part of teachers. (I am not a teacher, so I cannot precisely examine or critique how this could happen, but I am sure it could be a difficult process.)

    Moving on, Chapter 8 really describes many of the strategies and outcomes of this summer’s Digital Storytelling course, especially in the way Lankshear and Knoble outline the the Master's coursework: “1. To address the theme of ‘new’ literacies… in theory and practice,” and “2.) To provide an introduction to literacy research” (2011, p. 233). Additionally, they write of Q2L that the learning was facilitated through “sharing, reflecting, responding to and providing feedback, evaluation, and distributing knowledge and understanding” (2011, p. 248).

    Altogether, I think Lankshear and Knoble accurately describe what I think  transpired in the Digital Storytelling class; students became “full participants in… social practice, acquiring deep kinds of learning… where participants learn to do and be in ways of competent insiders of practice” (2011, p. 252). We may not have become exactly “Digital Storytellers” – if there is such a Discourse – however, I think we learned deeply by “doing” new literacies in the form of telling stories digitally.

    The final chapter was kind of funny to read, because my Week 6 reflection for this course described how ‘meta,’ or self-referential this course – and even this program – feels. This chapter really affirms that. At certain moments, I commonly murmured a popularized phrase, “Ah, I see what you did there.”

    The War of Art, Forward
    In an effort to follow this notion of being self-referential, I thought instead of trying to find another piece of text online about writer’s block, I would read the Forward to The War of Art by Robert McKee. In it, McKee describes his impression of Steven Pressfield and his book.

    McKee summarizes each of the three parts to The War of Art, as well as his personal experiences with the book and other books that Pressfield has written (The Legend of Bagger Vance, Gates of Fire, Tides of War). Of the first part, my favorite part, he writes “Pressfield labels the enemy of creativity Resistance his all-encompassing term for what Freud called the Death Wish – the destructive force inside… that rises whenever we consider a though, long term course of action” (2003). He writes about how Part Two is about the “campaign of the professional,” and how Part Three informs us that inspiration is divine (though McKee disagrees, saying inspiration manifests through talent).

    Reading the Forward prompted me to reflect on how The War of Art is constructed to influence the reader to pursue their creative goals, and how much of Pressfield’s advice about beating Resistance, and “turning pro,” is a form of “push” instruction. McKee writes that Pressfield demands “preparation, order, patience, endurance, acting in the face of fear and failure” (2003). This type of insight can be interpreted as the guidance creators need. However, the remaining methods that the reader can implement to achieve their creative goals follows more of a “pull” model.

    It could be a stretch. At times, its been hard to relate New Literacies and The War of Art. Still, I wonder how self-help books, like The War of Art, could be interpreted in the forms of “push” vs. “pull” models of instruction. (Or even cook books!) They have a proclivity to stuff the mind with practices and philosophies, however, they are sought after, and can be open-ended.

    Citations
    Lankshear, C. & Knoble, M. (2011). New Literacies: Concepts and Theories. In New Literacies: Everyday Practices and Social Learning (3rd ed., p.232, 233, 248, 252). New York, New York: Open University Press.


    Pressfield, S. (2003). The War of Art: Break through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles (Forward). New York, New York: Grand Central Publishing.
  2. emilysmayy

    The Four Seasons of May

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    Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a real thing. We all are affected by the weather that comes with the change in seasons in some capacity. Growing up in Pennsylvania I always hated the winters. The sun doesn’t shine much from November through April in South Eastern Pennsylvania and the shortened days created the perfect recipe for a case of SAD.… Read more →

    The post The Four Seasons of May appeared first on Emily S. May.

  3. lishna68

    Website Logo – AB

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    My husband is opening a moto adventure touring business, Treeline Adventures,  in Durango and needed a logo. The tours take guests into the Colorado high country on KTM Enduro 690 motorcycles ( a hybrid off/on-road bike). Using Adobe Illustrator, ...
  4. lishna68

    Toyminator – Critique

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    The Toyminator by CCZ, a clever single image mashup combining Toy Story with The Terminator. The design won 2nd place in a contest on Worth 1000 an online creative contest site. I selected some literary dimensions from New Literacies: Everyday Practici...
  5. ekeating

    Moving Towards “Pull”- Last L&K Response:

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    While reading this chapter I had a roller coaster of thoughts and emotions running through my head.  While the concept of social learning through a masters and teaching cohorts is intriguing and forward thinking, I would be upset if I was paying for a class and I had to learn everything myself...why pay for it then?  Now I don’t know all the specifics around tuition but my first thought was that would not be ok with me.  Perhaps this is because I am so used to learning via the ‘push’ model where I am told what to do, how to do it and when it needs to be finished; it is all I have known really until this class.  And I’m not going to lie, I felt a bit annoyed at first about this class and its freedom and flexibility.  I was thinking if I had known about DS106 previously, I could have accomplished the same result for free.  But then I lose the credits, the guidance of a professor, and a known, close knit group of classmates to collaborate with and seek advice.  Now reaching the end of the this class I realized how much I’ve learned on my own and how much I’ve explored on the web that I never knew existed.  So I guess I am a fan of the ‘pull’ concept and social learning.

    Moving towards the school in New York, I was encouraged by the findings.  I love the idea of what the Q2L School is doing and how they are going about their teaching.  Their goal to use “game like learning to connect student learning to the demands of the twenty-first century and support young people in their learning across digital networks, peer communities, content, careers, and media” (p. 246) is exactly why I chose instructional technology as my masters.  I want my students to be prepared for the 21st century and in order to be prepared; they need critical thinking, technology and problem solving skills that are so hard to teach from a text book in the standard classroom.


    Now, playing devil’s advocate...how does this concept work with kids from all different backgrounds?  I know typically New York is fairly diverse and these students were chosen from a lottery system, but as I was reading, I kept thing what background did the kids have?  Were they already proficient readers and writers?  Were they at grade level in math?  Do they have internet access at home and parent support?  

    These are the things I have to think about when trying to apply this concept to my situation, even though I know this case study was 6th and 7th graders.  It was also interesting to read that “school’s resourcing and operating costs fall within the parameters of the school’s district-approved budget” (p. 246), I would be curious to see what that looks like and how they got all the partnerships they did.  What the Q2L school is doing sounds expensive and something my district would never consider so seeing the financials of this all would be interesting!

    References:
    Lankshear, C. & Knobel, M. (2011). New Literacies: Everyday Practices and Social Learning. New York: Open University Press.
  6. mitchellwoll

    ds106 Writing Assignment: The Enemy is a Very Good Teacher

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    The Enemy is a Very Good Teacher

    ds106 Writing Assignment:


    This quote from the Dali Lama is the epigraph of Part One of Steven Pressfield’s book The War of Art. I pay special attention to epigraphs (the quotes at the beginning of chapters, novels, even films) because they represent the story thematically. Of the three parts in Pressfields book about breaking through creative blocks, Part One is my favorite because, as this quote signifies, it identifies an enemy which we can learn from.

    Part One personifies writer’s block, or creative block, as “Resistance.” Throughout the first 57 pages, Pressfield describes Resistance’s traits in such a manner to which it becomes a character. While reading about Resistance, a struggling artist (for brevity, I’ll say "artist" though it can be a writer, musician, entrepreneur, etc.) no longer blames himself or herself for feeling uninspired, or procrastinating, or inventing obstacles. Instead, he or she can visualize these problems as being the influence of a conspiring enemy. An artist can then re-align his or her motives to conquer this devilish Resistance.

    I like this method of transforming the abstract and often difficult to decipher concept of creative block into a concrete and understandable persona. Often times menacing incidences or concepts are made more concrete using personification, like evil as being the Devil. Think of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Hell, even hurricanes get names! As with Pressfield’s characterization of Resistance, we use these concrete personas to better learn and understand their influence and implications.

    ---

    To conclude my ds106 assignments this semester, I figured I should select a writing assignment. After all, my focal theme is writer's block, so it felt natural. Throughout this semester I have been consistently referring to the book The War of Art by Steven Pressfield because I selected it as my additional text for the Digital Storytelling projects. Logically, I wanted to use a quote from this book and to write about what it meant to me.

    However, weirdly, I did not use a quote from Pressfield himself, but rather a quote he used to convey his personification of Resistance. My interpretation of this quote (as remixed by Pressfield), as well as the rest of Part One, was an idea mulling around in my head since the first time I read The War of Art several years ago. Pressfield's personification, I think, is a brilliant method for motivating his readers. They become vengeful about their creative process, rather than self-deprecating.

    In addition to my three paragraph explanation of the quote, I went a bit outside the requirements of the assignment. I thought I should include a energizing graphic to further my interpretation. I chose angry wolf eyes as the background to the quote because I felt this visage could be perceived in two ways: either viewers identify the angry eyes as the enemy standing in their way and who must be destroyed, or they identify the eyes as their own resentful and ambitious glare toward the enemy. In either case, I think it gives the quote, "The enemy is a very good teacher," by the Dalai Lama more grit.

    Writing is something I am very passionate about, hence why I chose writer's block as my focal theme. I felt as though this assignment came rather naturally to me. I can always write decently well about something I feel strongly about. In fact, the writing portion of this assignment was the easiest part. Creating the visual was actually more difficult; I had some troubles manipulating the font.

    I feel really good about this assignment. The visual looks great, and I think I explain my interpretation of the quote well enough. I did surprise myself while writing for this assignment. The part about personifying entities like the Devil, and the Grim Reaper was not something I had thought about until I started the assignment. So, Pressfield is correct in that if you put in the work, inspiration will take.
  7. amalthea13

    Twitch as a Social Learning Platform

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        A couple weeks ago, the live-stream video service designed for the gaming community, Twitch, came up in my reflection on a couple new social video streaming apps. I was surprised to find that what these apps lacked had already been incorporated into Twitch's platform on both browser based and mobile application platforms. What I realized was that once again, gamers are at the forefront of innovative designed interactions. For this reason, I decided that for this week's critique of a digital
  8. amalthea13

    Twitch as a Social Learning Platform

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        A couple weeks ago, the live-stream video service designed for the gaming community, Twitch, came up in my reflection on a couple new social video streaming apps. I was surprised to find that what these apps lacked had already been incorporated into Twitch's platform on both browser based and mobile application platforms. What I realized was that once again, gamers are at the forefront of innovative designed interactions. For this reason, I decided that for this week's critique of a digital
  9. thejasondunbar

    DS106AB – A Change of Emotion

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    For my final DS106 Assignment Bank (AB) assignment I chose a Visual assignment – A Change of Emotion (in two panels). The guidelines for this assignment: Write and illustrate (photograph, sketch, video sample, etc) a two panel story that describes a change of emotion. For example. Panel 1: A man receives some suprising news about […]
  10. emilysmayy

    Response to Lankshear and Knoble New Literacies: Chapter Eight

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    The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn. — Alvin Toffler. After getting through the first few pages of the final chapter of Colin Lankshear and Michele Knoble’s New Literacies: Everyday Practices and Social Learning, I nearly dropped the book on the floor! Had I… Read more →

    The post Response to Lankshear and Knoble New Literacies: Chapter Eight appeared first on Emily S. May.

  11. amalthea13

    Collecting & Reflecting

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      Week 6 of digital storytelling led me to think a lot about how our creative production and consumption of information leads to having collections. The museum is a collector of art objects that contribute to the development of a collective identity. Students and artists create collections of work that becomes a portfolio to represent their work.          My weekly creative assignment on Mapcrunch had a large part in this connection to collections. I found myself so invested in the process of
  12. lishna68

    Reflection Week 6

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    I'm always stoked when concepts from other classes coalesce into greater understanding. Lankshear and Knobel presented the concept of a pull model of learning. As I dove deeper into the idea, I began considering the relationship between 'pull' and tapp...
  13. amalthea13

    Collecting & Reflecting

    by
      Week 6 of digital storytelling led me to think a lot about how our creative production and consumption of information leads to having collections. The museum is a collector of art objects that contribute to the development of a collective identity. Students and artists create collections of work that becomes a portfolio to represent their work.          My weekly creative assignment on Mapcrunch had a large part in this connection to collections. I found myself so invested in the process of
  14. kirklunsford

    ‘Pulling’ Things Together: Week 6 Reflective Practice

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    Week 6 Collage

    Introduction

    As part of the educational discourse in digital storytelling each week, I will conduct a reflective practice self assessment. These ‘reflections’ will serve as both formative and summative assessment to the learning goals of the course INTE 5340.

    See learning goals in the INTE 5340 syllabus. See DS106 syllabus.


    Requirements and Production


    The Daily Create (x2)
    Fish Out of Water - Boundaries Exercise tdc1276

    Look at all the people - hyperbolic tiling tdc1285


    DS106 Assignment Bank (Web Assignment)
    What Is Your Passion Archetype Character Buzzfeed Quiz


    Response to Lankshear & Knobel “New Literacies” chapter one and selected scholarship

    Comment peer critiques (x2)
    Critique: Machinima- The Druid: Tree of Life - (A WoW Machinima by Nixxiom)

    Mash-Up Lecture Series


    Comment peer chapter one responses (x2)
    Chapter 7. Pedagogical Implications
    New Literacies Review (Ch. 7) – An Need for a Changing Education System


    Reflective summary
    'Pulling' Things Together: Week 6 Reflective Practice

    What was challenging?

    Creating the buzzfeed quiz was the most challenging part of the week. I developed this assignment over the course of the week. I researched multiple intelligence theory and practiced several multiple intelligence assessment tests in order to craft it. I completed several versions of the quiz and opened it up to friends and family before I published it to work out some of the kinks. Ironing out the questions, the images used, and results was the most time consuming and challenging. I would have liked more time to test the quiz before I made it available but it’s hard to do everything I would like to do in the short amount of time available for these weekly assignments.

    What was most enjoyable?

    Overall I must say many people that took the Buzzfeed quiz after I posted on Facebook and Twitter commented saying the result seemed right for them. Seeing people comment or discuss their results from the Buzzfeed quiz was the most enjoyable part of the week. And some also mentioned they took the other self-assessment multiple intelligence test to see how they scored there as well. The idea of exposing people to this knowledge through a fun and humorous test designed for social media is inspiring.

    What was learned about the focal theme and what issues / questions have emerged?

    Chapter seven in the L&K text clarified what I was suggesting from week one - ‘mastery’ is a part of diving in to these ‘new literacies.’ It takes countless hours to develop true skill in various areas of interest fueled by passion. Finding these passions at an early age through diverse learning practices and exploring creative arts is essential to provide a backbone in understanding many of the ‘new literacy’ practices and online social learning.

    Points earned 10/10?

    I pushed myself again to deliver a quality ds106 assignment. I also participated in social media discussions throughout the week regarding area of focus and course topics. I really felt like my response to the L&K text felt natural and effortless because it answered many of the questions I was begging to know the answer to since week one. I give myself 10/10 points this week.

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

  15. burgoynem

    The Daily Create: Shadow Caster

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    Here is The Daily Create from a few days ago: casting a shadow. My brothers and I, growing up, used to try and do shadow puppets at night once the lights were turned out. This one was one of my best ones. Does it look like a dog?
  16. burgoynem

    DS106 Assignment Bank: Maze Infographic

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    For this week's interest-driven assignment bank, I wanted to find an assignment where I could create an infographic to illustrate corporate eLearning. I came across this assignment to create a maze and thought twice about it. Then I likened it to my own corporate situation and this is what I came up with:

     
     
    I mentioned in previous blogs about the inadequacies surrounding my own company's training program. Essentially, newly hired sales reps are thrown in the deep and....like a maze...are expected to find their own way, often times through trial and error. I thought a maze would be a good representation.
     
    Allowing students to learn on their own isn't necessarily a bad thing. A lot of the personality types that become sales reps are actually kinetic learners. However, going to one extreme can be ineffective. In today's paradigm shift to "pulling" information, enabling reps with eLearning can be the necessary guidance to get them through...well... the maze.
  17. rmsalas72

    Reflection Week 6

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    Every week I prepared a schedule to get everything ready before the weekend. Every week I fail to achieve that goal. This time I just began to make peace with my timing. I need quiet time to read, to translate my concepts in Spanish into English, I have to reflect and relate new concepts and […]
  18. rmsalas72

    TDC Shadows / Sombras

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    TDC Shadowcaster. I think the most perfect shadows are made in Colorado. I believe it is for the clear air, the altitude and the bright sun. I have been having fun for a while capturing shadows, so I put together a recent picture from yesterday with others I took during these last months.
  19. melia838

    INTE 5340 – Week 6 Reflective Summary

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    Not that I feel like I have really been successful throughout this course, but this week was a big fail for me. I had work obligations at a conference this week and even though I made a conscious effort to get my assignments completed on time, I failed at getting them done by Friday night. […]
  20. melia838

    INTE 5340 – Week 6 Reflective Summary

    by
    Not that I feel like I have really been successful throughout this course, but this week was a big fail for me. I had work obligations at a conference this week and even though I made a conscious effort to get my assignments completed on time, I failed at getting them done by Friday night. […]

UMW Spring 2024 (Bond & Groom)

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

Student Blogs

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