EDIM 508 Week 4_Creativity In The Classroom

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I have watched several of Sir Ken Robinson’s speeches on education, but one of my favorites is his speech entitled “Do School’s Kill Creativity.” Through the use of humor, personal experiences, and reasoning he is able to make a very compelling argument towards the lack of creativity in education. I think that one of the most bold statements he makes is that “ . . . being wrong isn’t the same thing of being creative. If you are not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with something original” (Sir Ken Robinson, 2007). He goes on to say that kids will take a chance if they do not know the answer. They are not frightened of being wrong. By the time they are adults they transition into being frightened of being wrong because of educating them out of their creative capacities. Our educational systems have trained them to believing that mistakes are the worst things you can make (Sir Ken Robinson, 2007).

I do believe creativity is still present in education, but only when it does not get in the way of completing the task at hand. Throughout our educational system we grade students on his or her ability to get the correct answer or solve the problem. We barely ever grade them on creativity and the process. Why don’t we ever listened to what we as teachers all preach, and actually evaluate the students by means of creativity and his or her process of trying to solve the problem. Even if they do not get the correct answer, it still is a valuable lesson. I personally feel that one of the greatest life long skills and skills you can have while in school is being an effective problem solver. How can we instill this within our students if we are so focused on a testing material that does not involve creativity? If you think about it, when is creativity applied or evaluated during standardized testing? I may be wrong, but I don't think it is.

Yes, I understand the importance of getting the right answer and why the process is only part of the overall activity. I would have to argue though that at the lower levels of education, the process should be more important. In higher-level education you are preparing for real life application where getting the correct answer is critical. In lower-level education you are more focused on understand why and how. This is a learning process that needs creativity for valuable learning. In my classes, I am fortunate enough to design a curriculum that is project oriented. This allows for the use of digital media and creativity on a daily basis. The students still need to understand the background knowledge, but they are evaluated more on the process than the end result.

Through digital media in my classroom, students are able to research topic more effectively than using a book, design his or her idea in a ray of different means, and communicate his or her solution to the problem / task at hand in an engaging and visually appealing way. For example, I gave my Graphic Design class students the problem of designing, creating, and marketing a custom key chain for a company. The students were able to research the company and the size and material of key chains. They then were able to use a digital tablet to hand sketch their ideas into the computer where they later refined them through computer applications. Next, they were able to output them in the form of either 3D printing them in ABS plastic or laser engraving them out of any accessible material, such as plexy glass. They then were able to do the same process when creating a package design. Finally, they were able to communicate the result through a digital visual presentation.

Incorporating more digital media applications like this into our every day class activities will help instill creativity into education. In a speech that Gardner did at the Ecolint Meeting in Geneva, he quoted two famous minds, Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and philosopher Ralph Emerson. “Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. said, ‘Intelligence plus character—that’s the goal of true education’. And philosopher Ralph Emerson said, ‘Character is more important than intellect’ (Gardner, 2008).

Gardner, H. (Director) (2008, January 13). Five Minds for the Future. Annual Educational Conference. Lecture conducted from International School of Geneva, Geneva.

Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity? - YouTube . (n.d.). YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. . Retrieved May 31, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY

EDIM 508 Week 3_Media-Infused Presentation Reflection

When creating a video or short film, it is always important to plan beforehand. Teaching / reviewing content that goes into this planning helps the students be able to think through and solve problems before they occur. It also helps foster the process of organization. Organizing your thoughts and order of shooting is an important skill to have. It allows the students to see the broader picture of the project. By doing this, they are able to synthesize the different scenes, camera angles, and timing of the video.

Through the use of storyboarding and flowcharts, students are able to get all of his or her ideas on paper. Teaching this planning process could be either boring and dry or exciting and thought provoking. Coming up with an interesting way of presenting the planning process is only half of the battle. The other half is having an interesting and engaging way of carrying it out.

I believe that media-infused presentations like Prezi can help foster the development of both the disciplined and synthesizing minds of students and teachers. I feel that they can because it allows for greater concentration and critical thinking. Unlike the typical PowerPoint, this type of presentations has a more artistic appeal to it. A presentation of this nature not only incorporates videos and animation, it also provides a digital artboard for creative possibilities.

Having a blank canvas allows the incorporation of different digital programs and applications. Within my Prezi, I incorporated several videos, sounds, and Photoshop creations. I used Microsoft Word to create documents that look exactly like the document the students would be presented in class and changed them into a PDF. From there I created an office like display with a bulletin board and picture frames within Photoshop. Designing all the different aspects of the bulletin board to look believable involves a keen eye and the knowledge to be able to pull together multiple programs’ output files.possibilities.

 Designing an environment like this as a presentation is exciting and creative. It requires a great deal of engagement and higher learning opportunities. It leaves the mind wondering where the camera or view screen is going to move to next. At the same time, it allows the viewer to easy combine all the pieces of information together much easier than a simple slide show or handout.


My Media-Infused Prezi on Video Storyboarding: http://prezi.com/zfvtilksw0m3/video-storyboarding/

Video Storyboarding on Prezi

EDIM 508 Week 2_The Synthesizing Mind

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Recently I got the chance to travel to Michigan as an advisor to students who qualified for the National F1 In Schools Competition. While at the competition, I got to speak with several representatives from a company called Autodesk. Autodesk is one of the leading software companies in the engineering would. We use several Autodesk programs within our engineering courses. One of coolest things I got to see from these conversations, were some new programs and apps I knew nothing about.

The main app that I was impressed with was a free app by Autodesk called ForceEffect. According to Dexigner, Autodesk ForceEffect “allows engineers to quickly and easily simulate design options during the conceptual phase. ForceEffect provides an intuitive environment for drawing, constraining and simulating concepts using free body diagrams by simply tapping objects to select, move, rotate and scale. Real time solving capabilities provide immediate feedback on the performance of a design, enabling users to bring engineering to the point of the problem-whether they're in the field, at the office or in the class room” (2012). This app has a great deal of real life problem solving and reinforcing the topics covered in our engineering classes. Although the app may not give the exactly accurate readings when drawing over pictures, it does however do a very good job.

Having an engaging digital resource like this too follow up a discussion on the statics, structural tegrity, and mechanical advantage will easily allow my students will be able to better understand and synthesize the information presented. Student will be able to use learn the content, create an educated hypothesis of on the structure’s statics, and then physically test it through real life application. Through this app the students are also able to modify and redesign the shape of a structure to digitally test. They then can go through the same process of physically testing. I cannot wait to use this app in my classes.

Autodesk ForceEffect App for iPad - Dexigner. (n.d.). Dexigner. Retrieved May 23, 2012, from http://www.dexigner.com/news/24198

Autodesk ForceEffect Structural Example - YouTube . (n.d.). YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. . Retrieved May 23, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_-kS68z78U

Autodesk ForceEffect Mechanical Example - YouTube . (n.d.). YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. . Retrieved May 23, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlGUKh9gxt4

Autodesk ForceEffect Motion - YouTube . (n.d.). YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. . Retrieved May 23, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyKQetLnxOg  

EDIM 508 Week 2_Storyboarding

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Currently I teach a second level course that consists of a Video Production unit. The students within my class are already familiar with Storyboarding and what it is because of doing it in the first level course. When I introduce Storyboarding at the second level, I go more in-depth and show the students how it is used at an industry level. Although I have this more in-depth information about Storyboarding, I do not currently have any introductory level information. Knowing that the teacher who teaches the first level is going to retire in the next decade, I figured I would use this opportunity to gather some.

The video resource I found is a great introduction to what Storyboarding is, why it is used, and a review of content that would be previously taught. The video may seem a little out dated, but the content is presented is what is important. The video starts out by explaining that a storyboard is the building blocks of your video. It allows for a visual and written representation of the storyline and how each scene needs to be shot. The video then moves onto an interview of a student who explains his experience and opinion of how useful it is. Next, the video changes presenters and goes into camera movements. This part of the video is perfect review material from what my students would have been taught the project before Storyboarding.

I feel that my students would enjoy this video. Not only would they have the satisfaction of already knowing material presented, they also are able to identify with the people being presented within the video, as they are around the same age of student. Seeing another students their age always help them have more confidence in doing the activity by themselves, especially something that may be uncomfortable territory like drawing. For those students who struggle socially or verbally, Storyboarding is a good activity that allows them to plan through visual representation. Having the freedom to plan and a create scenes will increase the amount of engagement and interest in a simple activity.

Welcome to Discovery Education | Discovery Education . (n.d.). Welcome to Discovery Education | Discovery Education . Retrieved May 17, 2012, from http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=7CFC1858-0413-4E4C-A0FE-D76D05B40BCC&blnFromSearch=1&productcode=US

 

EDIM 508 Week 1_728 Challenge

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My name is Jon Jarrett. I am a Technology and Engineering teacher. My goal for this course is to be exposed to current media that I do not already use. My philosophy of teaching is very simple. The digital media world is changing and we as teachers need to change with it to create an engagingly fun, hands-on, real-life classroom environment. I feel the greatest benefit of technology and digital media within the classroom is also my biggest concern with it. My students are entrenched in everyday technology, such as word processing, to advanced technology, such as laser engraving and 3D printing, on a daily basis. This not only is an amazing experience for them, but it also turns into a huge distraction from the tasks at hand. My current classroom differs from my High School classroom in the way technology is used, it’s abundance, and it’s advancement.