Always the new guy

the last post for #IUP574?

2010-04-13T09:57:00.000-07:00

So it looks like this is the last post for the semester. I guess I should reflect on my model and how it's changed.
Here's the original:

This was meant to be a metaphor of how time and timing is of utmost importance in implementing technology in classrooms. It also represents the cyclical nature of iterations. And as a bonus each of the pictures is a model of it's own. The light bulbs aren't only ideas but also thoughts.
Thoughts or principles like in the Computer Clubhouse we read about this week. The Computer Clubhouse was founded as an after-school center for inner-city low SES youth to gain experience with technology in a responsible and profesional manner.

Then I made this new model last week. It is somewhat tongue-in-cheek, which most people understood. But for those who didn't let me emphatically state that this is very satirical:

Here you can see the children of the world, a very peaceful and happy world, full of joy because they all have iPads. First of all, the iPad isn't really designed for empowering users to create media, it is much more about offering a unique and familiar way to consume media. This is the model is the opposite of the Computer Clubhouse. But look how happy those kids are!

I think there is merit to the iPad like this model claims. I think it would fit in very neatly with the technology described by Nichole Pinkard who designed software to boost African-American elementary age reading abilities. The games in the study are Reading Rapper and Say Say Oh Playmate. These games have users develop abilities with rhyming and rhythm that transfer out the ability to learn new words. In the words of my undergraduate mentor, "The more words you know the more words you can know".

I think both of my models address what these authors are pushing. Meet the students where they are. This sentiment is the root of all recruitment too, just a fun little fyi for you. If knowledge, or education rather, is about an enculturation into a dominant discourse then bringing students into that discourse, as effective as possible, is learning. If that means taking in extra-curricular interests like social media (as in my research) into the classroom to boost student engagement and standards based analysis skills, then that is learning. If having students mimic rappers to which they aspire to become, and in the process learning new words, then this too is learning.

The purpose of the model, be it classroom model, technology model, curriculum, or implementation plan, is to streamline the efficiency of said learning to the prescribed standards of the dominant discourse.

***

Reading about Say Say Oh Playmate made me crave some step dancing videos. So I did a little fishing and found some. Then I went ahead and thought about dominant discourse some more. It seems, in my novel yet fledgling research, that every discourse has some kind of fancy footwork rhythm dance style here is a few:

Stepping with the ladies of Z-Phi

Clogging at the Florida State Fair

Irish Step Dancing

If you haven't seen a Breslover dance, this is just the tip of the iceberg

why should a computer solve equity?

2010-04-06T11:53:00.000-07:00

This week in P574 we are studying the Digital Divide in Information and Communicative Technologies (ICT)!

So for everyone who asks me, "Jeff what do you do in grad school?" This is what I do. We looked at 3 articles and one report on the difference in participation in technologies, covering race, class, gender, and geography. Yes, geography.

Mark Waschauer writes on the issue of access to the internet. The claim is geography based. The questions raised are, "First, is lack of ICT access a cause or effect of
poverty or other measures of social exclusion? Second, what does it
really mean to have access to ICTs? And third, what is the best approach
to dealing with unequal access?"

The chapter says that lack of access to ICT (computers, internet, etc...) is a causal to impoverishment. Whoa! So Mark is really saying, without the web, your aren't only worse off because you cant torrent "New Moon" but you also are going to be in poverty. I know what you're thinking, my great-great-great-grandparents didn't have a computer or an internet and they did all-right. But this is being written in comparison of countries like Malawi and the USA. But to put it into a local perspective, today I needed an optometrist. I went with the one who had the best website. You could argue that my new and friendly optometrist has more access to ICT and better support for ICT. This optometrist will not be living in squalor. ICT can predict this. I found it interesting that Mark talked about Egypt's aggressive campaign on getting the country wired. Here, the government grabbed the Ministry of Education together they build technology development centers. Now, Egypt has more capital than a country like Malawi and can invest in government programming. So what is Malawi to do? They need a change in the social environment to facilitate “the learning of new behaviors that propagate continuous improvements in conditions of living” (Corea 2000, 9). Well said Corea.

Carsataphen (1999) found that male members dominated online discussions. This is in looking at how male and female members differ in online discourse. What is bothering me is why people assume that computers will solve equity issues between genders? The authors mention that women are socially conditioned to avoid confrontation whereas men enjoy it as a game.

Are people expecting computers to solve issues of gender roles/equity in this digital divide?

I think that is a foolish claim. Those pushing this agenda, excluded from our course readings but I know you're out there, I would liken to OLPC (one laptop per child) folks. Those believing that putting computers in disadvantaged or marginalized populations will solve issues like education. It falls into an ideological category. It's ultimately up to teachers, and deisgners to institute this kind of ecology or value system.

Does this mean our society and our social ecology needs to learn new behaviors that propagate continuous improvements in the conditions of living? I think Corea would agree.

That's where John Ive comes in.

Wait you don't know who John Ive is? Look at this buff stud! Now I bet you wanna know him. He is the most important product designer in the world.

He is the lead designer from Apple Inc. Remember the unibody macs, this guy. The iPhone, his idea...err design. And iPad, once again this dude. He also is responsible (in part) for how you use this neat gizmo, the iPad.

I am of the Macheads/apple fanboys who believe the iPad will right every wrong technology has pervaded. I think the design is genius in that there is nothing saying, this is a boy toy or girl toy. None of that choose your happy meal with a barbie or hot wheels BS.

The intuitive user interface is so easy a 36 month old can use it. -Watch out Geico Cavemen, you're next. Just watch this clip. You don't need to watch the whole thing but enough to see her spell lion.

My educational model this week is a rip-off of a cliche. Deal with it. The iPad, this wonder tool, is the first of it's kind to interact with people implicitly on their individualized level. This is the development of a social ecology to contribute to benefiting the continuous improvement of conditions of living. I can't say it will solve every equity issue, but it is a leap in the right direction.

DELfest

2010-04-03T22:47:00.000-07:00

This post is for those who come to this blog not for the educational models but for my reputation a bluegrass fanatic.

But check this out:

Del McCoury is a legend. I recommend you and your friends go to Maryland for DELfest, tix go up in price apr. 12 so hurry up.

Games/Learning/Billy Madison

2010-03-08T11:23:00.000-08:00

I think this was one of the first Rated R movies I ever saw. I was 9.

I really cant describe the movie if you haven't seen it. I'll say it like this, if you haven't seen it, watch it. Right now. Then come back to this blog and read about how I will connect this to games and learning. Go ahead. I'll wait right here for you.

I know, funny movie right?! And what about that penguin? Great stuff.

The main part of the clip we are going to focus on is the bit with the date game. So Veronica asks Billy the year of events and as we saw his incentive is pretty clear. That in itself is a game learning ecology. Granted, it doesn't use any technology but it does answer the questions and theorems postulated by the authors this week in P574.

Gee asks:
How can we make learning in and out of school, with or without using games, more game-like in the sense of using the sorts of learning principles that young people see in good games every
day, when and if they are playing these games reflectively and strategically?

Squire wants to change school culture:
Organize curricula around driving questions of personal relevance to students and open-ended,
genuine intellectual merit

Quest Atlantis "makes learning fun" (Barab et al.)

Gee talks a bit about how games build investment and identity, Squire & Barab both talked about intrinsic motivation, and Billy exemplifies all of these. Furthermore, Billy became a better person, increased his sociability, and learned a heck-of-alot in using these mini-games to train for the academic decathlon.

Personally I think games are great in classrooms. I created a rhythm based clapping game for taking attendance with my 7th and 8th graders last year. This game obviously wasn't designed for learning but it did do the following: it allowed for production, interactions, and customization. It warmed up the students and built up there self-esteem. But the whole time they were fully aware that they are playing a game to take attendance.

The shortfall of games not addressed in the readings is that students sometimes fail to transfer out the skills they learned in the game. What I mean by that is best summarized by Schwartz, Bransford, and Brown.....but I'll paraphrase. Learning that remains as a "sequestered problem solving" concept is not as preferable as a concept that becomes "preparation for future learning". For example in the A nder City worked example students become "expert statisticians". Within their context and using transformational play students assume the role and perform the calculations. I know that students will naturally discover mean, median, and mode in context but my question naturally goes to this, if I ask one of those students to find the median of any given number set, can they do it?

Then again I guess that's the million dollar question of all learnign environments. And where most research is likely taking place.

I do agree that games can support learning, and promote all the beneficial cognitive skills that go along with it such as problem solving, and systems thinking but just like any technology, it must be the right tool for the job.

An overlooked and never mentioned piece to video gaming in classrooms is tech support. Therefore, my model this week will be a tribute to my old tech support buddies, Ryan & Richard.

"Sony Walkman keeps you walking"

2010-02-23T14:16:00.000-08:00

First a metaphorical model:

I was considering using a still image from the Wizard of Oz for an image of someone behind the curtain running the show, but I really wanted to push the idea of a puppet master. You see, what my problem is with constructionism is that there is this gap. Or maybe it's a distance thing. Either way every time I read about a constructionist implementation there is always a high degree of opacity between teachers, students, and researchers.

Let's go into the readings a little bit for examples. So in this Bers et. al. article about using robotics with children aged 3 and 4. We see Student-Teachers creating robotic tools that are supposed to help the children learn. In one group of 3-year-old's the student-teacher had the children placing a Lego Mindstorm brick, shaped like a heart, which triggered the puppet to move through phases. This taught metamorphosis.
In the next example discussing the life cycle a student-teacher created a rotating disc with a frame that clearly emphasized one of the stills in the cycle. From here students would place these chronologically on a line.
Yes, students learn and are engaged.

But they don't make the connection to robotics, nor are robotics the best use or tool. I have a hard time buying that robotics made a big difference in the student's learning. For all they know these items were pre-existing tools. They do not know that their student-teachers created this curriculum and lesson. They are ignorant of the 'man behind the curtain' pulling the strings and organizing this unit. It seems like this proposed methodology capitalizes on gimmickry. If this seems like an unfair criticism we'll look at another example.

Montemayor et. al. created these neat StoryRooms. They use physical space and encourage students to explore the room's items and create stories using them. Some items were computerized, others not, like chairs and stuffed animals. And students create stories like so:

"“Mr. Mouse, do you know a way back to my house?” Mr.
Mouse replied, “I do not know where your house is. Maybe
you should ask Mr. Koala.” Irene finds and goes up to Mr.
Koala. She sees a green hand next to it. So she squeezes it
and asks, “Mr. Koala, do you know the way to my home?”
(A green light placed next to a snake lights up.) Mr. Koala
said, “I do not know where your house is. Maybe you should
ask Mr. Snake.” Irene follows the green light and sees Mr.
Snake. She asks the same question. Finally, Mr. Snake says,
“Sure, I know just the way. Come, follow me back to your
home”"

And I thought of this great De la Soul song called 'Tread Water':

because its practically the same as the student's story.

The findings result that students can contribute more to a story, do a little physical programming, and be more more of an attentive audience than previously thought. Cool.

But I still am not sold that the students knew they were programming. Nor do I think the students had that intention, rather they were playing within a story. Again it feels like the researchers created this unit, with an opacity, and call it learning.

I think the students genuinely learn. I don't think it's the best way to teach. You need to have the right tool for the job. And it must be used in the most appropriate way, otherwise it will be a waste of time and resources, ranging from cost to education.

My girlfriend doesn't know what a wiki is...and she's still smarter than you

2010-02-09T10:12:00.000-08:00

Seriously, My girlfriend is wicked smart. She wouldn't want me divulging her GPA or GRE score but believe me, she's doing swell. She's currently in an honor's symposium at her college where they are studying foundational texts in critical thinking, for example the first week they read some John Dewey. The cumulative project for this course is a wiki. Girlfriend (she didn't want her name here so she'll just be girlfriend of GF) then called me and said, "Everyone is supposed to work on the same document online and edit each other. Isn't that weird?"

I responded, "No. That's the benefit of using a wiki."

I'm not trying to rag on GF for not being tech savvy. The point I'm going to illustrate is that technology does not guarantee epistemic knowledge building, nor is technology even necessary in most cases. In lieu of some readings from IUP574 we saw some good examples and some bad examples, and I have been thinking of the pros and cons that I'd like to share, maybe even a solution or two.

First up is ExplanationConnector, lauded as an explanation-driven inquiry tool. EC is a journal, an electronic journal. Not wired to the internet or sharable just electronic. Students are guided from complex overarching inquiries to more narrow and "manageable" questions.

From the reading,
"The explicit links between questions, explanations, and data enable students to assess whether they have answered their current question, completed their current explanation, and provided evidence to support their claims."

My problem with this is there is no bridge moving from So What? to Now What?

I can do the same thing in ExplanationConnector in a well written lab manual. Keeping it all paper and pencil and lowering costs. ....wait a second don't I know someone who is in science, going into veterinary medicine, works in labs, takes lab courses, has never used a computer in lab, and is wicked smart? Girlfriend, that's who! I haven't found anything in ExplanationConnector that goes above and beyond anything someone will do in a lab manual. However, if you do, please leave a comment so we can dig into this deeper.

In another reading we looked at TinkerTools. TinkerTools is inherently different from EC, in that TT's starting premise was to capitalize on the affordances of technology and "how to use computer modeling and simulations to change our view of what it means to understand and engage in science."

Yeah dude, that's whats up!

Furthermore, in TT the researchers were pairing up classes of high and low achieving students to peer review each others reflections. This was super successful. In fact my research team at IU is doing the same thing in English classes. The point here is that they have taken technology to the next step and utilized it a way that could not be replicated without the use of computers.

I know what you're thinking, what about the GF? How is she going to use computers? Can she even use a word processor? yes, yes she can. So she and I are heading to the University of Illinois at the end of February for her vet school interview there. UI has a computer requirement of tablet PCs. As a bonus, they created an information session for interviewees explaining why they need tablets, and the software's accordance's that go beyond what anyone can do in a classroom. You betch'yer tuchas I'll be at that info session, blog post to follow thereafter.

But that is totally reasonable. EC didn't sell me on anything impressive like TT and didn't do anything you can't do well with paper and pen.

A solution I am working on. (Also my model for the week)

"Moving from CYA to CYS"
CYA or choose your own adventure is a genre of text where the reader gets to a crossroad and has to choose an option, from there more options, etc... until the reader reaches a conclusion.

CYS will be modeled simlarly, choose your own simulation. Modeled after a lab setting, readers -now viewers, will watch interactive flash animation or interactive videos and make decisions for themselves, based on available information, and complete experiments and simulations.
How is this more than paper and pencil? Because this software will let you run infinite simulations at zero cost -kind of like NetLogo. This software will also share results of every student, not just in the class but of every student who uses my simulation software. This will be shared on a really cool website.

_____
Just to reiterate a common theme in my models, technology is not worthwhile unless it has high fidelity and can go beyond what you can do in an unplugged class.

Which one has the most constraints? What about accordance's?

UPDATE: Girlfriend felt this post made her look computer illiterate, which she is not. To prove this here is a picture of her using a computer.

History repeats itself

2010-01-27T08:01:00.000-08:00

Some say history goes in circles, some say spirals. For more on this, check out Dr. Gerald Schroeder, the difference between the two led him to becoming a preeminent physicist and Talmudic scholar. I'm not going into that now, just a fun fact for you.

Either way, circle or spiral, history is redundant. We'll be looking at this redundancy through examining a tech model I made, and looking at a few articles examining technology in schools written at different times in the last 25 years.

It's a very interesting choice of articles this week. Staring with Larry Cuban, who wrote about the history of technology in schools up to 1984, then Rochelle et. al. talking about what it takes for technology to really "make it" in schools in 2000, and nicely wrapped up with a 2009 survey report by the U.S. D.O.E. This is extremely relevant to me because I started school in 1990, started High School in 2000, and taught in a Middle School in 2009. I had first hand experience of exactly what the authors we're talking about. I found that my model, which hasn't changed in the last week, agreed with Rochelle's argument, "The challenge is to ensure this technology is used effectively to enhance how and what children learn." No one can put a computer or other tech device into the hands of students and expect them to learn, or achieve great things without a great teacher, as Cuban states, "Teachers are the gatekeepers to technology".

Now this teacher isn't necessarily the old sage on a stage, nor the guide on the side, the teacher can be siblings, friends, parents, experts in forums, etc... The key is that it is a live person you are talking to or messaging or emailing, whatever. The key is people. People to people interactions. My model emphasizes this.
The first step to getting technology into your classroom is getting the monetary support to buy the equipment. This support is being either generated by or signed off by someone.

Next you need an idea, an activity, something to DO with the technology. If there is one thing all of the articles and chapters have in common and repeat implicitly is that YOU CAN NOT JUST PUT FLASHY TECH THINGS INTO STUDENTS HANDS AND EXPECT LEARNING TO HAPPEN! You need an ecosystem, structure, lesson plans, and ideas.

Naturally the next item down is the technology. I used Dell Netbooks here. I was under the impression when I made this model that the schools I work with on "Tweeting Character" were getting Dells, they got HP. The next model will correct this. More on T.C. coming soon...

These machines will be useless without access of course. As of 2007 only 63% of classes are wired for High-Speed Internet (see US DOE report below). I'm looking for a statistic of what it is now in 2010. If anyone has one, please let me know in the comments.

But no matter how cool, or fast, are rad your technology is, without teachers who are enthusiastic about using the technology and experienced and keep up with the training, and students who are eager or inspired, the technology will fail. Rochelle stressed this by talking about "Computer expertise" and a need for support of these teachers. I see that support in two possible ways. One way is through education of new software and tools. And the other is hardware support.

Hardware support is seen here as a caricature of Richard, my old IT guy. This is what Richard really looks like. Pretty good rendering on the model huh? - totally from memory too! Actually, Dick here wasn't my go-to-guy all the time. I worked very closely with his wife, Sherry, and their adopted son Ryan. A very tech savvy family. Some friendly advice for you, whenever you start at a new job or school more specifically, get close with IT and the lunch-ladies. No joke.

Up to this point in the model you have your tech, have a lesson plan, have access, got students excited and ready to learn, and you have your back-up. The next step is more ideas, more lessons, more engagement. Make the financial investment worthwhile! Because like one of the readings said, (paraphrasing) "The most cost effective form of education is paying one teacher to talk to 30 students." If you are a fan of technology you better make these things work and have lots of ideas, if you do not use you will lose it! Some other teacher will get your Netbook cart, or Richard will be busy when you need him, or you will be the last to et your machines updated, everyone will be zipping around on Windows 7 or Snow Leopard while you're chugging along through Windows ME. Or the new teacher comes in and gets an iPad while you're using a Newton, then you'll be S.O.L.

To prove it works, you need assessment. Assessment is portrayed here, in this model, as my adviser, Daniel Thomas Hickey Ph.D. He is an assessment expert (click on the model above for a high-res image and check out his shirt). He is also a metaphor. You don't actually need him, although I'm sure he'd love to help you out, but you need a fair, valid, and reliable assessment plan to show how your technology integration is salient.

Then you do it all again. Hence the redundancy.

If you looked close enough you will have noticed that this all takes place on a clock. Time is the biggest overarching barrier to bringing in technology into schools. Even time in the units. For example, ever teacher who has ever used computers, or a Netbook cart will complain about the time lost for simply logging-in. It is a very, very valid complaint. The point I am trying to make is that time will always be an issue in every step of the process, and in my opinion is one of the first things to consider before every attempting to include technology into a curriculum. It has always been an issue, and will be for sometime. However, in my reading I don't think it was mentioned. Did anyone see it anywhere else?

Readings for the week:

Larry Cuban: Teachers and Machines

Rochelle et. al. : Changing How and What Children Learn in School with Computer-Based Technologies

United States DOE: Evaluation of the Enhancing Education Through Technology Program: Final Report
Report Highlights

I know it's been a while

2010-01-26T20:03:00.001-08:00

I know it's been a while since I have blogged. But you haven't noticed, how do I know? Because I use Google analytic and no one has been there in about a month.

It's OK.

Really it's fine. If I'm not showing up why should you?

In other news, I will be doing more blogging, as I am enrolled in another class that has us posting bi-weekly reflections. As a bonus, our reflections are linked with models under the theme of, "What is needed to bring technology into the classroom?"

My first model is posted here:
I'll just say now that it is a clock, and I'm using symbols and images to represent the numbers. The blacked out rectangles are just where 12, 3, 6, and 9 would be. They have purposely been left out to be possibly filled in later. A reflection will be posted in the next post.

The Law School Experiment

2009-12-15T02:45:00.000-08:00

I have a real treat for ya'll today!

My buddy from undergrad Cesar has a blog too.

Cesar is the kind of guy who once he finishes his least favorite class in Law School for the semester he rewards himself by getting a big tasty burger. That's American for you! American University that is, check out www.thelawschoolexperiment.blogspot.com. Cesar is an excellent writer and his blog is full of great material even if you don't go to law school or care about the law (renegades). The blog started as an experimental diary kind of thing through the eyes of a first year law student at American University and now it's finals week of his first semester. He had a take home final this week in Torts, it took him 8 hours (but I think the professor designed it that way, Cesar's not a dumb guy). Cesar had a great idea, "Why not record the whole thing and play it back in super fast forward?" He did and gave me permission to reproduce it on my blog.

Bonus: he sets it to one of my favorite hip hop jams of all time!

Some things I like in this video:

1. the music

-I fucking love Coolio. I don't care who knows it.

2. it's made on a mac

-i can tell because of the iMovie titles

3. Gators

-look at his shirt

4.The forethought that went into this project

-it takes a special person to even think of doing this let alone follow through. Think of the implications on the hardware alone. Do you have any idea what kind of hard drive can hold 8 hours of video? A HUGE hard drive. that's the answer

5. I have been doing this for the past 3 days

-I have final papers due as well, as do many, almost all, of my friends. We all spent ludicrous amounts of time in front of these screens with no thought to what kind of physical shape we're in or what kind of idiosyncratic tendencies arise...leading to point 6

6.Look at the eyes and mouth of Cesar

-you should have noticed this without me saying anything

7. the pile of clothes.

-I hope it's a grad school thing and not a lazy bachelor from south florida thing that i too have a pile(s) of clothes laying around my apartment.

As an experimental vlog this video get 5 stars. I think it's super neat. And if you do too, tell Cesar, again his url is www.thelawschoolexperiment.blogspot.com

"Ot Azoy"

2009-12-07T17:40:00.001-08:00

UPDATE: this post was reposted at www.teruah-jewishmusic.blogspot.com. The author Jack, a real nice guy from Michigan, added some interesting insight into the video and added a performance he found of a traditional klezmer group. So if you find the opportunity check out his blog.

____

This is my final Studio Project for P650. It's what I call a Docu-Vlog. A variation of the normal Vlog, a Docu-vlog follows a documentary format, unlike the more narrative vlog.

It follows the history of the old Yiddish song, "Ot Azoy" as it has traveled through time, genre, and countries. It ends with an original remix, lyrics and music by me. Enjoy!

technologies used: garageband, imovie, final cut express hd, quicktime x

Some discussion points:
What is it about thematic songs that cause them to be rooted in the human psyche and translate across cultures and time?
What themes become memes in the human psyche of music?
How can Docu-Vlogs, or other edu-tainment tools, help students come to new understandings of cultural themes?

Tweeting Characters

2009-12-06T19:24:00.000-08:00

This is the Design Paper for P544, taught by Dr. Danish, he's been brought up a few times. I am producing it here for anyone who wants to read it, comment on it, and use it (teachers). I am flattered and happy if anyone wants to implement this unit or variations of it, just please, ask for permission. I have no intention of saying no, I just need to know who is using it.

So here it is, an early draft of Tweeting Characters, a twitter activity for a high school english class.

Tweeting Characters, Design Paper

Jeffrey Kaplan 12/2/09

Design Paper (P544), Dr. Danish, Indiana University

Activity and Framework

This is a participatory and interactive form of character analysis and interactive role-playing common to most ELA (English Language Arts) classes studying literature, emphasizing so

cial media via utilizing the affordances of Twitter (www.twitter.com). The proposed activity will promote critical literacy and build writing-relevant knowledge in the students wherein the tweets are simultaneously several cognitive and socio-cultural tasks. By only allotting 140

characters per message students are constrained by the affordances of the media to write complete thoughts or dialogue in the allotted space. The unit is currently being designed to compliment The Crucible being taught in 2 different ELA classes in Indiana. The first class to implement Tweeting Characters (from here on out to referred to as TC) is Jane Doe's* class at Northeast High* in Bloomington, In. and the second class will be Joe Nutamaker's* class a Eastern Thomas High School*, both classes are Juniors.

TC has each student assuming the role of a character in the play and tweeting as that character. Tweets will consist of an inner monologue and communication to other characters. The goal of the activity, and it’s core importance, is for students to come to new understandings about the play, time period, and characters through creating a personally meaningful and interactive story, while building 21^st century skills. The effectiveness of TC will first be evident through the coherent monologue and dialogue of the characters. Secondly, more formal evidence will be proven through either thematic and character analytic constructed response items. There will be great care taken into consideration concerning the assurance that the technology used will be effective and meaningful ways to maximize their potential[i].

Cognitive Theoretical grounding

Twitter lends itself to several cognitive processing tasks such as efficiency of words (considered the affordances and constraints of the media), and interactions within memory schemas in the brain, including genre and topic knowledge. These acquired skills are the foundational cognitive processes of skilled writers (McCutchen, D., 2000). The activities in TC are designed in step with Deborah McCutchen’s (2000) work that building links between working-memory and writing processes will increase writing-relevant knowledge and make our students skilled writers. As students read through the play they will be required to tweet their characters thoughts and/or messages a predetermined number per scene. This activity will activate the short-term working memory (what the student just read) while appropriating that into the long-term working memory (the mindset of their character) and communicating that tweet in a “true to genre” text artifact. For example, in the prologue of The Crucible a tweet from Reverend Parrish may look like this, “@RevParris Thank you to all my friends and fellow congregants for praying for @BeckyParris”. Conversely his house servant Tituba may tweet,

“@Tituba Please don’t let @RevParris blame me on ‘dis too #missingbarbados”. The workings of the memory schema throughout the duration of the readings, coupled with the students keeping in character, while communicating through a constrained media format are cognitive processing tasks (McCutchen, D., 2000; Hickey, D. T. & Kaplan, J. B., In Press). The further the students enhance their cognitive development of topic knowledge and genre knowledge, the more appropriately the students can have discourse (McCutchen, D., 2000) through Twitter creating a bridge into socio-cultural theory at work in TC.

Socio-Cultural Theoretical Grounding

Twitter is a social media platform, meaning the community of practice (in the case of TC that community is 17th century Salem, Massachusetts) bases the success of the media on the participation. Furthermore, each community of practice has its norms, affordances, and constraints. The affordances and constraints were more fully emphasized in the cognitive theoretical grounding; the norms and participation fall into the socio-cultural scope. These norms are ReTweeting (RT), Hash-tagging (a system of cataloging and referencing keywords via the # symbol), and profile referencing (wherein tweets can hyperlink to profile pages via @).

TC would be remiss to not include these tools as requirements for the students participating because these tools are the greatest strengths of Twitter that maximize its potential usefulness. In the earlier example of Tituba profile referencing @RevParris there is a discourse unique to the community of practice. The artifact from that one encounter cues the viewer into a dialogue as well as a personal monologue in the Hash-tag #missingbarbados. The characters act in effect as a surrogate for the students continually appropriate the text from The Crucible in addition to each other’s tweets. In student examples of RTing it is expected that at climactic points in the play there will be an increase in RT activity where the community circulates the tweets. This is fundamental to language use, allows for group membership to grow, and defines the characters in new ways (Hull & Rose, 1989). Exploiting the students’ involvement in social media tools and participatory culture will scaffold the critical and analytic skills they currently possess, as well as providing them with the awareness and confidence they need to be successful Twitter users, and enable them to critique messages that permeate their lives in media and canonical text (Morrell, E. & Duncan-Andrade, J., 2002).

Conclusion

This unit is designed to increase motivation to learn and participate in the classroom while using new media tools and aligning with Indiana Standards. TC aligns to Indiana State Standards that emphasize the need for students to respond to historically and culturally relevant works of literature and to analyze characteristics of different literary genres[ii]. TC also utilizes 21^st century skills emphasizing the social media Twitter.com. The students will require cognitive processing tasks as they grapple with the genre and topical knowledge as they appropriate their tweets through the media. That media is socio-cultural by nature as it is defined by a community of practice invested in membership and participation that fulfills the need for critical literacy of literary text creating skilled writers through both learning theories.

* Pseudonyms to protect teachers and students currently in program.

[i] This is sentiment is generally understood throughout the academic community, however the Author would like to highlight the fact this sentiment is particularly present at the blog www.joshuadanish.com and more specifically http://www.joshuadanish.com/2009/11/12/twitter-and-blogs-and-facebook-and/ .

[ii] Indiana Standards in English 11.3, 11.3.1, and 11.3.5 as of 09/09/09

Hetland et. al. VS Eric Cartman and John Dewey VS Wesley Snipes

2009-11-23T12:36:00.001-08:00

Oh yea, I'm not playing games with this blog post. No sir/mam, I'm bringing the ruckus.

First up is Hetland et. al. on Studio Thinking.

Hetland VS Cartman

Allow me to summarize the argument:
Hetland discussion surrounding the art for art's sake argument. The author's point of view is that Art should be studied in school for Art's sake, as in independent subject. Because of NCLB we have to sell art as having a key role in development of skills that transfer into the "important" subject areas (math and english).

With that in mind the authors say "If the arts are given a role in our schools because people believe that arts cause academic improvement, then the arts will quickly lose ground if academic improvement does not result, or if the arts prove less effective in improving literacy and numeracy than high-quality, direct instruction in these subjects"

Well OK that sounds alright to me.

Then later in the chapter, "If the arts are to retain a place within public education, arts educators must answer the questions of what the arts can teach and what students can learn from the arts." And this can be taken in 2 ways: that either the author means there is value in learning art for arts sake or that art educators must prove transfer.

Yet they say "the dispositions that emerged from our study bear some striking similarities to those that Elliot Eisner, in his book The Arts and the Creation of Mind, has argued the arts teach (e.g. learning to attend to relationships, flexibility, and the ability to shift direction, expression, and imagination).

In detailed explanations of their 8 studio habits...

"The disposition Envision is important in the sciences, in history, and in mathematics"

And the last line of the chapter is "Finally, the Studio Thinking Framework lays the foundation for more precisely targeted and plausible transfer studies"

What's the deal hetland et. al.?

I read this and only see it as a transfer argument. Am I missing something? Because I know, I know for sure, that the authors wrote this chapter to convince me, the reader, that art is worthwhile in it's own right! That art should be considered a worthy and respectable subject area of the k-12 curriculum!

Yet when I read this chapter I think not.

How does this relate to Eric Cartman you ask? I'll tell you how.

In the thirteenth episode of the thirteenth season of South Park Eric Cartman becomes a news pundit gaining tons of support from his peers....that is until his radical claims backfire on him once Wendy Testaburger flips the script on Cartman and shows him hows his own fallacies are his demise.

Here's the Wikipedia summary "he [Cartman] appears on his show and tells the students he went to live with the Smurfs, fell in love with Smurfette and became integrated into the culture. Cartman claims Wendy bulldozed their village and slaughtered the Smurfs to get their valuable Smurfberries, which he has chronicled in his DVD, "Dances with Smurfs".

It continues "Wendy claims she indeed killed the Smurfs to get the valuable Smurfberries, but alludes that Cartman was involved with the plot, and that the Smurfs would have left their village if Cartman did not integrate himself with them."

See, Cartman was trying to create a movement among his supporters but it miserably backfired once it came under any scrutiny. His DVD, Dances with Smurfs, was his demise.

Having said that, Hetland et. al's argument is their demise.

Then Wendy sells the rights to the story to James Cameron who makes the movie Avatar (this is just a fun little side note).

Dewey VS Wesley

In Art as Experience John Dewey speaks to the difference in seeing and perceiving in regards to Having an Experience like so,

"[Rembrandt's portraits] may be looked at, possibly recognized, and have their correct names attached. But for lack of continuous interaction between the total organism and the objects, they are not perceived, certainly not esthetically. A crowd of visitors steered through a picture-gallery by a guide, with attention called here and there to some high point, does not perceive; only by accident is there even interest in seeing a picture for the sake of subject matter vividly realized"
(Page 54)

DO YOU CHHOP?! (Chhop means grasp/comprehend/fully understand in Yiddish) I take this as anyone can see a work of art but only an expert can perceive it. According to John Dewey Wesley Snipes is right.

Dr. Brown is such a mensch

2009-11-20T07:18:00.000-08:00

Remember this post?

I said this in that post, "--somewhere there's a video of [Dr. Brown] and me dancing with Toni Basil via green screen to the words "Orion" instead of "Oh Mickey". If I can find that I'll upload that too---

I couldn't find it.

But Dr. Brown did!! so check out this 18 second clip of a much longer Orion video from last year...Once again Dr. Brown is on the right.

If I was catholic...

2009-11-18T11:50:00.000-08:00

If I was catholic I would so get down with this:
It is the new video game from Prayer Works Interactive where you do all these ritual acts with a Wiimote-esqu controller. This was all released in a Press Release yesterday, and in under 24 hours the whole blogosphere is talking about this.

They main question going around is:

Is this real?

It's here, here, here, here, and even here. This hasn't made major news networks like FOXnews or CNN but when it does I'm sure Bill O'Reilly will call it reverse racism and show how yet again the white american male is the punching bag of society.

Moving past the political BS let's schmooze about why you read this blog, what's up with the new media and learning aspect.

If there was a Wii Moses game where you had to split the Red Sea, or Climb Mt Sinai to receive the 10 commandments, or even walk in a desert for 40 years I would

probably buy the game, then record myself playing the game, then upload it to my blog, like this, just to see how the religious field can incorporate New Media.

I have seen things like Frumster and J-Date, and the newest site SeeYouOnShabbas. This is a step in the right direction for religions that are seen as fanatical and extremist and stray from new media technologies, because of their association with stigma.

The author Liel Leibovitz wrote "the Internet is doing

nothing less than

“killing off the Jewish mind.” You can read it here, I'm not giving him more time on my blog.

He should really read my blog sometime.

I hope this game is real. There is a serious aversion amongst the very pious and religious communities to stay away from the "evils" of the internet, video games, and even still television. This, probably fake, game could be one of the steps in the right direction to these communities embracing technology and media.

**This still is from a super retro video game I just found called "The Shivah"

***Going to play it now will blog about it later

Re: The Arts 2009

2009-11-17T21:51:00.001-08:00

Dr. Danish is at it again!

Check out this weeks "Drawing Things 'Gether"

I have a very brief response to his Drawing Things Together (twitter hashtag #DTG) and it comes from my presentation I am giving in the morning on Research on Museums as Learning Institutions. And it falls super succinctly inline with one of the week's readings, I think it's the Eisner piece (2002) that discusses the Reggio Emilia's work with having children draw what they had experienced while on field trips to national landmarks.

I taped this on Sunday, and read the piece on Tuesday. I could have been more methodical if the other way around but I'll accept this as a pilot study.

In the video is my friend Shlomo (age 5). He, his sister, his dad, and I all went to the art museum on campus on Sunday to help me with my presentation. And although I am not drawing anything this time around in response, hopefully Dr. Danish will let this slide and accept it as a form of #DTG.

Prezi in the house ya'll

2009-11-16T12:18:00.000-08:00

The first time I saw Prezi (www.prezi.com), the zooming presentation illustrator, I thought of a constellation. Because from far away a star looks like this------------>

When in all actuality up close stars look more like this
<-------------- As such Prezi allows you to zoom infinitely onto the grid of your presentation, and out infinitely as much. It would then seem that a skilled presentation editor could then make images and presentations into optical illusions of factual information and persausive argumentation. I just kept thinking about stars and constellations. And when I think of Astronomy I think of Dr. Gary Brown. (He's on the right) Dr. Brown constantly reminds me to call him Gary but I prefer Dr. Brown for it conjures up childhood memories of eating at kosher delis with my grandparent ordering that delicious cream soda, you know Dr. Brown's cream soda, root beer, cel ray, black cherry, etc....

And there was a Dr. Brown in a little movie called Back to the Future. All I'm saying is, is that there is plenty good reason go by by Dr. if your last name is Brown, but Gary is such a humble guy he likes going by Gary. At any rate, Dr. B is a teacher's teacher. We worked together last year as I was just starting out and he was finishing his PhD, we had many of the same students, and worked together on a several projects that were cross-curricular.

The big unit assessment in Astronomy was originally to create a powerpoint about a constellation. But Dr. Brown, being a clever guy had the idea to have all of his students make videos, and utilize our incredible technology at our school, and extremely flexible staff. (Flexible like Smith flexible (2006), err, my last post about dj hero...oh you didn't watch it? well it's right down there if you want to look)
So like my students I hopped on board the constellation video train. A few other teachers made constellation projects, too. That's just one of the really nice things about working in an environment like that, the camaraderie between faculty was always to enhance the learning of the students. Anyway, here's my video from last year.

My constellation was Delphinus. It's a little over 5 minutes, I don't expect anyone to watch it all the through but do watch some to get an idea of the kind of learning that comes from making educational videos. And no, none of the students made original songs like this one called, "Dolphins are Everywhere" I was just using a novel way to make a video about a minor constellation. I chose the constellation of the Dolphin, not because I am from Miami (which I am) and not because I know Dan Marino...I actually have met Dan Marino a few times, the first time I did I told him he was great in Ace Ventura.... but I chose it because of the game Dolphin Olympics.

So why does any of this matter? Because it takes a lot of time and effort and coordination and instruction to get 125 ~5 minute videos of constellations. I see Prezi as an alternative to this kind of project.

Anyone can be using prezi like a power-user in about 6 minutes if you watch the first two tutorials on their website. They have a ton more tutorials but the first two will get you well on your way. My prezi took about somewhere between 2 and 3 hours to make. In school talk that's like 3 to 4 days. So what? Prezi gets the information across to the audience in an effective and attractive way. Prezi is super easy to learn and super fun to tinker with! So I made a prezi, seen below about Orion, a tribute to Dr. Brown. --somewhere there's a video of him and me dancing with Toni Basil via green screen to the words "Orion" instead of "Oh Mickey". If I can find that I'll upload that too--- So my thoughts were on creating an Orion prezi for my pal, and an equally technophilic teacher, Dr. Gary Brown, while exploring new kinds of media.

Computation and processing with DJ hero

2009-11-09T22:29:00.001-08:00

Yea, I put the DJ Hero to the limits in this discussion of fluency and flexibility. Check out the Vlog, for clips of DJ Hero and my linking it to this weeks readings.

Hall of Historians

2009-11-05T21:12:00.000-08:00

That Dr. Joshua Danish is one smart dude. I don't use that term lightly. I actually use it when citing the Judaic scholar Rashi, as in That Rashi is one smart dude. Now although Dr. D isn't writing a commentary on the Torah, yet, and he doesn't answer halachic questions, yet, but he does do some really cool and unique things in his 544 class (applied cognition and learning strategies) he is teaching this semester.

One of the really cool things* he is experimenting with this semester is creating cartoon strips that pair with our readings for the week. We ended on Wednesday discussing next weeks topic, Social Studies, with the prompt what do historians do?

Here, reproduced with ~~pending~~ permission from Dr. Danish, is a cartoon he released this evening. I think its great, but check it out:

Some things I really like about the cartoon is, 1 the animation style. I don't know what program he's using, but it works. 2, Elbow patches on the archetypical professor. 3, everything else about the professor, his eyebrows, he's bald, etc...

For content of the cartoon, Its great. He's holding a card that says, "something" and trying to see where it fits within 1066 (battle of hastings) and 1113 (I don't know what's in 1113 but 1110 was the first crusade so I assume something along those lines). The implicit message I pull out of this is that view of historians is that all they do is place things in chronological order and discuss their significance and impact.

Full disclosure: I am a certified history teacher in 40 states (I think my Florida certification carries over that many) and I was a history major in Undergrad. I have a good idea of what historians do, I have a ton of historical text here, and have studied under some world renown scholars so with my experience and education I can assuredly say, "Danish got it right".

I wanted to embrace the ideas of cartooning our readings so I drew a reply for Dr. D of the current state of affairs in History.

~~I was in a rush to get this online so the picture is taken from my camera phone. -I'll scan it asap and re-upload so you can get the full effect. Either way I'll talk you through this.~~

So this is the Hall of Historians est. 411BC (peloponnisian war, first history, thucydides, whatever if you're not into history just move on).
As expected it's a great hall with a huge fireplace and mantle.

__(CLICK ON THE IMAGE FOR A BETTER VIEW, OPENS IN NEW WINDOW)___

In the Foreground we have an older man reading a book where another book titled 'Middle Ages' is sitting and he is thinking "Hmmmm...". Above him is a much older man, almost bald, completely hunched over, holding a pipe that looks like a mug of coffee, reading something about antiquity, thinking "geeee...". Next up the chain is a scraggily looking gent won a Mac thinking, "Meh". Closest to the fire is a youngster or possibly a scrappy young academic who's reading and he says, "Well, this is all mildly interesting.................................................................But so what?"

My amiga Jenna McWilliams said, "Oh cool, the young guy and the Mac user are closer to the fire, like they are warm, and the old guys are cold". I hadn't planned that. But I'll take it. I hadn't planned too much on this, I just had a vision of wat the Hall of History would look like then from there drew the characters and dialogue.

Regardless of the methodology the message is there. I see the role of history and historians to inform and educate the "So what"s of the events and individuals that shaped our world today. Historians are like the Academic's Academic though. They all go over the same events, read the same documents, then argue like mad men over implications and motivation of events from the past. I have the utmost respect for History as a content area, and tradition, and the work of historians. And I cannot wait to see what new media and participatory culture can do to this field....

...shit, that's what I'm supposed to do right?

*Other cool things Danish does, Twitters about class, Twitters with students, bought me coffee once, likes to play dress-up as a ninja**.

**just kidding it was halloween he never plays dress-up in class

***Update if you haven't gone to Dr. Danish's website http://www.joshuadanish.com/category/dtg/

do so and read his explanation for why he chose 1113. It's more than worth following the link.

Vlog on hypertext navigators

2009-10-26T22:18:00.000-07:00

Blog-oneers Oh blog-oneers,

Do you like literacy?

Do you enjoy white guys rapping...poorly?

Do you like Palinscar and Ladewski's 3 types of hypertext navigators?
as in the knowledge seeker, apathetic hypertexter, and feature explorer

Well each one is characterized in a gangsta rap fashion that Elizabeth Moje would be proud of!

Check it out!

Big-ups to David Phelps for having the idea to do this duet vlog!

Experimental interactive video

2009-10-25T19:45:00.000-07:00

Sup blogoholics,

Sorry I haven't blogged in a bit but I have been working on some new and cool stuff.

First up is an interactive Vlog that I made for a mini-proposal in my P650 class. In this proposal I explore how we can use interactive vlogs in English/Language Arts classes. It stands as a way to make personally meaningful and interactive projects. To walk the talk I made a Vlog to use as an example. Maybe it will double as a studio project in class too? Who knows?
Here's what you need to know.

A 10 minute video about my morning mixtape. I don't recommend 10 minutes for the kinderlech in the proposal, I was just making the video, next thing ya'know I'm pushing 10 minutes.

Just so you know the annotation feature that was integral to this proposal only works in Youtube.com so you can watch the video here, but I recommend watching it over here to get the full effect of what this type of vlogging is all about.

A note on the audio: It was really loud in my apartment, but because my laptop was sitting on top of my speakers it didn't pick up nearly as loud as my voice is heard. Strange right? Anyway I post all the song names with annotations, all great music.

I just wanted to share this video. New post in a day or so on a new set of readings.

...hint it will all be in some kind of jargony slang-talk depending on what connections I'll make on the concept map after I work it out tomorrow. More on this to come.

I meant to add this last week

2009-10-13T13:24:00.000-07:00

Here's my new and fun scratch project! I found it easy to make the project once I knew exactly what my end result was going to look like, and that allowed me to think in a parallel structure to get out of my intrinsic linear structure.

Now here's how it works, when prompted try the names of the people in my class. There is:

Jeff, Jenna, Steve, Nancy, Tony, Michael, Charlene, and David. There are a few others in the class who haven't made it in this iteration of the project, but I will be uploading a new version soon and will update the name list. So play around with it and enjoy!

Multi-modal-literacies

2009-10-12T22:19:00.000-07:00

My really cool friend Nini made a really cool resume she calls a "Rezoomay".

Nini and I worked together at Pita Pit then she moved on to working at the

Apple Store in South Beach and I went back to middle school.

What she does here really hits at what Kress would call multimodal literacy. She has this mixed design of images and words but gets the point across extremely well. Obviously there are nice dashes of humor in her spelling and font usage but this rocks.

Would I hire her? I don't know for sure. But when we talk about Design and how "we are both inheritors of patterns and conventions of meaning and active designers of meaning" (New London Group) this really nails it.

I hope she gets the job of whatever it is she's applying for.

vlog: no text just video

2009-10-05T21:39:00.000-07:00

quick update

2009-10-01T06:55:00.000-07:00

So my last post was all text, the next one will be only a video. More on that will be explained in the video which may or may not be titled "Vlog War: on the pedagogy of blogging"

Warning: not much content Part 2 or how I wanted to put this into a reply to my last post but it's just too long kind of like this title

2009-09-29T20:25:00.000-07:00

If you haven't read my last post and the comments this won't make sense. So go read those and come back, please.

If you have and you are a loyal reader, welcome back. I missed you too. Here's what you missed. Going on day 9 after my re-interview and I haven't heard back yet from IC.

Jenna McWilliams (also known as the graduate sudent formerly who had a blog but now has a vlog), as the winner of "guess what old Mac that is in the photoshop picture?" you get the prestige of submitting a name for consideration for Steve Bishop's baby. Congratulations.

Dr. Peppler, I'd like to address the mini-bio point you bring up. I didn't intend on making a post like that but it did kind of turn out that way huh? Really I was trying to showboat my skills. I was hoping the video showed my skill as a film-maker, storyteller, entertainer, and almost mediocre actor as opposed to anything else. --many times I have seen someone watch that video and every single time, 100%, without a doubt they ask, "Is what I think is going to happen about to happen?" (Truthfully I'm paraphrasing) And I always say, "No, what kind of person do you think I am?" (Verbatim that time) About a minute goes by, they get the joke, see what all the build was for, can now un-awkwarly enjoy the movie, and I can continue to be friends with that person. So lets just clear the air on that one. Buuuuuut we'll be back to this idea of "it's sort of a mini-biography although I'm still deciding what it the video actually tells us about you..."

As far as if any educational purpose was served, I say yes. Absolutely. Definitely remixing and appropriation. If I were still teaching Multi-Media I would make a unit on photoshop that mimicked what I did in the 2 examples. The "pshat"(yiddish for bottom line) of the lesson plan would be to remix a well known image with something of your own.

If you look back there is a big piece of Me in every working example on that page. With Allan Collins, I put him on Tim Tebow, not even in uniform, his practice garb. Because I am a Florida Gator and Tim Tebow is a demi-god to fanatic zealots like us. Nobody would know that is Timmy T unless I told them. Either that or they are more zealous then me; so bravo to you, strange person who has memorized the rippling muscles of St. Timothy.

With the Apple post obviously I'm in that one. But the joke here lies a little deeper (It's the Misa in yiddish this time, you have to dig deeper to get understanding). You have to know that I am a self-proclaimed Apple Genius, and that every time I walk into an Apple store I can't leave until I teach something new to someone at the Genius Bar or show something new on an Apple product that an employee didn't know was possible.

Truth be told on two occasions I have corrected other peoples problems while waiting to be helped at the Genius Bar to move the line along faster.

Maybe it's because I am a teacher at heart and take every opportunity there is for a sacred "teachable moment" or maybe because I can be a dick sometimes.

Garageband piece: OK I'm a narcissist and made a podcast on what I like in songs I make for MY enjoyment.

The video: well watch the credits I'm in them a few times.

The question I am trying to answer is how is this a mini-biography? I didn't mean for it to be, rather a blogged portfolio. I used this blog post as a tool to organize my thoughts and answer Dr. P's questions. Rarely do I know where a blog post will lead when I begin and this one made me realize 2 things.

1. I choose to work on Personally Meaningful projects over Epistemological projects every time. I can prove it, I haven't touched Scratch in 2 weeks but I have used photoshop, garageband and imovie. I was in a Vlog war 2 days ago!...i lost.

2. I am a Constructionist. I know because I figured that out while writing this post. I learned as I did. I answered all the questions from the comments in my last post, learned new things, and made new realizations about what I have learned.

This blog just turned into my coming out party for the constructionist community. and I did a whole blog with no pictures or videos! I think I'm a big boy now, but I'm sure someone out there will surely argue that pics and vids compliment blogs, that's the beauty of using a cool online space like this.

p.s. for a good time go back and look at the time that dr. peppler posted that comment.

Warning: not much content

2009-09-20T11:54:00.000-07:00

Long story short I have to do a technology check for IC Monday. Meaning they want me to demonstrate Tech qualifications for my GRA appointment.

Cool. I get to show off my skills that pay the bills....literally.

They said I can bring in a portfolio of my work. As I was going through my old stuff I re-did some things, I assessed my previous work and re-mediated it some would say. I wanted to post them here because, I don't know, they're funny.

So this is Learning Science scholar Allan Collins, he's actually coming to speak for pro-sem October 9th. This is a joke flyer, obviously. I took a picture of Tim Tebow in practice gear, replaced the football with the picture of Al's book, and Tim's face with Al's face. This didn't take too long but I got to use a boatload of tools in Photoshop which is always a blast. And I used even more NML(New Media Literacy) buzz words, or skills. For example, I played, mostly appropriated, multitasked, definitely interacted with tools to expand mental capacities (Distributed Cognition), put it into step 12 Visualization, and you, my awesome audience, use Judgment. I'm sure an argument could be made for other NML skills I employed here, but I think these were the intentional ones I specifically went for.

Then I made 2 Photoshops of my amiga Jenna McWilliams, (I think she has a blog or something @ jennamcwilliams.blogspot.com but it's no big deal, not like this blog any way) so here is the one that doesn't have a poop joke in it.

There's a special prize for the first person to comment and guess right what computer that is!

The joke here is that she actually did this once, and when you blog as much as she does and you don't have your computer...shit goes down.

So yeah, Photoshop skills (Graphic Design) is just one skill I have to demonstrate. Another is Digital Media Production which is somehow different from Digital Video Production. Media production has to do with podcasting/garageband, video is iMovie/something from Sony/moviemaker. But somehow Final Cut didn't make their final cut as a necessary skill. Anyway I consider them the same kind of skill. It sounds like Media only being Audio is only half the story. Anyway I played along and made a podcast of how to make a song in Garageband. I whipped it together in about 5 minutes. (it is 64 seconds long)

(FYI) If you want to be hip with the kids and learn some lingo, bad garageband songs are called garbage-band songs. It isn't viral yet but it is a meme. And it simultaneously makes you sound cool and like a dick if used right in context.

Person one: "Listen to this mash-up I made of John Denver over a Kanye beat!"

Person two: "What did you make that in Garbage-band or something?"

See it's like if The Fonz liked to make people cry instead of hitting jukeboxes.

Here's video I made in 2005. Some might find it offensive others say its inappropriate. If you are a kid don't watch this. It's R-rated. It has foul language, very foul language, and adult content. There's no nudity, so don't worry about that. So it's on the fence of SFW/NSFW. My girlfriend doesn't really like this video but it did come in second place at a film festival. One of the judges said, "It had some of the best lines he ever heard in a movie."

Heads up here: it starts out very, very, very, slowly because I wanted it to feel very distant from the second half of the movie where it picks up a lot. It was all shot in downtown Gainesville. I had my 2 buddies, Jason and Derek, who were both high school seniors at the time, drive up from Ft. Lauderdale to help me make this film. It could not have been completed without their help. Here it is, The Adventures of Jeff 1:59 am.

For other skills I need for my appointment, one of them is Web 2.0 activities, the example is blogging. I'm still having trouble with this one.

Another is Online Communication Tools. Seeing as I have a long-distance girlfriend and a crappy internet connection at my apartment (thanks a lot Pavillion Properties!) believe me, I know every video conferencing tool ever created across every platform.

OK that's enough if I keep going on about Other Learning Technologies (like how they mention surveymonkey but I've already made a more user friendly survey for Aurora High School using ESurveyPro because of several faults in surveymonkey's free software) or Learning Management Systems (like moodle and Oncourse) I won't have anything to talk about at the demonstration tomorrow!

I'll drop a line tomorrow and let ya'll know how it goes.

Scratch: A Love/Don't Love Relationship

2009-09-14T11:54:00.000-07:00

I had an OK experience with Scratch...we just aren't speaking the same language. Scratch, the animation/flash-like/sweet-ass media program out of MIT (www.scratch.mit.edu) is a great media platform for kids. It does a fantastic job at creating, " a safe space within which [children] can master the skills they need as citizens and consumers...as they begin to experiment with new forms of creative expression and community participation" (NML, White Paper, p. 16).

And taking the constructionist technique to learning how to use Scratch seemed like a great idea. Build as you learn and it'll all make sense, and leave you with a deep understanding of what you have accomplished. I'm a tinker-er by nature and thought if I continually plug and replug in variables into commands eventually I'll get a cool animation.

I didn't.

I kinda sucked. That depressed the shit out of me. I have never had issues with immersing myself into multi-media programs and coming out like looking like I wrote the instruction manual. I'm not bragging but I kick serious technobutt in Final Cut, Garage Band, and iMovie to name a few. I even taught Apple Reps and Apple store employees how to do a bunch of edits and special effects previously thought un-creatable in iMovie. Because I am a darn good tinker-er.

But I have to admit, Scratch got the best of me. You should have noticed the title of the post being, "A Love/Don't Love..." I wanted to branch from the common cliche love/hate relationship because I don't hate scratch. I just don't love it. I have recommended it to my previous co-workers in Florida as a great alternative to expensive animation programs that require tablets and styli. Scratch is FREE! Who doesn't love that?

I think I had issues working with the prompts:

Maybe it was too mathy for me. It's like the old LOGO system where you punch in numbers to make the turtle do commands and draw a happy face or a sailboat.

It's the difference in html minds and composite minds.

Like folks who use Dreamweaver in html mode and folks

who use it in preview mode, and folks who use it in hybrid mode.

-----If you have no idea what I'm talking

about see the image where html code is in top window and preview composite images and text are in the bottom:

Dreamweaver rocks because you can make webpages using both methods.

Scratch lacks here. Even as I write in this blogspot text box I have the option to write and import images and video in html and in preview mode.

Those against me will argue that Scratch gives immediate feedback. Meaning as soon as you type a command your sprite (character) follows the command. That's nice, no render time, no coding time, but I am still writing in code that I can't wrap my mind around. I'm just a different kind of thinker. I am used to parallel timelines with commands dragged and dropped into boxes of line. This vertical coding makes me crave for some horizontal timelines! Heck, I'll take one! Just one timeline of events that transcends all characters and backgrounds to put this all into perspective for me.

But I don't speak for everyone, just myself. I recommend you check out the Scratch website and see the projects of folks (and Kids!) who have achieved what I am still struggling with because it is a remarkable program.

First Post

2009-09-01T20:45:00.000-07:00

I have always wanted to blog but never had anything to blog about. Well thanks to Dr. Peppler's Learning in New Media class at IUB, now I do.

As part of our course requirements I will be using this blog as a sort-of sketch journal where I will reflect on the course, assignments, and hopefully it will develope into a place where I will continue to blog. Subject matter may change or stay the same. Stay tuned to find out.

All students in the class will be doing this so we will all be dedicating our first posts to introductions.

Here's a video clip from last year when I taught a media course in a middle school. It was part of a biography series....

My name is Jeffrey Kaplan. I thought this was pretty self explanatory until I started my doctoral work at IUB. Apparently it is a very misleading and confusing name because it is always followed by a question.

Me: Hi, I'm Jeffrey Kaplan.
Other: Do you go by Jeff or Jeffrey?

Is this a mid-west thing? To be fair I'm sure sometimes I introduce myself as Jeff. But it doesn't register in my head, because it's my name and I was never picky about it before. This question is polite and I really appreciate it. But I have some reservations.

This question automatically takes out any nickname friends or colleagues give each other. That's the point of a nickname right? That is isn't deemed by the named but by the named's peers. Take my friend over at www.jennamcwilliams.blogspot.com (check her blog out, it's mad fresh). To me she's Jenna "Social Justice" McWilliams. --for short I call her So-Ju. Or take myself; growing up in South Florida I had many a nickname. Jefferson, Jefe, and Jeffdude to name a few.

I'm still working on how to break the ice on that one to one of my advisors,

-"Do you go by Jeff or Jeffrey?"

-"Please Dr. Peppler, call me Jeffdude."

...maybe i'll stick with jeffrey.