Friday, 18 July 2014
Course Over!
We finished the course today. Lots of good projects - so interesting to see the amazing things that are going on. Have a great summer, everyone!
Thursday, 17 July 2014
The Class Soundscapes
Wow! I was blown away by the Soundscapes from my classmates! Emily, Melissa, Sue and Ainslie were able to evoke powerful emotions from just simple sounds and images! Stephanie and Richard had funny, quirky stories! OK, so NOW I get where we were supposed to be going with this.
I am excited to explore the "Smoovie" program with my students at school...although I am going to start with iMovie trailers like the ones we just made in our morning class, as they are super-easy to make. In the context of a film course, the idea of beginning with found sounds and building a story around them is a great starting point to elicit creative ideas.
I wasn't sure about the "why" of this project before I started, which is why I didn't have much of a project to present :( But as I rode home last night, I was thinking about what it is that gets those creative juices flowing? How do you come up with ideas? Whether it is in writing class with my students, art class, or designing a birthday cake for my Mum, there is often an "aha' moment when someone comes up with the idea, and then everyone goes with it, and then the juices start flowing and the idea takes off. In a classroom, we need to provide appropriate explanations, then prompts, structures and scaffolding to get the creativity going. There: the nuts and bolts of creativity education.
I am excited to explore the "Smoovie" program with my students at school...although I am going to start with iMovie trailers like the ones we just made in our morning class, as they are super-easy to make. In the context of a film course, the idea of beginning with found sounds and building a story around them is a great starting point to elicit creative ideas.
I wasn't sure about the "why" of this project before I started, which is why I didn't have much of a project to present :( But as I rode home last night, I was thinking about what it is that gets those creative juices flowing? How do you come up with ideas? Whether it is in writing class with my students, art class, or designing a birthday cake for my Mum, there is often an "aha' moment when someone comes up with the idea, and then everyone goes with it, and then the juices start flowing and the idea takes off. In a classroom, we need to provide appropriate explanations, then prompts, structures and scaffolding to get the creativity going. There: the nuts and bolts of creativity education.
Tuesday, 15 July 2014
Learning Ecology
I think this graphic describes very well the relationships among the various aspects of a classroom. Really good for keeping in mind all these parts when designing a learning ecology.
Soundscape
Well, tonight, with much difficulty, I finished my "Soundscape" called "Birdsong". I had originally thought I could coordinate the various bird calls with the background, and also with images of the actual birds that would fly in as their call was heard. Crazy! I spent a lot of time playing about in Audacity, figuring out how to get all of my sound files (I had a lot) lined up, with some interesting effects at the end, and then a fade out.
Then I spent a lot of time figuring out how to get the sound file onto Powerpoint so that it would play across all the slides, and then I had the slides timed to match points in the sound...but it didn't work out - my timings never seemed to save!
Finally, after messing about with spinning robins and zooming warblers, I came up with a VERY simple animation to go with some of the sounds. I hope my animation-expert nephew doesn't see this!
I am not entirely sure what the point of all this was, except to let me know how students feel when asked to present in formats well outside of their comfort zones!
Then I spent a lot of time figuring out how to get the sound file onto Powerpoint so that it would play across all the slides, and then I had the slides timed to match points in the sound...but it didn't work out - my timings never seemed to save!
Finally, after messing about with spinning robins and zooming warblers, I came up with a VERY simple animation to go with some of the sounds. I hope my animation-expert nephew doesn't see this!
I am not entirely sure what the point of all this was, except to let me know how students feel when asked to present in formats well outside of their comfort zones!
Friday, 11 July 2014
Place and Space in the Classroom
The readings and discussion today have made me think about ways of better designing my classroom to be really secure, welcoming...and at the same time efficient. I think I can use aspects of the design process to improve the experience of collaboration and individual work for my students. I need to ask myself: to which places in my room do the students gravitate? Which spaces are largely un-used? How can I improve transitions and flow in my classroom? And I need to ask my students some of the same questions.
One thing I have noticed is that the spaces that are appealing to children are not the same as those that are appealing to adults. And that adults sometime inadvertently design places that don't get used by children as they had anticipated (or at all). A bit like the child who prefers to play with the box rather than the expensive toy that came in the box.
In my classroom, the students gravitate towards the edges. When given a choice, they are at the back table or the side "jelly bean" table, or in one of the four corners. They also seek out "caves". They want to be under a table, behind the bookcase, behind a door. Often the center of the room is empty.
I am going to do some research on creative classroom design for children - more to come!
One thing I have noticed is that the spaces that are appealing to children are not the same as those that are appealing to adults. And that adults sometime inadvertently design places that don't get used by children as they had anticipated (or at all). A bit like the child who prefers to play with the box rather than the expensive toy that came in the box.
In my classroom, the students gravitate towards the edges. When given a choice, they are at the back table or the side "jelly bean" table, or in one of the four corners. They also seek out "caves". They want to be under a table, behind the bookcase, behind a door. Often the center of the room is empty.
I am going to do some research on creative classroom design for children - more to come!
Wednesday, 9 July 2014
Design Thinking for Educators
Well, we have sorted out our design challenge. And I am really looking forward to tackling a different design challenge tomorrow! After our discussion at the beginning of class, I do think I know a bit more about the concepts of "design" in terms of graphic design. But in terms of our actual project...I am not 100% sure if things would have been significantly different we had just been told to "Come up with an interesting challenge" instead of "Use the Design Process to come up with an interesting challenge."
Anyway, today I learned how to work in Google Docs. We made a collaborative Power Point! Kudos to Kat!
Anyway, today I learned how to work in Google Docs. We made a collaborative Power Point! Kudos to Kat!
Monday, 7 July 2014
Day 2
Oh irony of ironies! The tradtional classroom is closed today...so we cannot have class! Could no-one come up with a more creative solution to this problem?
The storm this weekend has led me to muse on what we really need to be teaching our students to equip them for the 21st Century: How to maintain a generator? How to build a radio? Basics of food and water safety?
The storm this weekend has led me to muse on what we really need to be teaching our students to equip them for the 21st Century: How to maintain a generator? How to build a radio? Basics of food and water safety?
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