Flight Path
The Digital Media Arts have long been a passion and have extended deeply within my teaching practice and corporate adventures. I thrive on change and have journeyed deep into the digital space of flows to experiment with learning and updating my skills in the timeless time of cyberspace. Along this flow of inspiration and innovation I have implemented a great deal of new technology, and continually teach new content in adaptation to changes in world technology. While maintaining this stream of creative adaptation takes a great deal of energy, I am committed to providing opportunities for learners to adapt to the new global networked society, to update their abilities, embrace their inner artist and understand the implications of Informationalism.
I recently moved to a new school that has not had computer classes for years and am building a Digital Media Arts program. My classes are filled with students of all educational backgrounds (including engineers, artists, business people) aged 17-75 from every corner of the world. In order to provide flexibility learning opportunities to accommodate their outside responsibilities, all classes are taught in a blended mode, with course content based in Moodle. During each class, I offer professional skill-building workshops, each prescheduled on our online program calendar. Social media is integrated throughout the program with the use of Twitter, Tumblr, and a class blog. Every element of the course is project-based, with opportunities for self-direction and adaptation to real world product creation. For example, we build websites for non-profit organizations and develop print graphics, marketing plans, social media strategy, and SEO optimization. The main goals of my classes are beyond transmitting skills in digital media arts project creation, as would occur in a traditional classroom. Instead, our focus is on critical literacy and media creation, which Buckingham (2007) describes as the development of skills for self-expression enabling a more reflective use and understanding of media.
Creativity workshops and inspiration are built into every session. We continually follow trends online through the blogosphere including influential blogs such as http://www.smashingmagazine.com/. All students set up Twitter accounts and projects are posted to blogs, complete with critical inquiry as the class moves forward. Ideas such as the loss of privacy, copyright and keeping the interior artist inspired all factor into our learning journey. Greenhow (2011) describes social capital as the resources and benefits available to people through social media such as embedded resources, accessibility to those resources and the motivation of individuals to make purposeful actions. Accessing this through social media is a key component to my research and teaching.
Through ETEC 565, I hope to create more interactive learning solutions through my LMS (Moodle), further develop the social media and blog strategies in order to develop true knowledge development opportunities and educational artefact creation. To assist in the learning journey, I wish to experiment with additional multimedia, and develop original elements such as podcasts, media presentations and more. Crowdsourcing and Just-in-Time Learning are other aspects of particular interest to my current teaching practice. The most difficult aspect of my Digital Media Arts program is to create an effective community of practice that has the ability to interact online and in the classroom, so as to create a truly blended digital and physical learning reality. The physical has been supplemented with photography field trips, workshops and in-class collaboration, while the digital collaboration opportunities need to be enhanced.
In traversing the digital and ephemeral worlds of knowledge, my goal is to learn how to create online interactive, social, community and media based opportunities to take my teaching to the next level of interspatial cyber-physical learning. Along my flight path, I want to deeply integrate the effective technologies available to allow learners to embrace their inner artist and produce portfolios of work at a new level of excellence.
Potential List of References
Anyidoho, Nana Akua(2010) ”Communities of practice’: prospects for theory and action in participatory development’, Development in Practice, 20: 3, 318 — 328 DOI: 10.1080/09614521003710005
Buckingham, David(2007). Media education goes digital: an introduction. Learning, Media and Technology, 32: 2, 111 — 119. DOI: 10.1080/17439880701343006
Cousin , Glynis and Frances Deepwell (2005). Designs for network learning: a communities of practice perspective. Studies in Higher Education Vol. 30, No. 1, pp. 57–66
Greenhow, Christine and Robelia, Beth(2009). Informal learning and identity formation in online social networks. Learning, Media and Technology, 34: 2, 119 — 140. DOI: 10.1080/17439880902923580
Guldberg K. & Pilkington, R (2006). A community of practice approach to the development of non-traditional learners through networked learning. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 22, pp159–171
Hung, Hsiu-Ting and Yuen, Steve Chi-Yin(2010). Educational use of social networking technology in higher education. Teaching in Higher Education, 15: 6, 703 — 714. DOI: 10.1080/13562517.2010.507307
Lave, J., and E. Wenger (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Mc Glashan, A. A.(2011). Designer stories: a commentary on the community of design practice. Int J Technol Des Educ (2011) 21:235–260 DOI 10.1007/s10798-010-9116-6
Moreno, Roxana and Mayer, Richard (2007). Interactive Multimodal Learning Environments. Educ Psychol Rev 19:309–326 DOI 10.1007/s10648-007-9047-2
Ruey, Shieh (2009). A case study of constructivist instructional strategies for adult online learning. British Journal of Educational Technology Vol 41 No 5 2010 706–720 doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2009.00965.x
Smith, Regina, O (2008). Adult Learning and the Emotional Self in Virtual Online Contexts. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, no. 120. DOI: 10.1002/ace.314
Tu , Chih-Hsiung, Blocher, Michael and Roberts, Gayle (2008). Constructs for Web 2.0 learning environments: a theatrical metaphor. Educational Media International, 45( 4), 253–269.
Väljataga, T., & Fiedler, S. (2009). Supporting students to self-direct intentional learning projects with social media. Educational Technology & Society, 12 (3), 58–69.