How Teaching Online Made Me a Better In-class Teacher

Whoever they are, they say, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” Well, apparently from this old dog, I can attest that you can teach yourself more than a few new tricks. 

My travels have taken me from in class teaching, to hybrid teaching, to online teaching and to various iterations of all three. My most important discovery is that changing the way I present a course, whether it be in class or online is changing the way I teach. 

Teaching in class is becoming a new experience because of my online teaching. Putting my in class course into a blender on high and totally creating a new and unique online form of it is transforming my own way of thinking. Dare I say I have become a better teacher?

As a long-term college teacher, I’ve always been interested in technology. I had websites to share my notes long before my college introduced a learning management system. Those old websites may have begun with a few embarrassing blinky gifs, but the content was sound and students always found them helpful and blinking gifs have even come back in vogue.

Learning Management Systems

 When we moved into learning management systems like WebCT and Blackboard, it wasn’t long before I was piloting online on-campus testing and then creating my first hybrid course- Strategies for Student Success in 2001. The course was a mandatory half credit course for all Business and Creative Arts students meant to help give new students some of the basic skills needed for success and to help them connect to the college. It was all about the R word- Retention and the P word- Persistence. The course was half in class and half online and the online part was self-directed.

We Made it to the Newspaper 

The course managed to get a little media attention when the Toronto Star wrote a small story about our course just after 9/11. I was quoted at the time as saying, “I think most institutions are realizing that one of the reasons that a lot of students leave is because they do not feel connected and one of the main goals of the student success course is to make them feel that they belong, they are not alone, and that we care about them.” Looking back, I find it interesting that we were using what was considered a disconnected form of learning to help students feel like they belonged.

The online modules featured a friendly talkative tone that discussed basic college survival skills and some specific areas in the college there to help. In many ways the course accomplished its goal. Looking back, I think it was a bit ahead of its time and underappreciated.

Getting my "Me" Online 

The course was the beginning of me trying to figure out how to transfer my in class personality and content into an online environment. I learned a lot about creating online interactions and reformulating content in unique ways, but somehow at that time it wasn’t spilling over into my in class experience. I still had my online notes posted and did most things in class a similar way that I always had. 

Later on when I began helping others create online courses, I was still learning and evolving but I wouldn’t say it was really changing the way I taught my in class courses. That was probably because the content I was working with to help put online was not my own. It’s different when you rethink others work compared to your own. 

It's Not Easy!

When I created an online version of one of my in class courses Visual Communications, that’s when things started to change. If anyone ever tells you that if you have been teaching a course in class for years that it will be easy to put online, I’d probably tell you if it was easy maybe it’s not a great course. There were all sorts of emotions and time and effort putting Visual Communications online, but in the end there has been a great evolution.

The Big Blender!

Like I mentioned earlier I needed a really big high-powered blender. Things went in many times again and again and came out very different. Everything needed to be rethought. Because I am the type who loves technology and am comfortable learning new tools, I was able to find all sorts of different ways to present different ideas. 

Synergy is Real

Having taught the course in class for years, I did know the parts that students had difficulty with, so I was able to focus on creating interactive elements that related to those concepts. When I did that, something clicked and I realized that now these little interactive elements could be used in my in class course as well. My in class courses had enhanced resources.

Visuals, Visuals, Visuals

Because that online course was Visual Communication, I soon realized how important visuals were to presenting everything in the course. Soon not only did my content have visuals to help illustrate things but relevant visuals were everywhere. For example, a section on how grades were allocated used an accompanying visual graph. My welcome message and announcements would also have illustrative images.

Finding My Voice and Sharing It

My writing style tried to use the similar talkative style I used in class and though it seemed lively, I still felt my personality was not quite there. That led me to create voice-overs for every content page that students could click on if they wished to hear me. This has proved to be the most mentioned point students make when talking about the class. They love that they can be on the TTC or GO train listening to content pages. They say they feel they know me. 

Evaluating Online Results vs In Class Results

When I created this online course, I wanted to keep the course as similar as possible assessment-wise so that I would be able to compare how in class students do compared to online ones. I kept the exact same online tests in both and only had to tweak the other assessments to keep them somewhat in line.  

The Big Why

After a few semesters running both in class and online versions, it seemed that the online students were outperforming my in class courses. Consistently the online class ended up with about a 5% higher class average. There is something very satisfying about this but something a little sad. Apparently I am better online than in class. I wondered why.


 
Let's Do it Again

I put my second in class course Psychology of Consumer Behaviour online and followed through the same long process rethinking and recreating online. I really benefited from the groundwork I had laid with the other course. Again all the great new interactive elements I made for online were added to my in class course and my in class course got better.

Doing Something Right and Something Wrong  

Keeping this online course again consistent with my in class course, I was able to get the same statistics again. Students online were consistently outperforming in class courses. This could partly be explained by the fact that the courses were offered on different campuses. The online class mostly ran at a campus that tended to get slightly higher grades. I could see what I was doing right but wondered what I was doing wrong.

Light Bulbs Flashing

Last year as I was working on my online class checking in to see who had not logged on to the course so I could send them an email to ask if they were waiting for an exemption, or had some problem, another light bulb came on. Why am I only doing this for my online class? Why am I sending an announcement to my online class mentioning the last date to withdraw but not doing the same in my in class course?

My students and I in the online class were introducing ourselves in the online class in an opening discussion forum and really finding out the diversity and creativity of our class, but what did I or my students know about each other after week 1 in the in class course? 

 Doubts

These little things haunted me, maybe I wasn’t as good in person and I needed a bit of change.  I decided to include some of these same things in my in class course. I created a bonus welcome forum for my in class course where students could get a bonus mark for doing a somewhat similar task that my online students do. A lot of students really took to this idea and we learned all sorts of interesting things about each other. These little things really helped make my in class courses better, but I didn’t notice any change in grades. Then of course we had the College Strike interrupt one semester and the following semester was compressed. My statistics showed the effects of these events on student grades.

Let's Take it From the Top!

So here we were in September 2018 in a fresh new semester that would be “normal” and I had my chance to try to equalize the playing field. As I was opening my online classes a few days early, and writing my welcome announcement, it occurred to me that I was advantaging my online students. Why shouldn’t I do the same for my in class course? 

Well, Welcome to You Too!

One of the things that happens first week is a lot of in and out of classes. Students are sampling. Online they can log on and see everything. If I wrote a welcome announcement for my in class students before class and told them a bit about the course, the assessments and what we would be doing the first class, maybe I could allow them to decide before class if this course was for them. 

So there it began. I didn’t really think anything of it until I suddenly got an email from one of my in class students two days before the first class telling me how excited he was to learn about the class and the subject. Well, that was odd. 

I found a very friendly group when I walked into class. Did my welcome message have anything to do with it? It was midway through the first class and during break one of my students came up to me and said, “Thank you for sending that email announcement about the course and first class. It really helped me. No one ever does that. I can tell you really care about students.” I was touched and kind of shocked that something so simple had made a difference.

New Ways of Communicating

I decided then that I would send a weekly wrap-up announcement/email after each class. My announcement basically thanked everyone for showing up and participating that week, the concepts we covered, the interactive things we may have done in class, a reminder to do the practice test for the week and then a bit about what was happening or due next week. Lots of students mentioned in class how helpful this was. I wondered, would it really make a difference?

There's Something Happening Here

Well I cannot be sure, but for the first time ever my in class course has outperformed my online course on the first test. The campus that generally has the highest grades has been surpassed by the campus that usually has lower grades. The difference in grades is only about 3%, but if we consider that generally campus X usually has 5% lower average than campus Y, that’s quite a difference. 

Maybe it is an anomaly…..or maybe I am learning and still evolving. It seems this old dog has a new bark and a few new tricks!

 

 

 

 

Advancing Learning Presentation: Taming Information Overload through Curation

Advancing Learning May 2012 Presentation

Taming Information Overload through Curation (60 Minutes)

Mitchell Kapor, founder of the Electronic Frontier, wisely said that  “getting information off the internet is like taking a drink from a fire hydrant. Our instant-on, hyper-connected world provides us with millions upon millions of pieces of data anytime and anyplace in a simple click. But how do we sort through all that data to reach the relevant information we seek? Can we trust the “Googlebot” to give us or our students the best of what’s there?  How do we tame that massive overload of data?

The most valuable resource we have is community and shared resources. This workshop will introduce you to the curation community and the tools you’ll need to become an effective curator.  Some of the tools discussed will be twitter, delicious, facebook, pinterest, tweeted times, paper.li, curated.by, scoop.it, zite, and flipboard.

Presenter: Karen Hamilton, Professor/Online Coordinator, School of Liberal Arts & Sciences, George Brown College.

Taming Information Overload through Curation 2012 Presentation from K3 Hamilton

Stuff I Learned at SXSW Interactive 2011 and My Presentation

A fragment or two about what I learned at SXSW.



My presentation at SXSW

Who Owns Knowledge? Sheba wants to know

Testing out Blabberize- A fun application for kids and adults who have a hard time just being adult. Make your pictures speak. Voice by Dr. Evil

Education 2020 Project

Carla Cross, Karen Hamilton, Debbie Plested and Mary Rezk.
 
In this EduCitizenship 2020 proposal, we will prepare an innovative design and rationale for the school/learning environment of 2020 for the U.S. Department of Education. Specifically, we will articulate to the key stakeholders--administrators, teachers, parents, students, funding agencies -- the critical issues that will define the future of teaching and learning.



See the EDU2020 Website here http://k3hamilton.com/ED/ed2020.html




and a previous video created summer 2009- Who are the Millennials/

The Power of Web 2.10 and Instructional Videos

Jan 31, 2011 Presentation-  A look at three videos

Changes to the internet have enabled everyday users to produce content collaboratively or individually. Users today can share and re-purpose almost every type of media. For educators this creates challenges and opportunities. Rather than going to a library, buying a book or asking a teacher, students today most often go to places like YouTube for answers to their questions. How good are the instructional videos on YouTube? In this video we'll analyze three.

New Online Student Orientation Project for HRE472

Project as done for course but see it live here http://liad.georgebrown.ca/liad/OnlineLearning/index.html ( updated for new Blackboard)

The Project- Cost of Free

Introduction to The Cost of Free

Web 2.0, and its culture of collaboration and sharing, has given rise to a new group of students. No longer just consumers of culture, they are producers of culture. Born into a digital era where everything is social, everything is available, and everything can be shared, they often come into today’s classrooms and experience a kind of culture shock. They find classrooms that look not unlike those of their parents’ time. More underfunded than ever, schools struggle to meet the needs of students and teachers. What is the answer? One answer might well be to look into the culture of sharing and collaboration that is all around, look for what is free or almost free, look to the same place that students are to engage them with the tools of their trade.

Ideological, technological, and economical forces have converged to make the Internet a virtual goldmine of seemingly limitless, authentic, and relevant resources free for the taking. Free resources provide tremendous opportunities for educators and educational institutions. Yet, all free resources are not the same nor is the definition of free as straightforward as it might appear. While most tend to think of free as “without cost” (gratis), others believe passionately in the unencumbered right to free (as in liberated) knowledge. Educators and scholars through the ages have fought to keep cultural knowledge and information free.

The implications of open knowledge and open access to information in education are profound, and perhaps more important than ever in a time when the millennial generation is sharing, remixing, mashing, creating, collaborating and posting; teachers are no longer the gatekeepers to information they once were. As Nicholas Burbules suggests, students have grown up as the participants of self-educating communities with “the ethos of shared information … the spirit of sharing that views the frictionless propagation of information as a good in itself…[and the belief in a] collective intelligence in which the wisdom of the whole can be more than the sum of its parts…In self educating communities [like today’s classrooms] the roles of teacher and student become fluid; most or all participants may regard themselves as students of the ongoing subject matter, and each as potential learners as well as a potential teacher” (Burbules, Self Educating Communities: Collaboration and Learning through the Internet)

NEW Address for website http://k3hamilton.com/CoF/Cost-of-free-home.html

The Future is Here- Here Comes Everything

The Future is Here

by Karen Hamilton - Monday, August 2, 2010, 12:35 PM

What I find most interesting in the discussion question this week is that most of what is mentioned –continuous access, contact with others, information sources with learnable customization- is already here. A lot of what we previously had to remember is no longer necessary. I can honestly say I only know about three phone numbers: my own, my college number and one friend’s number. If I search my memory bank I can remember all of my old home phone numbers and some phone numbers from long ago, but I couldn’t tell you the phone numbers of most of my current friends. Apparently, my mind has dumped the requirement for remembering them. Those numbers are stored in a cell phone that has pictures of people and names, and I don’t have to key in the digits, so I think of people in a non numerical way. By accessing one of the augmented reality apps on my iPhone like Layar or Wikitude or Foursquare, I can augment my real life with information that is continuously available. My Macbook is hooked up to my LCD screen so I can surf on the laptop or on the TV screen and switch to cable and watch an on demand channel.

In a world with all this and a future with even more, what do I need to know? I’d say a whole lot but not necessarily the same as what I may have needed to know yesterday. Maybe I don’t need as many details, but I’d say I’d need to know how to navigate and understand how to use what’s there to make sense. In a world of constant and exponentially increasing technology, we need to know how to change and adapt. We need to understand what is real, what is important. We need to be able to sift through everything, analyze, and evaluate. And we still need a lot of basic knowledge that is the foundation for understanding complex subjects.

As Burbules says in Meanings of Ubiquitous Learning, ubiquitous learning is more that anytime- anywhere, and the distinction between formal and informal education is blurred. Teachers are no longer just the source of learning; they should be and will be more guide, more broker and learning is not and will not be just in educational institutions during distinct time periods. Learning will be more and more in immersive environments.

Two courses ago, I created a wiki in Wiked on Augmented Reality in Education http://wik.ed.uiuc.edu/index.php/Augmented_Reality_in_Education  Now located here http://augmented-reality-in-education.wikispaces.com/ In the wiki, I talked about 5 applications of Augmented Reality in Education: AR in training, AR in Discovery Based learning, AR in Gaming, AR to Model Objects and Augmented Reality Books. Augmented reality is one way to provide opportunities for learning that is immersive. With many of these applications there is situated learning. Kids playing an augmented reality game that takes place in a real location interact with real and virtual characters to discover what really happened during a past event, or discover the source of an environmental problem. (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBG0_jfXt7o )

A doctor using a augmented reality simulation is able to practice a real world operation in a no consequence world. A mechanic can learn a process with information overlaid on a real process so that he/she can follow the steps.

The emphasis in these types of AR apps is on learning skills but also on the critical skills necessary to solve a problem. Information from these processes also can be captured and replayed so that not only the person taking part can watch and learn again but also that someone else can assess the process through a back channel. Augmented reality books, offer not just a reading experience but also an interactive process with visuals that are off the page. (See AR Book http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siOUOPh-7vM ) Augmented reality and virtual experience in the future will create opportunities for learners to experience and learn by doing not just on their own but collaboratively in teams.

Education in higher grades, from my point of view, will have less focus on just remembering information. Focus will be directed more to learning what information is relevant and how it can be used. Learning will be more authentic and situated. A year or two ago, I read of a teacher who allowed all the students in his class to use the Internet to complete their final exams. His thinking was that in the real world when employees have a task to complete, they have access to the Internet, so why shouldn’t students have that access during an exam in school. What that teacher was saying and what many others now are saying is that it is not just the information that is important. The search for the right information, the critical thinking skills to solve a problem is also very much a key.

We may talk about a “learned” person- one who has acquired much knowledge through study. Maybe in the past that was the goal. I’d say that the future is not so much in learned persons but more in “learning persons"-- ones who know how to continuously learn, change and evolve. As Burbules says, it is more than life-long learning; it’s not in a designated time or space and maybe it’s a changed world where, “to be is to learn.”


References
Augmented Reality in Education. (2010). WikEd. Retrieved from http://wik.ed.uiuc.edu/index.php/Augmented_Reality_in_Education now at http://augmented-reality-in-education.wikispaces.com/

Nicholas C. Burbules, “Meanings of ubiquitous learning.” Ubiquitous Learning, Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis, eds. (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2009), pp. 15-20.

Playing out Alternate Identities: A little Alternate Reality sounds good to me!

A little Alternate Reality sounds good to me!

by Karen Hamilton - Monday, July 26, 2010, 06:12 PM
Response to Case Study

In case study 7, we see a number of graduate students from various backgrounds in an online forum discussing the Immigration bill debate in Congress. The participants may or may not be writing from their own point of view, but all are anonymous. From the sounds of the assignment, students were able to choose rather stereotyped identities: Anonymous Reactionary, Bleeding Heart Liberal, Red Neck or Wetback, Chicana Girl, Identity Politician, and Child of Immigrants. This exercise takes place by “mutual consent.”

The assignment in the case study starts out with this statement, “Playing out different identities becomes a resource that participants can use to give relevance to their arguments within an interactive discourse.”

According to Sherry Turkle as reported by Burbules, “The internet is a zone of enormous creativity and experimentation” and online writers, “are exploring identities…that are not constrained by their ‘actual’ selves: pretending to be a character of the opposite gender in a chat room; putting out provocative opinions that are not necessarily one’s own, just to see where the discussion will take them; playing with virtual interactions that do not have consequences of such activities in the ‘real world.” Turkle believes that these experiences can be “liberating experiences.” (Burbules, 2002)

The professor in the case study has taken Turkle’s perspective to allow students to experience a discussion of immigration in an alternate way. For me this is a completely legitimate opportunity for students to role-play as an anonymous self or as another opposing identity. These are not kids, in the class; they are adults who understand that what is happening is a simulation, an alternate reality where interactions can take place without consequence.

In many higher education face-to-face classes, students role-play scenarios to understand points of view, especially classes to do with racism, stereotyping, discrimination, and social interaction. By taking a role students can understand all sides of an issue and learn how to deal with difficult circumstances. In courses that teach debate, students also may debate from a position that is not their own. When I taught a course called Speaking with Confidence, I often had students debate from the opposite point of view from their own. When they called out that they couldn’t do it I’d say, “Just think of the advantage you have –you know all the points of the other side!”

Certainly some of the comments in the case study are inappropriate and racist in the exchange given…isn’t that the point? If we turn on certain “news” stations don’t we hear racist, stereotyped, narrow points of view? Don’t we see gatherings of groups with outrageously racist posters of presidents. Can’t we turn on the radio and hear the extreme right and the extreme left?
When a person has his/her own name attached to an online post, will they always be honest about their point of view?

Don’t we know that there are some who will wait until most others have spoken or even the teacher, so they can come in and say what they now have determined is “the right thing to say?”

Haven’t we all seen things said in real online and real face-to-face classes that were inappropriate, stereotyped and even racist?

When a professor devises a safe environment to explore a subject, students have a chance to learn and explore. I remember reading about a lesson in discrimination in face to face classes where the teacher set it up so that everyone who had blue eyes would be in a discriminated group, and the other eye-coloured group would be the non discriminated group. (http://archives.cbc.ca/for_teachers/755/) This experiment was to allow students to experience the effect of such discrimination.

We all have identities that are not narrow. We can be different people in different circumstances. Marketers look at different types of self: the actual self, the ideal self, and the looking glass self ( who you think people think you are). And these are just real world identities. The Internet allows people to experiment with their identity. The exercise in this case allows students to play out real or fake identities. This is an allowed “fraud” for the purpose of discovery. As Gerhard says, “Playing out different identities becomes a resource that participants can use to give relevance to their arguments within an interactive discourse.”

For those who may be horrified by some of the discussion, look to the comments below many YouTube videos and see similar, but much, much worse. For those who don’t see the value in taking on alternate personality, think of what a good fiction writer does- he/she takes on multiple personalities, brings them to life makes us believe. We as readers suspend our disbelief when tales are being spun..students in the graduate course of the case study are writers of truth or fiction --hopefully with one purpose-understanding and learning through experience in a slightly altered reality.

If I’m that professor-that works for me!

Further Comment:

I agree with what Turkle is saying. There is a big difference from real life and online life. But what is "reality" and who are "we" anyway? It's all in our heads. One event experienced by two people is not the same. Do two people in the same relationship, have the same relationship? I don't think so. Experience in the embodied world is subjective, reality is defined by the the baggage I bring. If I believe something, is it real, or just real to me, today, right now?

In real life don't we sometimes create some wonderful elaborate fictions? Is it just me who has had some wonderful passionate love that seemed to be just too good to be true..only to find a little later on that it was. Who is to blame? While some might blame the "thems" I'd be just as likely to say it was me, little me who is so good at creating elaborate fictions!

Who is the Teacher?

A Video Homage

by Karen Hamilton - Thursday, July 22, 2010, 12:52 PM

As Wesch and Burbules so eloquently point out, sites like YouTube can be more that just places with silly videos, they can be self-educating communities.

One way to start a dialogue with students is to use a simple application to make a statement. One such app is xtranormal. In the free version, users can create a short 2 person animation that says something. One user can post their work to YouTube and others can respond with their own short. It becomes a conversation. Xtranormal is a simple text to video format. Their slogan is something like if you can type you can make a movie.

I haven't been feeling well the past couple of days suffering from migraines, even so in an hour, I created a short (kind of bad compared to my normal stuff) video on the subject Who is the Teacher?

I did the basic animation in xtranormal and then dragged it into iMovie to add some titles and music. It's not great but I think it gets the point across in an hour a person can create and post a short piece of work, in an instant someone else can view it and respond, in hours there is a conversation

Web 2.0 has limitless capabilities for collaboration. As a YouTuber since 2006, I've shared a lot of education and got a lot back. For me it is like Nick says..it is a "free exchange" and there is an "open source ethos" ..kind of a karma thing -you give a lot and you get much in return.

Here's my Who is the teacher video? (with borrowed words from Nick!)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bK7jjcRjyw

Pulling the Plug on Shared Knowledge

Sometimes, you just have to take action

by Karen Hamilton - Thursday, July 15, 2010, 11:07 AM

Here's a case study:

You are a master's student at a large American university enrolled in a program that explores curriculum, technology and education reform. As part of your program you are not only encouraged but required to publish your work on the university controlled servers using systems like Moodle, Mahara and the college's hosted Wiki. One day in passing, you see a notice posted in the program moodle that says all the servers will be shut down in 4 weeks (by August 15) and that if students want to save their work they must somehow make copies because all of the work will otherwise be lost. The program's moodle and mahara will now be part of a larger department's moodle and mahara and students may recreate some of their work step by step there by cutting and pasting. The college Wiki may not be saved or resurrected. The college wiki represents many years of the collective knowledge and scholarship of previous and current students.

As an individual, you have created an extensive portfolio that includes much multimedia work and scholarship inside the Mahara platform. The program tells you that the current version of Mahara does not support back-up and restoration to another Mahara site. You hear that a newer version of Mahara does allow for back-up and restoration to another site, but that the school does not intend to move to that upgrade at this time.

Your only alternative short of losing your Mahara work is to upload piece by piece your work into the other Mahara which may be deleted after you graduate. As for your Wiki work and the collective work of students from previous years, it all will likely disappear at the flick of a switch.

What should you do?

Sadly, this is 100% real and happening now.
_____________________________________________________

In the midst of one of our courses the above actually happened. Many of us were contacting the people who were running our program. Those people were trying to explain to the powers that be that the work of former and current students shouldn't just be disposed of in the blink of an eye. They were getting nowhere. When the above "Case Study" was posted in our current course the professor took notice. He actually didn't know anything about the actions that the school were about to undertake. Since he was a rather prominent professor when he spoke up, things changed and the WikEd was saved.  This was a case of being in the right course at the right time and just taking a risk and throwing it out there..victory for the little guys!

Great Composers Steal

Great Composers Steal

by Karen Hamilton - Tuesday, July 13, 2010, 03:08 PM
In this week’s discussion post we are asked what the implications of moving from a culture where the emphasis has shifted from “I know” to “We know” where our truths are the result of collective investigations. In the Google Tech Talks video (Oct 8, 2007) Everything is Miscellaneous, David Weinberger talks convincingly about how our systems of organization can limit information. He also talks about “publically negotiated knowledge” and how sometimes the people on the mailing list on websites know more than the experts. When we look at Dewey’s organization and consider the kinds of ways that we can connect information on the net, I think most of us would have to agree that the miscellaneous approach of the net just makes sense.



After viewing the required Weinberger video, of course the miscellaneous nature of the web led me to click on and view another video “Everything is Miscellaneous- Talking to David Weinberger (Nov 29, 2007). In this short video Weinberger goes on to say specifically that the nature of kids learning is collective and collaborative but teachers are grading individually. He also suggests that teachers should stop just sending kids off to libraries; rather they should send kids off on their own to wherever and then really talk about the sources they come back with. He goes as far to say that in the future, “We’ll give up print, like that!” While those like Nicholas Carr continue their foreboding rant about how we are all just getting superficial and stupid, Weinberger embraces the miscellany of it all.




After reading Parry’s Chronicle interview with Nicholas Carr, I surfed over to Carr’s blog Rough Type, read a few posts and hyperlinked myself over to Steven Pinker’s Mind Over Mass Media where upon Pinker takes on Carr’s view. But Carr’s blog, also alerted me to his recent appearance on Steven Colbert’s Colbert Report. Lucky me, with so little time to watch TV, there it was on my PVR, so my next step was watching Carr on the Colbert Report. Of course my favourite part of the interview was after Carr was going on about how multimedia makes us stupid, Colbert shouted out, “Bull s..t!” I’m with Colbert.

Now what’s the reason for describing my excursion? To me it illustrates the power of the miscellaneous nature of the web. Oh the places we can go and the things we can see. Could any of it have happened at a library? Did it make me stupid?

All these things speak to the issues involved in our case study this week.

Walter was a student who didn't follow the rules, instead of writing about music he created a detailed mashup that demonstrated a deep understanding of music and defended his submission in writing.

In my brief and earlier post I posted my reply to Walter as this:

"Walter your grade is A+ Not only have you found a unique way to complete the assignment in a deep and meaningful way but from your passionate and well written defense of your work, I can see you are a thoughtful and accomplished writer. I'll be happy to read more of your writing in future assignments."

I’ll now explain why I’m sticking to that. First of all, as an experienced college teacher who has spent at least half of my 20 years teaching Communications courses and the co-author of a recent college English textbook, I think I have a pretty good eye for a good writer. Walter is a good writer and if a high school student can so eloquently defend his point of view and if his everyday vocabulary includes words like ‘bricolage” then he’s not someone who I as a teacher need to worry about developing writing skills. He has them. For me my job would be to encourage him to use them more and to do that my words to him here praise his writing ability. I’m not sure if Walter knows how good a writer he could be, but I’m sure of one thing by the end of my course, he would be writing more.

My second point for why Walter deserves an A+ is that he really understood the assignment. How much can one write about music without hearing it? I’m sure the rest of the class wrote some lovely essays about how music shapes the view of America through melody and patriotism, but how many of them actually listened to music? How many of them took those ideas and created something new? How many of them will keep their essays or remember them in the future. How much learning stuck? The required composition to me is as much about music as it is about words and words without music are not quite enough. This assignment calls out to multimedia.

My third point is that Walter truly understands the nature of composition. It is evident in the production and in his defense of his project. He knows how to develop a well thought out argument; his arguments are clear and backed up with evidence and documentation; he’s persuasive and he’s passionate. Are these not the attributes of a good writer or creator?

Walter too understands the nature of creativity at a deep level. When he suggests that everyone is just producing variations from other themes, he sees the deep connection to the past. How much of music is original? My favourite example of how music builds from the past is a video posted at the Center for the Study of the Public Domain ( http://www.law.duke.edu/cspd/ ), under the link Great Composers Steal http://realserver.law.duke.edu/ramgen/framed/kelley.rm composer Anthony Kelley shows how everything from classical to jazz is very much derivative.

We could also argue that Walter did exactly as asked. His work had over 3000 words, was a composition and it showed how Music shapes a view of America.

What’s the big picture? In communications courses, it is about communicating; often the stress is on writing and speaking. Can Walter write? I’d have to say, yes. With encouragement, I have no doubt he will write much more than what was required in that essay.

What our educational systems have to do is encourage the Walters, not alienate them.


References/Resources
Center for the Study of the Public Domain, Duke University Law. Retrieved from http://www.law.duke.edu/cspd/

Everything is Miscellaneous (Oct 8, 2007). GoogleTechTalks:Youtube. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3wOhXsjPYM

Everything is miscellaneous –Talking to David Weinberger .(Nov 29, 2007). Infonomia:YouTube Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5z1O5v4hQM

Kelley, Anthony. Great composers steal. Retrieved from http://realserver.law.duke.edu/ramgen/framed/kelley.rm

Parry, M. (July 4, 2010). Is technology making your students stupid? Linkedin with: A writer who questions the wisdom of teaching with technology Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/Is-Technology-Making-Your/66128/

Pinker, S. (June 10, 2010). Mind over mass media. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/11/opinion/11Pinker.html