Technology in the Arts and Humanities Classroom
ETEC 532
Chocolate Metaphor
The purpose of the task below was to create a visual that depicted online learning. Since a lot of our focus discussions were based around metaphors, we decided to use a metaphor that our whole group connected with -- chocolate! Using Pallof and Pratt's (2001) "Elements of Effective Online Groups," our group created a general framework encapsulating the various components of the role of in the context of online learning. Our ‘Integrated Framework for E-Learning’ depicts our metaphor relating chocolate to the use of technology in online education. The four major interacting components of our framework included, the relationship between chocolate and technology, the learner as the consumer, educators as chocolatiers, and the technology space as a chocolate factory. Re-examining this infographic, I would change learners to consumers and chocolatiers, as our goal for children is to move away from being consumers and more towards creators with technology. Educators would then be managers of the chocolate companies -- as their responsibilities would be to oversee the production of products and quality control.
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The waters have calmed.
The kayak slips by while the warm breeze blows light.
The loon eerily sounds it is near. Sun drenched clouds ooze vanilla cream.
The sunset throws an orange purple light over it all.
The fish jump splash finishes the scene.
The veil’s been drawn down. Serenity surrounds.
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JG Collins, 2016
Well into deep waters, I follow the current of learning. I am enjoying myself with the challenge of the waves lapping my kayak and exploring an area that is unknown to me. Although I consider myself more of a math and science person, I chose to take the arts and humanities course to expose myself to new elements. ETEC 532 examined the impact of technology on the arts and humanities, as well as examining the influences of socio-cultural aspects on the uses of technology, aesthetics, pedagogy, and curriculum in new media contexts.
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I quickly became engaged with this course as much of the content material was presented as video, and being a visual learner, I became hooked. The format of weekly discussions entailed a question around a vignette, and two vignettes stood out to me. The first, was the Fort McMoney interactive documentary, in which the viewer is able to choose his or her own path of of learning the content within the video. The video stuck with me for two reasons: the content of the video made me emotional as I lived in northern BC and understood the frustrations of living in remote communities. It also expanded my thinking about gamification of learning, which became a common theme throughout latter courses in the MET program. I found myself to be quickly engaged, as it felt as though I was a character in the documentary. To bring gamification into this website, I created links in the landing pages, where viewers are able to choose the direction of the kayak voyage.
The second artifact was of an online museum exhibit called Open Hearts -- Closed Doors: The War Orphans Project created by the Holocaust Museum Vancouver. Viewers of the exhibit are able to read about the stories of Jewish orphaned children, and their lives after WWII. I believe I connected with the two vignettes because the designers of the artifacts skillfully used multimedia effectively and thoughtfully. Thus, the viewers connected with content, artifacts and first person accounts on both emotional and cognitive levels. Multimedia gives voice to stories that need to be shared, while providing opportunities to make connections with those who are sharing it.
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Before the vignettes were submitted, peers within the module, read and edited the vignettes. I found this to be extremely helpful to not only to improve my writing, but also to discover various ways to edit written work online. I really like the edit mode in Word and Google Docs which will be helpful with my students,
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Assessment was broken down into three parts within this course: weekly participation in discussion, written response to vignettes, and a collaborative inquiry project (CIP).
Vignette #1:
What Role Does Technology Play in Voice, Culture and Representation
To the right, is a copy of the written response to vignette #1. The discussion revolved around the question: What role does technology play in voice, culture, identity and representation? In response, visual media helps us express identity, sustain culture, and build awareness of others. Also, it is up to the creator or designer to develop a multimedia experience that draws upon the viewers life experiences which will evoke emotion and allow them to personally identify with characters portrayed. As a result, the viewer will become engaged, and will want to continue to view and participate in the multimedia experience, and the content will be remembered.
The edited version is displayed to demonstrate how editing was done using google docs.
First Peoples' Art For Learning
For our cumulative project, our group explored ways of celebrating First Nations’ culture at the Elementary level, based on the new BC curriculum. Our intent was to focus on creating a practical website for educators to use to teach visual literacy in the classroom using First Nations content. The website has First People’s Artwork, books, symbols, questions, links, lesson plans, etc... to help guide educators through the sometimes daunting task of teaching visual literacy as well as incorporating First People’s way of Learning into their curriculum. It is hoped that the website will be a place for educators to share and discuss their ideas, their concerns and their resources.
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The process of this project was arduous as it involved creating an annotated bibliography of related journals, writing a summary of the sources, creating a framework for the website using Weebly, and then creating the lessons for the website. Although the project involved considerable time and effort, it was one of my favourites because of my interest in Aboriginal content, and it is a practical application for teachers to use in their classrooms.
References
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ETEC 532: Technology in the Arts and Humanities Classroom. (n.d.). Retrieved August 08, 2017, from http://met.ubc.ca/etec-532/
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Fort McMoney. (n.d.). Retrieved July 26, 2017, from http://www.fortmcmoney.com/#/fortmcmoney
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Friedman, P., Friedman, V., & Nevin, J. (2001). U.S. Patent Application No. 09/908,208.
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kayak poem https://www.poetrysoup.com/poems/short/kayak
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Loveless, D. J. (2014). Critical pedagogy for a polymodal world SensePublishers.
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Pallof and Pratt (2001). Lessons from the Cyberspace Classroom: The realities of Online Teaching. San Francisco: Jossey Bass Publishers.
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Open Hearts / Closed Doors — The War Orphans Project. (n.d.). Retrieved July 02, 2016, from http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/sgc-
cms/expositions-exhibitions/orphelins-orphans/english/
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Tapscott, D. (2008). Net Geners Relate to News in New Ways. Nieman Reports; Winter2008 62(4) 18-19.
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Reading, A., & Anna Reading. (01/01/2003). Media, culture & society: Digital interactivity in public memory institutions: The uses of new
technologies in holocaust museums Academic Press.
