Follow these steps:
Choose one of the items below. Insert your cursor below the item, and then write about the projects in this class in terms of that item for four minutes.
Choose another of the items, and then write freely about the projects in this class in terms of that item for four minutes.
Choose a third item from the list. Without discussing directly the projects, write freely about the activities and processes experienced in this class in terms of that item for five minutes.
- Creativity
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is too vague to be of any use. I feel like specific strategies might make more sense. Something like devils advocate against your own interests or write an argument without ever objecting to something might make more sense. I'm not sure how to weave these into assignments, but I'd like to try. It might be that the simplest is write without using but or however would be a good start. Or maybe there are ways of getting at synthesis activities through mashups that would overlap with the collaboration angle. What if you took someone else work and used your skills to bring out aspects of it that are not your own? Or if you took their ideas, and then added others that were related. I guess analysis and media can also bring some good angles here. How can you talk about aspects of sound, images, language but splitting off pieces and then relating them to the whole? I also feel like maybe just making "critical thinking" a prohibited term might do the job as people would have to find more specific alternatives.
- Leadership
- Communication
- Collaboration
This is the one area where I think there are possibilities for innovation. In class, collaboration always devolves to group work. There must be more possibilities in this space. My sense is that grading sometimes limits these options, but in a portfolio based class there is no reason. What if people had the chance to revise one another's projects? What if teaching someone something you've learned became an assignment. Actually, the revise someone else's project seems really intriguing. I'm wondering how that might work. Would you need to just put them all in a pool and let people choose? Would you partner up people? I wonder if the peer review process could be tweaked in these ways. Review and then revise rather than just give feedback.
- Information
- Risk taking
- Adaptability
I feel like speed and constraints are key to making adaptability happen. I like Adobe RUSH in this way because it is so bare boned. It might be that forcing these kinds of constraints does some damage to the educational process as well in that people have to limit rather than expand possibilities. I wonder if some of the crazy idea assignments might benefit from tweaks in materials. For instance, what about a podcast that required a lot of description of visual and activities. What would change if you asked people to do a podcast on classic photos? I also wonder if adaptability can be built into things by switching roles in the classroom. What if after (or before or during) an assignment, you stopped and asked people to rewrite it from their perspective? Again, the role switching could create disruptions that force people to adapt. The key would be doing it in a productive way that doesn't just make chaos or force people into uncomfortable situations. If you knew ahead of time that you might be called upon to change an assignment on the fly, it would be better.
- Curiosity
- Reflection
- Motivation
Finally, choose one item from the list below. Write freely about the projects in this class in terms of that item for five minutes.
- Logic versus emotions
- Role of visual, sonic, and textual media
I have a hard time picking which of these aspects to focus on because they all seem to overlap. Using sounds, for instance, makes me think of emotions, so I would say their role is to add an emotional layer to a project. I also want to continue to think about the value of words in media projects. I want to make assignments that focus on words, where they are the core element, but that take the shape and form of media--images, videos, podcasts. I feel like memes have something powerful to offer here but I can't seem to get the mix right in terms of teaching their deeper meanings--if they have them. It might be that analyzing rather than producing memes makes the most sense. In any case, I also think the fifteen week semester is a big challenge. I want people to know about image editors so they can work across media for any project whatsoever. The same for working with audio. In a semester, you chunk things up and it's hard to get the cross-pollination that would make things overlap in those kinds of productive ways. Maybe the answer is to always assign projects that require more than one form of media to produce, teaching tools along the way.
- Networks and social exchange