Amy Thinking / Reading Notes Week 7 (10/8)
This week's readings were some of the most interesting for a few reasons. First, I had a chance to play with Infographics (which I've been eager to do for some time), and uncovered some sources that actually address the means of assessment we might apply to Infographics in a classroom. This made me think of Rankins-Robertson et al., as well as the 3D Game Lab activities. Love it when it all comes together!
Starting with 3D Game Lab, I covered the section on "folksonomy" and how tagging creates a means of taxonomy "for the folks." The assertion that taxonomies can actually embed a bias in categorizing schema is one that academics may not consider -- given the value hierarchy placement awarded to knowledge and meaning-making at that level. The exercise for creating search terms for open sources reminded me a lot of the exercise I just completed with my freshmen (Comp II) on revising search terms, so this material was already fresh in my mind.
Then there was the New Learning chapter on the Nature of Learning -- the subject of my Reading Challenge, an infographic. After reading this chapter, I must confess I find myself firmly in the camp of the Brain Developmentalism / Constructivism camp, and after last week's discussion of visualization vs. text production, I'm starting to see my way to a SoTL project (I hope). The breakdown of the chapter can be seen here (Infographic via Easel.ly), but I was pleased to see the authors acknowledge an overlap between the BD/C school of thought and the Social Cognitivism, especially since I'm a fan of Vygotsky's theories of Zone of Proximal Development and Scaffolding. I learned his theories while training in a Writing Center as an MA student, and it revolutionalized the way I look at teaching process!
This chapter of New Learning dovetailed well into the Rankins-Robertson et al. article on Kairos. The authors put forth an argument that if we are to teach multimodal composing to students, we must integrate multimodal teaching into the online classroom design. The purpose is to "maximize students' learning about ...designing and constructing multimodal texts" by using "multiple modes of representation" ourselves, an assertion grounded in the work by Takayoshi and Selfe.
The article connects the logic behind the layout of course creation and materials with our by-now familiar go-to Standards of the Outcomes and Habits of Mind. The online course is built on the portfolio model, incorporating reflective writing all along the way.
Along with the appendix of useful examples and models, the authors' essay frames what we've been exploring since day one: the importance of a rhetorical approach to all things digital -- the space, the design, the affordances, the materiality, and the agency of the student.
Agency is one area where I wondered how the NL authors might classify this classroom design --- truly Constructivist or more Social Cognitivism. I suspect more the latter, simply because -- despite all the efforts of an online class -- the sense of social construction of knowledge in an online classroom built by the instructors may be possible, but I suspect still limited by the very nature of the structuralism of the space (thinking here or DeVoss and Infrastructure).
Works Cited:
Bishop-Clark, Cathy and Beth Dietz-Uhler. Engaging in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing, 2012.
Dunn, Jeff. “Thirteen Reasons Why Your Brain Craves Infographics.” Edudemic. 13 June 2013.
Rankins-Robertson, Sherry, Tiffany Bourelle, Andrew Bourelle, and David Fisher. "Multimodal Instruction: Pedagogy and Practice for Enhancing Multimodal Composition Online." Kairos 19.1 ( ).
3D Game Lab
I first commented on Kim's Prezi notes on BR6. I really appreciated her breakdown of the ways Prezi creates its own hierarchy upon users, unlike PowerPoint, and how this can affect students. That made me think of how the very structure / materialism becomes an affordance suitable for student-centered teaching -- asking them to consider how and why they make the choices they make when using Prezi! Love the "sail" song -- perfect fit.
Starting with 3D Game Lab, I covered the section on "folksonomy" and how tagging creates a means of taxonomy "for the folks." The assertion that taxonomies can actually embed a bias in categorizing schema is one that academics may not consider -- given the value hierarchy placement awarded to knowledge and meaning-making at that level. The exercise for creating search terms for open sources reminded me a lot of the exercise I just completed with my freshmen (Comp II) on revising search terms, so this material was already fresh in my mind.
Then there was the New Learning chapter on the Nature of Learning -- the subject of my Reading Challenge, an infographic. After reading this chapter, I must confess I find myself firmly in the camp of the Brain Developmentalism / Constructivism camp, and after last week's discussion of visualization vs. text production, I'm starting to see my way to a SoTL project (I hope). The breakdown of the chapter can be seen here (Infographic via Easel.ly), but I was pleased to see the authors acknowledge an overlap between the BD/C school of thought and the Social Cognitivism, especially since I'm a fan of Vygotsky's theories of Zone of Proximal Development and Scaffolding. I learned his theories while training in a Writing Center as an MA student, and it revolutionalized the way I look at teaching process!
This chapter of New Learning dovetailed well into the Rankins-Robertson et al. article on Kairos. The authors put forth an argument that if we are to teach multimodal composing to students, we must integrate multimodal teaching into the online classroom design. The purpose is to "maximize students' learning about ...designing and constructing multimodal texts" by using "multiple modes of representation" ourselves, an assertion grounded in the work by Takayoshi and Selfe.
The article connects the logic behind the layout of course creation and materials with our by-now familiar go-to Standards of the Outcomes and Habits of Mind. The online course is built on the portfolio model, incorporating reflective writing all along the way.
Along with the appendix of useful examples and models, the authors' essay frames what we've been exploring since day one: the importance of a rhetorical approach to all things digital -- the space, the design, the affordances, the materiality, and the agency of the student.
Agency is one area where I wondered how the NL authors might classify this classroom design --- truly Constructivist or more Social Cognitivism. I suspect more the latter, simply because -- despite all the efforts of an online class -- the sense of social construction of knowledge in an online classroom built by the instructors may be possible, but I suspect still limited by the very nature of the structuralism of the space (thinking here or DeVoss and Infrastructure).
Works Cited:
Bishop-Clark, Cathy and Beth Dietz-Uhler. Engaging in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing, 2012.
Dunn, Jeff. “Thirteen Reasons Why Your Brain Craves Infographics.” Edudemic. 13 June 2013.
Rankins-Robertson, Sherry, Tiffany Bourelle, Andrew Bourelle, and David Fisher. "Multimodal Instruction: Pedagogy and Practice for Enhancing Multimodal Composition Online." Kairos 19.1 ( ).
3D Game Lab
I first commented on Kim's Prezi notes on BR6. I really appreciated her breakdown of the ways Prezi creates its own hierarchy upon users, unlike PowerPoint, and how this can affect students. That made me think of how the very structure / materialism becomes an affordance suitable for student-centered teaching -- asking them to consider how and why they make the choices they make when using Prezi! Love the "sail" song -- perfect fit.
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