WHAT YOU TALKIN' 'BOUT, WILLIS?

Education Mashups

Great article on what we could be doing online..
EDUCAUSE REVIEW | July/August 2007, Volume 42, Number 4

the mixing of any number of digital media sources

Posted by cmwillis at 09:16 AM | | TrackBack

Why use technology in learning?

Good article on basic answers for how tech influences and enhances learning. My biggest argument would be, look how the world changed after the Gutenburg Press.
Techlearning > > Eight More Reasons for Technology in Education > September 1, 2007

Tech Nerd - Online Learning

So, I'm finally doing something I've dreamt of, which sadly reveals my true nature. We're streaming courses to students all over the world (Canada) for students in UTC's online Engineering Management program. We're using a combination of Windows Media Encoder, Blackboard, Mimio, and other free and cheap apps and products to do what other schools are doing for thousands and even hundreds of thousands of $$. Basically you hear the professor and see whatever they are presenting on the computer or on the Whiteboard. However, in the class running tonight for Dr. Alp you can also see the teacher and students on a webcam. If anyone wants to see a sample let me know..

Other than that, I'm also taking a class that is entirely online from Dr. Adsit, but there isn't any fancy video streaming and probably not any need for it, though the class is a History of Instructional Technology.

Unlearning

I love this concept, because I also don't care if students remember everything I teach them. However, I do want them to remember some things. How do we delineate between critical pieces of info and nice to know items?
'Unlearning' Makes Headlines at Reuters | workforce.com

Skills development may help employees execute tasks, he says, but it does little to cultivate the attitudes and behaviors needed to elevate their performance.

Posted by cmwillis at 09:55 PM | | TrackBack

Blackboard dominates online learning.. verdict still out on effectiveness of online learning

Short article on the status of online learning with criticism and praise for various platforms. Where is Moodle in all this?
E-learning: Boom or bust? | Innovation | Canadian Business Online

In the U.S. there are powerhouses like Blackboard whose revenues approach US$200 million annually

Posted by cmwillis at 01:18 PM | | TrackBack

Ergonomic Education

Great article about using school resources more effectively:
Education Site Explains How Schools Can Be Much More Efficient

Price's article discusses four basic tactics which schools can use to increase effectiveness:

1 School and teacher must be totally committed to each subject. (Clearly, teachers have to major in the subjects they will teach.)

2. Teachers shouldn't hesitate to use every teaching aid and visual aid, every technique or gimmick, that will make classes more exciting, fun, and memorable. (Fun is an important part of the ergonomic approach. If children think, "hey, this is easy," that's half the battle.)

3. Repeat, repeat, repeat. And then say it again some other way. The idea that you can go once over a subject, and expect people to recall much of it, is not realistic.

4; Every course is ideally a gigantic mnemonic device, a matrix of interconnected facts.

Posted by cmwillis at 09:29 AM | | TrackBack

Battle Academy's Tech

So my sources tell me that Battle Academy is full of these things:

I believe Prometheon incorporates SmartBoard and iClicker technologies which is cool, plus Battle has the NASA grants--and Jackson is totally digging space right now. And, I LOVE the idea of telling people my son goes to Battle Academy, like he's training for some kind of arena fighting sport.

Thoughts on Battle Academy?

What Teachers Make...

Props to all my teacher friends!
YouTube - High School Teacher & Slam Poet Taylor Mali

High School Teacher & Slam Poet Taylor Mali

Posted by cmwillis at 05:23 PM | | TrackBack

Synchronous vs. Asynchronous Instruction Online

I am currently facilitating a videoconference between UTK, UTC, and UTSI where faculty and administrators are discussing which way to go with an online engineering program this Fall. It seems that several people were planning this from various locations and were all using the term "online" but people assumed common meanings for the term. For some this meant streaming video modules (asynchronous) while others assumed this was interactive videoconferencing (synchronous). My suggestion, be more specific!

It seems that the best solution is to combine the two approaches. Synchronous videoconferences can be streamed live to non-interactive users at their home (or work) PCs and also recorded for later replay. The question is, Does content created for synchronous delivery hold up when viewed later on? Does the pedagogy need to change or not? Reminds me of students who ask me if they can audiotape my lectures (to which I say sure-but I don't lecture). I could never go back and listen to all that, but I guess some people want to and can.

If video killed the radio star, videogames killed books...

This article discusses the appropriate uses of videogames in learning applications.Experts: Use games to teach

it's time for video games to be demystified -- and then embraced.

This school integrated game design into their curriculum, which includes, programming and graphic design, but also writing storylines and teaching plot structure. I say let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater, but integrating games into the curriculum seems like a no-brainer given kids affinity for them. However, how do we do that and also encourage reading books?

My Screencast Channel

Final Cut Color TweakHere's another screencast showing you how to tweak color in Final Cut.

You can also check out my Video Tips channel at Screencast-O-Matic.com.

Screencast of Orb

Here is a screencast I made to test out the setup at Screencast-O-Matic.com which was also a good opportunity to demonstrate the greatness of Orb.

Screencast-O-Matic: Orb.com Walkthrough

This screencasting tool is incredibly easy to use and works with any browser on any platform, so long as you have JAVA. The only downside I see is that you cannot reposition the window during a pause, which would be incredibly useful for demos of programs with a large layout like Photoshop or Final Cut. Going to try it out on a Mac next to demo Final Cut. I did this last year using a camcorder pointed at the LCD screen.

UPDATE: Trying to embed the screencast.

Hover over the video and click the play button to pause.

Coursecasting

This is a good description for what I've been wanting to bring to UTC for a year or so now. Seems like an accessibility boon for students to be able to review lectures and course discussions online immediately after class.
U Washington Deploys IP-Based 'Coursecasting'

Since October 2005, students have been able to access recordings via the Internet, and the university has logged about 110,000 lecture downloads through March 2007.

iClicker - Fun tech that UTC already owns...

I got to play with and help demonstrate this technology last night:

iClicker, an easy-to-use radio frequency classroom response system that facilitates teaching rather than impeding it.

What I liked about this was the ease of setup. My boss just plugged this in and it instantly worked with my existing powerpoint and provided instant feedback of student's answers. I can think of a ton of awesome classroom uses where the technology would help to reinforce learning and engage students during review sessions. Then there are all the non-learning but fun uses, like, make your own Scene-It games and so on.

Pretty neat.

Learning Disabilities Tech

This blog, while not eloquent, advocates tech helps for LD students.Cool Cat Teacher Blog: How wikis, podcasts, and laptops help students with learning disabilities

Why did the laptop improve his grades?

I sat down with my son and asked him what the difference was. He basically told me it was a couple of things:

* He doesn't have to struggle with a lot of notebooks.
* His notes are no longer full of errors and mistakes and he can read his notes.
* When he is writing he can focus on what he is writing and not get mad at himself because he can't read it and it is full of mistakes.
* He can focus on studying and getting his work done because the things that "drive him crazy about himself" are under control.

Posted by cmwillis at 08:39 AM | | TrackBack

Need Less Input - Laptops for Students programs dropped in NY High Schools

Seeing No Progress, Some Schools Drop Laptops - New York Times

“After seven years, there was literally no evidence it had any impact on student achievement — none,” said Mark Lawson, the school board president here in Liverpool, one of the first districts in New York State to experiment with putting technology directly into students’ hands. “The teachers were telling us when there’s a one-to-one relationship between the student and the laptop, the box gets in the way. It’s a distraction to the educational process.”

This seems like an obvious outcome now, but I remember thinking how awesome this would be when I first heard it years ago. Could it have worked? What was needed? I wonder if the instruction changed to match the new technology in the student's hands?

Wondering about the program I had seen in Atlanta I google laptops for students in ATL and found this article: http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/cobb/stories/2007/04/20/0420metlaptop.html
Aparently many school board members were fired and are under investigation for the business practices used in their program.

Maybe it's just a bad idea all around..

Short Films Documentary

Below is a short documentary about the short films that were created in my COMM 445 - Video II class this Spring. Coti and Jill also tell a little about the process of making a short and provide tips for aspiring filmmakers.

Stay tuned for a slightly more comical look at filmmaking by Lazy Bear Productions in How To Make Your Movie: Part Deux. I have a small cameo in which I play a nervous professor on camera for the first time.

NASA Videoconference

"Did you know the shuttle transporter crawler gets 35 feet to the gallon?"

Facilitated a videoconference today for the Riverbend Technology Institute with 2 classes from Brown Academy and the NASA Digital Learning Network. This school has a magnet curriculum and has become a NASA Explorer school (more here).

This interactive field trip involved a studio at NASA with a Chromakey backdrop from which teir instructor presented a variety of multimedia and hands-on demonstrations (liquid nitrogen and the balloon trick!). This guy was awesome and he officially is doing my dream job (probably a little late for me to get on with NASA). On our end we had two classrooms connected in Fletcher Hall, and students were able to ask questions, perform tasks as examples, and even see the other classroom here on campus when they asked questions.

Prep for this involved teacher's preparing their students for the experience with lessons, setup and test of the videoconference (nearly had issues even after successful tests, but cool-headed troubleshooting prevailed), and making contact with the folks at NASA.

NASA provides these experiences for free, but they only ask for students and teachers to fill out a feedback form online in order to better their program an to report back on what they are accomplishing. (Good assessment!)

I'm going out to buy a telescope tonight. Woo-hoo!

Mocs News coverage of VT Massacre

I think my students did a particularly good job of covering the Virginia Tech story. Check it out here: Mocs News.

Humor 101

I've come to realize that a very valuable asset in education, humor, is incredibly underutilized. To this end I intend to write a scholarly, researched article on the uses of humor in the classroom tentatively titled: "Humor 101: How to turn that class clown into a teacher's pet." More to come...

Spectrum University

Worked in the studio with a group of 24 teens with autism and other developmental delays yesterday. Spectrum University kicked off the last week of their summer camp by producing a movie trailer entitle: Spectrum University-Mission Totally Possible.

It was very interesting preparing the curriculum for this activity. The first problem and the biggest was the number of students, counselors, and press crammed into our facility. 24 kids, 15 counselors, 6 studio employees, 1 camp director, and a couple cameramen from local television. I set up three learning centers and used the three groups of eight previously decided upon which helped, though I should have spread around the work a little more. Kids acted in front of the chromakey: climbing up the side of a building, swimming underwater to plant or defuse a "bomb", and skydiving. They shot more dramtic scenes in our control room including my favorite line, "Which wire? WHICH WIRE?" Or, "I'm going to hurt your camp counselor." Also they did some exterior shots and recorded voiceovers in our edit suite.

Was a hectic couple hours, but I think the kids got a pretty good perspective of how a film gets put together and they will love the final product. Dealing with their disabilities was much easier than I had expected, though I had planned on treating these kids just like anyone else (inclusion?) which went pretty well. Rachel Salomon-Sadowitz, the camp director, does an incredible job motivating these kids, and the counselors all seemed pretty proactive in working with their assigned students. We only had a couple of situations where kids didn't want to participate or took a lot of encouragement, but as my editor Ryan pointed out, "There are college kids who wouldn't have handled the situation this well."

I WOULD LOVE to post the final product up here, but that will not be possible. However, with permission of the program, I can probably show anyone interested if you want to come by the TV Studio. It's going to be awesome!

Ongoing projects

Language Learning videoconferences with Mexico - These monthly conferences take place with local elementary school children from The Bright School and with children in a suburb of Mexico City. The kids speak back and forth in each other's language and are able to ask questions about each other's culture. Read all about it in this article in the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

MIT Enterprise Forum - a satellite downlink brought to UTC by the Riverbend Technology Institute and yours truly. "'Talk to an Angel: Crucial Connections to Early Stage Capital' is a look at how entrepreneurs and angels can find each other for funding opportunities, and work together after the deal is done." More info here.

Girls Inc. - helping students learn basics of the communications industry, particularly in helping them create a public service announcement for Breast Cancer awareness.

COMM 400 Documentary class - provided technology and storytelling advice and served as a judge for awards given at their final presentation.

Back Row Film Series and Workshops - coordinated and planned curriculum for three free filmmaking workshops for teens concentrating on screenwriting, shooting, and editing independent films. Also on planning committee for the Back Row Film Series.

Chattanooga Film Commission - invited by local filmmaker Jarrod Whaley and Missy Crutchfield to serve on the local projects committee of the city's new film commission. This committee's purpose is to support and encourage local filmmaking.

Youth Documentary Project - sponsored by the Association for Visual Artists, this project partners local filmmakers with teens at afternoon rec centers to study and create short documentaries.

The Enterprise Center - Created promotional video materials for the Maglev train DVD, edited from existing and computer simulated footage of magnetic levitation train footage to educate Chattanoogans about the potential of a high speed magentic levitation train from Chattanooga to Atlanta.

Camp Spectrum - organizing a one-day workshop for teens with autism to learn various aspects of television and video production.

Done with optionals

So I finished and turned in the last of my optional assignments today. Having the "Create a Self-guided Tutorial" project last was really a bad idea. Here are the three things I chose to do which will end up constituting about half of my grade:

1. Design a seminar to teach teachers how to design a curriculum (Seminar should include a detailed agenda, handouts, presentation materials, etc.)

Since I have no background in education, I thought this would be good for me to investigate and report to others on. My idea was to create a workshop for new instructors at UTC who have been hired to teach in a particular content area, but who may have no prior teaching or course design experience. I'll never forget environmental law--great guy, but didn't really have the course together.

Was difficult to put into notes and Powerpoint the content of the workshop since I would be basically facilitating a discussion about curriculum design, but I tried to script it more in the re-write.

2. Investigate and conduct an abbreviated curriculum audit that looks at a curriculum in-depth. Identify the strengths, weaknesses, areas for improvement, use of an appropriate set of standards, etc.

I looked at the broadcasting curriculum offered by UTC's COMM dept, particularly relating stated objectives on course syllabi and how they relate to the department's core competencies. Also a difficult paper to write.

3. Design a "training film" to assist teachers on the use of a selected product as part of the curriculum.

This project was INCREDIBLY more difficult than I first imagined. I chose to teach educators how to use Final Cut Pro or Express in their courses and I realized quickly how much more difficult this program is to use for beginners than I realized. I guess when you spend at least 30 hours a week in front of something it becomes second-nature.

I would like this to have been an interactive presentation and self-guided tutorial on CD-ROM created with Macromedia Flash MX. However, I can't seem to wrap my head around Flash enough to get it to do what I want. Ideally the video will play in a small window on the right side of your screen with text instructions below it in a sidebar similar to Microsoft Office's Help function. It should have pause and play, skip forward and back and a link to a dynamic table of contents. Will attempt to get this finished in May, but had to turn it in as a DVD with chapters for now, which is still pretty useful. Just painful switchinig between the tutorial instructions and the software you are working with. iMovie 2 had a grat tutorial that minimized while you performed the steps, so maybe I can figure something like that out.

I REALLY thought about asking for an extension to complete these projects during May and taking an imcomplete for this course, but I think that could set me on a slippery path toward ABD (All But Dissertation).

Integrated Thematic Curriculum = Awesome TV Show!!!

So on Saturday I did my first ever pitch for How Can I Do That? a children's educational television program with an integrated, thematic curriculum. The theme of the program is discovery learning--focusing on the process of learning, both deductive and inductive, and a variety of subjects are integrated into this theme. The content of the program will be driven largely from local museums, historical sites, factories and businesses, etc. I don't want to say too much more about the show on here, but I think my idea was well received. I had one professor who came back several times later that day and said, "That might just take off." I hope so.

For this project I basically created a show proposal as I've been teaching my students to do for years in Video I. I included relevant learning theories and a design model for the curriculum (though this area was weak in my presentation). I talked about how Gardners's MI theory and Kolb's learning inventories would be used in casting. I also requested ideas for show topics and funding sources and got several for the former.

Curriculum Design Activities - Filmmaking Workshop

So, for whatever reasons this spring semester I commited my student workers and myself to putting on a series of free filmmaking workshops for teens that took place at the Hunter Museum. Was a pretty big success in my book, since we got kids from very diverse backgrounds and schools including UTC, GPS, Baylor, McCallie, Red Bank, and Howard (thank you Ms. Lyon!)

The purpose for me was to try to do everything possible to promote local film submission for the Back Row Film Series. The other reason I guess was to make use of the amazing resources of two of my current student workers who are into filmmaking in a big way, as well as to get other local filmmakers to come out and share their expertise. All of this took place with degrees of success ranging from better than I could have expected to OK, let's just get this over with. All-in-all I think everyone involved had a good time and enjoyed the events.

I basically coordinated the whole thing with assistance from the curators of education at the museum. The idea was to do three workshops, the first on pre-production (writing scripts), the second on production (shooting), and the third on (postproduction). I leaned heavily on my students, Ryan and Kashad, for the first one, since I haven't written the first screenplay. We did cover som other materials that day as well, but for the most part followed the curriculum described here. The next workshop I had more expertise in and planned the workshop accordingly. Tried to cram too much into 2.5 hours, but all in all it was effective. That day's plan can be seen here. Finally we closed with postproduction which was planned during most kids spring breaks and was poorly attended. That curriculum is still in note form but will appear as an article on the Chattanooga Film Blog shortly.

We used a bit of material from the Film Foundation who have two terrific curriculums for teach film appreciation and filmmaking to kids call The Story of Movies and Creativity on Film. These are very rich resources that I would like to incorporate more fully if I ever do this again.

This was a very interesting project because I have some good information and experience to share, but putting it into the form of a 3-day workshop series that would be useful and fun for students who signed up was difficult. Also, collaboratively building the curriculum with the other filmmakers was tough, since all most filmmakers want to do is sit around and trash popular directors and so forth, but we made it, and I think I learned a lot from the experience.

Check out my student's amazing work and a cameo by Mr. Willis at Lazy Bear Productions and Killing Elvis.

Academic Scholarly Journals: Look Out!

I finished my journal article a bit ahead of the buzzer this time and did some great work I think toward the end. The article was flailing for some time without the local connection which I finally made by meeting with Jill Levine at Normal Park Elementary. This gave my paper a very grounded, practical feel I think and her insight was valuble.

Thanks to Jim for pointing out potential for plagiarism, though I think a few of his notes on my paper pointed to my synthesis of other's ideas. I feel like if I've quoted and cited others work properly, then I go on to synthesize that into my own understanding of the topic in my own words with my new ideas--that would not be plagiarism. However, as Dean Hicks says, better safe than sorry since if I get into trouble I'll have to go see him. So I played it safe and shall continue to do so.

Also, when I get around to submitting this, I think I will remove some of the learning theory regurgitation, since I really just put that in there to adequately cover the assignment. As for an article for educators on curriculum design, I think readers will not need a refresher course in cognitivist and constructionist frameworks. I won't cut them out entirely, but I do plan to reduce those sections.

Click below to read The curriculum of museum magnet schools
and how it can be adapted to traditional classrooms.

Introduction

The information age has brought changes in all aspects of society--particularly public education. Many of the concepts our public educational system is built upon are remnants of the industrial age and gaps can be seen in what teachers and administrators are expected to achieve with students in these outdated systems (King, 1998). School systems have been attempting a wide variety of education reforms that employ various learning strategies. One of these strategies is the creation of magnet schools whose curriculums are focused on a particular theme or learning theory. An effective use of this practice has been the creation of museum magnet schools. In these schools the curriculum is tied in closely to local museums and the focus of learning is in the investigation and creation of exhibits. With this, curriculum school systems have been able to create a learning environment where students are able to participate in hands-on, object-based learning. This paper will demonstrate how the museum magnet school curriculum provides such a hands-on learning environment. Additionally, aspects of this curriculum will be discussed that can be adapted to be used in traditional school settings.

History of magnet schools
Museum schools have evolved in part from the recognition that in many cases schools must re-design themselves in order to adapt to society�s changing needs (King, 1998). Museum schools are often connected with or categorized as a magnet school. Magnet school programs have had a relatively short history in the United States, often occurring as a response to calls for voluntary desegregation in racially-divided school systems (Foster, 1976). One goal for the creation of magnet schools was to develop a curriculum and educational environment so desirable that parents from diverse background would want to enroll their children there regardless of racial stereotypes (Foster, 1976).
Magnet schools have been successful as measured by academic achievement tests and in comparison to their district�s averages. In a study on magnet schools performed in 1984 and repeated in 1989, it was found that of the sample population 80% or more had average reading and math scores that were higher than district averages (Blank, 1992). Other research has claimed that the educational quality in magnets schools does vary, but no more so than that in non-magnets (Foster, 1976). As will be shown, the academic achievement scores in certain schools adopting the museum magnet school curriculum have shown great improvements since that adoption and as compared to their school district�s averages.
Whether started to improve racial integration or to help with low-achievement on standardized tests, magnet schools �provide additional options to children whose current schools are in need of improvement, and� serve as laboratories of successful educational practice� (Creating Successful Magnet School Programs).

History of museum magnets
Magnets schools with a museum curriculum are the result of museums and school districts joining forces to create new and innovative educational institutions (King, 1998). A museum school can be defined as a partnership between at least one museum and at least one school in which curriculum is created that embeds state and federal mandates into experiential, hands-on learning (King, 1998). The benefits of such a partnership extend to the museum as well. A museum is able to more easily fulfill its educational role in the community with direct access to students in the school system. Through the partnership, they can increase community involvement in the museum, obtain greater resources for the collections, and build a more diverse audience as family members of the students also become more involved with the museum (King, 1998).
The history of museum magnet schools is relatively short. Kira King (1996), who has done a significant amount of research on the topic, believes the first school that fits the above definition opened around 1990. Out of several thousand magnet schools and magnet programs across the United States, there are still relatively few schools that fit the definition of a museum school. The implementation of the museum magnet school curriculum represents a complete re-design of a school and its entire curriculum, rather than applying superficial modifications to the existing structures (King, 1996). The result of this new school design is typically a collaboration of stakeholders and museum and school representatives that is uniquely capable of responding to the needs of the community.

Basic concepts of the curriculum
Three distinct terms arise in the discussion of museum magnet schools: museum learning, the museum process, and a museum school (King, 1998). Museum learning occurs when these schools use the creation and examination of exhibits to enable �project-enhanced learning� (Takahisa & Chalusian, 1995). One such form is to encourage students to take on research apprenticeships. In this scenario, students work closely with museum curators to investigate and create exhibits. The museum staff is able to mentor students as they model the lifelong learning that occurs in their workplace.
The museum school curriculum is founded firmly on the concept that teachers do not hold the body of knowledge and distribute it to students in bits and chunks. In museum learning, students are empowered to choose what learning paths they wish to pursue and in turn are responsible for management of the information they acquire (King, 1998). The role of the teacher is thereby transformed into more of a facilitator than a content matter expert. Application from the museum learning experience is made in different subject areas in order to comply with state and federal mandates and to insure better performance on achievement tests.
An instructional strategy that works very well within this curriculum is object-based learning. The underlying assumption of this strategy is that there is �an interconnection between an object and the ideas that it communicates� (Object-based Learning). As students observe and research objects in a museum, they have unique learning experiences�each with their own thoughts, feelings, and emotions. This can be an effective starting point for incorporation of new knowledge by a teacher who facilitates learning rather than trying to dictate it.
Measurement of learning in the museum school environment is achieved by combining measurements of attention paid to museum exhibits and non-traditional measures of classroom learning. Frequently used measures in museums are �attracting power and holding power� (Donald, 1991, p. 371), essentially measures of an exhibit�s appeal to the museum visitor. These can be applied to the exhibits created by students in the museum school learning environment. Other scholastic measures can be applied to the student�s approach to and accomplishment of projects. These are the amount of time spent on task, measuring the knowledge gained, development of thinking and problem-solving skills, and �motivation or attitudes, and creativity� (Donald, 1991, p.371). A common problem of this type of learning is the subjective nature of works, thus rubrics for evaluation each project must be carefully followed when assigning a grade.
Many scholars in learning and formal education have recognized the need for students to be embedded in experiential learning environments. Museums offer learning experiences that realize many of the goals set forth by many of the education scholars of the last century. In 1938, Dewey�s (as cited in Neill, 2005) Experience in Education was a call for recognition of practical, hands-on learning experiences for students in formal education. He proposed that learning should have �continuity of experience� (Dillon, 2001)�every learning experience should build upon existing knowledge and should influence future experiences. This occurs when teachers prepare students for a museum visit, then the students explore the museum, and finally, reports and follow-up discussions take place. Another concept Dewey advocates is interaction�learning takes place by interacting with the physical world (as cited in Neill, 2005). Interaction is often more likely to occur in a museum than in a classroom.
Piaget�s cognitive development theory places emphasis on the cyclical interactions between the learner and the environment that occur in each of four major stages during a child�s development (Ormrod, 154), a principle which builds on Dewey�s principle of interaction. These stages are from birth to two, from two to six, from seven to eleven, and from twelve to fifteen years of age (Dillon, 2001). Vygotsky included a social dimension to this type of learning when he asserted that much of it is �culturally mediated� (Ormrod, 1999, p. 161). His argument proposed that advanced concepts appear first in social interactions and then are slowly absorbed by the individual.
George Hein espouses the constructivist learning theory which emphasizes active participation in learning, using both �their hands and their minds� (Dillon, 2001). A modification of this theory, situated constructionism is even more focused on the idea of �learning-by-making� which appeals to many different learning styles (Papert & Harel, 1991). Students should be given the freedom and challenge to produce work that reflects their own interests and personal growth. Therefore, conclusions reached by each learner should not be compared to external standards because �people make their own meaning out of experience� (Hein, 1994, p. 34).
Museums offer an environment that caters particularly well to experiential and constructivist models of learning. Terry Russell points out how adept museums are able to effectively engage visitors by connecting old and new ideas, by providing hands-on experiences, and creating forums for social interaction (Russell, 1994). Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi suggests that intrinsic motivation for learning can be sparked by supportive environments where learners are curious to find out more about each new topic (Csikszentmihalyi, as cited in Dillon, 2001). Exhibits in museums can provide this scenario and more museums are now including even more diverse ways of interacting with the content�a concept which supports Howard Gardner�s Multiple Intelligences theory. Gardner (1993) points out that many schools are striving to recreate the learner-centered environments that exist in museums.
An over-arching framework used in the development of the curriculum of the museum magnet school, one that encompasses many of the concepts listed above, is called Understanding by Design�an idea developed by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe (Brown, 2004, p.13). The focus of their framework is to enhance student understanding, rather than focusing on rote recall or covering textbook material (Wiggins & McTighe, 1998). Their book, Understanding by Design, promotes facets of student understanding that should be at the forefront of any curriculum design. They present a backward design process calls for educators to ask essential questions, such as, �What should students know?� or What is worthy of understanding?� (Wiggins & McTighe, 1998, p. 8). By incorporating curriculum standards into the creation of learning modules, teachers can insure that classroom time is useful and meaningful for the students (Brown, 2004). Further, Understanding by Design recommends that students have a �photo album� of student performance rather than a �snapshot� as their learning is being assessed(Brown, 2004, p. 15). Clearly, this framework calls for a completely new approach to curriculum design and implementation.
During the exploration and creation of interactive, interdisciplinary exhibits, students in museum magnet schools are engaged in topics and information in a very different way than in a traditional classroom with a textbook. Experiential learning calls for active involvement and hands-on exploration (Sternberg and Zhang, 2000). This differs greatly from the traditional classroom model of teaching to the test. Museum experiences that are designed to stimulate a person�s intrinsic motivations to investigate, explore, and synthesize, can lead to the building of salient learning constructs to which further knowledge can be added. Intrinsic motivation in students has a multitude of advantages over extrinsic motivators, including: not needing to constantly compel student to perform tasks, the students are generally more engaged in the topics of study, and they learn new information in a more meaningful, connected fashion (Ormrod, 1999, p. 409). For these reasons, museum education is a particularly useful model of education that has been used by some as the basis of a new kind of curriculum for K-12 schools.
An added benefit of museum magnet schools is that they do not typically cost additional money or require new resources to enable. Because of the symbiotic relationship between the museum and the schools, resources can be shared for a mutually beneficial partnership. This partnership--where the school is incorporated into its surrounding environment, can be described as an integrated learning community (Glencoe Online, 2005). Their non-traditional approach to learning provides new ways to �bridge economic, generational, and institutional gaps� that may be present in the existing school system (Glencoe Online, 2005). Also, such partnerships can often be used as the basis for requests for grant funding, a resource almost all public schools require and often are in competition for.
An example of an integrated, learning community is the partnership between the two schools in Washington, D.C. and the Smithsonian Institution (King, 1999). Of course, a partnership with a museum holding one of the largest and most diverse collections in the world has a tremendous impact on each of the schools involved. In these schools students are encouraged to explore and research existing exhibitions, then work collaboratively to create exhibits. Museum education specialists are available to the students during each step of the process. Finally, the exhibits are put on display and the public is able to view their work, thus finalizing the real-world experience and fulfilling a �real sense of accomplishment� (Glencoe Online, 2005).
Many other school systems have applied the magnet museum school curriculum as successfully. One such school is the Normal Park Museum Magnet in Chattanooga, Tennessee which has partnered with no less than seven local museums (Headley, 2006). Students there engage in �hands-on, minds-on� learning with an emphasis on literacy (Normal Park Museum Magnet School). Once a predominantly black school with low achievement, Normal Park now serves students a very diverse population. Now only about 30% of the students in the school are minority and 70% are non-minority and the achievement gap between the two groups has been reduced by over 40 points (Levine, 2006). Gaps between students from varying economic backgrounds have been reduced significantly as well (Levine, 2006). Jill Levine, the principal at Normal Park, reports that test scores have improved in almost every area (J. Levine, personal interview, March 30, 2006).
In creating the curriculum for the school which re-opened as a museum magnet in 2002, Levine hand chose teachers from the county school system that were willing to think progressively about creating a new kind of educational experience for the students (Battles, 2004). State curriculums were unpacked (Brown, 2004), or taken apart and placed into a more concrete learning context as parts of 9-week modules that focus on specific topics (Battles, 2004). Fort instance, a 5th-grade student spends a 9 week block focused on the civil war. During this time that student will prepare for and then visit the Chattanooga Regional History Museum, report back on that experience, and then apply knowledge gained to the creation of an exhibit on the civil war. That exhibit will then be displayed in the school building and presented on one of four exhibit nights. On that night the student acts as a docent, explaining his or her work and demonstrating an understanding of its sociocultural context (Levine, personal interview, March, 30, 2006).
�Student work is put on a pedestal,� is the phrase Levine uses to describe the unique approach to teaching and learning taken at Normal Park (Levine, personal interview, March 30, 2006). Student projects are on display in every inch of the school building and even on the grounds. Every piece of work is unique and a student�s background cannot be determined by the exhibits they�ve created. This proves that the curriculum can work with students from any background (Creating Successful Magnet School Programs). Levine believes that homework can be an equity issue. When asked about parental involvement with the creation of the exhibits, she explained that the exhibits displayed in the schools are created entirely in the classroom. When parents volunteer they are encouraged to help their student�s entire class, not just their own child (Levine, personal interview, March 30, 2006). Parents at the Normal Park Museum Magnet must volunteer a minimum of 18 hours at the school each year (Normal Park Museum Magnet School). This provides teachers with much of the additional support needed to work in such a demanding teaching role, and it saves thousands of dollars each year for the school�s budget.
Administrators of museum magnets may be presented with more challenges than administrators of traditional schools. Continued funding must constantly be sought for the added costs related to development of the curriculum such as: busing costs for the trips to the museums, materials and supplies needed to create museum quality products, and funding for additional staff such as a museum coordinator (J. Stepanske, personal communication, March 28, 2004). Also additional time must be spent by teachers to create new and unique instructional units each year (Levine, personal interview, March 30, 2006). More teaching assistants are often needed, and this need cannot always be met by parent volunteers, however, even with all of these factors to overcome, administrators in these programs are very optimistic about the new programs they are creating (Battles, 2004).
Museum magnet schools represent one of the most effective education reforms of the last century. With its unique curriculum built upon Understanding by Design and its focus on hands-on, project-based, object-oriented learning, student achievement results at museum magnet school are very high. Normal Park�s school averages were once some of the lowest in Hamilton County, but now they bring up the average. When comparing the academic achievement of advanced students, those who typically score very highly on standardized tests, Normal Park�s students� scores are consistently higher than advanced students throughout the county (Normal Park School Improvement Plan).

Adapting the Curriculum
The concepts used in magnet schools can be adapted to and used in more traditional school settings to achieve similar results. The Queensland, Australia Museum Magnet schools program represents an effort to embed components of the museum school curriculum into a traditional classroom setting. Students and teachers in this program are similar to those in the magnet schools described above in that they �collect objects, study them to derive knowledge and present their findings through exhibitions and publications� (Museum Magnet Schools). However, these schools have not created an entirely new design in order to adopt the curriculum. Instead they have modified their existing curriculum to incorporate similar goals and have done so quite successfully.
The partnership at the heart of this program exists between four schools under the Queensland Department of Education and the Queensland Museum as well as the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. (Museum Magnet Schools). Students in this program create exhibits in their classrooms that are then displayed on the world wide web to be shared with other schools in the program and partner museum schools in the United States. Even though these schools do not fit the definition of a museum school as put forth by Kira King and others, these schools have been able to achieve many of the same results are possible with the museum school curriculum. Many of the adaptations have involved creative uses of technology, such as virtual field trips and presenting student work online (Museum Magnet Schools).
Jill Levine believes that components of the museum curriculum certainly be transferred to classrooms in non-museum schools. �It just takes a lot of extra work for teachers� (Levine, personal interview, March, 30, 2006). The preparation of the lessons and the museum visits, planning and arranging the projects, and finding materials and funds for purchase of materials can be exhausting, as many schoolteachers and administrators know. But the resulting learning and understanding of what is learned by the students is certainly worth the extra effort.
Teachers today in almost all subject areas are under pressure to adapt their instructional styles to incorporate situated, hands-on learning as is described by the constructivist and constructionist learning theories and to cater to multiple intelligences as described by Howard Gardner. Museums and schools are able to partner in ways that create new types of learning experiences for students of many different backgrounds and with many different learning styles. It should not be interpreted that traditional classrooms are inadequate when compared to the experiences provided by a museum but rather that, as stated by Sarah Dillon, �the learning experiences available in museums and schools can complement each other to the benefit of all learners� (2001). Partnerships between museums and schools are certain to be increasing in numbers and in complexity over coming years, and further research into the curriculum that is developing from those partnerships will be needed.
The current research, although limited, as a whole presents a very positive view of what the future holds for both museum magnet schools and even non-magnet schools. Traditional schools that are able to adapt their existing curriculum to include object-oriented learning experiences and the creation of exhibits in the classroom will likely be able to increase achievement scores and reach students with diverse learning styles. Further empirical research into achievement measures of these schools and cost/benefit analysis could benefit administrators and stakeholders as they proceed with future museum school partnerships.

References

Battles, L. (2004). A Magnet for Learning. Dimensions. 17-18.

Blank, R. K. and Archbald, D. (1992). Magnet schools and issues of education quality. The Clearing House.

Davis, J. and Gardner H. (1993). Open Windows, Open Doors. Museum News Jan/Feb. 34-37, 57-59.

Dillon, S. (2001). Learning Theories and Museum Education Practice: Food for Thought. MERT Journal 2:1.

Donald, J. (1991). The Measurement of Learning in the Museum. Canadian Journal of Education. 175:2. 179-192.

Education Queensland, (n.d.). Museum magnet schools. Retrieved Mar. 12, 2006, from Museum Magnet Schools Web site: http://mms.eq.edu.au/.

Foster, G. (1973). �Desegregating schools: A review of techniques.� Harvard Educational Review v 43 n 1.

Gardner, H. (1993). Multiple intelligences: The theory in practice. New York: Basic Books.

George Mason University Instructional Technology Program, (n.d.). Object-based learning. Retrieved Mar. 14, 2006, from http://chd.gmu.edu/immersion/knowledgebase/strategies/constructivism/objectbased.htm.

Glencoe Online, (2005). Integrated learning communities: communities building better schools. Retrieved Mar. 1, 2006, from Education Up Close Web site: http://www.glencoe.com/sec/teachingtoday/educationupclose.phtml/34.

Hamilton County Department of Education, (n.d.). Normal park museum magnet. Retrieved Mar. 11, 2006, from Education on the Move Web site: http://www.hcde.org/magnet/npmm.htm.

Headley, A. (2006). Normal Park Museum Magnet School. CityScope. 60-64.

Hein, G. (1994). Learning in the Museum. New York: Routledge.

King, K. (1996). Alternative educational systems: A multi-case study in museum schools. Retrieved Feb. 21, 2006, from Dissertations in instructional systems technology. Web site: http://www.indiana.edu/~educr795/prop2.html.

King, K. (1998). Museum Schools: Institutional Partnerships and Museum Learning. AERA Annual Meeting. San Diego.

King, K. (1999). Transforming education: Case studies in systems thinking. Retrieved Mar. 30, 2006, from http://education.indiana.edu/~frick/aera99/transform.pdf.

Neill, J. (2005). Experiential learning. Retrieved Feb. 21, 2006, from 500 Word Summary of Dewey�s �Experience & Education� Web site: http://www.wilderdom.com/experiential/SummaryJohnDeweyExperienceEducation.html.

Ormrod, J. E. (2004). Human learning. 4th Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall.

Papert, S. (1991). Situating constructionism. In I. Harel & S. Papert (Eds.) Constructionism. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Corporation.

Russell, T. (1994) The Enquiring Visitor: Usable Learning Theory For Museum Contexts. Journal of Education in Museums. 15. 19-21.

Takahisa, S. & Chalusian, R. (1995). New initiatives for museum-school partnerships. American association of museums�s 90th annual meeting. Washington, DC: American association of museums.

US Department of Education, (n.d.). Creating successful magnet school programs. Retrieved Feb. 22, 2006, from Innovations in Education Web site: http://www.ed.gov/admins/comm/choice/magnet/report_pg8.

Sternberg, R. J. and Zhang, L. F. (2000). Perspectives on cognitive, learning, and thinking styles. NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2000. html.

Filmmaking Curriculum - Production

So our second workshop at the Hunter Museum on February 18th focused on the production phase of making your film. Quite honestly, the day wasn�t as action-packed as the first workshop on screenwriting, but there were some highlights. One was a presentation of Lazy Bear Productions� �How to Make Your Movie: Episode 1 � Twelve Simple Steps.� Check it out on Google Video here. Another was Jim Burer�s presentation of �Krusty,� which can be seen on his site, www.angusgroove.com.

Other than the above-mentioned highlights we did take time to point out some basic DV filmmaking tips and tricks, starting with the very basics.

1. Use a tripod! It�s much easier to look amateur than professional and usually the main difference is shaky handheld video. When should you go handheld? Only when the action or pacing of a scene calls for it. However, unless you�re shooting a spaghetti western, don�t move the camera, use the zoom, or change the shot mid-scene.

I like to encourage students in my classes to think of shooting video the exact same way we shoot pictures from a photography standpoint. Set up the shots, compose all of the elements, roll the tape, call for action, then try it again from a different angle. It�s a lot of trouble, but taking the time to carefully compose each shot will make all the difference in your final product.

2. Shoot closeups. The closeup shot is essentially the key to connecting with your audience in filmmaking. Lasting images are usually those that were carefully composed (like a good photo) and effectively isolate the subject from its surroundings. Closeups are important visually in this way but are also useful as cutaways in the editing process. For instance, if you shot a long conversation of two friends arguing and decide to cut the scene shorter but you only have a wide shot of the scene, cutaways of hands wringing or on one character�s eyes, or just about anything in the scene, this can be inserted into the scene and allows you to start back further into the conversation without an annoying jumpcut.

How close it too close? A lot of times scenes are shot extremely close to make them feel more intense. While this effect works, it can be horribly overused, particulary in fight sequences--Batman Begins, Point Break, Braveheart (wide scenes are epic, but when the fighting starts you can�t tell what�s going on.)

3. Use good lighting. When shooting outdoors in the sun you can usually get away with natural lighting. Mid-day sunlight is actually much too harsh for most DV camcorders, but by scheduling shoots earlier or later in the day this can be effectively handles. However, when shooting outdoors at night or anytime indoors you WILL NEED lighting. Here are some cheap ways to getting better lighting when shooting indoors.

Turn on the lights. All of them. If you have a halogen torchiere lamp that can be set up in the room out of the shot go for it. Also, cheap halogen work lights can be reflected off of a white wall or ceiling to brighten the scene. Also, take off the lamp shade of any lamps that are not in the shot. Finally, try swapping out the bulbs in lamps with the brightest wattage bulbs you can use in them. Again, it�s a lot of trouble, but worth every bit of it for a better final product.

Also, you�ll likely need to perform a manual white balance with your camera. Usually there is a control for this in the camera�s menu, so check your manual about how to do this. Orange-tinted interior shots are another great way to look amateur, so try to avoid them by doing a white balance.

We talked a little further about directing actors and coming up with props and scenery, but most of this you can figure out for yourself. There are several great websites below with tips on how to make fake blood, sugar glass, etc., for very little cost, so check those out or send me references if you know of others or have favorite tips you'd like to share.

Chris Willis

Further Resources
The Complete Eejit's Guide to Film-Making
DV for Beginners
Extreme Indie
The Digital Filmmaker
Cyber Film School

Funny curriculum

It seems to me that humor is underutilized in instruction and curriculum design, particularly at the college level. I asked a couple of my students to create the following video last semester for me to show my class at the beginning of the semester. I was so impressed I've decided to build my curriculum around creating how-to videos for each unit next fall. Will post the plans as I develop them this summer. Until then enjoy 12 Steps. (Watch for step 10, it's a doozy!)

Curriculum Planning for Girls, Inc.

I guess I am involved with curriculum planning all the time, though even more often I guess it relates to instruction. However, this summer, Girls Inc. of Chattanooga and UTC are hosting summer camps in Journalism and Broadcasting and I have been in on the curriculum planning for those meetings as they will be using our TV studio and I am the resident TV guru.

ILLP items

Stuff i keep forgetting to blog about:

Working with UTC faculty to develop a curriculum for Girl's Inc. camps taking place on campus this summer. During this camp girls will learn about journalism and television news production. This will include how to write, shoot, and edit news packages; working as various crewmembers during the studio production; and working with local news anchors on delivery and presentation. Will post more as this develops.

Filmmaking Curriculum - Preproduction/Screenwriting

Screenwriting Resources

As a resource for those taking our filmmaking workshop, and for whoever else stumbles onto the CFB searching for filmmaking tips, I�ve compiled the following information as a resource for beginning screenwriters. I�d like to thank my former intern Ryan DiGiorgi of LazyBear Productions for gathering most of this research, and to a lesser extent my current intern, Kashad Moore (j/k Kashad).

The purpose of the workshops is to promote story-telling with film/digital video, to encourage local submissions for the Back Row Film Festival, and to generally encourage young filmmakers.

The first workshop covers preproduction, specifically, writing your script. Why is writing so important, isn�t film a visual medium? Well, yes, but, that is only the finished product. The first step is getting the idea out of your head and onto paper. Everything you see on the screen starts with the script. And the script starts with a single idea.

Where do good ideas for stories come from? Check out some scripts from films you�ve seen:
http://www.script-o-rama.com/, http://www.screenplays-online.de/

These Hollywood films required months, even years of preproduction, script development, and planning.

But where do story ideas come from? Random conversations with friends, waking up in the middle of the night (a vision from God), locations that evoke a feeling, where else? A good story idea can come from anywhere, but the question is, where is this story going?

Every story has already basically been told in some form. Man vs. Man, Man vs. Nature, Man vs. Self. Any new idea, no matter how original, can be compared to an existing work. This isn�t necessarily a bad thing. It can be helpful to look at previous work to get your ideas in motion.

How do these story ideas then get turned into films? Not just by talking about them! They had to be written down first--then submitted to film companies, completely re-written, then made into Hollywood films.

A lot of the movies you see started with a �what if� statement? From a conversation, someone came up with, What if _____ happened to _______?

What if an alien visitor was left behind on Earth and discovered by a child?
What if werewolves fought vampires?
What if a psychopath designed traps where people had to hurt themselves or others to save their own life?
What if we made a movie about a young rapper trying to make it?
What if toys came to life?
What if a student skipped school and had hilarious hijinx in Chicago?
What if four brothers vowed to avenge their mothers death?
What if two cowboys fell in love?
What if two professional killers were married to each other and didn�t know the truth about each other?

The �Chris Willis� method, as I like to call it is very similiar. Basically I have sat around and heard a thousand converations where someone said, �Wouldn�t it be cool if ______ happened in a movie?� Same concept.

All screenplays have common elements that need to be addressed, but the place to start is with the subject. What is your story about? (Field) Figure this out first, then move on to plot, characters, and endings.

What happens? �The story is NOT an action scene, it�s not a guy falling down the stairs, it�s not �wouldn�t it be funny if we dressed up like ninjas� unless that sentence ends with �and then something interesting happens�� (DiGiorgi, 2006).

What else makes a story? Structure. Hollywood agents for writers have very particular criteria they are looking for. One thing in particular is that submitted stories have a �Three Act Structure.�

ACT 1
Setup
Who is the main character and what does he want?
Why?
What does he intend to do to get it?

ACT 2
Struggle
The hero�s plan goes into action
There are problems
He tries several different methods, meeting new obstacles and learning new things at each turn
Just when he�s sure he has everything figured out, his worst fear comes true. He�s ready to give up.
EVERY good movie has this scene, try to find it.
But WAIT. There might be hope.
One last plan

ACT 3
Payoff
CLIMAX: The hero�s last plan is put into action.
The plan pays off and he has the power to get what he wants.
But was it really what he NEEDS?
He takes everything he learned in Act 2 and applies it to his final decision to accept what he wants or reject it.
Resolution
How did everything turn out for everyone?

The Punctuation Method (The Screenwriter Within)

ACT 1 ends with a �?�
The premise is setup, what will happen?

ACT 2 ends with a �!�
Holy crap, I did not think that would happen!

ACT 3 ends with a �.�
Well, I guess it all worked out.

If you don�t know your ending, make up three. The real ending is probably a mixture of these:

The happiest possible ending
The saddest possible ending
The most absurd ending
-The Screenwriter Within

Another important point for scripts submitted to film companies is using the proper screen writing format. Eejit�s Guide has a very good explanation of how to write for independent films.

Is the format really that important? Depends on what you�re doing. The main things is to get your ideas out of your head and onto paper. People can�t read your mind.

Storyboarding is another useful tool in preproduction. Check Eejit�s Guide for help with this as well.

So get to work. And if you'd like to post your ideas or get other feedback from area writers, contact me at Chris-Willis@utc.edu.

For more info see:
Books on screenwriting:
King, Viki. How to Write a Movie in 21 Days.
Gilles, D. B. The Screenwriter Within.
Field, Syd. Screenplay : The Foundations of Screenwriting.
Field, Syd. The Screenwriters Workbook.

Useful websites:
http://www.indiewire.com/
http://www.exposure.co.uk/eejit/
http://www.screenwriting.info/
http://www.dvshop.ca/dvcafe/writing/beginners.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/arts/features/howtowrite/screenplay.shtml
http://worldfilm.about.com/c/ht/00/07/How_Write_Screenplay_For0962933827.htm

2006 Educator's Conference

I attended the 2006 Educator's Conference today at Covenant College on Lookout Mountain. Someone said to me, maybe they built this up here so they could feel closer to God (actually they converted a hotel I believe..). I told him that based on some of the students I've met from there it seems that they feel that way. But otherwise the campus is very impressive and feels like a ski resort.

Dr. Howard Gardner was the big speaker and I was fairly impressed with his presentation since several had warned me he was dry. He didn't jazz it up at all, but his ideas on learning are pretty on target so I was very interested. He pimped (promoted) his book Changing Minds: The Art and Science of Changing Our Own and Other People's Minds, which sounds very business leadership oriented, but does not read as such. A big idea he promoted is summarized by the Harvard Business Review as:

Howard Gardner contends that the ability to synthesize information will be the most valued trait for leaders.

This comes from a forthcoming book about the "5 Minds of the Future" that he is still working on.

Other big ideas I keyed in on were related to his review of multiple intelligences. I've heard of this concept and feel that I vaguely understand it, but haven't read his books yet so was glad to get from the horse's mouth.

The intelligences he describes are:

Linguistic intelligence ("word smart"):
Logical-mathematical intelligence ("number/reasoning smart")
Spatial intelligence ("picture smart")
Bodily-Kinesthetic intelligence ("body smart")
Musical intelligence ("music smart")
Interpersonal intelligence ("people smart")
Intrapersonal intelligence ("self smart")
Naturalist intelligence ("nature smart") (thompsonarmstrong.com)

Another good handout can be found here.

The key points I heard were that these intelligences are essentially like computers in our head that are better at sifting through certain types of information than the others. We all have these intelligences, but most people are more proficient with a couple of these than they are in others.

In Changing Minds Gardner talks about 3 common sense dimensions that explain the phenomenon of changing one's mind. These are the entity (how you attempt to change a mind), the arena (the context of the group or individual you are trying to influence is in), and the levers or tools that actually work to change someone's mind. These are: resources and rewards, reason or logic, research, resonance, representational redescription, real workd events, and resistances (convenient how they all start with R..)

Gardner then went into a long diatribe about Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan...

Finally he discussed his current topic of research which is about the nature of good work. Good is defined by he and his colleagues (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and William Damon) as 1) of expert quality, 2) is ethically responsible, and 3) feels right or is enjoyable and engaging to the worker. For this to take place in an organization there should be what he calls "Alignment," which is when all of the stakeholders have common goals. I was thinking about UTC, as a university and within departments, and I would question whether there is that much alignment and therefore not much good work being produced.

Finally, either during asides or in answering questions, I picked up on what I believe to be his solution for education today, in K-12 and higher ed, which seems to be mentors. For someone to really have an impact, there seems to be no combination of curriculum and technology, no new learning theory, no better way to teach than by examples of mentors exhibiting good work. To foster good work in our students, we need to be all about good work ourselves. I think this attitude is probably more prominent in K-12, but many college professors do not seem to feel this need.

So that's basically everything I know about Howard Gardner and MI. I hope it helps you..

Mocs News story in The Echo

Mocs News is one of my proudest achievements at UTC, not that I do much more than facilitate, but its all of the students' hard work that makes it happen.

"Mocs News boosts broadcasting dreams"
By: Laura Bond
Issue date: 2/9/06 Section: News

According to one UTC student, future broadcasters receive valuable experience while working on Mocs News.

Emily Edwards, a Chattanooga senior and a Mocs News anchor, said Mocs News offers excellent experience for beginners.

"Broadcasting is my dream," she said. "Everyone has got to start somewhere, especially in this profession."

"Broadcasting is my dream," she said. "Everyone has got to start somewhere, especially in this profession."

Being an anchor on Mocs News has helped Edwards become comfortable on camera.

She said: "The anchor position allows you to put yourself out there in front of the camera and get used to being on television. You can watch the episode following the show and constructively criticize yourself in order to improve."

At her job as an anchor, Edwards is responsible for writing the entire newscast as well as hosting the newscast with another student.

According to Chris Willis, the faculty advisor for Mocs News, there are about 16 students working for Mocs News, either receiving payment or school credit for their work.

Some students also volunteer their time. Edwards joined the team in January and volunteers at the station for about six hours a week.

According to Willis, the Mocs News program started three years ago by several UTC students.

A typical newscast covers campus events, entertainment and sports.

Students go through an audition process before given the opportunity to be on the air.

Willis said, "The students who want to be on-air try out for the positions by reading an example script off of the teleprompter.

"Then the news directors and I make the decisions," he said.

Willis said they try to provide everyone with on-air experience if they desire it.

Edwards said being in front of the camera was difficult at first.

"At first I was nervous, especially during tryouts, but I got over it by the next show," she said.

"Once you realize you are getting into what you want to do for the rest of your life, it calms your nerves and you want to show everyone what you are capable of doing," she continued.

Anybody, whether they have experience in broadcast, is encouraged to join the team.

"Students with broadcasting courses or work experience are terrific, but we can train anybody," Willis said.

"Students might perform better in [communication] classes having had Mocs News experience under their belts," he added.

Edwards said, "Mocs News offer[s] so many opportunities off-and-on camera, and there is always someone you can shadow or [who] is willing to help you out."

In addition to the regular newscast, there is a new sports show.

According to Willis, the student-produced show, called "R U Serious?" is similar to network sports shows like "Cold Pizza" or "Best Damn Sports Show."
The show covers local, national and international sports.

Both Edwards and Willis recommend students watch the news programs to receive information about UTC.

"Mocs News comes from a student point of view, so I think students would be interested [in] hearing the news from their own point of view," Willis said.

Edwards said, "In reading over scripts, I myself have found out about campus-related information that I would never [have] known unless I had been watching Mocs News."

Mocs News airs on Comcast cable channel 3. Join the Mocs News team by visiting Chris Willis, Phillip Brown or Shaadi Marand on Monday, Wednesday or Friday at noon in the Metropolitan Building.

Podcasting assignments?

I am curious about how podcasting is being used as an instructional tool. Perhaps I can do a paper on it. I know many universities are using the technology to push delivery of lectures and materials, but I am more curious about where it is being used as a portfolio of student presentations and so forth. I have seen several locally from Baylor High School and I know that there were talks between the COMM dept and the Hunter museum about creating a series of podcasts, but I am not sure how well they are being integrated into the curriculum.

At my suggestion (and others) a couple of students I know have started a weekly 30 minute podcast in which they review movies and dialog about filmmaking. It is featured on the PulseBlog and on the Chattanooga Film Blog. Check it out below.

Learning and Instruction

This is going to be my first essay about a competency, with the intent that I look back on this later and compare what I've learned with this entry.

Learning takes place when someone gets excited about something, they stop whatever else they are doing, and they focus on that one thing. They try to figure it out and when they succeed they come away from the experience pleased. We learn by doing things, whether that doing is observation, or actual hands-on activity, they brain must be actively engaged for learning to take place. Of course learning can take place in other ways than experiential, but this is certainly the way I like to learn and to teach.

"I could stand up here and talk about it, or you can learn it for yourselves."

I like to figure things out. Whether it is technology, a novel, a school of philosophy, or whatever, if I encounter something that piques my interest I can't rest until I figured it out, or exhausted my brain trying to. I tend to teach to this learning style, and I am always surprised when students don't want to put in the time to learn for themselves. I've never accepted regurgitation of lectures personally, so I try to avoid that in my classes as much as possible. If I am going to present on a topic, I want my students to have done some sort of exercise already that demonstrates their need for the information I have to share--or if they already have a mastery I don't need to waste their time. Luckily I teach some of the most interesting (IMHO) classes UTC has to offer, so I think the students are usually OK with this method. I call it teaching swimming by throwing them in the deep end, but I would always follow this up by demonstrating and discussing proper stroke technique.

I was telling a colleague yesterday, I don't believe students are actually learning unless they are learning about something they are interested in. I know this won't work for every subject that students may need to learn, but I also think instructors need to find ways to appeal to student's individual learning styles and interests. I believe this is the idea behind Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences books, so maybe I'll know more about this after his seminar at Covenant in February.

Learning does not take place in a vacuum. Teaching, without reference to current culture or without any hands-on experiences or meaningful discussion, does not lead to learning. Learning takes place when someone actively engages their mind to construct meaning around given information. My quick look back at cognitivism reminded me of how we make connections, linking new information to existing knowledge, or when presented with an entirely new concept we create new categories for that topic.

I don't particularly care what my students learn specifically. I am more interested in presenting areas that they are interested in, providing sitiuations where they can be engaged. I want to see that they come away with the bits and pieces of information that are useful to them, not just what is on the test. I need to see that they can process information and learn new concepts to accomplish specific tasks.

Stars on Ours

Somewhere along the way in education, somebody got the idea to put all the kid's in kindergartens names on the wall, and to assign them stars based on merit. I can easily see the value of this incentive and think that a token economy of stars is fun for the kids, but I question instilling this value of rewards-based performance. You see, in my doctoral program, there is a contingent of students who still want stars. Then there are others, like myself, who could care less about the stars (I am just in it for the participation and hopefully personal growth, though I realize some grow through reaching goals, and stars are a goal, of sorts).

Anywho, the faculty are selling us stars and participation, like the Dr. Seuss story about the Sneeches where they don't really care what you want to earn or have, they just want to see you run around (and I guess, to learn something).

Who made up this star idea? I want to say, No, no, bad teacher! Kids need to want to do good, because it is GOOD intrinsically, not for rewards..

Thoughts?

UPDATE: Finish reading Punished by Rewards by Alfie Kohn.