My new website

http://garyaldridge.weebly.com/

Kali the Creator: the movie

Film Assignment Rubric

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzAQCX_ntyV1NXV4MlF4blJ3aWc/edit

Electronic Expectations

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzAQCX_ntyV1dkVoOFoyQjlVZjQ/edit

D.I.Y.

• What is a concept (not a tool) you learned in this class that you will be able to incorporate into your teaching?

I wouldn’t say it was a concept I learned, so much as re-discovered, but the concept of D.I.Y. has been really cool in this class, EDUC 932. Equally as cool, has been the spirit of collaboration which has made this concept possible.

For personal reasons, I had eschewed technology hoping to live in a world of ‘low-fi’ until my dying days. Sorry to bust on ya Ben, but this might give an idea of why. Try and toguess…

However, it’s been cats like Ben, and Igor, and Ryan, and Andrew, and Dirksey, and Todd, and Dru, and Gareth, and Liz, and Robyn, and Mathieu, and Natalie, and Stephanie, and LML who have really taken time out of their lives to help me help myself.

I honestly did not know how to hyperlink before this course began, now, with the help of others (mostly by Googling it themselves, and walking me through it, or just saying, ‘Dude, just Google it’) I have learned how to do that and so much more.

I’ve always had a D.I.Y. philosophy in regards to my classes, with the caveat of me trying to ‘lead’ the process. However, I liked how Steve put it in our final lecture, if I might paraphrase, ‘By the way you came together and worked out the technology, it’s how it should be. Had I tried to walk each and every one of you through it, (INSERT APPLE SNOB JOKE HERE) there would not have been enough time in the week.’

That’s the thing, it was a bouncing of ideas which really helped me take my ideas and explore things which I had disregarded, ignored, or even opposed. Steve, and others, have seen a few of the 1^st things I have done through this course, in regards to using technology.

I want to take that spirit of D.I.Y. and convince my students that it might seem like a lot of effort, but when you get to a point where you are wondering, ‘What is it we are doing, and why am I here doing it?’ that they, too, can wander through (enter your own physical dystopic analogy) to s point where they say, ‘I have an idea,’ and run with it.

Screencast Is a Blast

            So far, for me, I’d have to say screencast is my favorite tool that we’ve delved into so far. There are a couple of reasons for this. To begin with, it is just so simple to use. Even for me, an admittedly technologically challenged creature, it was almost intuitive to operate.

            Secondly, I can already envision the usefulness of this simple tool. Being in the process of trying to flip my classrooms, this will be the perfect tool for me to just tell my students to look at outside of the classroom. For example, the one I put on, how to do an advanced search in ScienceDirect will prove extremely valuable to my students when it comes to doing their final writing project for my class. Last semester, I spent half a class showing them how to search there, and on Google Scholar. Just by being able to place this onto an easily accessible location for them will save valuable class time, and thus I am really excited about exploring this ‘new’ tool in my life.

Going Somewhere New

            In his article, ‘World without Walls: Learning Well with Others’, Will Richardson speaks about learners engaging with the global online population, which has exceeded one billion, to find others out there with similar passions and interests to share information with. This, of course, has advantages (such as unlimited access to information) and disadvantages (such as the quality and reliability of that information).

            Honestly speaking, I have not really explored the concept of ‘virtualizing’ the classroom in any meaningful way. I am, admittedly, technically challenged. Actually, the first time I had ever experienced the concept was when Ben Steigner Skyped with Jeong-hee Kim, the author of For Whom the School Bell Tolls: Conflicting Voices Inside an Alternative High School for a presentation he was collaborating on with some other students for our EDUC 999 course, Research and Evaluation taught by Dr. Buckreis.

            It really left an impression on me, and I have been trying to come up with ways that I could get my own students to collaborate with others on writing projects of their own. Hopefully, I can take some of the knowledge from this course (for example, I finally learned how to hyperlink… baby steps, I know) and begin applying it to my own classroom with the intention of coercing my students into sharing their own works with others in the hopes of receiving feedback and/or extra-curricular information. For example, after reading this article for David Flynn’s EDUC 925- Curriculum and Theory class, I really pushed my students to read their classmates writings (a minimum of 6) to get an idea of not only what their friends were doing, but some ideas they might apply to their own papers. These blog posts, especially the part where we need to ‘comment’ on other posts, seems to have a similar concept. I saw what happened when I had students ‘look into’ the writings of others in the classroom, I’m excited to see what will happen when I apply this (via whatever medium I can comfortably work with my students next semester), and beyond.

            

Out of the Classroom

            Prakash Nair, in his article, “The Classroom Is Obsolete: It’s Time for Something New”, argues that, “The classroom is a relic, left over from the Industrial Revolution,” and that future learners would best be served by actively participating in, “interdisciplinary and real world projects.” Nair doesn’t argue for, ‘blowing up the buildings’ so much as re-designing them to create, ‘“learning studios” and “learning suites”” with an emphasis on providing students, and teachers alike, better access to daylight, fresh air, and nature.

            Of the many institutions which Nair mentions as being models for this, I looked up a few, but the Learning Gate Community School seemed to really be doing an outstanding job of  implementing some of the principles for future learners Nair mentions in his article, particularly the ones about being collaborative, environmentally conscious (they were one of 10 recipients for an award honoring green schools in the US), and building strong relationships with the community, as the above linked FaceBook page attests.

            Personally, I’m a big fan of the concept of moving the learning out of the classroom and into the world. One of the reasons I am taking these classes is that someday I would like to create an educational institution which is built with sustainable materials, featuring a year-round greenhouse/garden, but most importantly, is designed and built by the students themselves. One of the key criteria in the curriculum of this school would be that students spend a majority of their time working on ‘real world’ projects such as maintaining and improving the facility and/or community based volunteer activities, particularly working with the underprivileged and the elderly.

            As I was reading this article, it reminded me of an article I found while we were taking David Flynn’s EDUC 925- Curriculum and Theory class. I really liked the concept of trans-generational collaborative learning in a garden setting.

  
      -g

           

PDF file of my syllabus

Screencast

                                       Alien Tour Guide
 A lesson I really enjoy is called Alien Tour Guide. The first part is that I will place a photo onto the projector and ask my university level composition students to explain it to me, an Alien visitor who knows absolutely nothing about life on planet Earth. For example, if it is a photograph of me walking my dog in a park, they have to explain everything: ‘what is that line attached to the short creature’s neck?’ ‘what is a leash?’ ‘why does the dog have to be on a leash?’ This is a great conversation class activity. For the next class, I’ll have students bring in photographs of everyday scenes: a baseball game, in a shopping mall, on the subway, at a nightclub, wherever. Then, when they get to class, they pretend they are an alien, and walk around asking their ‘human friends’ to explain what is going on inside their photograph. (This can be quite chaotic as it’s a bit competitive to get to ask the 1st question thereby staking claim in the interview). They have to ask five different humans 3 questions trying to learn as much information as they can about their particular scenario. After class, they need to go home and file a report back to the Alien Leader explaining this strange Earthling activity. When asking my students to write, I tell them they should abide by three basic rules: • The reader has ZERO knowledge. • They should provide as much information that they can in as few words as possible. • Prove the credibility of their information source. The objective of the lesson is for them to clearly explain what is happening in an informative and interesting manner. The other objective is for them to learn to cite sources, and prove their reliability. The human told me, “Baseball is fun.” vs. Chul-su, who watches every home game at Jamshil Stadium, told me, “Baseball is the most important thing in my life.” The students really seem to enjoy the activity part of this lesson, but when it comes down to the actual writing, well. That’s another thing.

Prezi Review of Class

Review Rubric

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzAQCX_ntyV1cnRQWXg3M2tfX0U/view?usp=sharing

Presentation Handout

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzAQCX_ntyV1Y0dLSng5MUJFVXc/view?usp=sharing

Look into It

What are the challenges you find with following copyright laws?

            In last night’s class, which by the way I have failed to mention is EDUC 932 Creative Teaching Techniques and Utilization of Multimedia taught by Steve Katz through Framingham State University, we discussed some general laws in regards to copyright materials. Practically speaking, I learned three things which I did not know:

·       Music- Students can use 10% or 30 seconds of a song, whichever is shorter.

·       Words- Students may use 10% or 1000 words of text, or whichever is shorter.

·       Illustrations/photos/graphics- Students may use no more than 5 images from one artist

or 10% or 15 works from a collection, whichever is smaller.

            Why I mention this is that in my 1^st post for this blog, I mentioned that in a composition course I teach, some of my students are either, unaware of how to give proper citation, or not realizing how important the issue was. It is similar to my neophyte attempts at making multi-media presentations. While aware of the importance of copyright law, it had not been an issue I have dealt with in the past because I just had not used things like PowerPoint or Prezi. However, in the class, I learned a few simple ways around this issue.

·       Create your own content or use content created by friends and/or collaborators.

·       Use a site like http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ which is rich with source material available to use (look into how available before you use it though).

·       Follow the three rules of respect:

·       Citation- give credit where credit is due.

·       Permission- ask for written permission (if you don’t hear back you don’t have it.

·       Compensation- determine how much you value what you want to use. You might join a licensed share site—(such as creative commons or www.shutterstock.com

When in doubt, be paranoid. Check http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html for more information.

g

Put in the Time

• How can you become a more effective presenter?

Basically, I have two issues when it comes to giving presentations. First off, I have a terrible fear of public speaking. Secondly, I have an underwhelming grasp of technology. The first of these I’m not sure what I can ever do about, the second just requires a bit of effort on my behalf.

Ironically, given my chosen profession, I become very anxious when speaking in any group larger than two people. Even when I get together with my closest friends, if there are three or more people at the table, I am usually the quietest one. Those of you who witnessed my first presentation in Dr. Mike’s class probably recall my very brief question and answer section- the one where I said, “There will be no questions.” In front of my students, I have no difficulty because I approach the classroom as a stage, and do a fairly good job of transforming into an actor.

The second issue is just a matter of me not really ‘exploring’, as Andrew so succinctly added to my last presentation, the available technologies and systems out there to aid ‘would be presenters.’ I’m actually making efforts in that regards. Those of you who were in the, ‘Everything is Curriculum’ class saw me give my first ever PPT. I was in my office till about 1 a.m. putting that miserable piece of work together. Last semester, after that, I began putting together PPT’s for my composition classes with varying degrees of success. Tomorrow, I plan to take my first ever ride on Prezi. Hopefully, it will go well. I’m not sure if I can ever become a confident public speaker, but I believe I can learn more about the technology which can help me.

As I Posit this Post

            As I posit this post, the Post Intelligencier http://www.seattlepi.com/ must be positing- 'What the flop?'

I must say, it couldn’t have happened to a nicer team. HA-HA!

            As some of you know, I’m a huge Packers fan, and no, I did not self asphyxiate- Alabama style.

            Which of the ISTE Standards for Students is most important for you to address in your class?

            An issue that is near, and dear, to me is that of citing sources. I teach a composition course, and last semester asked my students to give me a paper with 3-5 body paragraphs and a minimum of 3 references. What I mostly got were some awesome results, but what I found were some awesome papers with some shoddy referencing.

            I found this was not an issue of students not willing to cite properly, but either, 1) not knowing how to, or 2) not realizing how important proper citation really was.

            While I had added a full ‘how to’ cite page attributed to my own dog à

Author(s), "Title," Publication Issue #, Vol. #, (Date): pgs.

Last, First, "Title of article" Name of Publication, Issue # vol. # (YEAR): pg. a-b

Aldridge, Uju, "Chasing Pigeons," A Dog's Life Issue 5, vol. 3, (2014): 14-23

to our university’s online portal, and went over this in class with the students, I still had a variety of issues related to faulty citations (or lack thereof).

            It’s a particular issue I plan to address during my spare time prior to our classes, and hopefully, it will even help me be on time.

            Other than that—

            Next year in---

            g