DIGITAL FILM: Technology & Spanish (ETEC 532)

PART 1:

The Challenges & Opportunities Involved in Optimizing Foreign Language Acquisition

with a Holistic Approach to Technology:

In our connected world, it has become indispensable for students to comprehend and represent knowledge in a multitude of formats.

Consequently, new educational approaches using digitally based literacy tools such as:

• Audio
• video
and various
• digital systems…are increasingly required.

Part 2:

The Use of Digital Film Communication as part of a Multiliteracies Curriculum Designed to Learn Spanish

a)  Producing a film in a Spanish class, for example, offers the conditions necessary to augment the effectiveness of linguistic acquisition:a) Excellent input in the form of authentic materials;

b) Plenty of practice through oral communication;

c) Varied types of feedback;
and

d) Personalized content pertaining to the student’s learning style and interests
(Zhao, 2005)

The intent of this production is to demonstrate that using digital film production to learn a foreign language can be an effective part of a comprehensive technological program for language educators. 

Please right click and choose “open in new tab”

FILM: Digital Film & Spanish

How can imovie be used to produce curriculum stories? (ETEC 532)

How Can imovie be Used to Produce Curriculum Stories?

In the video created with elementary students mentored by a video artist, learning is experiential. First and foremost, the learning experience seeks to develop knowledge in a specific context, which in this case is the environment. The theme is related to a clear problem, littering, and focuses on a goal: a change in attitude. The role of the story, therefore, is to provide a narrative that will create an emotional impact, allowing the information to be accepted and processed by the audience. The objective is to enable the video producers (in this case the elementary students) to communicate a message that will entice the viewers (and themselves) to actively alter their behavior and adopt the solution suggested by the film.

The choice of project

The production is called: “The Trash that Came from the Can“. This title is chosen with care, using words that children can easily visualize, pronounce and remember. The Trash Monster appeals to kid’s imagination. The mood of the film is light, even though the message is serious. This approach allows students to open their minds to complex ideas behind a seemingly simple and entertaining adventure.

In this type of project, the learning environment involves the use of technology (cameras, tapes, tripods, microphones, editing systems) and a collaborative and constructivist approach. The role of the teacher or mentor is to facilitate the collective discovery and the construction of knowledge. The process usually entails the pre-production (scripting), production (filming) and post-production (editing) phases. During these stages, students are encouraged to take ownership of their learning by searching information about the problem at hand. They select a genre that best suits their interest. Whether they choose to create a comedy, a thriller or a drama, students benefit from participating “in discussions if they are to be successful”, (Palloff & Pratt, 1999).

By exposing students to the various components of media production, they come to realize the influential power of this type of communication technology. In the film analyzed in this paper, the students chose to dramatize the story by having the Trash Monster take control of the school. This dramatic storytelling device allowed them to present a scenario in which they, as the actors of the story, changed their attitudes and cleaned up their environment. The indicators of learning are apparent in the way that students took responsibility for acting in the film as well as preparing the props. The dismantling of the monster at the end also gave the children a tactile experience directly linked with the concept of taking the problem apart and finding a resolution.

Technology & learning: advantages and limitations

As long as the technological tools are used to facilitate learning rather than for their own sakes, the technology enhances learning. However, in circumstances where teachers are not familiar with the tools it becomes more complicated to focus on the content. These limitations often create frustrations from the part of the instructor as well as the students. Therefore, this type of project necessitates a great deal of planning and some support from educational institutions for the professional development of teachers. According to So & Kim (2009), who observed teachers using technology, the biggest problems comprise:

a. generating authentic and ill-structured problems for a chosen content topic,

b. finding and integrating ICT tools and resources relevant for the target students and learning activities, and

c. designing tasks with a balance between teacher guidance and student independence.

They continue by offering suggestions to better link the content, pedagogical, and technological knowledge such as: providing teachers with integrated modules as well as models of project-based technology. Bransford, Brown & Cocking (2002), report the need for a continuous synchronized effort ranging from “pre-service education to early teaching to opportunities for lifelong development as professionals” (p. 205).

Conclusion

The technology played an obvious role in this vignette, since the story and the message depended on the use of cameras, angles, lighting and sound. The technological tools also allowed students to experience learning actively, by acting and participating in the various phases of the production. Provided that technology does not overshadow the educational objectives, the motivational benefits of such projects are inherent to the dynamic process of discovering a solution and communicating it to others effectively.

PDF File (right click to “open in new tab”):

etec-532-vignette-2-final

References

Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L. & Cocking, R. R. (2002). How people learn: Brain, mind,

experience, and school. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. Retrieved June 11, 2009 from: http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=6160

Palloff and Pratt. (1999). Building learning communities in cyberspace, chapters 1-2.

So, H. & Kim, B. (2009). Learning about problem based learning: Student teachers

integrating technology, pedagogy and content knowledge. Australasian Journal of

Educational Technology, 25(1), 101-116. Retrieved June 11, 2009 from:  http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet25/so.pdf

Literature review: Using Digital Film Production to Learn Spanish (ETEC 532)

 Optimizing Foreign Language Acquisition with a Holistic Approach to Technology: Using Digital Film Production to Learn Spanish

Introduction

Nowadays, educators have at their disposition numerous technological tools with the capability of significantly improving foreign language acquisition. However, these possibilities cannot be brought to fruition unless the conceptualization, design, development, and deployment of technologies in support of second language learning are reconsidered.

Furthermore it has become indispensable for students to comprehend and represent knowledge in a multitude of formats. Consequently, new educational approaches using digitally based tools such as audio, video, and various digital systems, are increasingly required.

Purpose and Assumptions

This literature review will explore the challenges inherent to the integration of educational technology in foreign language acquisition environments. Particularly, it will present the ways in which digital communication technologies can be used as facilitators of linguistic proficiency.

Cognitive approach. One assumption is that presenting and analyzing various tools and approaches will clarify what technology and how technology can provide quality input, opportunities for communication, meaningful feedback, and individualized content to enhance motivation.

Socio-cognitive approach. Another basic assumption is that by using a participatory approach, students immerse themselves in various cultures while producing digital documents attesting their language skills. 

Statement of the problem

What and how can technology be used to optimize foreign language acquisition environments, especially with the use of digital film production in the Spanish classroom?  

The intent is to demonstrate that, within the assortment of technologies available to language educators, using digital film production to learn a foreign language is a practical and theoretically sound manner to use technological tools strategically. The holistic process, encompassing the use of authentic cultural artifacts; film equipment; editing software; the Internet (just to name a few technological devices) provides an opportunity to create a long-lasting awareness of the Hispanic world as well as a way to optimize the learning of its dominant language.  

Full paper (PDF file) attached here (right click to “open in new tab”)

cdrolet-etec-532-lit-review-article-annotation-critique-finalx 

The artificiality of media productions (ETEC 532)

The Artificiality of Media Productions

  • What is seen on television, at the cinema or in the media in general is not objective reality, but rather scripted and carefully planned.

  • Students intuited the implications and the choices involved in constructing reality.

Responsibility and Self-expression:

  • making movies empowers students to tell their stories while also taking responsibility for their contributions.

  • Students participate actively in their own learning.

  • Digital film communication technologies introduce them “to a brand new world” of self-reflection, active responsibility and social contribution.

Critical Thinking:

  • The video gave the children the opportunity to think critically when talking about the purpose of a photograph.
  • Abstract concepts were easier to explore because children could connect them  with a photo.

Beneficial for teachers:

  • A simple way of using a technology, like this film, is a great way to give educators some confidence in their ability to guide students.

The Experience is:

  • Engaging
  • Empowering
  • Constructive
  • Insightful
  • Necessary nowadays (use of digital film)
  • Interactive

The experience can:

  • Trigger reflections, memories, emotions
  • Transmit cultural values and view points
  • Help students discover their abilities (know that they know)
  • Build a sense of community

Types of productions:

  • Document students’ work
  • Analyze speech and non verbal communication
  • Portfolios
  • Documentaries (docu-drama; mockumentaries; etc.)
  • Narratives
  • Public Service Announcements
  • Music Videos
  • Experimental / artistic films
  • Video Yearbook

Picture day: constructing reality (ETEC 532)

Constructing Reality

One of the main educational benefits in producing the film “Picture Day ” sConstructing realitytems from the realization that what is seen on television, at the cinema or in the media in general is not objective reality, but rather scripted and carefully planned.

At the elementary level, it may be challenging to delve in the more abstract discussions of who controls the scenarios and what values are being promoted. However, to a very simple degree, Tussing Elementary School students intuited the implications and the choices involved in constructing reality. 

Responsibility and Self-expression:

As the mastermind behind the digital film communication program in my school, and having taught film production for more than 15 years, I believe that one of the most important advantages of making movies is that students are empowered to tell their stories while also taking responsibility for their contributions. With the hands-on approach including the opportunity to film, interview their peers, and edit their film, students participate actively in their own learning.

Whether students create a film for a social studies class; for a service trip in which they participated during spring break; for a school assembly promoting a positive social behavior; or for an athletic club, digital film communication technologies introduce them to a brand new world of self-reflection, active responsibility and social contribution. 

Distance learning & representation in education (ETEC 532)

Distance Learning and Representation in Education

Mary Becerra, Venturo Bryan and ChantalDrolet

  • Can distance learning enable students to acquire the skills they need in order to be good citizens skilled in various domains? Or, does learning really require face-to-face engagement, and if so why?”

Dreyfus talks about the possibility of a “two tiered educational system”. Where face-to-face education will be more for the wealthiest and online education will be intended more for the poorer clientele. We feel like the embodied contact with her students is well taken since it allows for the students to create an atmosphere of trust, closeness and respect.

All dimension of learning can definitely be achieved online depending on the subject area and the technologies that are used. The possible drawback to this could be that the level of expertise that would be developed in an f2f environment might exceed the online environment as issues such as mood, facial expressions and body language can help to form association which cannot be picked up online.

We agree that embodied contact and the environment that is created between students and teachers is relevant. It is also important to understand the variety of relationships created between student/ instructor, student/student and leaner/technology. Learning will occur either in face-to-face or online as long as we understand the learning process from different perspectives. Skills would have to be defined in order to be determined what kind of environment we need to use them and make them functional.

  • What are your responses to these questions in light of your own experiences as a student and teacher and as a participant in this course?

Dreyfus he develops a very good case to prove that telepresence cannot reproduce the “sense of being in the situation […]”

From personal experience; however, this type of development is extremely useful as an alternative to the “embodied” experience. “If I had had to physically go to university in order to complete my master’s degree, I would NOT have done it. No chance. So, for me it is either nothing or something… which amounts to either 0 or 100.”

Online learning for some people is still not easy to understand; only when we have the chance to participate in this learning environment, we understand the amount of work that is involved and the necessity of organization and effective delivery from the instructor.

When I talk about this program many of my friends I refer to it as the full time online masters to give them an idea of the amount of work involved. This is my first online program and I am extremely impressed, everything seems to be properly organized and coordinated. The thing about online learning is that the teacher has to be properly organized to deliver it effectively.

Having the opportunity to experience both online learning and face-to-face gives us a better understanding of how the learning process is viewed. The idea of using technology and incorporate it to enhance the classroom seems to be very functional; however, we want to think that we still can have both technology and the embodied contact that creates an atmosphere of closeness as mentioned before. David Blair points that “As I become more experience lecturing, I began to have a sense of the class as not just a collection of students but as a  whole…I don’t think that any telecommunications device would enable me to get that feeling when viewing the audience at a distance” Dreyfus, H. (2001).  There will be occasions where there is not much closeness with classmates or with the teachers in a face-to-face environment since sometimes the number of students is so high that we barely make it to see the instructor’s face! A different environment is created in face-to-face and online learning, so it is up to the learner to decide whether face-to-face or online learning suit better his/her professional and personal learning expectations.

  • How is learning defined in the chapters? Consider both face-to-face and through-the-Internet learning. Dreyfus proposes a seven-step model to describe learning. What are the highlights of this model? What is not included in this model? Consider the model as you reflect on your own experiences as a student and teacher and as a participant in this course.

Dreyfus seven-step model to describe learning:

Dreyfus points out that it is necessary to define what skills are and how they are acquired in order to understand learning. Furthermore, he describes seven stages in which students learn by means of instruction, practice, and apprenticeship.

  • Novice: students are just consumers of information. Teacher presents; students recognize. (you don’t know that you don’t know)
  • Advance Beginner: students start to contextualize information and make sense of the material. Teacher gives more examples; students discern more subtly. (you know that you don’t know)
  • Competence: students seek rules and reasoning procedures and they learn through instruction or experience. Teacher challenges; students imitate. (you know that you know)
  • Proficiency: Students are able to select the important aspects of the current situation to decide what to do. Teacher guides; students explore.
  • Expertise: Students see immediately the solution of a current problem and they possess and immediate intuitive situational response. Teacher facilities; students make autonomous decisions.
  • Mastery: students imitate the master and his style, but eventually they will develop a style on their own. Teacher is there as consultant; students use knowledge intuitively. (you don’t know (are not thinking about it) that you know)
  • Practice Wisdom: students acquire the style of their culture to generate practical wisdom. Teacher learns from student; students adapt to change.

Student to Student Learning

The model excludes the fact that learning can occur at all the levels in a learning community or from student to student. In many cases the teacher is not often the source of understanding as students often learn from each other.

Having the opportunity to participate in a program that combined online learning with an apprenticeship component gives us more understanding of how important the context can be when learning different skills. We believe we need that specific context to apply what we learn and enhance the skills we learn, but the instruction can happen either online or face-to-face and still offer the elements we need to construct knowledge.

References

1. Dreyfus, H. (2001). How far is distance learning from education. On the Internet (pp.27-49). USA & Canada: Routledge.
2. Dreyfus, H. (2001). Disembodied telepresence and the remoteness of the real. On the Internet (pp. 50-72). USA & Canada: Routledge.

On Media Literacy, Education & Interdisciplinary (ETEC 532)

On Media Literacy, Education & Interdisciplinary

Children and teenagers are the main target of the powerful mass media and their messages. We act, think, live and dream depending on what others think about us, so we create this imaginary world where we present ourselves as the reflection of a media constructed image. (Luz Becerra)

Many of the  view we hold of the the world around us is rooted in some cartoons, films, ads, magazines etc. that we encounter in our childhood and teenage years. (Venturo Bryan)

As Christensen experienced, my students were reluctant to see their favorite characters in a negative light. The Beauty and the Beast gets a particularly bad review from the analysts, saying that it is basically the story of battered women who excuse the behavior or their partners. This was tough to accept because this traditional story has a particular emotional appeal to most…. which is the whole point, right?

Interesting websites:

 http://antonioviva.com/2009/01/26/using-social-media-to-define-the-new-humanities-classroom/

Theme:  Can we harness the power of social media to provide students with a vehicle for exploring and creating original content?

http://technologysource.org/article/writing_process_in_a_multimedia_environm

Theme:  “Multimedia environments have changed each of the stages of the writing process—pre-writing, writing, re-writing, and post-writing.

http://teachartwiki.wikispaces.com/?responseToken=3dd786c7c691146dd45d1a4ffe5a2727

Theme: Teaching and learning about art using wiki.

Interdisciplinary approach:

  1. The challenges to humanities as an interdisciplinary approach to teaching and learning reside in these constraints:
    • complexity involved in creating a framework necessary to analyze various angles of a problem: history, politics, etc.
    • knowledge necessary to the teacher in order to formulate this type of framework
    • teaching experience in experiential learning approaches: engaging students; relinquishing the role of “director of knowledge”; empowering students while simultaneously guiding them adequately
    • time to learn the technology
    • technology must come second… and learning what is to be taught should be at the forefront of the experience.
    • prioritize the outcomes… otherwise, the learning may be interesting, but lacking in focus
    • makes more difficult to define the purpose of a piece of work or interdisciplinary exploration.
    • Necessity to respond to a variety of questions such as what disciplinary insights are relevant, which disciplines should dominate, how disciplines could be combined to leverage or advance the goals of the work, how to decide when the work is done and its purpose accomplished.  
    • Knowledge required not only to use multiple disciplines but to integrate them to accomplish the purpose of a task.
    • Core concepts and principles can be lost using this approach.
    • Ensuring that students actually learn and respect different ways of looking at a particular issue
    • Significant challenges in understanding how to assess interdisciplinary in a student’s abilities and performance as opposed to competence in any of the contributing disciplines (Good and Jacobs 2006)

Analysis of projects:

  1. “Weblogs in a Grade 6/7 Classroom: A New Vision of Technology and Humanities Integration”:
    • Students have the opportunity to enhance writing skills utilizing weblogs
    • Weblogs: are online journals (text, images, and hyperlinks)
    • Dynamic environment that facilitates reflection.
    • Strategy to get students motivated; to participate actively in the writing construction and encourage critical thinking
    • Allows active learning, get feedback
    • Access to a variety of resources and blogging & providing a form of online asynchronous discussion.
    • Possibility of customizing blogs by adding images, graphics, videos, pictures and many other features
    • Enhances writing skills and connecting and integrating technology to a traditional field of study to form a new method to understand the subject
  2. “Incorporating Global and Collaborative Learning in Grade 11 Social Studies Via the Internet” (Derrek Beam)
    • Delineate what we can do in so much time
    • Ability / difficulty to work in group and to communicate
    • Many aspects of communicating transcend the “technology” utilized; or rather, new forms of communication are now necessary in order to use the new tools appropriately
    • Collaborative learning is very efficient and can be effective if done with clear guidelines
    • Measuring students achievements must be explicit from the beginning

References  

1. Christensen, L. (2000). Unlearning the Myths that bind us: Critiquing Cartoons and Society. In reading, writing and rising up: Teaching about social justice and the power of the written word (pp. 40-47) A Rethinking Schools Publication.

2. Stack, M. & Kelly, M. D. (2006). Popular media, education and resistance, Canadian Journal of Education, 29(1), pp. 5-26
http://www.csse.ca/CJE/Articles/CJE29-1.htm

Palloff and Pratt’s (1999) notion of the “transmission of knowledge” (ETEC 532)

 Palloff and Pratt’s Notion of the “Transmission of Knowledge”

Luz Mary Becerra, Venturo Bryan, Chantal Drolet 

1.   How does Palloff and Pratt’s (1999) notion of the “transmission of knowledge”, the nature of the learning process, and the relationships among the learners change when we move to a cyberspace classroom?

 

Transmission of knowledge:

  • Teacher becomes more of a facilitator pointing the learner to selected resources allowing the learners to work collaboratively in understanding principles and concepts and creating new knowledge.

  • Teacher is usually not there (in person) during the learning process.

  • Use of educational technology as vehicle to transmit knowledge.

The nature of the learning process:

  • Learner-centered, personalized education / easier to link to personal interests.

  • Each must actively participate in the learning process

  • Learning involves more critical thinking skills and less knowledge and recall.

  • Learning becomes an active process

  • Learning outcomes often times change in this environment.Space and time become less of a constraint.

  • Learning includes a sense of autonomy, initiative, dialogue and creativity.

Relationships among the learners:

  • Relationships and connections are made through the sharing of ideas and thoughts.

  • More flexibility in contacting various participants in the educational experience some programs offer no interaction at all, other programs, like the ETEC, offer asynchronous and synchronous discussions.

  • Explore content collaboratively.

  • Learners coming from different backgrounds and a variety of social contexts create a rich learning environment.

  • Culture and social status are not relevant to the participation and interaction among learners.

2.    Palloff and Pratts’ visual representation of the framework for distance learning

  • Palloff and Pratt’s framework for distance learning clearly shows the community as the core element in distance learning.

  • The community seems to be shaped and molded by other key elements. It is clear that the learning that occurs in the community is driven by collaboration, active learning, team work and shared goals.

  • It also shows the role of the teacher as a facilitator, offering guidance, interaction and feedback.

  • There is a clear indication that all the framework elements are combined to create a diverse and rich learning environment.

  • The word “teaching” is not used; “facilitation” and “guidance” are preferred.

  • Emphasis is on “negotiation and teamwork” as a didactic approach, and “collaboration and feedback” among students.

  • Outcomes are clearly established for the students.

  • Learners’ participation in their own learning is exemplified by words like “active, interactivity and creation”.

  • Essentially, the main focus is to provide a variety of elements to facilitate social communication between learners in order to create a learning community. The target is established by the instructor, but students can assist each other in the process of producing knowledge that they can ultimately use in their own field of enquiry.

3.   Palloff & Pratt’s framework for distance learning (visual representation): enhancing understanding of e-learning

  • Emphasis is on the creation of knowledge and the active role of the students.

  • Learning involves a great deal of autonomy from the part of the learner.

  • Learner is to engage himself in the learning process through active participation, feedback and constant questioning.

  • Motivation is a prerequisite. Self-regulation, in terms of time, communication style, respect of due dates, etc, is necessary.

  • Within a “traditional” setting (face to face), there is more focus on competition. The framework tends to overlook this aspect of learning completely.

  • It is not the teacher anymore just passing on information to the learners, but being able to construct knowledge and use it in a context.

4.    Framework for distance learning: limitations  

  • If I had never taken a course online, I might interpret this framework as somewhat idealistic. When I first started with the forums, I found it challenging to communicate in writing in a casual, yet focused way.

  • There is a learning curve when it comes to having virtual conversations. The way we write has to be simple and smart. The words we use show our understanding of the knowledge being explored and at the same time, comments must be concise.

  • Some of my colleagues, who wrote their master’s degree years ago, have the impression that what we do online is a watered down version of what they used to do while being present at university. Although, I tend to think that the way e-learning is organized makes it very difficult for students to “cram”, just show up at the end, or only “study for the test”. It seems to me that online learning necessitates a great deal of rigor in terms of the quality of instruction and assessment evaluation.

  • The model presented by Palloff & Pratt’s is quite adequate, so I can see that now that I am experiencing it myself. However, if I showed it to one of my older colleagues, it may corroborate their biased preconception regarding the quality of the e-learning experience.

  • The framework makes no reference to technology as the mechanism for content delivery. In other words, it is not clear how exactly technology will be used to facilitate learning.

  • There might be a misunderstanding as one cannot readily ascertain the level of technological competence required to perform effectively.

  • There is great emphasis on the collaboration, active learning, and shared goals and so on, but it is not quite clear how this will occur in a distance learning environment.

  • The participation of the teacher seems to be very small which could lead to believe that there is not real interaction between learner and instructor.

5.    Alternatives to using frameworks to understand learning

 

An alternative framework would include 

  • Finding ways to link didactic material to the student’s existing inventory of understanding – which as the degree progresses should include a greater body of understanding.

  • Providing a way that students can build an ‘inventory’ of skills, knowledge and understanding that they can refer to when evaluating their academic progress.

  • Providing more specific academic targets for the students to aim at.

  • Coaching the student in reflective learning.

  • Providing activities that will improve individual and social skills.

 References

1. Palloff and Pratt (1999a) When teaching and learning leave the classroom. Building Learning Communities in Cyberspace: Effective Strategies for the Online Classroom. (pp. 3-20). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

2. Palloff and Pratt (1999b) Defining and redefining community. Building Learning Communities in Cyberspace: Effective Strategies for the Online Classroom. (pp. 21-32). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Culture, identity, representation and the Net Generation (ETEC 532)

An Invitation to Communicate

The artistic realm is accessible through the senses, the mental filters and the emotional links of the one experiencing it. Hence, creative pieces take on various meanings for different people. In other words, the representational power of art is intertwined with the interpretation of the signs that it uses to communicate cognitive processes and perspectives.

Artists such as Stacey Friedman, Sylvia Kind and Roger Dane explore social values as well as historical and political issues by transcending our experience of daily and ordinary routines. They seek to touch the impalpable reasoning hidden behind perceptions through the manipulation of forms and colors, for instance. These creators and performers endeavor to grasp the evasive cultural settings interceding between the object and the immediate awareness of its existence.

As an art educator, Stacy Friedman explores both the ways in which art represents and defines culture. From her standpoint, the creation process can facilitate the expansion of what we perceive to be our own identities, as well as our relationship to others.

Similarly, Sylvia Kind views art as an invitation to engage. For her, the artistic objects have no intrinsic significance. Observers must bring their own experiences around the art to create meaning.

Roger Dane, an art student, also believes that artistic pieces must be interpreted. However, he stresses that the initial artist’s viewpoint is not implicit. With each viewer a new voice is created, attesting that cultural attributes and contextual conditions have an effect on the understanding of the art.

The dilemmas that these artists encounter reside in the fact that the concepts of culture and identity are complex. Past experiences and ethnic backgrounds, for example, complicate matters by filtering and influencing attitudes and behaviors.

Navigating between the visible and the invisible

Art is a connection which mediates between identity, representation and culture. The artistic link shows a visual representation that renders knowledge and relationships visible. The art educator’s responsibility is to enable the student to perceive the cultural undertones when coming into contact with art. The role of the student is to address the issues of identity and ask: “how do I see myself?”, “how do others see me?”, “how do others see themselves?”

Through an encounter with art, the student should be empowered to verbalize abstractions and articulate cultural biases. The pedagogical environment, which includes artistic creations as well as the act of creating, should make intangible concepts manageable by offering students something to feel, touch, or discuss.

Reflecting our times

A project using puppets personifying ancestors and their responses to racism offers students an opportunity to use their imagination and experience thinking in a distinctive way. The production of his puppet enabled Roger Dane to put himself in another person’s shoes, disregarding his own prejudices. Learning from this experience can help people better understand history and past cultural dispositions without judgment and with increased discernment. 

Likewise, with innovative technological tools, instructors and pupils use novel means of delving into philosophical questions critically. The complexity of viewpoints can be tackled by accessing reliable sources on the internet, for example. Where do ideas come from? How are they internalized? How do they affect the way we speak and how we act towards one another? In order to get people past superficial analysis of socio-economic topics, teachers and students can now investigate with sophisticated electronic instruments.

Students as producers of knowledge

Apart from the challenges associated with staying abreast of constant changes, for the teacher, one of the biggest obstacles to the ongoing technological development resides in seeing students with new eyes. The Net Generation (Tapscott, 2004), has grown up with technology and takes an active part in information gathering. While teachers’ enculturation may have taken the form of receptivity, young people negotiate meaning through socialization (Stuhr, 1994).

      According to Tapscott (1998), the value of “free expression” is another essential characteristic of the current generation. Young artists are at liberty to use an ever increasing number of interactive technological tools. Through these electronic learning contexts, they may choose to reconstruct artifacts to represent socially constructed concepts or to create documentaries to exemplify their analysis. One thing is certain, educators will have to contend with the implications of these emerging reference systems (Fiske, 1990).

PDF File (Right click to “open in new tab”):

etec-532-vignette-1-final 

   References

  • 1. Tapscott, D. (1998). Growing up digital: The rise of the Net generation. New York: McGraw-Hill.
  • 2. Tapscott, D. (2004). The Net Generation and the School. Milken Family Foundation (http://www.mff.org/edtech/article.taf?_function=detail&Content_uid1=109).
  • 3. Fiske, J. (1990). Communication, Meaning and Signs. Introduction to Communication Studies. London: Routledge.
  • 4. Stuhr, P. (1994). Multicultural art education and social reconstruction. Studies in Art Education, 35(3), 171-178.

The film was presented as a viewing for ETEC 532: “We would like to acknowledge the contributions of the pre-service teachers in ARTE 320-104, 2004 in making this documentary.”

Video: Art, Culture, Identity and Representation: A Conversation with Three Art Educators – Stacy Friedman, Sylvia Kind and Roger Dane