Friday, November 30, 2007

December 6, 2007 presentation: Brett Atwood




LEARNING IN VIRTUAL WORLDS

New digital education spaces are emerging through the use of popular virtual world technologies, such as Second Life. These 3D platforms enable participants to cooperate and collaborate on shared learning initiatives using real-time voice, text chat and visual-spatial reasoning skills. Several leading academic institutions, including Harvard and Stanford, have already created globally-networked, 3D “classrooms” that connect students with their instructors via both traditional lectures and unconventional learning exercises that are held “in-world.” This presentation will include a live demonstration of Second Life and a virtual walk-through of some of the more popular education uses, including: distance learning tools, inworld presentation tips, experiential and cooperative learning exercises, in-world research projects and product simulations.

Brett Atwood is a print and online journalist, whose writings have appeared in Billboard, Rolling Stone, Vibe, Hollywood Reporter and other publications. During his five-year stint as new media editor at Billboard, he was among the first reporters to document the development of Internet-based digital downloading and streaming media technologies. His expertise in this area has resulted in numerous analyst and commentator appearances at several national print and TV outlets, including Fox News Channel, MSNBC, CNN, CBS Evening News, USA Today and Wall Street Journal. Brett has held managing editor positions at both Amazon.com and RealNetworks, where he managed and developed editorial content for various Web-based initiatives. In addition, he co-founded Internet music service Rolling Stone Radio with Rolling Stone magazine. He is currently working with Linden Lab, maker of online 3D virtual world Second Life, on various Web initiatives.

November 8, 2007 presentation: Susan Kilgore

VISUAL PEDAGOGY: USING ART AND IMAGE TO TEACH CRITICAL THINKING

Using Images to Promote Critical Thinking Raised as they have been on a steady diet of computer games, the internet, cell phones, videos, dvds, cds, and other forms of electronic technology, contemporary college students have spent less time reading books than any college generation before them. In fact, even as college graduates, they will have spent approximately half as much time with books as they have playing video games, and about 1/4 as much time reading as watching tv.

All this exposure to images has created learners whose preferred learning style is image-based, a preference so extreme that it is increasingly difficult to use more traditionally based texts. Yet, if these students are reputed to be "much more visual" than students in the past, their "visuality" and preference for learning from images over books does not translate into higher degrees of visual literacy nor into greater critical thinking abilities about other types of text. Evidence and experience seem to indicate greater exposure to images has not yet fostered greater visual sophistication.

Susan Kilgore proposes a discussion of how to use images in college classrooms to 1) promote critical thinking through critical viewing of images, and 2) to explore the academic uses of images to consider traditionally difficult abstract ideas of cultural theory. Please come.