Monthly Archives

January 2009

Jan 30
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Imaginative bridges

By | Nature and Design of Compelling Experiences | No Comments

 

I am very new to blogging and I am trying to play a little bit with words and photographs. This is one of the photographs I pasted on the facebook profile for the assignment of Module 1. I have not taught before and so don’t know much about teaching but I will try to compare some of the aspects of this photo with education. When I look at the image, I like it because of certain qualities. The subject (building) is at the center of the image, clear, uncluttered, on your face. The building in itself is beautifully designed and thus looks beautiful. The beauty is further accentuated by the framing. The light on the building highlights it’s main portions. There is a special green light chosen to highlight the dome. The figure and the foreground are separated distinctly. The reflection on the water adds to the beauty.

Similarly if I were to teach a lesson, I would want the subject to be very clearly presented (uncluttered and on your face). Like the building, the lesson in itself should be designed beautifully so that the essence of it could be realized. Again, we need to frame it properly within one or more contexts to enhance its effectiveness. Also, not all students are equal, so we need to highlight the main points, something similar to the lighting. We should also choose other modes to reflect the lesson better, may be a video or photo assignment or a game that will be able to provide the same role as the water does in the picture.

Jan 26
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Media Matters

By | Mind Media and Learning | No Comments

We in India have a term in Hindi called “Jugaad” which means to make ends meet with whatever is available. The most time and cost effective way of doing things. Yes of course if I can achieve the purpose of learning about Greek Civilization by reading something, then why should I go and build a video game to explore ancient Greek Cities? And somebody who is not interested in reading might equally be not interested in video games. But is it the case? Not always, someone might be interested in video games and not in reading. This is where I agree with Salomon, that we need to consider other factors. Clark’s arguments especially hold good in Indian conditions where typically a class will have 50-60 students and thus it becomes difficult to provide each of them with a video game. Thus textbooks are the most cost effective way out. But think of a situation where you are using a text editor to type something, and every time you misspell a word there is a red underline that indicates you of the mistake committed. Is it not a persuasive way of learning? You don’t have to rely on the teacher to correct the spellings for you, and sometimes the teacher might not be looking into the spellings due to excessive work load. Don’t you think the media plays a role here?

We all pay a lot of stress on practical examinations of Science students. Imagine a Biology student who has learned to operate on a human body through texts only and no practical exams. We clearly stress the importance of contextual learning in this case. Similarly media takes up a very important role when it comes to Role Playing or Virtual Stimulation of a situation. Secondly the media advances are also influencing the content that is delivered. I would thus agree with Cobb and Kozma when they stress the need to consider the role of these tools on the cognitive process. We cannot be indifferent to other modes of learning in this world of media advancement. One might argue that good wine sells by itself, but then why are there booming advertising agencies, if there was no need for them?