Week 4 Comment #2 - Janene Neal

Janene's Post:
Wk4 The Art of Possibility Chapters 9-12

When I started teaching over ten years ago, I believe my whole body was filled with lighting ready to transfer to others. I wanted to relight a spark in my students, so they would be ready to take on the world.

Recently, I think my inner light has fizzled, and I see a dying light in my students.

Maybe it is the end of the year. Maybe I feel a little burned out. But when I read these last few chapters, I realized, I need to make a change in my thinking. I can still make a difference in my students’ lives. I can still light that spark.

How do I rekindle that feeling of making a difference? I know myself. I need to make a change with my professional life about every three to four years. Do something different like changing schools, positions, or curriculum. This really helps me with keeping my ideas fresh and new.

However, what about the students that have that darkness inside, but don’t want to let in the possibility of light? Every year, I try to motivate a student that just doesn’t want to work with me. Usually it’s a student that just wants to goof off, play around, distract others, and try to be the “cool/bad” kid. You all know them…we all have at least one in our class. This year, I just so happen to have two of them in one class. This is how I overcame this type of behavior. I gave both students a lot of leeway.

I let them work on a multimedia project together that consisted of a rap creation they created in Garageband Loops. I saw the spark...they showed the light.

Instead of me running around yelling at them to get to work, saying, “stop this”, or “stop that”, I provided my students with endless possibilities. My students found new technology knowledge, created a content skill rap song, minimized distractions, and had fun. I was able to do my job…which is mold young minds. WE all learned from this experience.


My Response:

Janene,

Wow, that was an inspirational read. That is so awesome that you were able to overcome the "cool/bad" kids in class and showed them a world of possibility. My favorite sentence has to be - "Instead of me running around yelling at them to get to work, saying, “stop this”, or “stop that”, I provided my students with endless possibilities."

I know what you mean too about doing something different like changing jobs or positions every couple of years to just get a refresh. I used to work at a job for exactly 2 years and then leave to find something new mainly because I didn't like someone or didn't like the way I felt at the job. It just always ended up being 2 years. The pattern stopped after a job I only worked for one year and then changed to the job I have now and have had for almost 4 years. I almost left again though and it was up until this class that I realized I had a good job and then everything just opened up for me. It was almost as if my negativity was holding me back, or I was holding myself back. Reading about how you were able to minimize distraction in class with technology is awesome because I know difficult it can be, I used to be one of the cool/bad kids. I really like how you ended your post too - "WE all learned from this experience." Thanks for the post, really inspired me!

Week 4 Free Choice – A Mac at work???

Image by Flickr user: Glenn Batuyong

About 3 weeks ago my new boss told me to write a list of specs of what computer I would use at a dream job.  So I asked jokingly “PC or Mac?”  With government contracting I had always been told, “Macs are not allowed on the network.  We don’t trust them.”  I never understood this, but my boss said, “OK, we will see what we can do.”  Of course I immediately got my hopes up because I knew it wasn’t going to happen.  7 years of multimedia training development and never once was I ever allowed to use a Mac.  So many years of blue screens of death, unwanted viruses and the occasional wacky Windows problems.  So many years of complaining out loud and having to apologize to clients when something is late because of a Windows problem.  Sigh.  The next step in the process was almost amazing.  Network services said “We do not allow Macs on the network.  We might be able to make an exception, but not sure yet.”  It was almost as if I won a life long struggle against an invisible oppressor just because someone was considering it!  Of course I had to wait to see what happened and a week went by and I heard nothing.  Last Monday bright and early I walk into the office and heard that the guy that was ordering my computer was looking for me.  When I caught up with him he told me that he ordered my computer.  So I asked with disappointment “Was it a dell?”  He said, “You said you wanted a Mac, so that’s what I ordered.  It was approved by network services.”  I don’t know when I actually get it setup on my desk, but wow I am still amazed!  Oh yeah, its a Mac Pro 8 core!

“Mac Pro unboxing photos, batch 1 #technopr0n” by Flickr user Glenn Batuyong used under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.
Website Address: http://www.flickr.com/photos/glennbatuyong/4080838171/

Week 4 Comment #1 - Spencer Lunsford

Spencer's Post:

For me, being the board has all kinds of difficulties that come along with the notion.  I have been able to find solace in the blame game for my entire teaching career.  The students that come to me are usually several grades behind in their mathematics knowledge.  Much of this is due to (here comes the blame) teachers being "run off" by the bad acting children.  In fact the students brag about how many teachers they have been able to get to leave.  Having to accept responsibility of how I react to the situation will make me a better teacher from here on out.  Instead of being able to write off the students that are not understanding what they ought to have learned in the past, I now have sparks to light.  The students are on my board and I get to bring them to new places with new learning experiences.  I can fight the facts that they are behind, or I can find out where they are and bring them as far around my board as possible in the time we have together.  I can be just another voice telling them what they can't do, or I can be a refreshing fountain of encouragement.  The art of possibility is just that, an art.  Some people are naturals, others have to work hard at it.  The great thing about the art of possibility is that everyone can grow.

My Response:

Spencer,

Really deep insights on this.  Its great that you were able to see past everything and started to focus on lighting the spark.  I really like what you said too - "I can be just another voice telling them what they can't do, or I can be a refreshing fountain of encouragement".  The whole quote is brilliant and really shows the power of being the board.  I remember before I started reading this book I was upset at one of my co-workers for thinking that he knows everything about everything.  At first I didn't want to accept it and I became stressed because of it.  After reading this book I started to let it go, and after reading the chapter about being the board, it lifted completely.  I realized that there are people like that in every workplace and instead of not accepting it or dealing with it, I used it to build a more professional relationship.  I would continue to be the board, but lit the spark at the same time.  Now there is less tension and a new path to follow for success.  You are right too, "the great thing about the art of possibility is that everyone can grow".

Wk 4 Publishing_Leadership Project

My goal for publishing my action research is to try and go for two journals dealing with multimedia learning environments.

My first selection is the journal of interactive learning research (JILR), which was chosen for the wide selection of multimedia learning categories and papers they publish.  Since my research is about multimedia learning environments, I feel it will be able to stand on its own in this journal.

My second choice for publication is the interactive journal on e-learning (IJEL).  At first, I was a little hesitant to publish with IJEL, but after I researched more about them I feel that my research would be a perfect fit.  IJEL mainly publishes papers on e-learning and since my current field deals with e-learning, I think this will be good for both my professional environment and potentially the individuals reading the research.

I look forward to bringing digital storytelling into e-learning environments, and while I may not get published, I know I will still be able to take the research and use it in my professional environment.

Publishing_Leadership Blog Post #1

Publishing_Leadership Blog Post #2

Publishing on Google Docs

Tolar_Josh_Publishing.docx

Week 3 Comment #2 - Kris Newton

Kris Newton's Blog Post


MAC Week 3 Reading: CH.5-8 Art of Possibility

For this week, we had to read chapters 5-8 of the book, Art of Possibility. These four chapters were an interesting read as they mostly dealt with thinking positively and how to go about doing that to change the way you view things in life. I did find the concept that we had two selves, the calculating self and the central self, to be an interesting concept. I do agree that we as a species are always trying to one up others just so we can get ahead, regardless of who it hurts in the process. This concept of the calculating self is one that I can see in just about every aspect of our lives and in how many act and react to other people. Sadly, this is something that has been ingrained into us since an early age to be competitive and to look out for number 1 first and foremost. I do feel that if we could just shrug this notion off and treat others without seeing it as a competition or survival, we would be able to advance much quicker as a society that would allow others to flourish and be able to express themselves without worry or ridicule from others.

Another part in those chapters that stuck out for me was the 'Rule Number 6' that was talked about. This one dealt with not taking yourself so seriously on things. I am all for this rule, though there is a time to take things seriously. Allowing yourself to not be too critical of yourself when you make mistakes is one aspect that I follow quite religiously. Everyone makes mistakes and learning to treat those mistakes as a learning experience and not the end of the world helps you to see the overall picture that goes on around you in life.  This rule also keeps you from falling into that self-centered aspect in your life and shows you that you really do not need to be constantly controlling everything around you, as that is just about impossible to do so just take things with a smile on your face. All the drama that happens in a person's life can be turned around and looked at in a positive light as long as you keep in mind that it is just one aspect of life and not to let it drag you down into that downward spiral of negativity.

Really, these 4 chapters were more of a reminder that things are really not so bad as we perceive they are and need to stop thinking and viewing things so critically. Lighten up, think positively, stop trying to impose your will on everything and laugh at the silly things and your life can be a much more rewarding experience!

My Response

Kris,

You bring up a great point about humanity and how we are always trying to get ahead of each other.  I actually heard on NPR this morning that researchers found that the brain seems to be built to feed off of gossip and competition.  Just like when we start competing as if it were a survival of sorts, its almost as if we degrade ourselves into animalistic behavior.  For researchers to think that we are built for this doesn’t seem too surprising because it happens everyday.  What if we really weren’t built for it, but instead adapted to it?  I agree with you that chapters 5-8 were a great reminder about how things actually are around us.  As a species I think we were trying to evolve too fast and completely missed the opportunity to flourish, and in this process of competition and hurting others to make it on top, we started on a dark road towards conquest.  I like how you mention the drama in a person’s life and how it can be turned around into something positive.  This is so true and if we can start focusing on that then our competitive nature might gradually cease to exist.  It makes me think that there should be something encouraging and inspiring like the content in this book on the front page of every daily newspaper around the world.  Maybe then our species might recognize their calculating self and be able to open up to new possibilities lurking around every corner.

Here is the link about the brain and gossip from NPR - http://www.npr.org/2011/05/20/136465083/psst-the-human-brain-is-wired-for-gossip

Week 3 Comment #1 - Zoe Marlowe

Zoe's, Post:

Once again, Ben and Roz Zander’s book filled my mind with all sorts of revelations about myself as I read the chapters 5 through 8. It was interesting really because chapter 5 was very ‘ground breaking’ for me to read, and then chapter 8 capped everything in-between off with it’s BTFI concept. This was all a bit ‘Von Restorff” for me as the first and last chapters stuck with me the most in this section of assigned reading. As I mentioned last week in my blog, this book is one of the most interesting ‘textbooks’ I have ever read. It really is just a collection of interesting stories told by Ben and Roz about the different happenings in both their lives as an orchestra conductor and music teacher, and psychologist, respectively. I am enjoying both of their stories so much as I read each chapter, in fact I really have a hard time stopping reading and going onto something else because I want to keep reading MORE!

In the “Leading from any chair” chapter, I loved the question Ben asked himself which made him become a much better instructor and conductor. This question “What makes a group lively and engaged?” is really a marvelous question for teachers to ask themselves. It made me think of teachers asking themselves this, because just asking the question would make that teacher much more open to finding out how their students respond to the teaching methodology that was currently being used, and what changes could be made to get the student interest higher, thus making them more lively and engaged.

I loved that Zander placed a sheet of paper on each music stand for the purpose of obtaining comments from the orchestra players. The ‘white sheet’ idea could be used in so many areas of teaching, in order to allow comments to the instructor. I think this method could be used in college courses anyway, not necessarily high school, but it could work there as well. 

Another ‘take away’ from my reading of chapter five was a quote from one of Ben’s students at the school he teaches at: “Things change when you care enough to grab whatever you love, and give it everything.” Amanda Burr, student, Walnut Hill School.
What a lovely, insightful statement, and I can agree with it wholeheartedly.

Chapters 6 and 7 both had lots of interesting stories and wisdom, but perhaps chapter 8 sticks with me the most because of the BTFI concept, and the reason for this, is the fact that I am living proof of the BTFI factor in my own life because of choosing to complete this degree at Full Sail, and instead of locking myself into what I had originally planned to do after graduation, which was quickly get accepted into a PhD program, I decided to say “heck with that, I want to have fun and discover the world,” and now I am getting ready to embark upon the trip of a lifetime in Europe and the Middle East. I would never have done this ‘normally,’ but something changed in me as a result of this Master’s program at Full Sail, and with that, I let myself go and throw caution to the wind, and let my passion for photography and film (plus a few other factors) inspire me to take a whirlwind trip to discover what else is ‘out there’ for me to experience. I feel like this chapter of Zander’s book is dedicated to me and my transformation from who I was before Full Sail, to who I will be after Full Sail! Talk about everything just ‘falling into place”… oh my goodness more true words were never uttered!

My Response:

Zoe,

Great take away from the reading. I really like the stories too and I knew right away when I watched the video in week 2 that the book was going to be outstanding. One thing I noticed while reading the chapters for week 3 was that it reminded me of my experience at Full Sail. I feel this book is perfect to reflect on our experience with the program and to remember how much we learned and to see how many possibilities actually opened up for us. That’s awesome too that you brought your passion to the surface and decided to go see the world. To just let go is purely inspirational and I can’t imagine the rush you are feeling just thinking about taking your passion for film and photography into to other countries and to capture the life around every corner. Good luck with your journey and the future!

Week 4 reading - chapters 9-12: Sparks

Image by Flickr user: Sadie Hernandez

What a wondrous idea of catching someone’s spark.  This is something I started doing this past week after being inspired by this book.  I have been working on a script to control Photoshop to write text on hundreds of images and now I’m going to try and see if the script can capture the file names in a folder to see if it can apply those names to a list I’m programming dynamically.  This is all written in JavaScript and one of my co-workers loves writing code, so earlier this week I asked if he wanted to help out with it.  Sure enough he lit up and was ready for the task.

Later on that day we had a meeting about upcoming multimedia online trainers we were to develop and the topic of development came up.  Normally my task was to do most of the work – video editing, audio recording/editing, GUI (graphical user interface) design, etc, but suddenly I thought about the sparks and offered my tasks to whoever wanted to do them or help out.  There was a whole room of sparks.  Programmers with no experience in video editing or storyboard writers that wanted to do 3D modeling jumped up asking to learn so they can enter into a new world.  I could see a new realm of possibility open up and I can imagine that my co-workers saw the same too.  I came from an office environment where you were only allowed to do your job title, but now I am working with others to exchange skills and ideas.  It’s like an RPG.  Sure I can’t become a red or blue mage in the office, but I can surely give the magical powers of 3D modeling and animation, and in return I get a stronger relationship with my co-workers and as a bonus I get to light some sparks!

So, what am I doing to pay-forward from my universe of possibility?  I am giving others at work a chance to do something exciting and something they love so that their lives may be enriched.  This book rocks!

“Sparks.” by Flickr user Sadie Hernandez used under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.
Website Address: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sadiediane/4235516449/

Week 3 Reading - chapters 5-8

Image by Flickr user: wadem

The past 4 chapters of the “The Art of Possibility” started to remind me a little about Buddhism and a book called “The Power of Now”. Looking at the way things actually are instead of resisting everything around you is one of the characteristics of Buddhism and one thing that is discussed in “The Power of Now”. This is one of my major downfalls too. When something happens unexpectedly, I often get upset and become disappointed in my own little world. I have learned throughout the years to not focus on material things and these last 4 chapters are a great reminder of that. I like in chapter 7 how it explains negative emotions and not to bury them deep inside or cast them out, but rather realize that they are there. This is very powerful as you somehow step outside your self and see how you are acting. Being present to our emotions takes a lot of practice, but it gets us one step closer to being more optimistic.

“The Art of Possibility” has surprised me several times when music is mentioned, and how orchestra players play with intense passion. I admit that when I was younger I never thought that orchestra players could ever feel the passion of the music because they were always so stiff when following the conductor. In so many cases I saw people play in orchestras and symphonies and never once saw any passion in what they were doing. There were however various virtuosos that would come on stage and warmed the audience with pure passion for the music. I soon started to think about how passion in music, or anything else for that matter, can be transferred to another person. Is it how you look you when you play the instrument or how you act when working on something you love? I love asking these questions and I started to ask them again when I read about the quote that Stravinksy supposedly said about wanting to hear someone trying to play the passage instead of someone just playing it. When we enter into the unknown, we might fail or we might succeed, but there is something there that enables us to feel alive. This is what I feel when I play music. There is something about the guitar that really makes you feel when you bend the strings. Every bend becomes a part of the spirit and soul of the song. You can feel the tension in the string as you bend higher and higher, leaving way to passion. 

“Possibilities” by Flickr user wadem used under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.  

Website Address: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wadem/2268968968/

Week 3 Free Choice - Photoshop Scripting

Image by Flickr User: Dmitry Baranovskiy

So I learned a couple of new tricks this past week at work with Photoshop. I was always wondering if it was possible to automate things in Photoshop better than batch processing. Well I found out you can with Photoshop scripting. With JavaScript, VB script, or Apple Script, you can control things in Photoshop like creating layers, text, cropping, adding filters, etc. Basically if you can create loops and arrays in JavaScript, you can make some awesome things real fast in Photoshop. My task was to automate the creation of text on top of hundreds of images without having to painstakingly create the text from scratch. What I did was develop some code that opened up an image, added the text, saved the image and then closed the image. I used a text list and added it to an array, which in turn was used in a function to loop through the list and open every image in that list. There are still some things I want to work out, but this will change my workflow and make things so much easier in the future.

Here is some reference for those wanting to try it out:
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/photoshop/scripting.html
http://www.w3schools.com/js/default.asp
http://www.kirupa.com/motiongraphics/ps_scripting.htm

“the JavaScript Code” by Flickr user Dmitry Baranovskiy used under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.  

Website Address: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmitry-baranovskiy/2378867408/

Publishing_Leadership Blog #2 - Publishing options

Screenshot of JILR site

Since I know that I want to go with the publishing option for my action research, finding a publisher is the next step.  At first I started thinking about military e-learning and some of the publications that exist for that type of environment, but because my action research has nothing to do with the topics I work with in my professional environment, I decided to go with a more commercial technology based publication.  I looked at some of the publications from my literature review, but those were targeted more towards interactive digital storytelling and educational simulations.  While I may start developing research for educational simulations in the future, my final choice for a publisher was the Journal of Interactive Learning Research (JILR).  JILR has more of a variety of educational platforms, a great list of papers that they publish, and I felt right at home when reading about computer based training and interactive learning environments.  I did look at some other publications and I almost chose the International Journal on E-learning (IJEL) – Corporate, Government, Healthcare, & Higher Education, but I decided to stick with JILR because of the different types of papers they accepted.  While the course I developed for my research is hosted in an e-learning environment and might seem to be a better choice to go with IJEL, I feel that educators or trainers that are working with other types of content might benefit from the results showed in my research with digital storytelling.  So sticking with JILR feels like the right decision.

My choice:
Journal of Interactive Learning Research (JILR)
http://aace.org/pubs/jilr/default.htm

Week 2 Comment #2 - Kristi Swartz

Kristi's Post:

Wk 2 Readings Blog 1

My Contribution
I love Zander’s idea that a leader does not doubt peoples’ abilities to do what it is they are to do. As I look at education I ask, What if all teachers believed in the abilities of all of their students? How would education change? Stop thinking about everything along the way, and see the big picture. Have a vision, a long line, and see it through! How would education change?

Zander’s video on Ted was moving and showed the connection possible for classical music through Zander’s determination and perception. His connection to the conductor as a person to make others powerful, and make others feel it is possible. I loved his question: Who am I being if my children’s eyes are not shining? I hope to take this and use it in the classroom. I want a classroom with children’s eyes shining.

The idea of enhancing our quality of life and the quality of life for those around us as we have the power is really meaningful to me. I think this year has been eye opening for me as I look and understand perception and the big part it plays in each of our version of reality. I have looked at this through my Masters courses, my own Bible study, through the students I teach, and now this book. It is amazing how life opens something up to us, and we see it all around. I see this as the power of God. In this book, I feel the importance of perception and I love thinking about how our brains constructs our reality, and how that reality is just ours, we can not know if it is the reality that is real, or created, because our brain constructs our own thoughts. The idea of it all being a story we tell, can change our own thoughts about every situation. For me, the closer I become to God, the more I want his will, this leads me try to be a better person, think about others feelings, and desire good. I love the idea in the book of setting the context and letting life unfold.

I loved the thoughts on giving an A, not just in the classroom but also in the everyday world. It is so true that we measure everyone according to a standard measure. When we can believe everyone has a unique gift to share, and that not all of us have the same gift, we can begin to accept and love people for who they are, learn from their gifts, and accept their differences, as well. I love the idea of giving A’s, looking at what is great about this person I meet that I can learn from, rather than comparing them to a standard measure I set.

I love the question, what did you achieve today becoming, how did I contribute today? So now I ask this of myself…How did I contribute today?

My Response:

Kristi,

These blogging assignments are great as we can really open up with our discoveries with these awakening experiences. I can really relate with you on the idea on enhancing the quality of the lives of other people. I am amazed with my experience at Full Sail too and I think I will have some withdrawals when it’s over. The readings and video this week are so powerful especially when Zander plays the song from Chopin and says to imagine a loved one so we can know what Chopin meant when he wrote the song. Sometimes experiences like that become almost indescribable and to imagine if we can make someone feel like that is on a higher level I cant even think of. When I write music for instance, I become so inspired when someone says my music made them feel something. It’s like receiving the best gift in the world.

Week 2 Comment #1 - Brian Thomas

Brian's Post:

Week 2 Reading - A Revelation

I think the thing that I learned most from the first two chapters of this book was something about myself. This “thing” is something that I’ve had to deal with throughout this course and upon reflection, throughout my entire life. I’m talking about the types of books that speak to me and the type that I really cannot in any way relate to.Unfortunately, this book seems to be of the latter. I would classify it as more of a philosophical get-in-touch-with-your-inner-self type book. After finished up the first couple chapters, I felt a rush of all the books I’d read come back to me – those I enjoyed and those I did not (regardless of the genre or content). As an individual with a severe case of concrete logical-mathematical thinking, I realize that my brain has a particularly hard time processing text that is deeply philosophical, yet reading a physics, chemistry, or calculus text is relatively easy. As is reading any manual on whatever the topic. And I find some of the statements in the book particularly hard for my brain to accept. Take this passage on p.20 for example: “The pie is enormous, and if you take a slice, the pie is whole again.” (Zander, 2000) Now, as we all know, if you subtract a part from the whole, as long as the part is > 0, you no longer have the whole, as is insinuated by the authors.

Poor mathematics aside, the awareness of my own strengths and weaknesses in reading opened my eyes to the difficulties that some student may have in reading such texts as I enjoy, and quite truthfully, this was my greatest take-away from the first couple chapters.

So, that aside, I do see the value of thinking outside the box, as explained in the text. Another part of the text that resonated with me was the part about scarcity thinking. I believe as Americans, we have really fallen into that mind-set and try to accumulate as much as we possibly can, without much regard for those that have little to nothing.

Moving into chapter three was fearful (because it was much longer than the infinitely long previous two chapters combined) but I was pleasantly surprised. I enjoyed the authors take on “giving an A” and thought at length about what kind of effect that would have on a student population I might be working with next year.

Ironically, I didn’t really start to get into the text myself until I watched the TED talk (which I had seen a couple years ago) and remembered how much I enjoyed watching Ben Zander. And at that point, I decided to give the book an A, and have enjoyed it much more ever since.

(image from the cover of The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander)

My response:

Brian,

I had the same problem at first too by thinking in logical terms and was stuck on trying to figure out the pie thing.  It was the chapter on giving an A that really helped me out.  I have actually started using the “A” method at work and it makes everything a little easier.  For instance, the other day I was confused by another co-workers idea for something having to do with training so I tossed it aside and didn’t think about it again.  After reading the chapter on giving an A, I thought about the idea and for a moment I stepped outside the box.  The next day I went back to work and told my co-worker that he was brilliant.  I was able to see the idea in a 3rd dimension instead of just the normal 2 dimensions.  I was able to see depth.  I had given my co-worker an A and we worked together to build upon his idea.  By having an open mind I was able to use logic more appropriately and harmoniously.

Week 2 Reading - chapters 1-4

Image by Flickr user: trixnbooze

I keep thinking about the current situation about my job and how it happened so fast.  While I was hastily updating my resume to look for a new job to cure my unhappiness with my current one, an opportunity came out from no where and basically slapped me in the face.  I’m now in a new position with the same company, but I don’t know for how long.  I have this hidden fear that one day this position will be over and I will have to go back where I used to work and fall into an unhappy lifestyle again where my expertise is nothing but a title on a sheet of paper.  It is here that I have enclosed myself into a box and never stopped to think about the opportunity I have right now and how it might actually affect my future; An opportunity to seize the moment.

By reading the first 4 chapters of “Art of Possibility”, I realized the potentials I have as well as the weaknesses I have had and still have.  When thinking about giving an A to someone, it somehow calms my nerves from expecting too much and allows me to focus on how to contribute to someone else’s life or a project.  This IS a realization, but NOT THE END of realizations.  While giving an A to someone might make it easier for two people to work together in a more harmonious fashion, there is still the realization of giving yourself an A.  For so many years I have been controlled by a never-ending urge to please everyone.  It has caused me to go above and beyond to the extent that my body shuts down and causes many problems like stress or an occasional illness.  This is from my past of always having to live up to an A or suffer the consequences or living up to the expectations of a parent and it never stopped.  It never stopped because I never allowed it to stop.  I have always given in to the persistent calculations and measurements in my head.  I have always been afraid that if I don’t do the best possible work then I would fail or cause someone to feel disappointed.  I have always been in the realm of self-doubt despite of what others say.  This is just like what Ben Zander was describing about his students and how giving an A would open up the possibilities of being creative and not focusing on the measurements in their head.  If I give myself an A first, then I feel I can start handing out A’s to other people and I can then start a successful domino effect of contribution.

Life is constantly changing and the past year at Full Sail has not only given me strength and trust in myself, but has shown me that when you work with others and recognize their contributions as well as your own, amazing things start to happen.  I have always been told, “If you put your mind to it, anything can happen”.  This is so true in so many ways, but you have to first realize that if you give in to self-doubt and the measurements that we are so conditioned with, you start to focus on the negative instead of the positive.  You become enclosed in a box.  I think that by realizing our contributions and the contributions of other people, we can start to open the lid of the box and slowly come out.

“Think Outside The Box (Evidence & Metaphor)” by Flickr user trixnbooze used under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.
Website Address: http://www.flickr.com/photos/martyportier/4656059096/

Publishing_Leadership Blog #1 - Thoughts on Publishing and Leadership

Thai Temple close to my house

When I first started thinking about the method for finalizing my action research, I thought a presentation would be the best possible choice.  The only problem is that I didn’t clearly think about the people who would be viewing the presentation. Regardless of whether it’s published or developed as a presentation, the data will ultimately be shown to Buddhist monks in my area.  Since my action research is about teaching Buddhism through digital storytelling instruction, Buddhist monks have expressed a lot of interest in the findings.  Lugging around a computer or something else to show the monks will not be the best possible choice.  I feel going with the publishing method will best suit the needs of the monks.

Secondly, as I continue with my adventure in my new job I have more responsibilities as a multimedia developer and a trainer.  Every little detail from image position to type of instructional content is now resting on my shoulders.  One important detail is my action research and the method I will use to finalize it.  One thing I first thought about was the environment I work in and what works best to convey ideas and facts.  While rich media presentations are quite common, documents with near perfect organization and formatting have been the requirement for all research done in my environment.  I feel my action research will be more acceptable and presentable by going with the option for publishing.  Of course there is a chance that I will not get published, but the paper will be complete and I will have the opportunity to hand it off to scientists and training developers to further analyze my research.  There are a number of courses coming up in the near future that will require new ways of presenting information to the student.  E-learning development has been my specialty for many years and now that I have the chance to combine media development, instructional design, and pedagogical methodologies, a compliant research document on digital storytelling instructional in e-learning will prove to be helpful in my success as a computer and web based training developer. 

Week 1 Comment #2 - David Remillard

David's post:

Image from Flickr.com by kevin yezbick 

Digital literacy and digital citizenship has been a recent topic among the faculty at my school. We want students to be able to find digital content and be able to analyze its validity. The phrase good digital citizen has many meanings depending on the context that you are using it in. One area that I have been focusing on is copyright laws and how this relates to my students being good digital citizens. In the education field I see photos being pulled off the Internet without any mention of the artists or link to the original photograph. Students dragging and dropping photos into a project without any understanding of the copyright laws or fair use rights for education. This weeks reading on copyright issues identify and describe the key points that students and teachers should know. Teachers should be giving students resources to copyright free material. Students should understand what can be copyrighted and what cannot be. When we look at copyright issues students today are producing more video projects to present during class time. I find they choose popular songs recorded by artists and do not have permission to use their music. By offering students alternative ways to produce their own original music for soundtracks or introductions to presentations we are fostering more creative projects but also educating students how to be a good digital citizen. Copyright issues go beyond the classroom when you look at school district performances, battle of the bands, and dances for fundraisers. In conjunction with our town officials we pay a licensing fee to broadcast music Inc. that gives the artists and composers royalties for the music that we will broadcast during special events. This is a general blanket that covers the town and the school district to perform without infringing on copyright laws. Finally the keyword still is education. Teachers need to understand the black-and-white of copyright laws and teach students how to access media responsibly.


My Response:

David,

I commend you for teaching students on how to create their own original music.  There is so much out there in terms of free sampled instruments and beats that anyone could create something amazing and original.  I can’t imagine if musical elements like that didn't exist in the realm of creative commons or even royalty free.  I mentioned earlier in a post to Michael Wood about an open source 3D application called Blender, but I’m also finding a lot of open source music software too.  Applications like Hydrogen, Ardour, and even Audacity have been improving rapidly in the open source market, and just like embracing media licensed under creative commons, open source software rips away the cost of expensive software and gives us the freedom to create and share.

Week 1 Comment #1 - Michael Wood

Michael Wood's Week 1 response on Copyright

My Response:

Michael,

I can relate with creating media in a time where there was no Internet. In the 8th grade I had to create a board game about outer space and I had to create my own graphics and spend many hours at the library to research the facts. Of course now that we have the Internet today there is so much to take in. Even though there is an abundance of media out there that is licensed under Creative Commons or even free, I have always tried to make my own so I could somehow contribute to the media rich society we are a part of. 

Another interesting thing is software. There is so much software being pirated right now and commercial content is being created with that software. This can lead to copyright infringement with large fines and even jail time. This kind of thing goes with what you mentioned that students don’t really care about copyright today. Software is so expensive especially stuff for special effects and 3D development. I actually ran into a dilemma the other day at work. I was told that I wasn’t going to get Autodesk Maya, the 3D software I have been using for 12 years. The software costs close to $4,000 and I was trying to figure what I was going to do to create 3D animations for training. I took a completely different approach and chose to use an open source application called Blender. Blender has everything most commercial applications have and the best part is that anything you create can be licensed by you and be used for anything you want. There is a small learning curve, but I feel a certain type of freedom that I normally feel when using Creative Commons or free media. There is no expensive upgrades or expiring licenses, just free software that helps to enhance creativity. Sure, the software that costs more than organs on the black market can help in creativity too, but its just like having to dish out every dollar you have to use copyrighted media. I only hope Fair Use, Creative Commons, Free media, and even open source software will continue to spread.

Week 1 Reading - Copyright Issues

Image by Flickr user: Horia Varlan

I was really blown away by the video on Martin Luther King and Fair Use.   The fact that the documentary, “Eyes on the Prize”, is unavailable to so many people because of the expired copyright licenses just seems so unreal.  Since I started at Full Sail I have been getting into documentary film making and learning more about Fair Use from this weeks reading helps me put things into perspective.  Before starting the development on my action research there was a film I wanted to use in my project, but I didn’t have the permission.  It was a documentary about Buddhism that aired on PBS and had Richard Gere as the narrator.  I was immediately intimated by the mere thought of using the documentary in any way so I decided to forget about it.  I finally contacted PBS about using the documentary and 2 months later they said I could use it as long as I was using it to teach Buddhism.  Of course I had already developed my own media and the response came too late, but I did become aware of Fair Use during this time.

I’m amazed at all the videos I have seen so far on copyright and how important it is in our lives today.  For so many years I have written music from the inspiration of many commercial artists and I have never used samples from anyone, like in the documentary “Good Copy/Bad Copy”, but its amazing how other cultures around the world are using those samples.  I have used samples before, but they have always been recordings of ambient sounds like traffic or construction sites and those samples were then imported into a sequencer for manipulation.

Apart from the documentaries on Fair use and Copyright, the Ted Talk with Larry Lessig was nothing short of brilliant.  Taking away from his talk, I am reminded about my professional environment and the restrictions on using Creative Commons.  It is important to start embracing this type of licensed material, but there is a belief in my professional environment that the owner of a certain license might decide to change the license at any given time and ultimately restricting the use of media that is already being used.  I’m not sure if this is possible and I understand the concern, but if individuals are intimated by Creative Commons, it only limits our creative abilities.  In developing content for my action research, I used a lot of creative commons material and doing so dramatically increased my ability to produce a rich educational product.

My knowledge of copyright was limited before viewing the videos this week.  I found the content to be exhilarating and sometimes emotional, especially the video about Fair Use with the documentary on Martin Luther King.  We live in a network of social media and intertwined within that media are the creative minds willing to express their very being.  The opportunity to create something to teach people and to enrich their lives is truly a wonderful experience and being able to tap into the massive amounts of media that already exists only increases our ability to create and flourish in the vast social network.

Image used:

“Large copyright graffiti sign on cream colored wall” by Flickr user Horia Varlan used under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.
Website Address: http://www.flickr.com/photos/horiavarlan/4273272605/