Desinging To Learn

My first official MOOC course and I am happy to experience it with #AdobeGenPro. I chose to get involved with a course in Game Design with a focus on not only creating assets for a game, but also how to create a class or curriculum in games. I have to say I am pleasantly surprised with the interface provided in the LMS housed in Adobe Education Exchange . It’s easy to follow step by step lessons followed up with reflection and critique within the class forums. I can also see a list of students and read their profiles and choose to follow them or share experiences with them. Each user can make a simple profile with some basic information and linkage to their social media and personal websites. The coolest thing about the profile is that it displays different badges you can earn by taking courses and participating in the network. You can check out my profile here as an example. If you are an educator or student, especially one who uses Adobe, you have to check the Adobe Education E...

I was totally fascinated by Danah Boyd’s “The Future of Privacy and Social Media.” I like how she prefaced the idea of privacy with how people act as teenagers versus how they may act as adults and what they are willing to share with social networks. What’s even more interesting, that Danah did not discuss, is what will parents share about their children on social media and networking that their children will feel violated by when they are of age to understand what their parents posted? A child that was born in the mid to late 2000’s (and later) may find it harder to get a date in the future if their prospective date can look at all their embarrassing stuff their parents posted on social media about them. Even more frustrating, children do not own these accounts so they do not have control over how their image or stories about them are shared. In ten to twenty years, it will be interesting to see how children in the early 21st century deal with this issue of privacy out of their c...

After last week’s discussion and exploration in “tribes” by review of two articles by Jeff Goins: Finding Your Tribe May Be the Hardest Thing You Do , and Three Important Steps to Building a Killer Tribe , and another Ted talk by Seth Godin The tribes we lead , I think I am ready to apply these concepts to the networked learning space project. The NLS that will be created for course work in INTE 5665, and out of personal and professional interest, is Designing To Learn . Designing To Learn network provides resources to engage and motivate members to be productive by learning through practicing design. I do believe there is a need for organized and directed multi-discipline study of design as we move through this century. Firstly, I think this network is helpful for anyone trying to engage and communicate effectively in web 2.0 practices such as blogging, creating a website, creating a logo, and a whole host of artistic and creative things typical educational paths has not lead...

Finished Sketch Yes I still use markers on occasion! Every so often I really get the urge to remove myself from the computer and draw with traditional mediums. For some drawing with markers and pencils as traditional design mediums comes naturally. For others CAD is their main means of communicating design. Whatever the case, drawing with hand techniques is still relevant and useful especially when communicating quick sketches and ideas. Sometimes on the fly, and sometimes with the client present. You would be amazed at how much progress you can make with your client if you would take the time to sit and draw with them as a co-designer of the space you are trying to create. This example shown is from a demo I gave to my interior rendering class. It is from one of the books we refer to called  Color Drawing: Design Drawing Skills and Techniques for Architects, Landscape Architects, and Interior Designers 3rd Edition  by Michael E. Doyle Ink Drawing I also includ...

Finished Rendering See the full tutorial here! In this tutorial doc I walk through how I rendered an interior in Photoshop with an exported line drawing from Sketchup. I’ve found many people are looking to add some extra flair to their 3D drawings or learn how to completely render their sketch in Photoshop. This tutorial should serve both, but mostly shows how one can create a realistic interior in Photoshop without having to texture everything in 3D software.   Line Drawing + Materials I’ve included both the original line drawing with material references as well as the finished rendering. What do you think? What unique ways do you use Photoshop to create or enhance your renderings?

Practice makes perfect! The old adage usually applied to learning something new like playing a musical instrument or sport. But what about drawing? If practiced regularly, I think anyone can draw well although most people think you either got the talent or you don’t. The challenging part, is tuning everything out and warming up to practice. I teach my design students on the first day of class each semester some basic exercises to practice different mediums, and train their muscles, eyes, and minds to “sync up” to produce better results before tackling a more complex drawing. Try it out - try to draw some straight lines, perfect circles, and ellipses. Throw in some curvilinear lines. Stay fast and loose. Try standing up. Think about what your elbow, wrist and shoulder is doing and fine tune your movement. When you start feeling good and you got your head in the right state of mind to draw, move on to a more complex drawing. I’m sure you will find you enjoy drawing more ...

Games for Change @G4C Summer - the time of year where I always try to cram six months worth of stuff into three. There’s something about it, maybe it’s the longer days due to the summer solstice, or maybe it’s my way of making up for all of those lazy summers I had when I was a kid sleeping until noon. Whatever the case, in the summer of 2015, I decided to begin my journey as a graduate student at CU Denver in an intensive eight week course, INTE 5340 Digital Storytelling , that changed the way I think about education and the potential of social learning. My first term as a graduate student in Information and Learning Technologies & Adult Learning, I knew very little about social media platforms and pedagogy of social learning. I had been lurking on Facebook for about a year, my Google + profile was full of cobwebs, and I just started to learn how to use Twitter. As a fledgling Twitter newb, I decided to jump into a Twitter chat to begin to spread my wings. My first ...

See Storify Link How did you learn in this course? How do you understand your social learning practices given theory shared by L&K? As a learner relatively new to online social learning, the practices of this course INTE 5340 Digital Storytelling , were at first, challenging to adopt. Prior to the start of the course, I set up a Twitter account and started participating in discussions like #edgamecha t, and looking for people to follow in regards to education and personal interests. I set up a website called Designing To Learn to feature my professional and educational work that tied in with the blog I had already set up. I also read a majority of the course text New Literacies: Everyday Practices and Social Learning 3rd Ed by Colin Lankshear and Michele Nobel . However, I did not fully comprehend what I was reading or doing prior to the start of the course, things quickly started to make sense after the first week of engagement. By the practices as outlined ...

Week 7 Collage Introduction As part of the educational discourse in digital storytelling each week, I will conduct a reflective practice self assessment. These ‘reflections’ will serve as both formative and summative assessment to the learning goals of the course INTE 5340. See learning goals in the INTE 5340 syllabus . See DS106 syllabus . Requirements and Production DS106 Assignment Bank (Video Assignment) Creative Education Compilation: VideoAssignments1736 Response to Lankshear & Knobel “New Literacies” chapter one and selected scholarship Social Learning Trajectories: A Response to Lankshear & Knobel Chapter 8 Digital story critique The Cake is Not a Lie: A Critique of Portal 2 Puzzle Maker "Making Space for Physics" Comment peer critiques (x2) Week 7: Critique (I only found 1 critique to examine posted by other classmates this week!) Comment peer chapter responses (x2) Moving Towards "Pull"- Last L&K Response We need...

As part of the continued practice in digital storytelling, in INTE 5340 MA ILT at CU Denver, I will consume a digital stories and offer critiques. Until now the course has focused on Jason Ohler’s assessment traits as criterions to assess stories. For the remainder of the critiques in the course, I will focus on “everyday remix practices” as described in the Lankshear and Knobel text New Literacies: Everyday Practices and Social Learning Third Ed by Colin Lankshear and Michele Knobel , on pages 127-140. To coincide with my theme, ‘the importance of creative arts in education,’ I’ve reviewed and critiqued some everyday remix practices of teachers in creative curriculum settings. This week I wanted to look at another creative way students ‘remix’ learnt material. I was inspired to look at Institute of Play after reading chapter 8 in Lankshear & Knobel “New Literacies.” Chapter 8 describes in some detail how Institute of Play creates ways for K-12 students to engage in creative...

Creative Arts in Education Throughout the semester while researching scholarship related to ‘the importance of creative arts in education,’ I’ve looked at many YouTube videos. I’ve critiqued and examined mostly creative everyday remix practices of teachers and the works of Ken Robinson . To round it all out, I wanted to create something that showed the students. What does it look like when creative arts are implemented into education? Different Colors I chose to compile the videos set to Walk the Moon Different Colors . Since the first time I heard this song it made me think about why teachers do what they do and fight to make better experiences for their students. Hence the lines, “this is why we’re biting the bullet, we know the kids are right.” It’s not easy to change the landscape of ‘high stakes testing’ and integrate engaging, creative curriculum. Although there have been great improvements at some schools, as can be seen in the compilation video, others still lag beh...

Digital Storytelling For The Illiterate Generation(s) The eighth and final chapter of New Literacies: Everyday Practices and Social Learning Third Ed by Colin Lankshear and Michele Knobel was like reflecting on the past seven weeks of my life from a programmatic point of view as a digital storytelling student. My first response to this was “Why didn’t I read this chapter first so I knew what I was getting into?” Then I realized, I probably would not have understood any of it had I not experienced ‘digital storytelling.’ As I was reading the chapter, I was constantly analysing the program Lankshear & Knobel suggest, and comparing to what I am experiencing in current curriculum. The first major difference in the curriculum noted in the text versus what students at CU Denver Masters in Information and Learning Technologies program experience was some limited face to face and group instruction. The MA program at CU Denver is completely online. Students may meet face to face if...

Week 6 Collage Introduction As part of the educational discourse in digital storytelling each week, I will conduct a reflective practice self assessment. These ‘reflections’ will serve as both formative and summative assessment to the learning goals of the course INTE 5340. See learning goals in the INTE 5340 syllabus . See DS106 syllabus . Requirements and Production The Daily Create (x2) Fish Out of Water - Boundaries Exercise tdc1276 Look at all the people - hyperbolic tiling tdc1285 DS106 Assignment Bank (Web Assignment) What Is Your Passion Archetype Character Buzzfeed Quiz Response to Lankshear & Knobel “New Literacies” chapter one and selected scholarship I Can Feel The Pull: A Response to Lankshear & Knobel Chapter 7 Digital story critique Artistic Fan Remix: Critique of Ken Robinson on Flourishing Comment peer critiques (x2) Critique: Machinima- The Druid: Tree of Life - (A WoW Machinima by Nixxiom) Mash-Up Lecture Series Comme...

Colorful People Hyperbolic Tiling tdc1285 Dailycreate tdc1285 This is a great way to synthesize art with math to make pretty visuals by formulas. You can make your own with the help of this website: http://www.malinc.se/m/ImageTiling.php

Archetype Collage (Buzzfeed quiz cover) What are your natural aptitudes? Based very loosely off of multiple intelligences. Are you the Artist, the Technologist, the Naturalist, the Performer, the Musician, the Poet, the Athlete, Puzzle Fighter, or the Renaissance Man or Woman? Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/421860690073254141/ Diana Ziv - http://zivcreative.blogspot.com.au/ A Meaningful Assignment This week I focused on Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Theory and Ken Robinson’s The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything . In so many ways this scholarship resonated with chapter seven in the Lankshear and Knobel text as well as my focal theme ‘the importance of creative arts in education.’ I wanted to find a ds106 assignment that could help me synthesize scholarship with ‘new literacies’ application. The literacy dimensions and cultural appreciation in order to craft a Buzzfeed personality quiz that has humor and meaning is really challen...

Ken Robinson on Flourishing Voice: Sir Ken Robinson, Director: Jim Batt, Artist: Molly Crabapple As part of the continued practice in digital storytelling, in INTE 5340 MA ILT at CU Denver, I will consume a digital stories and offer critiques. Until now the course has focused on Jason Ohler’s assessment traits as criterions to assess stories. For the remainder of the critiques in the course, I will focus on “everyday remix practices” as described in the Lankshear and Knobel text New Literacies: Everyday Practices and Social Learning Third Ed by Colin Lankshear and Michele Knobel , on pages 127-140. Kind of Remix: Fanfiction short movies (if one must be chosen from L&K text) Three Literacy Dimensions: 1. From making movie trailers: “May involve knowing how to include written text in the remixed video to help convey new storyline.” 2. From creating fanfiction: “Understanding the structure and purpose of narratives and using this to guide writing.” 3. From creating ...