2006.02.02
Twisted Video
00.19.09 - Mark
A few months ago I was in an Art Appreciation class with a not so great teacher (too much lecture and exceptionally bad powerpoint presentations, not enough discussion), and a worse than usual class (single camera /room teleconferencing on low bandwidth connections run by technophobes does not make for a good classroom discussion) Towards the end of the semester we were each assigned an Artist to do a presentation on. With a last name starting with W I got last pick of artists, and ended up with Nam Juke Paik.
Turns out it was a really good pick for me because I love electronics and I've been dinking around in computers forever, and I've got a long standing side interest in video. The main part of the project was research and write a report, but we had at one point been told to prepare a presentation, and after researching Paik some I though it would be neat to make a video rather than to put slides (did I mention we sat though a lot of bad powerpoint presentations in that class?)
Nothing came of it at the time, because his slow repeating lectures and technical inability to control the teleconference gear (did I mention technophobe?) and teach he had to commandeer the time he had set aside for presentations so he could finish the curriculum.
Anyways, Paik died a few days ago, and considering he predicted a freely distributed video market in the 60's I'm reinvestigating the idea of making a Paik mini-documentry. I've already got a report, and I saved most of my presentation materials, so the big thing becomes making a movie that looks good. I'll see about serious editing later, but I've been looking at iMovie plug-ins.
Wow. There are some amazing looking plugins out there that are either free or cheap (most are under $5 a piece, some more complex ones like video stabilization are more)
Part of me wants to go out and binge, the rest of me knows I've got that money earmarked for other purposes, but one thing I'm noticing is that the plug-in developers are very cool about providing product demos, both preprocessed videos as well as installable and usable plugins.
Maybe I won't go on a shopping spree, but I might have a lot of watermarked video on my hard drive...
Link | 0 Comments | developers iMovie Nam June Paik school software video
2006.01.24
What do you want to learn today?
14.35.33 - Mark
"so by the time they get to 12th grade, they come to college, ahh - now I'm free, I don't have this curriculum shoved down my throat, I'm going to take things that are 'interesting' " -- David Helfand discussing Science Education (Emphasis mine) on Science Firday, Dec 30th 2005
Of the many podcasts I listen to Science Friday and some of the other radio based shows tend not to rank up real high in my listening queue, but they tend to stay in the list. So today one of the ~20 minute ones that coincide with commute to and from school was on What Scientists Owe the Public, with a strong focus on education.
Like nearly all of the similar interviews it takes its shots at No Child Left Behind, the lack of science funding, the need to teach critical thinking, and all the usual suspects, but the above quote about 13 minutes in really hit. As in I listened the clip 5 times, hit me.
As a student, I think most students are aware of the curriculums imposed on them during high school, I certainly was. Curriculums are dry boring documents issued by fat white balding bureaucrats hundreds or thousands of miles away. Most of them probably grew up in an era where enforcing discipline took precedence over all else in the classroom.
It's a document designed to manipulate students. I don't think anyone likes being manipulated, in any way, but certainly not by unknown persons with no real connection to them. I'm sure if you need the obvious explained to you, there are plenty of psychologists out there who will explain how that's even truer when dealing with teenagers trying to assert their individuality.
I'm not going to turn this into an anti-centralization post, that's too vague a solution. I'm not even going to say you should completely overthrow curriculums. No I think educators need to have a very basic list of skills students need to walk away from the class with (ie identify good science and bad science, be able to summarize a novel) but have the flexibility to tailor the lesson plan around to goals to create something that students enjoy.
I don't think its too far fetched. Ask a class what they want to learn. Chances are, they'll always be able to tell you.
Link | 0 Comments | education learning school science students
2006.01.18
That's $5.50 and your SSN please.
15.08.44 - Mark
I'm not a major privacy nut, if I was I'd off trying to be an ungoogleable rather than write on a blog at a vanity domain, but I tend to take the same approach to identity issues that I do with security. I try to be aware of it, and while I won't go out of my way to practice it to an extreme, I know better than to haphazardly blow it off, and I try to follow sane practices, and will even change some of my habits to be a bit above average.
That's why I'm really pissed off about the way my school is throwing around Social Security Numbers. It's bad enough that the school uses the only 4 really unique digits in the SSN in student passwords. But when I can walk into an office and be told to sign my full name and SSN to get a folder full of information it takes the step from scary to outright dangerous. If I was evil, I could have very easily taken a picture of the log, and walked out of that office with 30+ names and SSNs resting in my pocket, almost all of them belonging to people with clean credit reports.
Maybe I should have, maybe then they'd have to change their policy about acceptable use of student SSNs.
Link | 0 Comments | identity theft school security SSNs stupid
2006.01.16
Recommended: Why?
14.44.37 - Mark
I wasn't a fan of the Course Technologies Books my school likes to begin with, but when Amazon starts recommending them over higher rated books, its a little concerning.
Link | 0 Comments | amazon books school
2006.01.06
Concerning...
14.00.07 - Mark
Should I be concerned when my American Government teacher mentions Pat Robertson and The Christian Science Monitor on the first day of class?
Link | 0 Comments | Government Religion School
2006.01.05
What a bunch of muck...
16.34.45 - Mark
I'm glad I'm coming off of a long holiday break, because otherwise today would be unmistakably classifiable as painfully depressing and psychotic as opposed to the mild benign inanity I'm really feeling.
Classes went well enough, considering that one technically shouldn't have formed, and the teacher is supposedly doing it "pro bono" so a couple of of can finish on the degree on track. Of course, he also walked into class with the wrong book (something 2 editions old), and told us pretty much straight up that he wasn't sure how he was going to teach it. I'm looking forward to seeing what sort of improvisation he's going to concoct tomorrow for the other class that shouldn't have come together. I doubt I'll like what I hear but at least it should prove to be amusing.
There's also the little thing about the school thinking I had dropped my enrollment. I have no idea why and lack the inclination to root out this one little problem in the sea of all the other grievances with the school. I'd only turn up blank stares, half truths, and vague comments about why I was "purged from the system." (their actual words) I wasn't happy about running all over campus for an hour to get one person to do punch a few keys to get me un-purged, so I could then give them money. Whatever, it was the easiest resolution. Stupid and mundane, but a resolution none the less.
I only wish enrolling at another community college was as easy. I've spent the better part of an afternoon trying to figure out how the hell I'm supposed to enroll as a distance education student at another college to make up the classes the local school cancelled. It's nice that the local HSU is willing to make exemptions to its typical cancellation hobbies for two or three students who still won't be able to graduate because they're still missing classes from other rounds of cancellations.
I think they're reusing some of the flawed "critical thinking" practices they used on me last October.
Plus my linux box is acting up. I probably should update it with a clean install of the latest Ubuntu distro and rework my way though a MythTV installation with my more linux friendly card but, well, umm err I guess I don't really have a good excuse, especially with the Spring TV lineup starting soon.
Link | 0 Comments | insane life school
2006.01.01
New Year, New Challenges
02.04.49 - Mark
While I'm not really into celebrating New Year's (or any of the late December holidays), it's hard not to look at the upcoming year and the challenges I'll have to face in it.
Probably the most significant is how I'll be handling my education in the coming months. With luck (and a heavy course load) I should be finishing up my Internet Technology Degree at the community college this spring, which means I'll need to decide what I'll be doing next fall.