Designing for Collaborative Creation

Today, I focused on making my class site a place where my students are co-creators of our learning and exploration.  This was possible on our ning at a basic level (students creating their own discussions and controlling their personal pages), but there was not much they could do.  I have to admit I did not focus well on maximizing what they could do either.  My new site is going to different because I am designing it that way.  That is a key aspect of true digital design -- looking at what can be done because it is digital versus relying on standard print design principles.  I am not finished with my thinking about this kind of design, but I am pretty pleased with what I accomplished today.

Wild Waters of Wordpress

I dove into the Wordpress.org ocean and am now laying on the shore.  I think I survived, but time will tell as I am still waiting on some things to activate.

Here is what I did today.

Designing for "Wunder"

"English Studies ... still privilege[s] the Word as its preferred mode of 
performance, and linear argument as its preferred form. For this to change, 
more scholars must move beyond critical verbal analysis of visual texts and 
become active architects of intellectually engaged (and engaging) multimediated 
visual rhetoric. Until we and our students see ourselves as producers rather 
than just consumers of visual rhetoric, we are ceding the authority to speak 
and intervene in an increasingly mediated world" (Delagrange 11).

Before I embark on my big creation (a Wordpress site for my AP English class), I wanted to practice being a thoughtful producer of digital design who would make Susan Delagrange proud.

Fun in the Summer Sun ... Intellectual Style

Today is kick-off day ... the Great Summer 2012 Independent Study has begun!  My kids are at a camp each morning this week, my early morning run is done, and here I sit ready to work.  My type-A, organized self jumped right into the pool waters of work by ... making a plan for my work!  (I can see my good friend and fellow planner Jennifer nodding her head and laughing ...)  So, here is my plan ...

Rethinking Arrangement

I have started my reading for my new media independent study, and I will be reflecting on each text here.  So, let me get started with my first text, Susan Delagrange's Technologies of Wonder.

Wrapping Up

DMAC Day 10

Really this is about DMAC Day 9, but I took a break last night instead of writing this blog.  I had dinner from City Barbeque with Krista, her family, and her parents.  We had fun remembering the BBQ we would eat in college, particularly the long waits we were willing to endure for the hush puppies at Bullock's Bar-B-Cue.  (My visual design mind is highly alert BTW after the last 10 days because I really enjoyed seeing the difference between these two BBQ websites.  Bullock's website, looking as it does like it is straight from 1985, captures what that restaurant is all about -- no frills, no desire to be more than one restaurant serving great food, good ol' Southern charm. The rhetoric of new media is deep in me!).  Some margaritas and corn pudding set up a great night's sleep, and now I am back in DMAC reflection and production mode.

Summer Reading ... by the English teacher

DMAC Day 8

I have spent some time thinking about how I can build on what I am learning here at DMAC to craft my independent study for the rest of the summer.  One of my goals for this independent study is to read some of the many texts I have heard about -- with the idea that the summer might be a time when I can choose my academic reading and have the time to actually read.  I may be in delusion about this, but hey, it is good to have goals.  So here is my draft reading list for the summer ...

Cooked Texts

DMAC Day 6

I have spent the last 30 hours (when I was not enjoying the DMAC party or sleeping!) focusing my final project.  The process we have been guided through in this focusing is worth reflecting on in and of itself.

Catching up with my students...

DMAC Day 4
 
At times, I feel funny having discussions about the value of multimodal composition because it seems like an old person's conversation.  My students would immediately tell you that they compose all the time in different modalities, particularly outside of school.  To bring these different modalities into the classroom can only enhance students' understanding of composition as a whole and, as a huge side benefit, make their non-academic composing better.

Remixing like a Semi-Pro

DMAC Day 2

Today was audio production day -- well, half of it was.  Which means I made an audio commercial with four layered tracks in half a day.  That is a steep and really great learning curve.