FullSail Grads Comes Back & Grills Us on Web2 & Education
February 20, 2010 by joe.bustillos
Filed under education re-examined, featured
Nick Briscoe, Full Sail emdtms grad, talks with Dr. Deason, Dr. Ludgate and moi about Web 2.0 tools such as social networking and their use in education. This is the first episode of Nick’s Educatium podcast which he’s created with fellow emdtms grads Paul Martin, Aletha Williams and Emily Wray. They can only get better from this beginning video podcast. Really.
Here’s a bonus outtake of Dr. Siegel wanting to join in as we were setting up the interview:
“A” is for Ax Murderer
February 10, 2010 by joe.bustillos
Filed under education re-examined, featured
Another student take on Zander’s giving student’s an automatic “A”:
"May I axe you a question?" Astro's Got an Axe! by tohoscope
Bob is still looking for his A
Grades in middle school are controversial, especially now that students earn credits to be promoted to the next grade level. Ask a teacher at my school to “give an ‘A’” and their response is likely to be one of confusion, disbelief, laughter, or even anger. Administrators will tell you that grades should be used to measure student success and communicate progress. Unfortunately, many teachers use grades to communicate a very bad message and focus on “principle.” “Its the principle of the matter,” exclaims a colleague. “If you give an ‘A’ to a student who does nothing in your class, what kind of message are you sending the kid who works their butt off?”
So it goes back to measure and comparison (see chapter 2). Giving an A is not about allowing students a free ride and telling hard working students that it is all for nothing. Rather, it is eliminating the “anticipation of failure” and allowing the class to focus on what is more important; learning. It’s all about placing everyone on a level playing field (pardon the competitive sports analogy) and saying, “you already have the grade, what’s next?” It’s likely that the response will involve a feeling of relief and willingness to explore.
Ashley’s always reaching for an ‘A.’
However, I think the next step of giving an ‘A’ is just as important as giving the ‘A’ itself. Teachers who feel that giving an ‘A’ would eliminate student accountability will like this step the most. Requiring that students predict how they have earned the A before they have actually received it, helps them develop goals and builds intrinsic motivation. It also helps them see the possibility of being successful, something many have given up on.
Interested in seeing how I felt about this in October, click here. – Noel Nehrig
And my erudite response:
Grades are a bit like religion. There may have been a point at some time but it’s gotten lost in all of the noise and people are very scared to consider what to do if grades/religion had never existed. In the classroom, has the point of all the effort gotten lost to pursuing a grade? I mean, just like religion, isn’t all of this effort suppose to amount to something intrinsic, some good that goes beyond measure?
Grades are institution solution to communicating student progress and/or position in the A-to-F continuum within the classroom. There the measure, not the point. But i’ve seen instructors at all level quibble looking to seal up any possible loophole that a student might use to game the grading system. At best a grade is an approximation that may or may not be related to student progress fulfilling course requirements. In the end, it’s what we carry in our heads and hearts that matters more than this imperfect approximation. Funny how only those who excel and those who feel besmirched care so much about grades. What’s up with that?
Sources:
Wk 1 Reading- “A” is for Ax Murderer by Noel Nehrig. http://web.me.com/noelnehrig/The_Blog_Prince_for_EMDTMS_MAC/2010_MAC_OCD_Wk1/Entries/2010/2/6_Wk_1_Reading-_%E2%80%9CA%E2%80%9D_is_for_Ax_Murderer.html retrieved on 2/9/2010
Astro’s Got an Axe! by tohoscope. http://www.flickr.com/photos/tohoscope/182444838/ retrieved on 2/9/2010
Stone mason by sk8geek. http://www.flickr.com/photos/sk8geek/3917647300/ retrieved on 2/9/2010
Pretty Princess Picking Her Nose by Pink Sherbet Photography. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinksherbet/3295969599/ retrieved on 2/9/2010
Share this Post[?] Scream Therapy
January 26, 2010 by joe.bustillos
Filed under Past Featured Media, education re-examined, featured
Full Sail student coping with the end of program requirements… thanks Mary
To give an A or not to give an A – Ongoing Zander Dialogue
January 16, 2010 by joe.bustillos
Filed under education re-examined, featured
I’m back to teaching my Media Asset Creation class and Ben Zander’s The Art of Possibility
Image courtesy Getty Images
Why? …because I don’t want my best students to feel like all their hard work is for nothing. I feel strongly that some of my students would take advantage of an automatic A and slack off.
But within the rubrics I design for each lesson, it is very easy to get an A if they complete the assignment. I try to make them aware of this, but perhaps I should try harder. Perhaps I should regard them all as my best students.
However, I am often frustrated that many of my students feel like they deserve an A, they tell me so, even when their work is average at best and they copy answers from other people. I worry that their parents and teachers who have caused them to feel like they deserve an A are being set up for massive disappointments once they hit the real world. The real world doesn’t care, does it?
Regardless.
I should give everyone in my life an A. My father, my daughter, my friends, strangers, everyone… see what happens when I make a point of not accidently taking the wind out of their sails…. –
Aneesa AMy response:
Read more
Grading Rants for a Monday – Inspired by the Art of Possibility
November 2, 2009 by joe.bustillos
Filed under education re-examined, featured
High Speed Aerodynamics by o b s k u r a
One of the books that I use for my course is the inspirational The Art of Possibility
Share this Post[?]“The author of the book, “The Art of Possibility” made a statement that “not just in this case, but in most cases, grades say little about the work done.” This statement could not be more true. The first thing I thought about when reading this chapter is the meetings that I have sat in with administrators that have implied students should earn nothing less than a 50% and that is if they even fail. Today, we are educators, which work in a data driven education system where the author’s statement of this book could not be more applicable. Grades today do not reflect the work or worth of a student for the simple fact that, like Southern California, there are so many other places that are driven by political, or administrative, holds to influence their “data” and/or “funding.” by Melissa C.
Save the Prize – Cha-Ching Version
October 22, 2009 by joe.bustillos
Filed under JBB's Media Buzz, education re-examined, featured
Part of my class at Full Sail University involves issues of Copyright, Fair Use and Creative Commons. One of the videos I share is about the difficulty a particular video documentarian is having securing the rights so that he can share his documentary “Eyes on the Prize”
The video prompted the following video response by one of my students (and my response to his video):
My video response:
Sources:
* Eyes on the Fair Use of the Prize directed and produced by Jacob Caggiano/Center for Social Media, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r0pM1hJGU8 retrieved on 10/22/2009
* Save the Prize by Seann Goodman/OnOttButton, article at http://seanngoodman.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/save-the-prize/, video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8fvmpRtDb0 retrieved on 10/22/2009.
* Save the Prize – Cha-Ching Version by Joe Bustillos, http://www.viddler.com/explore/joebeebee/videos/17/ retrieved on 10/22/2009.
Share this Post[?] freedom to screw up required if one wants perfection: emdt students reflect on blogging
October 10, 2009 by joe.bustillos
Filed under education re-examined, featured
An open letter to my emdt co-workers, co-conspirators & creativity enablers,
On one level or another I’ve been teaching communication and writing since I took my first teaching assignment 15-years ago. One thing that I learned right away was that it seemed to be a big function of the education system to take the eagerness of our little learners to share their every creation and over time crush it down to nothing, such that every fourth grader knows that no one wants hear what they have to say and even less what they think. The smart ones, in this system, are the ones who learn to speak and write in the language of their teachers, and that it’s critically important to not make any mistakes in spelling or grammar. It shouldn’t be much of a surprise that the ones who might suffer the most from this fear of writing are the ones who are part of the system that enforces this approach to writing, our masters students. But what they may not know, which I learned from my second-language 6th graders, is that they’ll never get any better at writing without working at it on an ongoing basis and that requires that I release them from the system that says that they can only write about things that the teacher cares about and only in the style set by the teacher. You have to work against a lifetime of “correction” and just get them to write before you can help them to write “better.”
As we begin to make blogging a bigger part of our process, please consider the learning process and that putting thoughts down in writing for others to read takes something more than can be expressed in a check-list (though a check-list can be very helpful in the beginning). What prompted this concern is the following exchange between two of my current students about having to do a blog in my course:
edm613 student blog entry:
“I must admit, I disliked blogging in the last class in which it was a requirement. I am really not sure why- I like to write- but it just never gelled for me. I did, however, revisit the idea of blogging after losing my job at the end of the last school year. I thought I would chronicle the ups and downs of my lack of job, talk about the new and exciting things I would encounter and boast about my new accomplishments. I would fill the pages with salsa lessons, daily musings and funny anecdotes. I think I actually managed to write a paragraph once or twice and it consisted of me complaining and moaning about emotional drudgery. I have a difficult enough time sounding interesting in one line on Twitter- I couldn’t possibly blog about my life- or lack there of.
“So here we go again.
“I decided not to re-purpose my last blog but start a new one. It will be chock full of fresh and new ideas, brilliant insight and astute observations. Words will flow from my mind, through my fingers and dance onto the page. I will be clever and captivating. What does this have to do with anything in class? Nothing, but every blog has to start somewhere. Welcome.”
Second students comment:
“I agree with you about blogging in our last class. The requirements were very limiting and seemed to hold me back. The blog became a chore and I dreaded each and every post for fear that I wouldn’t get a good grade or I would make some simple mistake and have to redo everything. I am very excited to get to share with everyone and express my thoughts more freely again. I like that you have brought a great sense of positivity into your new blog. I like your new point of view…you think you can assist me in bringing back my light?”
Standards of excellence and creativity will never be found where one doesn’t have the freedom to make a thousand mistakes first. I should know. jbb
Sources:
image: keyboard – clipart.com/jupiter graphics
thanks to jolene t. & joann s. for your thoughts and comments on blogging and giving it “one more try.”
Show Me What You Learned (blog, blog, blog) – An FSO Student Music Video
August 18, 2009 by joe.bustillos
Filed under Past Featured Media
Sorry, self-indulgent, no doubt, but damn funny… well, at least for my students who have to suffer through my course, Media Asset Creation. Thanks Abram Siegel
Share this Post[?] What the Heck is edm613 Media Asset Creation – A Student’s View
August 1, 2009 by joe.bustillos
Filed under JBB's Media Buzz, education re-examined, featured
Last week I was all proud of the presentation I’d given to my fellow course directors explaining what my class was all about. I had intended to make a video version of that presentation and post it here to help spread the Full Sail/EMDTMS love. Then one of my students turned in the following piece as his “Show Me What You Learned” project. Yeah, upstaged by my own students. I’m getting very used to this…
My parody of E-40 and Keak the Sneak’s song “Tell Me When To Go”
No video, just a static picture.
The lyrics can be found here
On a serious note, knowing more specifics about convergent culture and copyright law will help me as the collaboration is a goal of mine for my final project, and the law part will help me stay legal. The book “The Art of Possibility” probably had the greatest impact on me that will not only help me going into the media project and finishing the thesis, but with my teaching as well. – Abram Siegel
Actually, I’ll do the video presentation later, but I just had to share this version because it is so fracking creative and right on! Sorry, self-indulgent? No doubt, but damn funny… well, at least for my students who have to suffer through my course. I love my job and the folks I get to work with. jbb
Sources
Blog gang sign. (n.d.) http://blog.theavclub.tv
Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence culture: Where old and new media collide. New York: New York University Press
Zander, R. & Zander, B. (2002). The art of possibility: Transforming professional and personal life. New York: Penguin Books.
Music: The Golden Age by 
Mark Heard from the Mosaics CD (out of print)
The Thin DEADLine – An FSO Student Movie Trailer
August 1, 2009 by joe.bustillos
Filed under Past Featured Media
The creativity of our students knows no bounds. Thanks TLucas. Oh, and don’t go outside!
