May 14, 2008 This semester I had the awesome opportunity of teaching a graduate course in new media theory and practice. The final project for the course was a 10 - 15 minute visual argument. Although most of the students posted their videos to the course iTunes U site, two students chose to post their collaborative video to YouTube so I can share (and brag).
Posted in Mutlimedia, Teaching, Technology, Academe 
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May 14, 2008 Since I’ve been buried in work and personal issues this semester, I just haven’t had time to keep up with all the latest gadgets and widgets in FaceBook, but this one just came to my attention via the techrhet listerv: BB Sync, an applet designed to let students “stay connected to their academic studies and promote online social learning opportunities” (BB).
An interesting concept, connecting the social and the academic, but the question is will students respond to it? According to several articles, the answer is no. Of course time will only tell, but I can say that my experiments in using the Courses applet have all failed miserably. Students seem to have very clear boundaries about what is academic and what is social and the two apparently don’t mix in cyberspace.
But is this an example of a creepy treehouse?
An academic creepy treehouse is defined as:
[A]n institutionally controlled technology/tool that emulates or mimics pre-existing technologies or tools that may already be in use by the learners, or by learners’ peer groups. Though such systems may be seen as innovative or problem-solving to the institution, they may repulse some users who see them as infringement on the sanctity of their peer groups, or as having the potential for institutional violations of their privacy, liberty, ownership, or creativity. Some users may simply object to the influence of the institution. (Flexknowlogy)
So technically, I guess it is. But, as Nick Carbone pointed out in the techret discussion of this topic, since students may choose whether or not to install this applet on their FaceBook page, the applet itself probably doesn’t rise to the level of creepy treehouse. However, if an instructor were to require her students to add the applet in order to deliver course content to students it would then rise to the level of creepy treehouse–or perhaps that’s creepy treehouse instructor? But I wonder, how is that different from the Courses applet that I discussed above? That option has been around for quite a while, and I even know several colleagues who use it instead of a campus adopted CMS. Is that an example of a creepy treehouse?
Personally, I’m not totally comfortable with the conflation of the boundaries between the personal and the private in cyberspace, and this just seems like one more boundary breached. I think I would have gone crazy if my professors could have picked up the phone (party-line style) whenever I called a friend to remind me that I had a paper due the next week when I was an undergrad. Why is it OK to do this now?
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April 20, 2008 Wow. I had forgotten how long it had been since I posted anything here. I knew this semester had been crazy, but I guess it was crazier than I realized. And it’s not over yet. Hopefully I’ll be able to get back into the grove of posting regularly once I’ve gotten everything graded and grades posted (mid-May maybe?) Until then, here’s a little nugget that I got by way of Karl Stolley and techrhet. It really tickled my funny bone since I’m teaching an XHTML/CSS course this semester.
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March 4, 2008 Week before last “On the Media” had an interesting story about politicians and the fonts they choose for their campaign signs. (Yes, I’m getting to this late, but since the local NPR station here in Norfolk, VA doesn’t carry OTM I have to listen to the podcasts and it took me awhile to get around to listening to this one.) Apparently, Clinton’s font looks like it’s been “punched in the nose” and Obama’s looks like “an Armani suit.” I’m not sure if I buy into everything here, but it’s interesting to hear someone talking about what a design feature like the font face says about a politician’s campaign.
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February 3, 2008 I saw this over on P*I*T*A (courtesy of Diss, Dat and Diapers) and thought I’d have some fun and give it a try. I’m nowhere near as good as EB (good heavens woman—90 wpm?!)
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My name is Kathie Gossett. My research interests include the canon of memory, medieval and visual rhetoric, technology and identity, and multimedia texts, literacies, and pedagogies. So posts (or rants) about any of these subjects may appear here.
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