Week #3 Reading and discussion

Identify the main  arguments

I believe that the author's main point is that reading education has changed in the information age to not just be the collection of information but to understand the stakeholders in the writing of a piece of work. Often the source of information hopes to persuade the reader to their point of view, and this source needs to be questioned as much as the validity of the words. He believes that students need to be taught how to read between the lines of media produced works.

Explain whether or not you agree or disagree with the main arguments? 

I agree with his main arguments. The agenda of a message's writer needs to be questioned as much as the details of the work. The ease in which information can be presented in all forms of media leaves room for stereotypes, hidden advertising and the desire for people to conform to norms of property ownership.

Do what extent do you think that media can be held responsible for low self-esteem in women and violence behavior in men?

The promulgation of only models that have been photo finished to perfection can only make unreal expectations for beauty in women. The endless string of action movies where a single, model spec hero defeats all enemies in his path reinforced violence behavior in men. The James Bonds movies are most ridiculous along these lines. The pretty body boy with the proper English accent saves the girl, saves the world and all while sipping vodka and making smart ass one-liners.

Make connections between the videos and two quotes from the reading.

"A reconceptualized vision of new literacies education would include an explicit effort to enable students to acquire the ability to understand how visual media work to produce meanings."(Semali, 2001)

This quote really helps the point of the Killing US Softly author in that the average consumer does not know that the cover girls are not what your average person even comes close to looking like. I really like that she said that NO one looks the way these models look because of the photo finishing.

"With mass media and the fast-growing Internet such dominant forces, out-of-school learning has come to depend heavily upon visual imagery."(Semali, 2001)

This quote is more in line with the 1st video that looks at what the media has painted men out to be. The alpha male is shown as a body builder, pretty faced and tough as nails guy. This idea is NOT taught in the classroom what-so-ever.

 Semali, L. (2001, November). Defining new literacies in curricular practice. Reading Online, 5(4). Available: http://www.readingonline.org/newliteracies/lit_index.asp?HREF=semali1/index.html

Week #3 activities

1. Whose message is this? Who created or paid for it? Why? 

This is the cover of Muscle and Fitness magazine. The stakeholders are the magazine that sells the image of the alpha male and the movie that is advertised in the article inside.

2. Who is the “target audience”? What is their age, ethnicity, class, profession, interests, etc.? What 

words, images or sounds suggest this? 

The target audience is young white men from 20-35 that have the disposable income to buy a magazine that takes a half hour to read. Their interest is looking good for women. The advertised articles are for fast fitness tips. 

3. What is the “text” of the message? (What we actually see and/or hear: written or spoken words, 

photos, drawings, logos, design, music, sounds, etc.) 

That the "top dog" of guys has big arms, short hair and a serious look.

4. What is the “subtext” of the message? (What do you think is the hidden or unstated meaning?) 

That being large helps one be in charge. 

5. What kind of lifestyle is presented? 

That extreme fitness will make one more impressive.

6. What values are expressed? 

That personal fitness is paramount.

7. What “tools of persuasion” are used?

Different fonts to draw attention to different messages circling the focused picture of their idea of a fit man. Capitals for "YOU" to make the message personal

8. What positive messages are presented? What negative messages are presented? 

The positive message is that fitness can help with the buyer's appearance. However, the message is lost in the extreme lengths that this magazine pushes it through overexposure.

9. What groups of people does this message empower? What groups does it disempower? 

How does this serve the media maker's interests? 

This magazine empowers the body builder as the type of body to have. It disempowers the slim, fit distance runner type of body. It serves the media because it takes years to see the results of power lifting.

10. What part of the story is not being told? How and where could you get more information about the 

untold stories? 

The biggest part of the story is how Arnold got to be so ripped. He was a career body builder for years before he competed in contests, and then he had to work even harder to get to the top. I saw a documentary of his body building career from a buddy that worked for years to get big muscles. A simple google search can show you Arnold's body building career before he was cast into movies.

Week 2, EDUC 6810 activities

Photo Analysis of:

Photo 1: New York Daily News June 14, 2010

Caption: Obama and the Oil Spill

Describe what you see? (Observations)

I see the President in a listening posture.

• Nonverbal gestures (arms, hands, fingers)- These are not present in the picture.
• Facial expression (head, eyes, mouth)- His expression is of listening to someone else.
• Body language (distances, code matching)- The picture is just of his upper body above the middle of his chest.
• People (age, gender, ethnicity)- He is a middle aged mixed ethnicity man.
• Clothing (type, color)- He is wearing business casual clothes of a conservative pattern.
• Background (objects, setting)- The background of the scene is blurry.
• Camera angle- The photographer is slightly above his eye level.

What does it mean? Based on what you have observed above, list three things you might infer from this photograph.

• Is the photograph posed or spontaneous? How do you know? I believe that the photograph is spontaneous because of his "listening to someone else" expression.
• What is your prior knowledge of the historical context of the photos? The president took an active role in the clean-up of the spill. Motives for this include making good press that all politicians strive to do and government "lessons learned" in the poor federal response to Hurricane Katrina.
• What questions does the photograph raise? Write at least 3 questions. Was the president's response sincere? How knowledgeable was he on the crisis? How does he compare to other leaders in similar situations?

Photo Analysis of:

Photo 2: Christian Science Monitor June 14, 2010

Caption: President Obama meets with National Incident Commander US Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen for a briefing on the BP oil spill at Coast Guard Station Gulfport in Gulfport, Mississippi, on Monday.

Describe what you see? (Observations)

I see the President in a sitting beside the Coast Guard Commandent with a picture of covering the region of the oil spill.

• Nonverbal gestures (arms, hands, fingers)- The President's hands are gesturing to raise attention to the point he is discussing. The Commandent's hands are locked together in a listening posture.
• Facial expression (head, eyes, mouth)- The President's expression is of talking to someone else. The Commandent's expression is focused on listening to the President.
• Body language (distances, code matching)- The picture is just of their upper body above
• People (age, gender, ethnicity)- The President is a middle aged mixed ethnicity man. The Commandent is an older white man.
• Clothing (type, color)- The President is wearing business casual clothes of a conservative look. The Commandent is in a "working" or informal uniform.
• Background (objects, setting)- The background of the scene is informative for the viewer.
• Camera angle- The photographer is slightly below his eye level.

What does it mean? Based on what you have observed above, list three things you might infer from this photograph.

• Is the photograph posed or spontaneous? How do you know? I believe that the photograph is spontaneous because of his "speaking to someone else" expression.
• What is your prior knowledge of the historical context of the photos? The president took an active role in the clean-up of the spill. Motives for this include making good press that all politicians strive to do and government "lessons learned" in the poor federal response to Hurricane Katrina.
• What questions does the photograph raise? Write at least 3 questions. Was the president's response sincere? How knowledgeable was he on the crisis? How does he compare to other leaders in similar situations?

I found a form online that interested me at: http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/worksheets/photo_analysis_worksheet.pdf

This form is used by the United States National Archives to judge historic photographs for their use in collections maintained by the Archives.

Introductory Post for EDUC 6810

Hello, I am Andrew Labdik. I have set up this website to manage my coursework for EDUC 6810 in the Fall Semester of 2013. Here is a link to my introduction video:

http://animoto.com/play/vbU0WoBGlf5xaw1aaCATEw

You may need to pause the pictures if you want to see the text in them.

Week 13 Ideas for Literature Review

I have decided to address the question: How can classrooms be transformed to motivate students they way games do?

I will answer this question with research I am using for another class  - with multimedia lectures. Many dry subjects can become interesting with full use of multimedia. Video, pictures and games both can keep the attention span of an audience and provide a second reinforcement of the lecture material.

I have already done some reading into this subject and here are my sources:

Almassizadeh, Farshad, falseWhitnell, Robert M, Fernandes, Eric A, Love, John J et al.
   “Multimedia chemistry lectures.” Journal of Chemical Education 71.9 (Sep 1994): 
   721.

Bauer, Wolfgang, Kortemeyer, Gred. “Multimedia collaborative content creation 
   (mc3): The MSU lecture Online system.” Journal of Engineering Education; 
   Oct 1999; 88, 4; ProQuest Central pg. 421.

Briggerman, Brian C., Boyer Tracy A., Norwood, F. Bailey. “Demand for Multimedia
   in the Classroom.” Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics. 41.3 
   (Dec 2009) p791-808.

Duits, Linda. “The importance of popular media in everyday girl culture.” European 
   Journal of Communication. Sep2010, Vol. 25 Issue 3, p243-257, 15p

Hug, Theo. “Visual Competence, Media Literacy and "New Literacies" - Conceptual    

   Considerations in a Plural Discursive Landscape.” Seminar.Net: Media, 
   Technology & Life-Long Learning, 2011, Vol. 7 Issue 1, p1-17, 17p

Meadors, Todd. “Using multimedia in lab-based online classes.” Distance Learning. 
    9.1(Jan.2012): p36.

Moore, Helen A., Pippert, Timothy D. “Multiple perspectives on multimedia in the large

      lecture.” Teaching Sociology. 27.2 (Apr 1999); 92

Week 12

Here is the link to the final version of my project:


Scratch | Project | 4CFinal


I really wanted to do voice acting so I poorly threw my voice for the introduction section. Enjoy!

1. What: What is your project? How does it work? How did you come up with the idea?

Change Creator Cathie's Cubicle or 4C for short. Cathie interacts with her co-workers to make change for the office's vending machines. I know that math can be boring but money seems to spark the interest of my nephews so I use it as a lure in a math based game.

2. So What: What was your process for developing the project? What was interesting, surprising, or challenging? Why? What did you learn?

I knew that I wanted to use money in math problems going into the project. I have seen people of all ages having trouble making change so that got me to a change making design. I felt that office workers mingling would be informal so that completed the chain of design ideas. 

The first design problem I had was that Scratch rounds up .25 to .3. So I had to do away with the decimal point. I had many issues with getting the story to roll correctly, but a few hours of trials, errors, and duplicating commands I knew worked got the game to work. I had a blast putting in voice acting for the introduction of the characters after the fact.

3. Now What: What are you the most proud of about your project? What would your change? What do you want to create next? Why?

I had to juggle a bunch of variables  and expressions around so I am happy that I got them to all play nice. I would perhaps add background music and voice acting to the game version. My next creation would have movement rather than characters flashing in and out. I didn't really use these commands because of the need to get the project done. I also would add requests for different amounts of change on the characters. They randomly ask for 1 of 2 requests and 3 or 4 would make it more random.

4. Principles of Good Games and Good Learning: Provide explicit examples of the principles of good games and learning you applied in your game design. Then provide explicit examples of the  principles of good games and good learning you could apply if you had more time and better Scratching skills. 

I have a good bit of interaction between my characters throughout my game. The completion of a game day results in the production of new items for Cathie's cube. I believe that the problems of the game are well-ordered because I left the instructions with the prompts. I made the character's requests for money to be random so the game can be pleasantly frustrating if a user wants to try to memorize the answers. There is a bit of risk taking too, because if a player takes away too many coins of a type I reset the variables rather than let the coins go negative. I would definitely put in more principles such as Agency and Customization of a full version game with the right time and resources to develop this game more.

Double Entry Journal #11

Quote:

"Business leaders and policy makers, noting that teamwork is more important in today’s workplace than ever before, have encouraged schools to put more emphasis on collaboration to help prepare students for their future jobs." (Resnick, 4)

I completely agree with this quote from the author. I was not involved in many structured group projects until I was in college. This is completely different than how the professional world works. All major projects completed professionally are done in teams to ensure that work is divided up, quality is assured by other team members and management  reviews of the work and accountability does not rest on individual team members that are subject to promotions, transfers, lay-offs and illness.

I did a website search on education teamwork and found this interesting site with teamwork quotes: http://quotations.about.com/cs/inspirationquotes/a/Teamwork1.htm

Enjoy!

Reference:
Resnick, Mitchel. "All I Really Need to Know (About Creative Thinking) I Learned (By Studying How
   Children Learn) in Kindergarten" MIT Media Lab. Cambridge, MA.