Tech 4 U

So back in October Beth asked Loretta and I to present at this Tech 4 U conference. Here is the URL to further explain what the event was about: http://cms.bsu.edu/Academics/CentersandInstitutes/EmergingMedia/FacilitiesandTech/Tech4UEvents.aspx

Of course we agreed and I was actually really excited. Then we got busy with the Web site and the showcase... and we forgot about it for a long time.....

The day before the presentation rolled around we realized that we had no idea what to talk about, who the audience was or how the speech would be structured.

Nevertheless, Loretta and I sucked it up, sat down and pounded out an awesome presentation that was going to blow the other presentations at the event out of the water. We decided that I would talk about blogs and she would talk about Flickr and Facebook.

[It's quite ironic that I was chosen to speak about blogs considering I'm such an expert at keeping mine up-to-date; however, people do seem to enjoy reading my blogs.]

Being the good presenters that we are, we showed up 35 minutes early to practice and do a technology run-through. However, what we found was the lonely speaker that was scheduled to present in the time-slot before us. My immediate thought? "Great. That audience that I so diligently analyzed was actually non-existent."

Fortunately for Loretta and I, we have the best classmates in the world and our entire team showed up along with Beth and Joe Trimmer (who is the director of the VBC- I love that guy and I might even write a blog just about him later this week). Also in attendance were 4 other poor souls who I'm thinking were professors.

In the end, we had a blast and it was good practice for my public speaking skills.

In case you are interested, here is a copy of my o-so organized outline for the presentation. [To make it easy for you I bolded the most important part]:

Loretta and I are doing an immersive learning project at the Virginia B. Ball Center this semester. It is located off campus at the Kitselman Mansion. We work in a seminar with 12 other students and are receiving 15 credit hours.

For our project we created a Web site in collaboration with the Ball State Museum of Art that encourages students to appreciate and learn about art. Before creating this Web site we did our homework. We researched similar Web sites and went directly to our audience: high school students. We visited Monroe Central High School to learn from and observe high school art students in action.

The result, as you can see, is this master piece.

The Web site features artwork from the Ball State Museum of Art in 4 sections:

The audio tour, which orients students and new museum patrons through the museum.

There is an Art Exploration section devoted to helping students look at art with confidence.

The Art Timeline to further help students understand art history, while using objects from the BSU Museum of Art to illustrate a variety of art styles.

And an Instructor Materials section to help educators maximize the educational value of the museum experience.

Behind the scenes of this beautiful Web site, was actually organized chaos. We built this site in a rather quick 10 weeks. Fortunately the ups and downs of those crazy 10 weeks have been documented on several blogs that were created by the students.

At the beginning of the semester, we were assigned to keep some sort of portfolio, whether it be a scrapbook or a blog, we had to have proof that we took part in the project at the end of the semester. Most of us chose blogs simply because it was easier.

This blog is one of the best things that could have happened to our group. We are constantly reflecting on what we’ve learned. We can read each other’s blogs to learn even more about the project.

My personal view of blogs in an educational setting:

I think it should be a college requirement that everyone write an educational blog throughout college. I really wish I could go back and know exactly what I was thinking when I walked into my first college course. I wish I could remember exactly what it was that I learned from that class….Unfortunately those thoughts were never recorded and I will not be able to remember exactly what I was thinking.

When this project is over, I will have an awesome Web site to show off to people and hopefully and awesome A+ to show off to people but also I will have the reflective blog that I can look back on and learn from for years to come. If I would have written a blog throughout college about what I have learned, I would have remembered things so much more.

The biggest challenge is having time to update the blog every semester.

It’s more conversational and laid back than typical papers.

Another social medium our class used was facebook. We used it to create a sense of community within our group. It worked out great because once you get to know someone on a personal level it is easier to work with them. You understand them better. At first we created a closed group but then later on we opened the group up to the public, which proved to be a huge success.

Scripts

So for the tour group we had to write these scripts (A.K.A. podcasts). In theory, the scripts sounded like a cinch; however, as fate would have it, the podcasts were a major undertaking. See below the evolution of our scripts. 

It must have been the third or fourth meeting where the tour group sat down and planned who would write each script. We decided there should be a script for each room in the museum and that each script should feature one object of art and then include a discussion about the room itself. Easy right? 

Being the nice person that I am, I volunteered to write three podcasts rather than two. Another fatal mistake was to pick my rooms based on my level of enthusiasm toward the works of art. I chose the Ethnographic Gallery, North Gallery: Bay 1 (A.K.A. American art) and North Gallery: Bay 2 (A.K.A. a hodge podge of American and European with a bit of impressionism).

Skip ahead four weeks. 

After several conversations with Beth and Tania and several classmates I finally made it to my 4th draft. That's right. You heard me correctly. FOUR DRAFTS. It gets better. After four drafts I decided that my object for the American Gallery would not work and I changed objects! 

Overall, I completed roughtly 7 drafts. I lost count by the end. 

I could have pouted and cried and complained, but instead I decided to brush it off my shoulder and use this as a learning experience. 

Somewhere around draft 5 or so, I realized that there never really is a FINAL draft of anything. Think about the books and newspapers you've read. I'm sure on several occasions you had to reread something because the syntax was confusing or you found those too words that the editors did not catch in there Sunday edition of the newspaper.

In reality, no one is perfect. It's great to strive for perfection but we all need to remember that perfection truly is impossible. This is something I need to work on now and into the future. I have problems accepting less than perfect work from myself. Unfortunately, tt oftentimes gets in the way of creating even mediocre work. I get so focused on how bad my writing or my pictures or my designs could be that I neglect how great they will be. 

(O.K. you got me, I did complain about the drafts. But not as much as you would have!)