Deliverable #1
For Deliverable 1, my goals were to review my course materials to identify problem lessons, activities, and assessments to target in my redesign. It was also to analyze previous Student Evaluations of Instruction of the course for the last 2.5 years to identify areas for improvement. My third goal was to review literature and identify learning theories to apply to the redesign.
What I’ve done:
- Reviewed all course materials
- Identified and annotated lessons, assignments, and assessments for suggestions on how to make them better
- Reviewed 5 semesters-worth of Student Evaluations of Instruction (SEI)
- Wrote an analysis for each of the SEI’s based on the compiled data and student comments
- Reviewed literature and identified that a Constructivist Learning approach to the course redesign is most appropriate
What I need to do:
- Apply Constructivism and Cognitivism Learning approaches to lessons, assignments, and assessments
- Begin thinking about the Backward Design Process
- Identify areas in the course for collaborative activities
Adjustments to Project Plan:
- There have been no adjustments so far.
Deliverable #2
For Deliverable 2, my goals were to outline the Backward Design process by identifying my Learning Outcomes for the course, as well as identify points on my syllabus for collaborative activities. I was able to successfully identify three Learning Outcomes that I will be targeting with my redesign.
As a note, the first Learning Outcome and associated evidence will be centered around whatever exhibition exists at the Wexner Center for the Arts at that point in time. There is not information on what exhibit will be going on in September 2021, therefore I have put in a placeholder project from a recent exhibition, which featured artist Mickalene Thomas.
Learning Outcomes:
I would like students to leave DANCE 2702 Creative Technologies knowing how to:
- 1. Successfully utilize digital image manipulation tools to support creative and artistic work
- Acceptable evidence: A self-portrait project where the collect/capture images, analyze, and edit using Photoshop to create a self-portrait collage of what represents them as a person. The inspiration for this project is to come from artist Mickalene Thomas. See example below:
- 2. Successfully utilize video making and editing tools to support creative and artistic work
- Acceptable evidence #2: Students are to work in pairs or a group to develop a Dance Video Walk. This Dance Video Walk is a performance that takes place in a video at a specific location on-campus and is tied to the history of that location. Through choreography, movie magic through editing, and forcing the perspective of the viewer, you and your group are to transform the space that the viewer occupies. Students will also be responsible for designing a poster with a QR code that links to the video to allow the viewer to view it. See this example of an Audio Walk by Janet Cardiff. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5aVHwdfiEU
- 3. Successfully identify technological tools that can support and/or enhance creative works of art.
- Acceptable evidence: A collaborative project where students work in groups of three to develop a mediated performance. In the mediated performance, they will edit a dance video, as well as perform with the projected video in either a performance space or situated somewhere on campus. This video is to be centered around contemporary topics, such as climate change, social justice, civil rights, migration, etc.
What I’ve done
- Identified Learning Outcomes
- Synthesized project assessments that will demonstrate evidence of acquired skills associated with Learning Outcomes
- Identified areas for collaboration
- Identified project assessments that are rooted in personal and cultural experiences
What I need to do
- Identify activities and lessons to support assessment projects
Adjustments to Project Plan
- This deliverable is a few days late due to unforeseen circumstances that kept it from being completed on-time.
Deliverable #3
Identified Activities & Lessons to support assessment projects
Gallery & Library Visits
We will be visiting the Wexner Center for the Arts, as well as Thompson Library, to initiate two different project kick-offs. Having these visits will allow the students to both have an experiential grounding with the material and ideas we will be working around. These visits will also allow the students to better connect the resources, history, and diverse learning communities within OSU, which will lead to better informed ideas and more meaningful, autonomous, and related work.
Tying Projects to Relative Issues
Through a Socio-Cultural Theories lens, it is important to situate the learning in social and cultural practices. Our current contemporary moment is saturated in social and cultural issues that affect all of us in some way. I will be giving examples and presentations that connect art, performance, and activism in order to facilitate the importance of art and performance within our world. This will allow the students to make impactful and important pieces of work that speak to a greater cause and mission.
ePortfolios & Blog Posts
In this class, we will track student creative processes and thoughts through the use individualized ePortfolios. We will create ePortfolios the first week of class and we will continuously update them throughout the semester as we work on individual and group projects. The purpose of documenting the process of their work is to give them insights about the dimensionality of the work that they are creating. It is a way to present and solicit feedback throughout their many creative processes. Doing so will allow them to edit, refine, and produce better and more meaningful work.
Lessons on the Use of Technology Tools & Applications
Since this is a technology-based course, the students will need some level of basic instruction in order to complete assignments. In the past, I feel like I focused too much on drill and repetition lessons of this nature. Instead, I will now give a 1-3 day “basics” of the software that we are using, and then I will give more in-depth lessons for the students that would like to go deeper with these, or whose project plans necessitate more lessons.
Exploratory Activity Discussion Posts
Throughout my time teaching this course, I have struggled with getting students to just experiment with easy and free technologies in informal, low-risk ways that connect to their own interests. In response to this, I have developed a handful of “Exploratory Activities.” These activities take place outside of the classroom and each involve a free and accessible technology tool for them to experiment with, post their product, and reply to other students’ products. I give them a short prompt to base their process on, and then they do the rest themselves. This way, it gets them into the habit of trying new and different ways of experiencing technology tools that are available at their fingertips and are not reliant on instruction.
Interim Project Presentations
I have designed two group projects throughout the course of the semester, and each group is to give a short presentation at a midway point through the project’s development. I have chose to do this because it activates a couple of different modes of learning at the same time: Listener as Learner, and Speaker as Learner. Allowing students to parttake in both of these modes based around the same project prompts will allow them to better reflect, assimilate, and respond to their own ideas against the ideas of others.
What I’ve done
- Identify activities and lessons to support assessment projects
- Create the Carmen Master Course Shell
What I need to do
- Present project to advisor & second reader
- Create 5 page advisor summary and reflection
Adjustments to Project Plan
- This deliverable is late due to unforeseen circumstances that kept it from being completed on-time.