day 1, re-examining the powerpoint book
So I presented my work at a conference for practicing educators over the weekend in Philadelphia (Educon - no, no costumes) and led participants in an exercise to illustrate how they could "disrupt" ubiquitous technologies in their classroom. The catch was that they had to use pop-ups to do it. The idea was that paper is uniquely good at being foldable - screens can't, at this point, do this well, and paper engineering is beautiful. Everything is good at something, and I want teachers to consider more carefully what technology is good for and what it's not good for. So, I asked participants to identify what their technology was uniquely good at, and to illustrate how it could be used more creatively via pop-ups. One group (see below) proposed the use of Excel to teach the idea of scale (see mouse, cat and elephant drawn onto an "excel" spreadsheet, and pop-ups used to illustrate size). Another group proposed using a document camera (essentially a video camera attached to a projector) for stop motion animation or a civil war reenactment. (Usually, document cameras are used to project worksheets, much like how overhead projectors were once used with transparencies.) The activity was really great for about half of the 25 teachers in the room, and the other half were stuck. I asked for feedback afterwards, and they said that the presentation of my idea (via my powerpoint book, here, and other work I've done) was really compelling but that they got stuck when they were asked to make something themselves. They need prompts, or examples, they said - activities like the pop-up one that they could replicate in their classrooms. So, reflecting on their feedback today, I'm now thinking about splitting my book in two: I'm thinking about doing a PowerPoint book that more successfully communicates this message of "consider your affordances" and "reconsider the digital" and "the medium is the message." It's something I can present at conferences, show to teachers, post online, and people immediately get it. The photo attached is my latest rationale for wanting this powerpoint book to be the handmade aspect of my thesis. The second part will be modeled after The Third Teacher, in that it will be more interactive and web-based (though also perhaps physical, in a form that could be purchased). I emailed an editor on the Third Teacher project today (Bruce Mau put it together, and I met the designer at a design/ed conference at the Glass House last fall) and we're going to speak next week. More on this second part, tomorrow.
