I’m up early for the second morning in a row, yesterday I got in the car at 5.30am to drive to Columbus, Ohio to complete my Rugby referee certificate, and today, probably as my body clock has shifted slightly, the sun coming up, I decided to type the weekly issue.
It was good driving out of Pittsburgh, even just a few hours, the terrain flattens out into shallow hills, open countryside with agriculture, small towns, and straight road. I realized that it’s been a while since we last travelled, we’ve been consumed with work and home life, and everything happening locally.
This week, just a few notes and reflections on what’s been happening.
Stephan
Teaching & Learning
We launched the final group projects in the Digital Realities class, and talked through ideas for what we’re going to do. Hopefully, the course has built up slowly, first with a solo project, then in pairs, and now joining two of those pairs up into a larger group of four or five according to the overall numbers. While I designed it this way for the students to build up confidence, it’s also one of the reasons that they don’t really know each other very well, and that half-way through the course, finally they’ll be working together, when perhaps they needed more opportunity to do that earlier.
Despite it all, there’s still a slight reticence to tackle the sorts of subjects that might be challenging, controversial even, but we’ve seen, often feature in the work of those creators and guest speakers that we’ve invited into the class. I’m not entirely sure why this is, certainly students don’t feel that they’re here to answer big questions, or express themselves, creating work that reflects subjects close to their hearts. Instead, the subject matter doesn’t matter so much as an opportunity to learn new skills. I sort of think that’s missing the point, it makes everything a dress-rehearsal, rather than see the brief as an opportunity to create long-lasting work, part of a portfolio, contributing to their body of work. Again I’m being unfair, because there are one or two students who are able to use the brief in this way, who are busy building momentum, playing and exploring, using new project to explore their own central questions.
I’ve always worked in collaborative fields, and it often means I’m reluctant to say that I did this, or that the vision was mine; that doesn’t make much sense to me. I was thinking about the films that I’ve worked on, documentaries, games, and experiences where I was one of many voices, and although I can pick a project apart and recognize elements that are absolutely mine, and typical of what I might do, the joy always came from creating a third thing, something that we couldn’t do as individuals, but collectively were able to arrive at. That’s something that gives me goosebumps, it’s so exciting, and such a good feeling when it happens, that you’ll often try and replicate it, perhaps with the same group, or see if you can figure out the conditions that made it possible, finding the recipe to the secret sauce as it were.
I was invited to visit one of my students’ studios in the Hall of Arts, pictured above. The floor is full of these spaces for graduate art students, where they can work. It’s a lovely room, and can be made completely dark when you want to project onto the walls. Wishing that I had a place like this that I could spend hours in, just playing with ideas, and making new work.
Life Lessons
We welcomed visitors to our room this week, a few folks from out of town, including donors, and board members. I have to say that everyone who has come into the room, has come to learn, find out what we do, posed thoughtful questions, and left us with kind words and compliments.
Of course, many of them were pondering the big questions that the students show slight reticence to asking; wondering how our space, and the work we do my contribute to addressing them. Our visitors talked about war and conflict, especially in Palestine and Israel, and in the Ukraine, and Ethiopia, and Sudan. We also talked about how technology is changing the way we learn, and the sort of work that students will do when they graduate. It’s a bit of a cliché to say we’re preparing them for jobs that don’t exist yet, I’ve never thought of it in that way, more it’s about adaptive approaches, learning how to learn, so that students will be comfortable in different settings.
I know that many of our visitors regularly speak with students, about those issues that will face them once they graduate, and to a certain extent, for most students, university isn’t the place where you figure out your place in all that. That happens once you leave; but being open, knowing about the push and pull, of politics, understanding about social justice issues, economic, and climate concerns (climate is more emergency than concern); might make people value what they’re learning now.
Lost and Found
I had some nice feedback about the sites that I put up last week, you like it when the newsletter has a few of these, perhaps people are still hungry for links, just like the old days, so here you go:
I’ve been playing with lingoteach.ai in my classes, and really like this resource design activity in FLTMag.
I asked Mark Cousins if he’d like to take part in a speaker series, he sent me a short email, and I thought I’d make it seem like he’d written to me.
All these books by MIT Press, that I could read, but just don’t have time, maybe pick a few good ones. Recommendations please.
I really have been shocked to find out about the efforts to persuade museums to repatriate objects and artifacts. I’m staggered to learn that there are an estimated half a million remains, bones, and bodies of native peoples in American Institutions, including many universities. I came across the work of Samuel J. Redman, who writes about the history of museums, and particularly, issues of ethics, and repatriation.
Just following on from some of last week’s AI links, if you’re interested in learning more about AI and the Humanities, then Critical AI is fast becoming a must read journal.
Been listening to this on repeat, just seems to speak to me at the moment. It’s an oldie, but a goodie. This is the Kit have a new long play record out, c’est fantastique! Sort of video that I wish I had directed.
Thank you
Okay, it’s Sunday, and although I’m a bit achy, I’m going to try and watch my youngest play footy this morning, his team qualified for a final of a weekend round-robin event. I’m not sure he’s too keen to wake up and play, it’s a beautiful day, but a little chilly I’m sure.
I hope that you’re all well. I’m going to steal from Christian’s newsletter, and say that a like is a high-five, and a comment is a hug. It’s so nice when people write something or just say hi.
Have a good week, see you next time.
Here is a Hi-five AND a hug. Cheers for sharing ;-)
Always enjoy reading about what you’re up to - and learning too, I used a link you put up last week to get some audio comms (by me) off YT! Love to all.