I'm beginning to think they purposely limit the number of EDUC 504 classes we have during the summer. It is a conspiracy built upon the laws of supply and demand. Scarcity causes an increase in demand, which in turn increases value. Therefore, every one of our six meetings becomes precious, each like a grandfather's silver pocket watch wrapped in an oilcloth and tucked safely into the corner of a desk drawer.
The value of Friday's class was in its dichotomy of activity. One half of the class was spent learninghow to use Aviary's Myna tool to build a PSA, preliminary practice for making the podcast due at the end of the week. Back in the day, I did that sort of thing on a regular basis, so it was exciting to see a modern application for tired, old skills.
The other half of class was a discussion on the video game readings. Or was it? The first part of the discussion dealt with deciphering an excerpt of Xu Bing's "Book from the Ground." A sample of the excerpt is shown in the picture above, except without the convenience of a written translation. We delved into the origins of literacy and language, surmising that human beings have a natural instinct for language structure. Our difficulty in understanding different languages arises from our solidified language schema -- we become comfortable within the structures of our primary tongue and run into obstacles when we encounter languages that do not fit within our established structure.
I found that the first part of discussion loosely connected to the second part, which was actually about video games. I mentioned that we become comfortable within our primary language, thus making other languages sound like shit. Learning, be it other languages or how to win at a video game, involves a certain amount of risk taking. We must necessarily depart from our comfort zones in order to make sense of the unknown. In order to form new schema, we cannot always be dependent upon the supports of the old.
Yeah. Laws of supply and demand. That's exactly what our master plan was. Right, Jeff? Jeff?
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you that our difficulty in understanding different languages arises from our solidified language schema. Like we talked about in class on Friday, as we get older it becomes a lot harder for us to learn and understand any language other than our native one. Children can learn language easier because they do not fully understand their native language and cannot make sense of it and therefore cannot over analyze the language they are trying to learn. If I could go back and do it all over again, I would definitely learn a language when I was younger, but I feel like now it would be so much harder for me to learn something new just because it would not make any sense to me.
ReplyDeleteEverything in Friday's class tied back to cultural understandings. It is our cultural understanding that helps or aids us with new technologies, and it is our understanding that assesses if new challenges can be easily adapted or beneficial for us. A socially awkward student might find games as a way for them to practice social skills and eventually branch out. A new language might be a way to reinvent oneself. Using technology might get others to perceive you in a different way. But like you said RJ, all in moderation.
ReplyDeleteSupply and demand - love it! But seriously, I think you might be on to something with this conspiracy thing - I wish we had more sessions to cover more of these tools and discuss these important issues, but luckily we will have Tech again in the fall!
ReplyDeleteI like how you mentioned forming new schema and not being dependent on the old - kind of ties back to our discussion in class on ambiguity and how to find that balance between getting our students the answer and giving them the opportunity to discover it on their own!
Well put RJ! I love hearing the terms "supply and demand"! I can't help but default back to my nerdy econ ways. I share similar feelings to what Curtis said. Culture play a HUGE role in learning new symbols, technologies, and deciphering and learning unfamiliar tasks. I also agree with your point regarding obtaining new schema. I don't think we can hold on to everything of the past, but there are some aspects we must not let go of, and ensure we pass to the next generation.
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