REFLECTION 1: the big idea

In Sebastian Fiedler's , The Studio Experience: Challenges and Opportunities for Self-Organized Learning, one of the challenges of self learning he states that
" In general, the roles and the responsibilities of students and faculty have shifted quite dramatically, thus creating opportunities for new learning experiences and more personalized programs of studies. On the other hand such a dramatic change also entails the potential of tensions, stress, and even failure among the participants. "

Well, I've been feeling that stress from the beginning. I think there is a unique tension that is inherent to any creative endeavor, or in more structured coursework which attempts to capture some of that creativity. Having the opportunity to think outside of 'the box' and perhaps, even the 'boundary' of a traditional classroom setting is wonderful. However, the 'freedom' to engage is self learning is still contained within a structure, which provides inherent tension.

Project progress: My idea right now is an artists studio like a&e's 'inside the actor's studio' but a multimediawebsite. I'm thinking I will interview/feature 4-5artists. I haven't decided if I will include myself or not, yet. (too much shameless self promotion)?
I don't know.

At this point, I'm thinking my audience will bepreteen and up (I will hopefully get to use my niece as a test audience), if I can get the artists to agree to that.For each artist, there would be an interview (kindof how did you get started, when did you know youwanted to be an artist, etc.), some samples of artwork, and I haven't decided what beyond that.Right now, I'm leaning toward a primary color scheme ala mondrian (white with red, yellow, blue, black accents) but that could change at any time. Black and grey are used by a lot of art related websites. I really want it to be insightful in terms of the artists mind. Anyhow, this is an idea I've been kicking around for a while. I haven't even decided if I want to limit it Athens area artists or southern or just put a mention of it in flagpole and see what I get. I do want folks that have some stuff digitized already, because digitizing artwork pluscreating the project would probably be more work than one semester.

In class, we have talked alot about gaming. In the Gaming SIG, we discussed the elements of story telling and how those can be used in an educational setting. I think my project will have elements of storytelling and it will be interesting to see how that impacts learning (if any) that occurs as a result of my project.

Reference:
Fiedler, Sebastian (1999). The Studio Experience: Challenges and Opportunities for Self-Organized Learning. Athens, GA: The University of Georgia, Department of Instructional Technology

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