Who: James Mandrell, Chair, Women’s and Gender Studies Program, Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies, Comparative Literature, Women’s and Gender Studies, and Film Studies
LTS Liaisons: Lisa Zeidenberg and Dave Wedaman
Course: HISP 181A: Autores, narradores y lectores, Fall 2008
Overview
In James Mandrell’s class 083HISP-181A-1: Autores, narradores y lectores (authors, narrators and readers), students have an opportunity to use multimedia and web functionality in a creative way — by remixing texts and concepts, they are creating new meaning. Such work exemplifies the emerging participatory culture that MIT Professor Henry Jenkins writes about, and emphasizes the need for new media literacy skills. Multimedia adds an additional dimension to the way students analyze and synthesize information and requires additional literacies (such as editing, scripting etc.) that we as educators need to understand so that we can pass on that knowledge to others.
Students in Jim’s class read ten texts (in Spanish) and discuss their interpretations of these works, particularly in regards to how the perception of a literary work can be influenced by its author, the narrator he or she devises, and the reader’s own reality. As a first step in students’ engagement with the texts and technology, they will be using the open-source concept-mapping program VUE to illustrate the connections between and among the texts studied in class. Then, for their final project, Jim has asked his students to work in small groups to “produce a re-presentation, a re-vision, a re-writing . . . a ‘something’ of a significant text in some form of new media.”
Several of the students are using Scratch, an open-source programming tool developed by the MIT Media Lab, to create their projects. Scratch was designed as a means of teaching programming skills to school-age children with no formal knowledge of programming — it presents a simple, visual interface with which designers can develop scripts that allow users (those who “play” Scratch programs) to interact with Scratch, much the way one plays computer games.
Since Scratch allows programmers to invent virtual journeys where more than one narrative is possible, it is an ideal format for Jim’s “re-visioning” project, which requires that students illustrate the interrelationships between texts and between author, narrator, and reader. With Scratch, each of these interrelationships can be represented by a specific path, each path a choice among choices offered to the user (the person “playing” the Scratch script).
Other students are working with film and editing software to create a cinematic experience that will embody the project guidelines.
From Jim’s Perspective:
“The benefits of working with technology in this course have been many. I am able to collaborate with my students on assignments and assessment in ways that have opened up an unexpected and informative dialogue with my students about expectations and assumptions. I am also able to collaborate with colleagues in LTS on the possibilities afforded by technology these open-source programs have been to give me another way of approaching topics and issues that weren’t easily or engagingly addressed in more traditional forms of expression. The possibilities created by working with students and colleagues in this way have been illuminating.
“I can’t think of any drawbacks, but I would recommend that people who want to try something like this be aware of the following:
- “The importance of time, both for advance planning as well as for students to complete the projects. What seems simple or straightforward isn’t. And students will end up spending a lot of time learning how to work with the different technology and then creating something with it. Expectations need to be set accordingly.
- “The need to let the reins of the course slacken somewhat. I have long been experimenting with ways to invite students to collaborate on the course, including expectations and assessment. Put another way, I’ve been trying to take the focus off of me and my particularly goals as a means of finding ways of constructing and conducting classes that involve more meaningful experiences for students. This course has represented a more radical extension of that experiment. Any professor considering working in this way has to be comfortable with a collaborative and supportive relationship with students in which frank and open discussions are the norm. Serendipity is to be hoped for, occasional misfortunes expected. Anyone who is committed to maintaining control in classroom and student’s engagement with the course, who seeks specific outcomes, will not be happy working in this way.
Using Scratch & VUE
LTS staff Dave Wedaman and Lisa Zeidenberg are supporting students’ use of both VUE and Scratch with the explicit agreement that when needed, they will be there to help students solve problems. This supportive role fits nicely into the overall structure of the class: a journey taken together, where anything is possible. Ideally, all will learn from this experience — not only how to use VUE and Scratch, but how best to collaboratively support projects that utilize multimedia, learning together.”
Intended Learning Outcomes
The VUE and Scratch programs were intended to address a couple of different points with respect to learning and thinking about narrative texts. First, an ongoing issue in discussing a variety of texts over the course of a semester is how to build in ways to reflect on what has already been talked about in ways that integrate previous conclusions into current considerations. VUE has been helpful in that regard, as it allows for an illustration of the relationships between and among different texts and kinds of texts, a visual map of what has been done and how it forms another narrative pertinent to understanding an individual’s progress through course materials and discussions.
Second, VUE and Scratch both require that students think carefully in terms of conceptual organization and the number of variables—at least initially unknown—to be captured and to how an initial structure will need to be created which will accommodate more and more complex information. This conceptual and organizational work is, in fact, yet another dimension of the multiple ways people need to go about preparing to articulate their ideas to others. But the aspect of new media introduces something new that makes a familiar task both fresh and more difficult.
Third, both students and professor are learning together in ways that open new conversations and styles of collegial collaboration.
Finally, students put into play the different concepts involved in discussions in the class, and their own interpretations of the narrative texts, to form a narrative of their own in yet another medium. And, in a nod to more traditional means of assessment, each student will place the group project into another written narrative of her/his own.
Contributors: James Mandrell, Lisa Zeidenberg
Last Updated: 01/15/2009
