wiki time

as a teacher it can be very difficult to maintain enthusiasm especially when you have a class full teenagers looking out at a lovely sunny day across to the sea, next to a lovely gentle sandy beach. sounds idyllic and to some degree it is, but when it comes to getting the same students to get interested in spreadsheets its and formulas as well as completing a project. it can be challenging to say the least. however I thought I would try something (not new of course) but new to them. most web 2.0 functions have been accepted and used by pretty much all the students I teach. rather less however have been adopted by my colleagues. no matter. the risk I took in order to at least get them to look away from the beautiful day (after all the evening are light they can enjoy it later), was letting them loose on a wiki that I set up through wetpaint last week. I was amazed at the ease at which most of them adopted that way of working. so bebo, myspace, facebook, et all are not always 'the route of all evil'. as some where focused on there work for the first time in a short while, communicating and working together, creating profiles and new pages with ease as well as learning about spreadsheets along the way. I will remain cautious for the moment but hope that the wiki is a way forward.

ning >> the social network thing

somehow it is just be a case of 'if you can't beat them join them'. so I have been setting up a social networks for the students I teach, over the last year or so we have had much trouble with the bypassing of the educational filters using proxy servers.


so I spent ages today creating accountable areas of social network type opportunities for them using ning. hopefully whilst learning about the ever increasing uses and the obvious misuse of bebo, myspace, facebook even youtube.
we will for a short time (at least) allow them to control as well as moderate content. it is an never ending battle for which there will never be an answer just an understanding, until then the bulk of the education needs to be with the use of the powerful applications by a large number of computer literate under 20's by an often less than understanding under 50's. the power of computers in the study/work place is still to reach its height so filtering is not the answer, understanding just might be.

powerpoint >> I have started using it again

I expect anyone who knows me will be very surprised that I have started using powerpoint as both something to teach as well as a tool for teaching (not that much).
for the last 3 or 4 years I have been getting new year 7 pupils to create presentations (& e-portfolio's) using dreamweaver and flash. this year however I went back to what I was doing a few years ago and to my surprise the level of pupil application knowledge was more limited than previous years.
I think that it is from using social networking sites like myspace, bebo, and the like as very little user input is required (templates are the norm). very few pupils even consider layout except if there is a wizard for them. I don't have a big problem with these sites as if nothing else the have broken down the fear factor of computer use with the under 18's.
going back to powerpoint has actually made pupils consider how to construct/design a good presentation as well as making sure that content is the most important thing of all.

poor content can never be dressed up to produce anything worthwhile what ever software application you use. one thing hasn't changed I really have a problem with custom animation I hate it, it doesn't make things better!

rockin' burne jones >> the remarkable family

I do believe that for the most part it is all too easy to find fault with the internet. social networking myspace bebo and the like. it is a bit like blaming the messenger/medium for the problems of the world, well the world that considers information transfer (talking) as important.
I have been very disillusioned with the internet at some points in the last years, especially when my surf site was hacked to pieces leaving me with more than 24 hours of non-stop work just to get the site back online after re-formatting everything server side. I know that it was done on purpose but have managed to not take that episode personally so am able to happily continue with the site. I still love the way the cyber-world opens up and when sensibly used, adding hugely to our lives.

any way to the reason for this post. it may not come as that much of a surprise to many of you but whilst I was at art school (and before and after) I was in a few different bands, playing at the students union and other places in the local area around college. even reaching heady heights with a different band.
by far the most memorable for me was a band, perhaps rather obviously called rockin' burn jones and the pre-raphaelites. I had heaps of fun with the band as their lead singer, but when it came to deciding between trying to be a designer therefore concentrating on getting through my course or trying to make it as a musician the decision was made for me to leave. at the time the driving force behind the band howard was ready to become the singer as well and he and the band changed the name and moved to london to become the remarkable family that was in 1982 and I haven't spoken to howard at all until today! there was no big falling out we just went in different directions. but through a third party he emailed me this morning through myspace.

I now have happily revisited that time in my mind all thanks to web-world. howard is still recording and producing music, as well as writing, and reviewing music for the better national newspapers.
check this page on myspace the remarkable family >> the great unknown.
if you do check the site and like what you hear, please let howard know that david george sent you, many thanks.

p.s. paradox is my favourite track.

ideas >> associated place >> learning >> create

funny isn't it how ideas just seem to happen (or not) I always think it strange when creative agencies have a time and a date to have an idea.
I find that ideas happen, but the more I work at it the more they happen.
I am not one of those people who just has a great idea and then goes away to create.
when I have an idea usually I try it, realise that it doesn't or wont work, but the fact that I am trying to work at it makes other ideas come through. this can happen lots of times before I reach a solution to the original problem.

the reason for mentioning this is because in the normal run of things we wait for a problem think about it then spend ages working on it eventually solving it by one way or another. this includes for me pretty much everything I do from the smallest pre-prepared hand out for a specific lesson plan or a complete corporate identity.
must say the last major id I did was a few years ago and it was for a surf-wear company (flip-flops and surf sandals) three peaks see picture.

the thinking behind it took weeks but the actual design was relatively quick to do, and it came to me reasonably easily. we all have our own ways of creating and I believe it is experience that makes us able to re-think and re-design and while we continue to do this we will be able to maintain a design life. I find it much harder to try to instill in students the confidence to try.

I have had some ideas about the room I work in, teach in, spend hours in, that I am currently working on, in the hope that something may come of them.

I really believe that by changing the way the room looks/works I can start to challenge the way the students entering the room think, while challenging I hope to motivate and encourage even draw out some kind of creativity from an otherwise quietly compliant youth, who consider using msn, myspace and bebo as creative, perhaps surprising of all create graphics in ms paint 'cos thats what they have got at home', even though they have the complete macromedia studio package available to them!
we will see what happens?

long day >> blog - presentation >> myearthdream

it's been an interesting day, seems that I could have actually introduced a whole new (small) group of people to blogging. in a short presentation I gave this morning I used dgthekneelo (blog) to illustrate a form of communication (blogging). the reaction that it got actually surprised me as I was presenting to the bebo generation for whom myspace, youtube, (msn) instant messaging are part of daily life. they went very quiet and became very interested while I was speaking and within minutes of being able to log on to the computers in the teaching room where creating their own blogs. I genuinely had no idea that a brief mention of blog-land would have this effect.

mike who is working with me on this two day enterprise education project I think was equally surprised at the speed of which blogging was received almost as if it were new. for me I was surprised that they weren't doing it already.
having said all this I have to refer back to davidthedesigner's blog of a few days ago questioning why people stop blogging in remains to be seen how long their newly created blogs last?


I had originally meant today's blog to be about
myearthdream I have for along time been a fan of F1 cars and motor racing (many years ago while at art school my friend ham would drive up and we would go to thruxton in hampshire to watch motor racing) but in the last years I have felt uncomfortable about liking it. even though have I always watched the grand prix on the TV and will be getting up in the middle of the night to watch the australian GP this weekend. I feel a little guilty, as even watching people driving very fast in cars that cost millions of pounds (to develop) round and round for an hour and a half does seem a little silly especially as I can't see it being very carbon friendly. however myearthdream have come up with a nice idea to help me think that it is not so bad and I would image thousands of others feel a little less worried about liking motor racing. I have made a pledge.
N.B.I am not fanatic I just like the way the cars look!