We live in a copycat culture.
We live in an inspired time! We live in a world of imitation. We live in a climate of originality! We live in an age of replication and duplication. We live in a REMIX era! Which of these assertions is true? Actually, they all are. Take a look around you right now. Everything from the movies you watch and the music you hear, to the literature on your shelves and the art on your walls…we are surrounded by adaptations and re-workings; each and every object piggy-backing off a predecessor of similar design, or a contemporary equivalent. It is undeniable - we live in a culture of remix. BUT…do we live in a world of creativity and continuous improvement? Is REMIX the basis for all creativity or an assault on originality? Are remakes and re-workings lesser forms of creation, or examples of inspired sharing of growth and knowledge? And how does the REMIX culture apply to learning? When researching this topic I was inspired by the following key points in particular: REMIX - THE BASIS FOR ALL CREATIVITY “The potential payoff for using open and discoverable resources, open and transparent licensing, and open and remixable formats is huge: more reuse means that more dynamic content is being produced more economically, even if the reuse happens only within an organization. And when remixing happens in a social context on the open web, people learn from each other's process.” http://er.educause.edu/articles/2007/7/dr-mashup-or-why-educators-should-learn-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-remix REMIX - AN ASSAULT ON ORIGINALITY There are many challenges and concerns of remix in education, including the potential that remix “may not involve critical thinking, celebrates conspicuous consumption and derivitive production, results in shallow engagment with content, remixes are of narrow cultural interest and scope, remix celebrates pop culture trash and confuses or ignores ethical issues.” http://www.slideshare.net/mike_robbgrieco/responding-to-the-rise-of-remix-culture-challenges-and-opportunities-for-teaching-learning-and-media-literacy ADAPTING TO A WORLD OF ADAPTATIONS “Remixing is finding its way into the classroom as a way of fostering students’ creativity and helping them learn and express their ideas. It also doesn’t hurt that the medium is second nature to today’s students.” “[Remixing teaches] systems thinking; connecting ideas, information and experience, as well as collaboration,” Sery says. “In the 21st-century economy, those are the skills you will need to survive.” http://spotlight.macfound.org/featured-stories/entry/remixing-as-a-classroom-strategy/
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In their article DIY Media Creation, Fields et al focus on how digital tools and on-line spaces can shape teaching practices and processes of learning. Grounded in research, the article states that young adults are motivated in educational settings where they believe in their own self-efficacy, are intrinsically motivated and set goals. (Deci & Ryan 1985) Two interesting websites are referenced as examples of online spaces that do exactly that. As well as enhancing creativity by adding technology, the multimodal and interactive design of figment.com and scratch.mit.edu’s on-line spaces encourage collaboration, peer feedback and sharing across various social media tools. Coming together with peers over a shared passion is a great motivator and opportunity for creative growth and learning.
Websites such as scratch and figment encourage creative media production by connecting youth with the same passion over a digital interface. They mirror features of popular social networking programs and make access to peers, a passionate audience and instant feedback possible. How do we harness the creative and collaborative potential that these sites offer and apply it to the classroom? I don't think the challenge lays in student readiness or the introduction of digital technologies such as these; No, the challenge centres around the teacher. How can we ready our teachers for these new ways of collaborating and creating? How can we build a digital comfort in our educators? Is the integration of social media and DIY creation a case of the student surpassing the teacher? To be effective in today's ever-changing classrooms, teachers have to remain current... and that, to me, is the biggest challenge of all. Fields, D.A., Magnifico, A. M., Lammers, J.C., Scott-Curwood J.(2014) DIY media creation. Journal of adolescent literacy 58(1), 19-24 |
AuthorJust another teacher hoping to change the world! Archives
November 2015
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