"Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind." Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, “Transcendental Logic,” Introduction, # 1 Dr. Achim D. Koeddermann Associate Prof. of Philosophy SUNY-Oneonta, NY 13820 "Gedanken ohne Inhalt sind leer, Anschauungen ohne Begriffe sind blind"
Dear
Janet,
I am
responding to your post not because I think that I know the skills that your
students need, but rather because I want to pick your brain a little to see what
you are looking for. Just as a starting point for discussion, I would
suggest that our graduates should be able to
* use a web site like
www.lulu.com to publish their own books and access books published by
others,
* use a web site like www.cdbaby.com to publish their own music and
access music published by others,
* use a web site like www.youtube.com to
publish their own videos and access videos published by others,
* record
audio and music (and videos??) for pods (podcasting) and know how to access the
vast amount of information that is now available on podcasts,
* create and
use wiki texts and understand the pluses and minuses of using them for classroom
instruction (which I would think to be a critical skill for our education
majors),
* understand blogging and be able to set up and manage their own
blog site (and understand how to use blogs for education if you are an education
major),
* understand how modern musicians are using social sites, like
MySpace, FaceBook, etc. to develop new audiences for their music (outside the
support of the established distribution network),
* understand tabs and
social networking sites like www.deli.cio.us that create organizational
folksonomies that expand and enhance Internet connectivity,
*understand viral
videos and how they can be used to create new audiences for culture and
entertainment
* and finally, and most important, understand that the rules
are changing and the first person to understand the new rules wins (even though
he/she only wins until the rules change again - - -in a very short
time).
My problem is that I suspect that many of these ideas, which are
still new to me, are old hat to our current students (and probably to
you). What I am trying to do is to organize them into three categories: 1)
things most of our students already can do, 2) things our students need to learn
in our classes, and 3) things that we can leave for them to learn later.
Of course, there is another whole set of questions which asks what our education
majors should know how to do along this line, but perhaps some of the education
people will want to comment on this.
Just to confuse me even more,
I know that my science students should have more specialized skills, such as the
ability to create and manipulate simulations or to understand how to access very
large databases, such as those in biochemistry, molecular structure, and
proteomics. I'm afraid that the access my science majors need is so much
more specialized than what most of our students need that I am better off
starting with general knowledge. That means I must, with a little help
from you and others on the list, define what is now considered to be general
knowledge. I would invite anyone who can add special skills essential to
their own discipline to add them to the above list but please label them as
specialized skills.
Thanks for any comments or suggestions that you (or
others who subscribe to this list) might be able to
add.
Cordially,
Harry
________________________________
From:
Teaching Breakfast List on behalf of Janet Nepkie
Sent: Sat 3/4/2006 10:54
AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Software Bottlenecks for
Students
HI, Jim
You already know my feelings on the
need for my students to have skills
using additional software because I have
been working with you for many
years in that effort. I'll write you a
brief response, however, for the
purpose of communicating with the
list.
For years, my students have needed the ability to work comfortably
with
Photoshop, Dreamweaver and to use HTML, just to name a few additional
skills
beyond Microsoft Office. My students also need the ability to
send and
receive attachments containing images, graphics (including video)
and sound
and to edit and otherwise manipulate the data in those
attachments. I do
not have the expertise, or even the basic knowledge,
to teach these needed
skills so I have relied upon the goodwill of others to
teach this software
to my students. Whenever possible, we taught the
skills in a "real-world"
assignment.
Amy mentioned the TIPS
program. I think it's quite wonderful to have
students help each other,
but I also need faculty and staff to work with me
and my students in a
teamwork effort with part of my class content. Some of
our newer
faculty have good software skills but this only solves part of
the
problem. I have required a base level of software proficiency for
all Music
Industry students but I am convinced that the Music Department
needs to
raise the level of required student proficiency and incorporate that
higher
skill level into (1) classroom assignments and (2) crafting a
student
project that the student can take WITH him when he graduates to
show
prospective employers or grad schools what the student has
accomplished.
I have just returned from another round of internship
visits and it has
become clear, again, that my students need ADDITIONAL
experience with this
software. I've already reported that to Jim and
I'd be glad to help with
any plan that will make more software and more
training available to my
students.
Thanks
Janet
Dr.
J. Nepkie
Professor of Music and Music Industry
Music Department
State
University of New York
College at Oneonta
Oneonta, N.Y.
13820-4015
Phone (607) 436 3425
Fax 607 436
2718
> From: Jim Greenberg
<[log in to unmask]>
> Reply-To: Teaching Breakfast List
<[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2006 12:53:52
-0500
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Software
Bottlenecks for Students
>
> Tbers,
>
> From my vantage
point, more and more faculty at the College are trying to
> figure out
ways to include training in programs like Photoshop, InDesign,
>
Dreamweaver, Final Cut, Pro Tools, and even Flash for their students.
>
Knowing the Microsoft Office suite (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, etc.) isn't
>
enough any longer and that students in growing numbers now also need to
know
> how to manipulate images, edit video or audio, layout posters, or
build
> animations. Faculty are struggling with the problem of knowing
their
> students need to know how to use these programs and the lack of
opportunity
> at the College that learn them.
>
> I'd be
interested in your ideas about this issue. Do you believe your
>
students need to know these programs? Do you have the expertise in
your
> departments to teach it to them (or even the time in your
courses)? What
> types of things can the College do to address this
need?
>
> I appreciate the argument that we are not about "training"
students to use
> certain software packages, yet the issue continues to
raise its head. I'd
> be more than happy to try and champion a
solution to this issue for our
> students - but I want to be sure it is a
real problem and if it is, get a
> sense for what faculty would like
done.
>
> Thanks in advance for any ideas or thoughts you have about
this. You can
> post them back to the TB list or email them directly
to me.
>
> Mr. James B. Greenberg
> Director Teaching,
Learning and Technology Center
> Milne Library
> SUNY College at
Oneonta
> Oneonta, New York 13820
>
> email:
[log in to unmask]
> phone: 607-436-2701
> fax:
607-436-3081
> IM: oneontatltc
>
> "Ignorance is
curable, stupidity lasts forever"