Visualization in Education.

   Remember that old cliche, "A picture is worth a thousand words"? Yeah, I remember reading the picture version of War and Peace (that would still make it ~590 pages.). All joking about how video killed the radio-star aside, the above statement can very well be true. I am a student of the literary persuasion (big shock, I know), but I also have studied classic art extensively. A painting can be analysed using techniques very similar to literary analyses. They are two mediums that can be used to achieve the same message. Never mind the fact that early writing and drawings were the same thing.

The original 'knock knock' joke.

   The power of the image as an educational tool is not to be underestimated. Imagine, if you will, the complexities of explaining exactly what the heck a "Krebs Cycle" is without the aid of images. I present to you, exhibit (A).

Yeah... there's a reason I study Literature.

   Look at that monstrosity up there. Now, if you have no idea what is happening up there, that's okay, needless to say that explaining the mechanics of what is pictured without the aid of images would be a stern lesson indeed. I never would have survived science or math classes without the aid of visual tools. They're just some foreign language without the ability to visualize what they represent in the physical world.

   And that's what visualization is, representation. Images already come pre-packaged with all this mental association. It's the whole reason we have modern book covers. Exhibit (B) is go!

Oh, this must be the one with Christopher Robin and that obese stuffed bear.

   If that was just a blank black cover that said "Rogue" across it...you may have trouble ascertaining it's contents, but with Future Space Captain Ninja McBlack-Ops up there, you know this book means business. Future Space Ninja business...

   

   

Mid-Term Fair Use Link

"Professor Mayo's College". 1895. TAMUC Digital Collections. Web. 3 March 2014. Fair Use

The image is used in a scholarly project, and is transformative in nature. The image is used as a direct juxtaposition to the final image in the project and shows the growth of the campus over time. The intent was different from that of the original use, used as an image marker for the change of time.

“Locust Yearbook, 1920”. Locust Yearbook, 1920. 1920. TAMUC Digital Collections.

Web. 3 March 2014. Fair Use

All images taken from the Locust Yearbook. Collection, where used in the project in a focused and instructional way. The images represent the main topic of research in the media project. The images are critical to the instructional purpose of the project.

“1921 Locust pg. 7”. Locust Yearbook, 1921. 1921. TAMUC Digital Collections.

Web. 10 March 2014.Fair Use

All images taken from the Locust Yearbook. Collection, where used in the project in a focused and instructional way. The images represent the main topic of research in the media project. The images are critical to the instructional purpose of the project.

“1921 Locust pg. 5”. Locust Yearbook, 1921. 1921. TAMUC Digital Collections.

Web. 10 March 2014.Fair Use

All images taken from the Locust Yearbook. Collection, where used in the project in a focused and instructional way. The images represent the main topic of research in the media project. The images are critical to the instructional purpose of the project.

“1930 Locust pg. 12”. Locust Yearbook, 1930. 1930. TAMUC Digital Collections.

Web. 10 March 2014.Fair Use

All images taken from the Locust Yearbook. Collection, where used in the project in a focused and instructional way. The images represent the main topic of research in the media project. The images are critical to the instructional purpose of the project.

“1950 Locust pg. 178”. Locust Yearbook, 1950. 1950. TAMUC Digital Collections.

Web. 5 March 2014.Fair Use

All images taken from the Locust Yearbook. Collection, where used in the project in a focused and instructional way. The images represent the main topic of research in the media project. The images are critical to the instructional purpose of the project.

“1950 Locust pg. 71”. Locust Yearbook, 1950. 1950. TAMUC Digital Collections.

Web. 5 March 2014.Fair Use

All images taken from the Locust Yearbook. Collection, where used in the project in a focused and instructional way. The images represent the main topic of research in the media project. The images are critical to the instructional purpose of the project.

“1975 Locust pg. 20”. Locust Yearbook, 1975. 1975. TAMUC Digital Collections.

Web. 1 March 2014.Fair Use

All images taken from the Locust Yearbook. Collection, where used in the project in a focused and instructional way. The images represent the main topic of research in the media project. The images are critical to the instructional purpose of the project.

“TAMUC”. Texas A&M University System. 2014. www.tamus.edu. Web. 14 March

2014.Fair Use.

Image is used in an instructional media project in an academic environment. Image is transformative as a juxtaposition to the first image in the presentation, showing the change of the campus over time.

Lifeformed. "Fifty fps Forest". Fastfall, 2013. mp3. Fair Use

Song is played over images to create atmosphere and is not being recycled for it's own entertainment value. Media project is in a scholarly research project, in an academic environment.

POD PEOPLE

       We are a very fancy type of ape, you and I. All this flitting about in the sky in giant metal birds powered by explosive dinosaur juice and defying the laws of gravity like we were meant to do just feels so...pedestrian. Every day we edge the frontier of technology further and further into "holy crap" territory. Yet we seem to forget that we still have a few little quirks that could be settled with the proper application of this new-fangled space tech. I'm not even referring to some bleeding edge science here, I'm talking about podcasting.

What has alien science wrought!?

    Earlier I spoke on the uses of web 2.0 tools to aid  education all over the world. Podcasting is a simple tool that doesn't require a vast economic or time investment. All it takes is a digital audio player, and some one with access to a cheap microphone and the internet. In an age where kindergartners are marching around with $500 iPods like we used to do with PEZ dispensers, there is really no excuse as to why educators haven't been given the greenlight to provide these aids for their students.  Missed lectures become something to listen to on a commute, study groups have the entire audio notes at a buttons touch, able to be edited, paused, and re-listened to for easy access review. Can you imagine the margin these things could provide for public education? Home-schooling parents would have access to a database of lessons for their child at the price of an audiobook.

"Mommy doesn't think you need part three of World History. That $3.99 

Is going to mommy's Mary-Kay wish list."

   Granted, not everyone has access to the interwebs, but that shouldn't stop us from making these things available. Education is struggling enough without intentional hamstringing. Everyone can have easy access to cheap digital audio players, and lessons can be combined with e-activities. As a young student, I missed a great deal of school due to a surgery. If I had access to the myriad of tools available to the student today... I wouldn't have had to play catch-up... I could have gotten ahead.