nex·us
A means of connection; a link or tie

(www.thefreedictionary.com)

The notion of connection is intrinsic to every aspect of humanity. So vital, in fact, that our very lives depend upon it as every breath, every thought and every action is preceded by millions of synapses connecting, transmitting and communicating important information.

This network of thought-and-action-determining connections don't stop inside the confines of skin and bone. In a mysterious way they link up to a greater network where, in some instances, our thought-processes are absorbed into the minds of others, while, in other instances, we take on the thoughts of others and somehow allow it to shape our own internal matrix.

This is the wonder of communication and learning.

With the advent of the internet, we've been provided with what could almost be described as a visual representation of the "human internet" - that macro-network where the ebb and flow of thought and action in society at large shapes the individual's downloads and uploads, learnings and expressions.

From an educator's perspective, that, of course, changes everything. Learners no longer have to rely on teachers to be their only source of "information downloads" , but can now access a world which offers thoughts, ideas and perspectives far beyond their own or even that of their teachers.
The role of the teacher is then to provide learners with opportunities to partake in this macro-network - to guide their "uploads and downloads" in ways that would best benefit their futures.

This blog investigates websites, applications and internet functions that can serve as powerful "connection-points", or tools for transfomative learning in the classroom.

Monday, August 30, 2010

lets go on a picnik

Picnics are rather happy occasions. We don't have picnics at funerals, or even sad rainy days. In movies, picnics are times where families go to the hills and meadows to fly kites, eat cheese on long French loafs, sing at each other in happy chorus, and escape Nazi soldiers. Occasionally there would be a bird which flutters by to join the picnic - not to eye off the food - but simply to join in song, in which case, the mother of the family would normally sing at the bird with both hands cupped.

Unfortunately, my recollection of real-life picnics are somehow not matched to this picture-perfect picnic. I don't know if I was the only one to miss out on the happiness of picnics, but mostly, we didn't sing at each other, we yelled at each other: "OI! PASS THE CHEESE!".
Birds did not join in song, they swooped us. Along with the flies. And the mozzies. And the closest thing we had in resemblance to a kite would have had to be the plastic plates taking off in the wind. Maybe it's just me and my family - after all, I do recollect us having a picnic on a stranger's front lawn once. And then there was another time when we decided to spread the blanket on the side of a highway. (Might I add that it was 12 pm and there was no tree in sight. And...we were in the middle of a desert. Needless to say, we had unintentional melted cheese sandwiches.)

So in my mind, picture-perfect picnics don't exist. Well, technically they don't...but fortunately cheating does. I'm not sure how the movie people did all their cheating, but nowadays we have Picnik (with a K) - a handy online photo manipulation application. It can change the look from "hey, we're having lunch on your lawn, strange man", to one of those happy neighbourhood shots that makes the photo say, "it's times like these you wish your town was so open an inviting". Yes, it's true, and I have to warn you that with the power of Picnik you are prone to become a chronic liar.

However, it's a great tool for the classroom. Help learners see the power of digital manipulation - show them how colours, expressions, compositions and contexts can change what an image is saying, and give them the chance to try that themselves. As they play around with images (ones they took or ones they download through Flickr, for instance) they will discover the value of visual literacy and the power of communicating to others through pictures.
Below are some photos I took and then edited with Picnik.


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