#collaborative-learning

[timeandart]

Eating climate change with making the best of it dandelion: collaborative public art as a mode of future-orientated learning

Article

Abstract

"Long-term public art projects that engage public audiences in collaborative learning can be powerful venues for exploring public pedagogy and for investigating the mechanisms that allow people to learn and change. In the iterative and exploratory modes such projects usually require, we can learn a tremendous amount from interactions over time among the many audiences and networks that these projects involve—creative teams, production crews, performance staff, volunteers, participants, onlookers, and viewers of documentation. This article discusses a year-long public art project designed to engage diverse audiences in imaginative consideration of their future agency in the face of a changing climate. The project was carried out in a range of settings—public art festivals, university symposia, community meals, seminars and large lecture classrooms, and online—and the process provided many opportunities to learn about the methodology of developing and carrying out participatory future-casting events. The varied frameworks of this project provided practice with a range of interaction mechanics, and also provided participants with the chance to learn, with others, how to leverage the familiar in order to address the strange. We consider how this project maintains a focus on inclusive and equitable process in future building, and particularly how explicitly focusing on play, silence, beauty, stress, and the more-than-human contributes to successful learning, and to moving beyond some of the barriers we commonly experience in sustainability-oriented teaching and social organizing."

[sheisanimposter]

I understand why professors say teamwork is important when justifying group projects, even though I know it’s really about grading less papers. I’m a reasonable person, I get it.

But if you’re an instructor on this app I raise you this: if the project is about teamwork, why isn’t my grade?

I’m being graded on the end result of the project, not the teamwork. Yet no amount of teamwork is going to make that end result strong if there are people in my group who simply don’t care. And no, that isn’t how it works in the real world.

When I worked on group projects professionally, there were things in place to set the team up for success and monitor our work:

- there was usually pre-designated project lead who had leadership skills or a strong background knowledge on the project

- our slack channels usually had a supervisor in them for questions and accountability

- in my non slack work places we had project check ins with a supervisor

-in some cases we had project feedback surveys at the end or halfway through

I’m 33, I have professional and leadership experience, I could do this project by myself in a week and get an A because I’ve done similar work professionally. I also have ocd so “taking over” is something I’ve worked hard to reduce and I’ve learned to balance with “step up step back”.

By not doing all the work for a group of 20 something’s who barely experienced high school, I actually am practicing teamwork and leadership. I’m giving them info and prompts to try to help, but some of them simply don’t care and are hoping someone else will do all the work. Ultimately they can get away with that because my professor is grading us on the quality of our work, not how we got there.

My attempts to get people to meet, the prompts I gave my team to help get conversations going, and the info I provided to them that they didn’t use will not be graded. My professor will never see our discord chat. Instead I’m being graded on the work ethic of others. How is this teaching teamwork? How is this grading team work? How is it actually preparing severely undersocialized students (my classmates missed most of high school due to Covid and it shows) for the workplace?

So if you’re a teacher, professor or instructor who genuinely cares about teaching teamwork and not just grading fewer papers, here are some suggestions:

-designate a project leader: let the team choose and give that person extra credit

-do project check ins, it can just be a quick survey monkey to give people a chance to “tattle” anonymously. You have to actually read them and follow up on issues though.

-mandate that the group chat stays in canvas or that you’re included in the discord chat, that chat itself should be part of the grade based on how much people participated in and lead conversations

-give individual grades. This means not just grading based on the end result but on each persons portion of it. If one person made the whole presentation that’s going to factor more into their grade. If one section of a project is better researched than another that should factor into individual grades.

-TEACH TEAMWORK FIRST: college isn’t about learning by trial and error, we’re typically given material to learn before being graded on an assignment that proves our knowledge of it. So many current students were not taught teamwork or other social skills typically gained in high school because of COVID learning, don’t assume they know how to do things you take for granted. If the project is team based because you feel teamwork is important, the least you can do is give some handouts on communication and planning strategies that are used in real workplaces. It’s unfair to be grading students on something you didn’t teach them / that isn’t a prerequisite for your course. If your course doesn’t have teamwork knowledge as a prerequisite why are you assuming your students know anything about it?

[mean-scarlet-deceiver]

I had a thought occur to me the other day. The last Stirling Singles retired in 1916... I think it's easy enough to say Emily could've arrived on the island during WW1. The fun part is who she has to work with though. The Island Of Sodor book says the NWR borrowed primarily from two mainland railways.

The Furness, and the Midland.

The Whoops! All double headers! Railway. (Slight exaggeration)

I'm sure Emily "My creator will come to my shed and beat me with hammers if I ever accept help" Stirling would take this very well, (/sar) don't you think?

You're cooking 👀

I don't usually like early N.W.R. Emily but this angle is too fabulous to be left unexplored.

(I will only add the Furness was also double-heading culture 🔥 Emily would have been purely a fish out of water)

[yudkowsky]

I understand why alchemists invented, and modern fiction writers use, systems with a few understandable Elements like Earth / Fire / Air / Water / Light / Dark.

I understand why even most nerds don't bother to study the Elements in real life. There's too many of them, and they don't neatly correspond to meaningful aspects of macro-level existence.

But just once I'd like to read a worked magical system where the author has looked up the properties of the real Elements, has put in all the work to build up a system of plausible-sounding correspondences, and the protagonist is a rare dual-element Tellurium-Iodine wizard.

[squeakyleftsneaker]

Colonialism Apologetics? In MY Space Mecha Kids TV Show? MORE LIKELY THAN U THINK

I will soon #discuss this but for now I'm just pissed off by it like really TV show? REALLY?

Wait also this is totally unrelated but I am still thinking about the Voltron Show episode where like I really do think they could've stumbled upon something interesting about 1: the fact that the Paladins suddenly become these like. Objects. Symbolically speaking. And then to the resistance movement there is a tension because they're not actually like. Doing shit. But then the paladins themselves feel objectified

Idk like there's so many things that you could do there that would be pretty doable to handle for the audience and keeping the tone of the show! Have Shiro feel uncomfortable with the Shiro The Hero [TM] persona because it reminds him too much of the Champion!

Have the rebels like in the Blade of Marmalade or Olkarion or other rebel outposts (which we barely even see because the show dgaf about the people fighting for freedom jfc) feeling some kinda way about it! A FUCKING MARVEL MOVIE DID THIS!!!! THAT'S HOW SIMPLE THIS IS TO DO!!! (I watched the first Captain America movie for the first time last night. It is extremely simple and very pro military. BUT IT UNDERSTANDS HOW TO DO WHAT IT NEEDS TO DO)

Like idk have Loverboy Lance be tied to Lance's own insecurities about what he brings to the team AND the war– have him feel some kind of way about being portrayed like that as MORE than just jokes!

Don't even get me started on Hunk this fucking show is so awful to Hunk

HAVE ALLURA REALLY GET TO GRIPS WITH THE FACT THAT SHE'S GOT TO PLAY A GUY WHO SHE IS BOTH VERY SIMILAR TO AND ALSO HE IS PART-GALRA, THE SAME GALRA WHO KILLED HER PEOPLE! IT'S A REASONABLE HESITANCY TO HAVE! IDK! IT JUST PISSES ME OFF MAN THERE'S SO MANY THINGS THIS SHOW COULD DO BUT DOESN'T

[weirdmageddon]

It's not totally clear here why Dave's dream self appears to be already awake while his real self is also awake. I think we must infer that his dream self is in some sort of "waking trance" where he's technically awake but too preoccupied by certain things to be considered fully awake.

thinking about jade being lonely as hell on her island and going to sleep waking up on prospit and seeing john (not knowing his name yet) asleep plagued with the creepy dersite doll dreams with the scary teeth and just aughhhh

and she’d like overhear the white queen talk about the dark kingdom derse and the prince(sse)s of the moon that are there and trying to attract as little attention as possible jade would fly out there through the medium because shes so lonely. and she’d go to the purple moons’ towers. she’d find a girl is sound asleep in her purple robes and bed. but the other kid on the moon she finds is awake! except… not really. more like in a trance state. awake but not conscious. but she likes to hear whatever garbled stuff this triangle-speced boy has to say

the trip is long but jade visits this boy a few times since he’s the only non-asleep person like her she can interact with face to face. he usually seems lost in his own world, usually listening to music or talking to himself about stuff that doesnt make much sense. when she’s deprived of sapient affection she’ll touch him in small gestures like holding his hand while he listens to his music and he’ll squeeze back instinctually, and it helps her experience a microdose of the human connection. maybe he doesnt get much in the way of sapient affection either. when she hears The Horrors of the furthest ring another dream headset pops into existence for her to listen along with him and they listen to whatever music hes making. who is he

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

Hi, here's an easy question for you that I can't find online for some reason. How exactly was Alloran enslaved? Every wiki article seems to gloss over this and it's been far too long since I've read the books to remember.

Also, what's your take on it? I remember always feeling vaguely disappointed because I couldn't figure how a yeerk would overpower an andalite, but do you think it works within the narrative, or is it just kind of a plot device to create The Abomination?

Compared to how things go down with Alloran, I think Aldrea's dramatic capture in Hork-Bajir Chronicles is way cooler. Esplin 9466 being ecstatic about finally being inside an andalite mind, only to have his abandoned host body attack him and rescue Aldrea, is one of my favorite scenes in the series.

But yeah, how it happens with Alloran (Andalite Chronicles p. 174 - 180) is deliberately obscured. Elfangor brings Esplin 9466 onboard the Jahar as a hostage, inside a hork-bajir. He gets distracted driving the ship, but returns to that hork-bajir to toss him out the door. Alloran tells Elfangor to flush the Pool ship, killing 1000s of defenseless yeerks. Elfangor refuses. They argue. They're interrupted "Chapman" punching Alloran and knocking him over/out. Elfangor thanks Chapman and starts to fly the Jahar back to get the Time Matrix, only to be shot at by "Loren."

At that point Elfangor realizes Chapman, Loren, and Alloran are all controllers — Chapman put yeerks in his own and Loren's heads as part of his bargain, and Esplin 9644 escaped his hork-bajir host, into the body that "Chapman" conveniently placed ear-down on the ground for him. Elfangor realizes he can't win against three controllers. He dumps Alloran/Esplin on the planet and flies off with the two humans locked in a back room to starve out their yeerks.

[fictionadventurer]

I'm stuck in a loop where I want to sink into fiction, but I can't focus on the books I'm reading, can't write anything (and am convinced I have and will never write a decent story in my life), and none of the options of things to read/watch sound good to me.

I don't like it.

[oacest]

Neil Young is another of your heroes. You both possess the ability to take four chords and create a memorable song. Noel: I learnt so much by playing along to The Beatles and The Smiths. And I learnt it all on acoustic guitar - I didn't get an electric until I was 21. So my style is built around strumming and not really knowing what the chords are. Liam does that now. Is he a decent player? Noel: No, he's fucking rubbish. And the longer he remains rubbish the better he'll be. I think the less you know the more effective you are. You've got to work it all out for yourself. I was never taught a note by anybody. It was just me sitting down and working at it. That chord from Wonderwall, I don't know where it came from. I don't actually want to know what a suspended, augmented ninth is. I remember having an argument with Aimee Mann once. The bridge chord going into the chorus of Supersonic (C#7 - Ed); she said, You must have studied music to come up with that. I was like, What are you talking about? I was on the dole six months ago. Where am I going to get music theory lessons in Burnage?

Noel in Guitarist Magazine, June 2002

[salemoleander]

Pearl's new ep has me like 🥺

In addition to just being so impressed & delighted by Wordle, it's incredibly heartwarming to see the amount of inspiration that cycles through the Hermits

The aspect ratio change during her montage feels very inspired by Bdubs. Calling it a montage like a tongue-in-cheek callback to Mumbo's last ep, where he insisted that despite technically being a montage, he'll always call what he does timelapses. Tango coming and helping add extra musical feedback to the game, an aspect of minigame design that Etho really focused on a few seasons ago. She plans on adding custom Cub fireworks to celebrate wins.

To be clear this is entirely Pearl's achievement, this isn't meant to give other people credit for 8+ hours of work and design. It has just really reminded me that Joe Hills' description of the Hermits as an artists' collective is Extremely Accurate. I'm eternally delighted to see the echoes of artistic inspiration every Hermit takes & gives back to the server

[timeandart]

A stitch in time

Artwork | David Medalla | Berlin | 1960s/2013

Medalla, D. (2013) A stitch in time [Participatory Art]. Available at: https://www.anothervacantspace.com/David-Medalla-A-Stitch-in-Time (Accessed: 8 October 2024).

Filipino artist David Medalla created his cosmic propulsion entitled 'A Stich in Time' in London, in 1968, during the 'Summer of Love'. He gave two of his ex-lovers a handkerchief each, a packet of needles and several spools of cotton thread when he met them at Heathrow airport. He told them they could stich anything they like - poems, names, messages, drawings, etc. - on the handkerchiefs. Many years later, at another airport, Schiphol in Amsterdam, David met a handsome young backpacker who carried on his back a totem-like pole of pieces of multi-coloured clothes stitched together, into which were attached various objects like old chinese coins, keys, empty cigarette packets, and dried flower leaves, barks and roots of tropical trees. When David asked the backpacker where he got the cloth totem-pole the latter replied someone gave it to him in Bali. The backpacker handed the cloth totem-pole to David to examine. When David lifted the cloth totem-pole he saw to his amazement that the bottom piece of cloth was one of the original handkerchiefs he gave to one of his lovers. David handed back the cloth totem-pole to the backpacker without telling him the fact that the handkerchief which David gave one of his lovers was the start of the cosmic propulsion and participatory artwork entitled 'A Stich in Time'. D.M Berlin April 2013

During the late 1960's and early 1970's Medalla made a series of 'participation works' where the audience was encouraged to be involved in the production of playful and experiential pieces which challenged the notions of creative heirarchy. 'A Stitch in Time' is about travel, time and chance, but it's also about production. Medalla described the piece as "participation-production-propulsion". It involves the audience sewing small objects of significance onto a large cloth in a public space, which requires a creative concentration and an engagement with the artwork. The pieces now exist as large, beautifully textured cloths but they are also a testament to all those who contributed to them, as well as the collaborative process through which they were created.

Temporal pedagogy

The artwork is created through participatory events and the objects are "propelled" forward as moments in time that have continuity.

An example of temporal suspension where the participant is brought back to the present moment, the indivudual creation and concentration of sewing and the object they have chosen that has significance to them. A slowing down, a practice of meditation in smallness whilst co-producing a large collaborative work.

"At the heart of all this was a belief that artworks had a duty to evolve slowly, in as many mediums and places as possible." (https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/jan/08/david-medalla-obituary)

In this sense, it also works to connect to others, other objects, at other times... past, present, future; relational co-presence of multiple times. As well as the interconnectedness of things, people, places.

"In this paranoid year of border restrictions and global distrust, Medalla’s utopian vision is a welcome homage to serendipity and interconnectedness." (https://www.wallpaper.com/art/a-stitch-in-time-david-medalla-embroiders-a-history-of-chance-encounters)

Justice

Not explicit, but an implicit sense of justice in terms of rights of production. Bringing production back into the hands of the many and in a collaborative non-hierarchical sense.

Further reading:

Artist:

Filipino artist David Medalla.

[uncanny-tranny]

A vital part of political knowledge (and knowledge in general) is knowing when to say, "I'm not educated enough to make a statement about this topic."

It's okay if you don't know every little detail of every single issue at hand. But it won't help if you refuse to acknowledge where you lack information, where your blindspots are, and what you just don't understand. It's okay to not have an answer.

[anunendinggaze]

An Unending Gaze

A World of Warcraft Roleplaying Blog

"Why is the void?"

"You ask why when you think to ask what, but I feel that it is not something that can be classified as what it should or should not be. Saying 'it' is an 'it' is an odd turn of phrase in itself. It gives it's a physical presence that does not exist. At least as I see it in my eyes."

"For there is no end to it's place or presence within our world. Is it a cadre of beings centered at the end of the universe?"

"Yes."

"Is it a force of nature that deems what should or not be?"

"Yes."

"A concept only built within our minds to give a crutch to the inevitability of reality?"

"Yes."

"It is everything and nothing. It is the absence of all and the entirely of all. We will never understand it. We will never command it. We will never know it."

"But we can hear it."

"We can listen. We can learn."

"We can serve."

"For only living to learn can we die in service to the plan."

"Dying is not meant to be casual, tossed around like it is nothing. Dying is hard. Dying is awful."

"Dying is painful."

"We are not meant to die for it or live for it. For as dying can be all those things, living is just as much. It's hard. It's awful."

"It's painful."

"But we are not here to wax upon what we are to gain from 'it' or what we are to give to 'it'. We are here to spread the true message to all. The truest and greatest gift any one could ask for."

"Peace."

"Peace IS the answer. But we must struggle. For with our struggle we search for the question."

"It is the one thing we can find within it. To stare into the abyss and find the silence. To hear the nothing. To embrace the emptiness and touch that peace all hearts yearn for. From the savage orc, to the fretful man, and even to the cursed Forsaken. In sleep. In wakefulness. In dream."

"In death."

"Peace is the answer."

"We will find it. We will bask in it. We will hear it's song and spread to all those of the silent cries in their hearts."

"We can fail. We will fail. It is inevitable."

"But we can also succeed."

"Prisoners are not only brought down by catapult and siege. They are brought down by will. By tenacity. By faith."

"We but only need to feel it. Touch it. Sit with it."

"And let it fill all worlds, times, and spaces with it's pure intent."

"Peace. Is. The. Answer."

The small gathering of souls within the basement whispered it back in a chorus of shaky tones, but none could match the croak of the ravaged crone who sat upon the dirt floor. Her pale purple skin a near deathly gray from the rot that seemed to eat away from inside, a living corpse was a optimistic assessment of Oplisca Du'mere. Bone thin hands to match with her body, a naked body covered in crdue scarification done by a mad child artist's nail, and the yellowed teeth to match those claws that were brought to bear by dried broken lips. Most would call her forsaken if not for the beating heart that nested within the wasted sagging flesh, for she was alive.

This time.

For as much as the husk withered and died, the eyes within that bald tight skull burned bright. She was here and she was everywhere now. The blonde girl of so many years ago was long since twisted into nothing and gone into the very heart of her lover. She spoke of the void as a shapeless entity and truly she believed that.

But there were others. There were always others. And there was her true love.

C'thun.

The unending gaze.

Oh how she yearned for that sight, how she fought for it. Begged for it. Sacrificed for it.

"They are ready."

Weakly, Oplisca would nod as she lifted a crooked finger. "Then let us break this fast and find what hearts need."

There were no screams or chants, only the drip of blood as the gathering worked on the 'chosen'.

Peace. Is. The. Answer.

OOC:

Welcome to the An Unending Gaze, my World of Warcraft antagonist compendium for my characters that I've been working on for some time. I made this in hopes of working on my 'villainy' and exploring the less heroic side of writing. A lot of these have been side mentions to my other groups of characters who I felt deserved their own space than just playing second fiddle to other main characters. And with the ever growing cast that hyper-fixation and likely un-diagnosed ADHD, it was honestly necessary. I do my best to explore more than just mustache twirling and vile monologuing types of villains but I can't say I'm the gold standard when it comes to doing 'bad things'. But I'm learning. And if you've got pointers, critiques, or would like to help me build my skill and these characters please let me know. I am all about collaboration and 'living to learn'.

Dramatis Personae:

Oplisca Du'mere - a servant of C'thun and disciple of the Void who has discovered a horrific means to travel to worlds beyond

The Husk - a victim of the body hopping creature of the Void

Alfred Klaudin - old dead, with dull yellow eyes and a dead heart only for the Dark Lady of his murderous dreams

Daseyd - a Dark Iron architect searching for the 'plan of plans'

Kinowin Du'mere - a malicious brother brought back by means unknown but filled by blood

Tragjaan - a Lightforged Draenei with eyes only for the Light

Voldrin - an revenant of ancient times escaped from the Shadow by the touch of the Void

The Coldbringer - an agent of Chaos, forged from bronze and touched by infinity

[perplexingly]

I’m so damn tired

[notafraidofredyellowandblue]

Another great quote from wir.sehen.euch IG with a lovely photo by @derwahnsinn

"BLACK AND WHITE: When Rammstein started creating their Untitled album, Richard Kruspe brought in Olsen Involtini, which changed the dynamics of the group. «By him being there, the energy changed between me and Paul drastically. I don't know why», Kruspe told Revolver. «It's almost like being in couples therapy. It's not about going there and getting advice from the therapist. It's more about, if you go to a therapist and sit in front of the other person, all of a sudden you're listening to what the other person has to say, rather than while he's saying something and you're thinking of a strategy to fight against him. So, all of a sudden, I was listening to what he had to say and he was listening to what I had to say. Individual-wise, we're really, really different. Black and white. If he says, 'Yeah', I say, 'No'. It's always the same story. But somehow we need that for the Rammstein cosmos.»"