comic thoughts: an experiment in spacial processing (ci.5410.4)
Here lies my attempt to use a graphic organizer to organize my thinking. Inspired by how Krista Kennedy's students were "transforming text" with Comiclife to map out content, I decided to try some of the visual options and sounds effects for myself. I enjoyed the sound effects, especially the stretching sounds, that accompanied my movements of text bubbles across the page.
Sounds aside, however, I actually felt hindered in my ability to think through my ideas. In fact, when I finished I felt farther from my topic than when I started. I admit that this may have nothing to do with Comiclife. Maybe what this reveals is my dependence on the pen and paper to process through the initial stages of writing. I may be a digital native in some aspects of composition, but definitely not in terms of digital brainstorming.
Comments
So it took me forever to visually map on the computer. I could have done it much faster on paper. I'm wondering if I need to spend 30 years renetworking that part of my brain. Or what is it 7 years to reach automaticity?
You're visual is astonishing, and even after mine, I was wondering why I would even make the student write the paper. If I want to assess his or her thinking, there it is brilliantly presented. Then, I thought about transferrability. We haven't really learned something unless we can express it in a different modality, right? So, yes, the student would have to write the paper so that I could assess learning, not just thinking?
Posted by: Jen | October 2, 2007 4:30 PM
Thanks for the link. For what it's worth, I absolutely can't mind-map digitally -- but I can do it manually. Go figure. Here's an example: http://www.flickr.com/photos/slimcoincidence/346753481/
As for Jen's question: my solution so far has been to assign different modalities across the semester, so they're evaluated both for regular, linear writing as well as multimodal stuff. Don't know that it's the best solution, but it's what I've got so far.
Which creates another question: why do we value linear writing more than we value these alternative compositions? Why would the thought they convey be any less valid as a demonstration of learning?
Posted by: Krista | October 2, 2007 8:02 PM