Session Organizer: Rosanne Gibel, Art Institute of Ft. Lauderdale
Designer as Witness: Design & digital photography: Making the reflective practice graphic.
Christopher Palacios, Ohio University
Framing Issues: Collaboration and dialog in on-line asynchronous learning environments
Lee Vander Kooi, Herron School of Art and Design
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As the meaning (and the very nature) of information literacy has shifted, so has the need to integrate it into the curriculum. Never has so much been available to students. Everything is on line: museums, galleries, encyclopedias, magazines, everything. And never have students been so ill prepared to deal with all of that information and imagery. The ready access to so much makes them feel they can see or know everything, without questioning the quality of the information or the narrow context of the image they are seeing or the idea that is being presented. Compounding that is the loss of the “browse factor”. The ability to pick and choose has narrowed the information and ideas that pass their way. It is possible to never read information on a topic that is unfamiliar. This has had an impact on their ability to transfer research skills from one area of learning to another or even evaluate the questions that need to be asked. The seemingly simple task of choosing keywords to frame a search doesn’t come easily without a broad range of interest. And never have design students needed that knowledge more than they do today. From technology issues to marketing to the specific topic of a design project, they need to be able to locate and use what is out there.
This panel seeks input from those using currently available technology and resources to encourage students to expand their base of knowledge and apply research to studio projects. Possible topics could include case studies of teaching and applying studio research, examining class blogs and wikis as a way of sharing knowledge, looking at a variety of interactive web spaces (such as Second Life or social networking sites) as teaching resources and, hopefully, the things I have not thought of yet.
