HMNT 1001: Living and Learning in a Technological World
Week 3
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HMNT 1001: Living and Learning in a Technological World
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Photo Credit: [cosmin4000]/[iStock / 360]/Getty Images
Week 3: Creating Virtual Experiences: Multiple Perspectives
Think back over the past year. Where were you when you learned about breaking news? How did technology impact the way that you heard, saw, or experienced the newsworthy event? Through advances in technology, you now have nearly instant access to events around the world. Natural disasters, court case verdicts, deaths of prominent figures suddenly appear on your phone and computers. The immediacy of emerging news has made the concept of what is local and what is global. News delivery is not relegated to journalists; instead, amateur reporting comes to us from across the globe.
Graphic Credit: Microsoft Corporation. (Producer). MC900435240 [photo of colored ribbon encircling the world]. Retrieved February 6, 2014 from http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/results.aspx?qu=Colored+ribbon+encircling+the+world&ex=1#ai:MC900435240
As part of the Walden community, you will have class mates from around the globe. Each of us brings our own local culture into the classroom. Diversity of experience allows Walden students to learn from their peers as they also learn from Waldens skilled faculty. For some of you, it might be the first time that youve met someone who grew up in a different country. You are going to learn with people who have been shaped by their cultures and life experiences; many of them may have different views than you because they have had very different experiences. In order to learn from each other, you need to develop trust. How is trust formed when you cannot shake a persons hand or meet for a cup of coffee? How do you build a place where each student can provide his or her perspective and feel safe while doing so? A culture of trust in an online setting must be constructed deliberately. Each of you has a role to play in creating a space where everyone is comfortable expressing their thoughts and ideas.
This week you will be asked to consider the ways that multiple perspectives complicate or increase your understanding of any given situation. Technology has allowed for more voices, visions, and auditory information via the Internet. You can access books, articles, films, and songs that provide more insight from across the world about any given topic. The Week 3 Notes and Readings will provide a variety of perspectives on the range of human virtual experiences. With all of the various avenues to information, are you better informed than ever before? Do you know more?
Learning Objectives
Students will:
Describe how multiple perspectives impact personal understanding
Evaluate personal life and learning strategies
Evaluate how technology provides access to other cultures
Explore how technology impacts human ways of knowing, thinking, and expressing
Learning Resources
Note: To access this weeks required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the Course Materials section of your Syllabus.
Required Readings
Week 3 Notes and Readings (HTML)
The resources and content in the weekly Notes and Readings provide a context for this weeks topics. Read the resources in the weekly Notes and Readings in the order presented.
Montante, S. (2004). Thinking on Paper. Literary Cavalcade, 57(3), 36-37.
Read the weekly Notes and Readings first before any other Required Readings, including Library resources.
Revisit the Reading Images and Text document from Week 2. Use the information in this handout to help focus and improve your reading of both images and text.
Document: Academic Writing Expectations Checklist (Word document)
Assignment Rubric
Discussion Rubric
Document: SmarterMeasure Self-Assessments: Student Guide (PDF)
Spreadsheet: Weekly Schedule (Excel)
One of the most valuable skills you can have as an online student is effective time management. Therefore, we ask that you
download and save this sample weekly schedule,
use it to create your own based on your work and personal responsibilities, and
revisit the schedule at least once a month to ensure that it still reflects your time commitments.
Discussion: Perspectives on Reality
Note: This week you will respond to EITHER Prompt A or Prompt B.
What you see and hear is filtered through who you are. Each person has a different perspective. Your perspective can be influenced by the physical environment: where you are standing, the weather, or the time of day. It can also be influenced by ones mood, by cultural filters, or by past experiences. When you understand what you think and feel and even see and hear is impacted by human experiences, you begin to understand how difficult it is to arrive at pure fact. Technology has an opportunity to impact human ways of knowing, thinking, and expressing.
In this Discussion you will experience the same story in multiple formats: the written word, the spoken word, and video. When you begin to add photos or manipulate images, is this changing your experience or enhancing or distorting your reality? Reference content from Week 3 Notes and Readings in your Discussion post.
Graphic Credit:Microsoft Corporation. (Producer). MP900302922 [photo of business people and shadows]. Retrieved February 6, 2014 from http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/results.aspx?qu=see&ex=1%20-%20ai:MP900302922|#ai:MP900302922|
To prepare for the Discussion:
Return to Week 3 Notes and Readings and review Sakis The Open Window (written and audio), Sojourner Truths Aint I a Woman? (speech and performance interpretation), and the two forms of the Omayra Sanchez story (written and written with pictures).
Think about your reaction to the different forms of each resource and what it might mean for you as a learner.
Consider how humans use their perspective to understand new experiences by imagining details of a story.
Since technology has made it easier to share visual versions, does that impact our need to see to believe or influence how easily we understand without a visual?
Have you ever had the experience of being given false information about a new situation? Or changing your mind about something with growing evidence?
How is a story, a painting, or a song a kind of virtual reality?
By Day 3
Post a response to one of the following prompts (at least 200-300 words); complete EITHER Prompt A or Prompt B.
Prompt A
Consider the imagery you created in your mind as you interacted with the written version of The Open Window. Describe this imagery and discuss whether it helped you understand the story. Did the imagery or imagined tone change when you listened to the audio? How? Which medium did you enjoy the most?
Now, do the same exercise with Sojourner Truth’s speech in text and as interpreted by Cicely Tyson in video form. Which medium did you prefer and why?
Comparing the forms you preferred in each case, what might that tell you about how you learn?
Read two or more of your classmates postings from the Discussion question.
By Day 5
Respond with a comment that asks for clarification or provides support for two or more of your classmates.
Return to this Discussion in a few days to read the responses to your initial posting. Note what you have learned and/or any insights you have gained as a result of the comments your classmates made.
Remember to return to the classroom in a few days, to check the Grade Center for Instructor comments and your grade.
OR
Prompt B
How we interpret something often depends on our past experiences and perspectives. Begin by reading the Aint I a Woman speech given by Sojourner Truth. Describe your reactions to this speech. When you watched Cicely Tysons interpretation through her performance, was it different than you imagined? How and why? Which medium did you enjoy the most?
Now, do the same exercise with the two articles for Omayra Sanchez’s story. When her picture was released, there was controversy about whether the picture was necessary to convey her story or if it was just an attempt by the journalist to shock the public and sale more newspapers. Do you think the picture was necessary? Was the event conveyed just as vividly in the story without the picture? Why or why not?
Comparing the forms you preferred in each case, what might that tell you about how you learn?
Read two or more of your classmates postings from the Discussion question.
By Day 5
Respond with a comment that asks for clarification or provides support for two or more of your classmates.
Return to this Discussion in a few days to read the responses to your initial posting. Note what you have learned and/or any insights you have gained as a result of the comments your classmates made.
Remember to return to the classroom in a few days, to check the Grade Center for Instructor comments and your grade.
To complete your Discussion this week, select the Post to Discussion link. Then, select the corresponding thread:
To respond to Prompt A, select Discussion Prompt A Week 3.
To respond to Prompt B, select Discussion Prompt B Week 3.
Submission and Grading Information
Grading Criteria
To access your rubric:
Discussion Rubric
Post by Day 3 and Respond by Day 5
To participate in this Discussion:
Week 3 Discussion
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