While I have been focusing recently on the sheer volume of activity on UMW Blogs, that really is a fleeting fascination with the possibility of creating a dynamic network for teaching and learning. Nonetheless, the magic of such a collaboration is ultimately realized on a more atomic level, through individual professors and students putting in the extra work to share their thoughts about the numerous topics they are discussing both inside and outside of class.
So, I wanted to start sharing some of the amazing posts that have been giving me an unbelievable education in everything from Cell Biology to Beowulf. I’ll start with one group of students (Carole Garmon’s group from her Video Art seminar) all of whom have been been consistently blowing my mind over the past three weeks. I can only begin to suggest how much I have learned from them over such a short period of time.
There are a number of examples that I will be linking to below from my del.icio.us bookmarks, but I’ll give you just one example before I leave you all with a trail of riches to explore.
On the Blarg blog, one student talks at length about one particular work of art by the video artist Jenny Holzer’s “For the Capitol” (2007). It is an amazing work that this student contextualizes beautifully in a post that explores the relationship between the Dada experiments with video and the experiments with text and context that Holzer is pushing in other ways. An absolute gem of a post.
Paranthetical Update: Interestingly enough, I only now realized that Art History professor Marjorie Och had embedded this video on her own blog last week, suggesting this space is feeding between professors and students in far richer ways than I could ever represent here.
But that’s not it by a long shot here are ten eleven more posts from the various students in this class that are wonderful examples of thinking through their ideas while at the same time sharing them beyond the confines of their minds. Thanks to each and every one of you.
Thanks for the links, Jim. I followed up on the Maya Deren (I like her work very much) and enjoyed Blarg’s post–left a comment.
Now what we need is a few undergraduate research projects analyzing this rich externalization of our university’s mind. I’d imagine a wide variety of disciplines could be involved….
I wonder if some sort of social network analysis might eventually be applied here. What interests me most is how posts here might inspire activity from people who don’t know or care that a course is going on.
And I know I’m repeating myself, but man oh man are you people kicking serious ass…