Week 4 - Comment to Holly Loganbill’s Post on Zander

Hi Holly,

I like how you framed your post this week with different quotations from the book and your comments beneath that in response.  I’ll respond to your paragraph which hit me the most that you wrote:

You wrote:

I wish I had been ready to read this book years ago. Had I taken it in and used it, I think my life would be very different. So many self help books stress the idea that the only person you can control is yourself. The Zander’s give this an entirely new perspective. We aren’t free to pick and choose what parts of ourselves to accept or reject. If we try, we end up in fragments. If we ask, “How did this become part of the ‘me’ who is the board of my life?” We have to take responsibility for where we are or what’s happening, and then we can move forward.

My response:

Holly, your operative statement here is ‘I wish I had been “ready” to read this book years ago.’  Amen to that.  If a person isn’t ready, how can they understand, absorb, or even ‘look’ at something?  I used to get so mad at one of my friends who was always trying to ‘tell me’ to do something because it was the ‘right thing’ to do.  But I always said to her “Let me make this mistake myself and then when I’m ready to do it the ‘right way’ I will do it myself.”  In other words, I always understood the concept that this was my time to ‘screw something up’ or not.  It’s the same concept with Zander’s book in a way, you can read it cover to cover, but if you’re not ready to, its message will probably fall on blind eyes.  I felt incredibly ‘ready’ to read the book.  In fact, it was a break from all the other things we had to do for our course this month.  I felt like I was on a little ‘mini vacation’ when I was reading it.  I just got so much out of it like you did, wasn’t it great to just read and absorb all this stuff and know that we got it?  We really ‘got it’ didn’t we?  Thanks for your insight as usual, Holly!

Week 4 - Comment to Patricia Ort's Post on Zander

My comment to Pat:

Hi Pat!

I loved your picture you shot, by the way, it’s awesome Pat! Amen to that about the blame game.  I agree, it is challenging because it is so easy to ‘assign’ blame when everything goes ‘tango uniform’ on you.  I know, I blame Skype constantly for the bad connections and dropped skype calls!  But then, it probably IS Skype’s fault in that case!  No, but seriously, being the board instead of the piece is akin to removing yourself from the problem or going outside yourself for a minute.  That is really hard to do isn’t it?  I have tried this actually, and it was not something that came easily like say, shooting a picture or listening to a song on iTunes…

Actually, the story Zander tells about Cora the violinist was interesting, I liked his “A letter” he wrote her, it was really concise like he is.  I like that he admitted his own faults and found it interesting he didn’t actually apologize for his outburst in so many words.  I felt he did apologize in a sense by admitting culpability.  What mystified me a little was that he didn’t mention ‘how’ she came back to the orchestra, only that she ‘did’ come back.  I would have loved to have been a fly on that rehearsal room wall the day she did come back wouldn’t you?  Great post as usual Pat!

Pat Wrote:

Of all of the Zander's ideas, I think the concept of not blaming others, or yourself, for things that don't go the way you'd like is probably the most challenging.  I don't know if it is a cultural thing or just a human thing to assign blame, however, we seem to start doing it pretty young.  The fine difference in thinking that Ben Zander speaks of when he says we should be the board, not the chess piece, takes some practice.

As always, the Zanders made me really think about how a person could change their mindset in this way. When Ben Zander speaks of apologizing, he does it in a completely different way than I, at least, am used to.  I think it is a good idea to apologize to others when we've offended or hurt them.  But Ben's approach also includes not blaming himself. In the letter he wrote where he gave himself an A, he admitted his faults but didn't really say he was sorry to the violinist directly.  He also didn't ask her to come back to the orchestra, although she did.

As usual, I spent some time thinking about how this might apply to working with the at-risk teens in our program. If, as Zander says, this approach allows you to turn relationships into effective partnerships, how might that work at our alternative high school?  Right now, we are planning a totally different concept for next year. Rather than teaching in our own little boxes, the English teacher, the math/science teacher, and I (social studies/computers teacher), are going to team teach using a project based learning model.  We are especially interested in building relationships with the teens who enroll in our program.  Reading Zander's thoughts about "being the board" really fits the conversation about how to build good relationships with our new students.

I'm a creative person, so I really liked the thrust of Chapter 11.  I think most people are happiest when they are creating. There is a special energy that fills you up when you are working in synergy with others, making something new and different and exciting.  I think my colleagues and I feel that way, when we are not being distracted by things that seem to have gone wrong at school or are trying to find someone to blame for the situation. Hmmmm.  I am glad we are reading this book at school.  I think a shift in a positive direction would be very good right about now.

Week 4 - On A Personal Note...

Contemplating in L.A.

Month 11 journey nearly over…

Month 11 was really a crazy one for me, so stressful on so many levels and frontiers.  I am in a constant scramble to get rid of things I don’t need ready for my big “Overseas Adventure” or my “World Tour” as I call it, which starts the day after I walk up onto the stage with my friends and teammates at Full Sail University graduation.  I couldn’t be more excited, mainly to meet the people of my Team Digital Horizon…what an honor that will be, to meet the people I’ve been talking to on Skype, MSN, iChat, iGoogle, gmail, yahoo mail, FSO mail, you name it.  We have communicated and gotten to know each other like a family.  We made a movie together, we commented on each other’s blogs and assignments, we have become friends for a lifetime beyond Full Sail.  I can’t imagine when I step up on that stage with them and the other great people I’ve been communicating with all this time.  I can’t imagine us posing for those ‘after graduation’ pictures with my team, although I can.  It will be the end of a great journey we were all on, all newbies together at the same time on, and all totally immersed in technology with, after-the-fact.

All I can say is, what I said to one of my dear friends recently as we sat in a posh LA eatery while I was on a sort of ‘working vacation’ this last week away from the Vegas heat.  “It was really a huge accomplishment to do this Master’s degree in a year.” And my next comment after the nod I received, was “I may have to do it again, and try my hand at film production.”  To which my friend quipped “Yes, then you can move to LA and hang out with all your friends here!”  Okay, so maybe I won’t be doing that anytime soon, but I will be going on an overseas adventure that will take me halfway across the world, for what looks like it could be a very, very long time...  I will shoot film and photos there, its’ what I do.  As far as Full Sail again? Maybe.  I’d like to think that I could go back and try something else if I want to.  I love the experience I received and the great friends I made.  I will miss it, terribly.  Luckily, I will have PLENTY to keep me busy after I flip my tassel and throw my cap into the air with my dear friends on graduation day, 2011…

Okay, let’s get on with Month 12 please…

Week 4 Leadership/Publication Post:

I chose to put my three-part blog post about Leadership/Publications all on this post which gives you the links to each component.  It was fun to do the Wimba and hear everyone's different talks about their AR projects.  I realized what a diverse group of students we have in our program, and how fortunate I am to be in a program with such innovative and committed people.  My talk on Nature Deficit Disorder was a little disorganized, but after some thought, I have managed to create a much better presentation, which I think would serve me fairly nicely in a real conference.  Of course, I would add a lot more data and probably a few more slides showing greater detail.

Link to Part 1: (Where I talk about why I wanted to do a presentation)

Blog Post 1

Link to Part 2: (I discuss the conference I found to present at!)

Blog Post 2

Link to my Final Presentation - Part 3: (My final revision after the presentation Wimba the other night - Note:  This final iteration contains video, so it is now a much larger file so please be patient with the download.)

Link to Presentation

Blog Post Week 4 Reading: Starting with the Spark and Ending with "We" not "Me"

"We" not "Me"

Aah, the amazing Zander book again…my thoughts on this week:

Chapter 9 - Lighting a spark – Ben’s story of how he used a sort of ‘tactic’ he remembered from his father to woo Slava Rostropovich to come and play cello at a concert was really heartwarming. I liked his description of what he defines as “Enrollment” which is the art of generating a spark of possibility for others to share.” Ben’s four steps he outlines for us to use in the practice of enrollment are easy to imagine and very possible to use effectively.

I liked Zander’s description of ‘downward spiral’ such as when the Guardian newspaper in London flew a headline “Education Action Zone May Fail” when discussing the nationwide program for so-called ‘failing’ schools. His trip to Eastlea School was a success, and a BBC producer mentioned how exciting it was that Ben just conducted 1,100 children singing Ode to Joy in German. It was quite a smashing success actually. Ben shared the poems the children had written about his visit there, and he realized that in an underachieving school, education was so important to everyone. The letters he printed in the book were very heartwarming and lovely. Later when the orchestra arrived, Ben allowed Anthony, a hyper active student conduct, and it was a brilliant moment for everyone there. That story was so amazing…

Chapter 10 – Being the board – Zander maintains in this chapter that when ‘the way things are’ offers no possibility, especially if you are angry and blocked, renaming yourself as ‘the board on which the whole game is being played’ can be done. This way you move the problematic circumstances that are going on away from the outside world to inside your own boundaries. He says with this practice you can transform the world. Interesting.

I liked Ben’s example of blame, and how blaming someone takes away your ability to steer a situation into another direction, or to learn from the situation, or even help the relationship. I think declaring “I am the framework for everything that happens in my life” is quite a sound idea actually. I know that I am responsible for all my decisions for the most part anyway. So what is wrong with acknowledging that before embarking on some huge decision-making process. I equate this with my decision to attend Full Sail University, really, because I wasn’t sure this was a ‘right path’ for me at first, as I am not a teacher like most of the other Master’s students I am learning with. However, into my final month in another few days shows me that I did make this decision, I did take responsibility for all my coursework, and for my team when we had projects, and I was responsible for the positive endings to each course and pretty much everything that went on with my own education process. If I had failed at this program, I would have been responsible for that as well, and I would have had to take the blame for it, because we are self-directed to get our coursework done here. I feel I owned the risks I took by choosing to attend this program, and I feel a lot of Grace now that I have had so much success with my program as well. And, as Zander mentions it, I do feel free to choose something else now that it’s nearly over. I chose to fly off to parts known and unknown in the world around me for a while to see ‘what’s out there.’ It is scary, but I own my decision to go on my trip. Who knows what will materialize out of that, if anything? Maybe nothing but a great vacation, but then, there are also thousands of other possibilities waiting for me there as well…and I will be free to choose again…. I liked Zander’s example of taking responsibility for everything that goes on in his orchestra, even the mistakes players make occasionally.

Chapter 11 – Creating Frameworks for Possibility

An important message in this chapter is Zander’s statement about us having the courage to distinguish the downward spiral from the realm of possibility in the face of any challenge. This really makes great sense. To me it is akin to the glass half full or half empty scenario, to which I always responded ‘half full’ when asked that question by my peers.


I loved Zander’s ‘possibility’ stories of the little girl with no hair from chemotherapy and of King Christian of Denmark. The stories he uses always illustrate the point he is making quite appropriately and perfectly.

Out of Zander’s 7 different definitions he gives for ‘vision,’ my favorite one is the last one where he says “Speaking a vision transforms the speaker.” I think this does relate to all of us in one way or another. Where some of his other definitions are more standard or nebulous, that one did make me ‘think.’

I love the story of Hewlett Packard and the poster of both of them looking into the tiny garage where they began their business decades ago superimposed with the world. I think that was truly ‘vision’ being expressed and then illustrated perfectly!

Zander is so right about how the experience of a personal crisis or failure will become the basis for someone’s personal vision. I like this because it kind of is akin to a saying I once saw on a poster which said “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade” or some such thing. We have all seen some iteration of this. I loved the story he told of the artist who had been at Auschwitz concentration camp as a teenager.

What an honor that Zander’s students’ letters are now included in the NASA program. I also loved what one NASA employee wrote back as he is reminded why he is working there: “I am here today to cross the swamp, not to fight all the alligators.” What a great saying!!

Chapter 12 – Telling the WE Story

Ben Zander’s father’s positive stories about the Arabs and Jews and Palestine circa 1947, was just enlightening, and the response of the student was really amazing. How innocent and wonderful a moment that had to be. I think also practicing talking as ‘we’ instead of ‘you’ or ‘I’ is a great idea, it forces one to think of the other person rather than just of themselves. I know I get guilty of that sometimes, so just thinking of ‘we’ rather than ‘me’ sounds like something to practice for ‘us.’

Thank you Ben and Roz Zander. It’s been a fun journey through your book! Thank you to Full Sail University for giving us the opportunity to learn from this book.

Week 3 - Response to Marty Denson’s Post on Zander

Marty wrote:

While reading chapters 5 through 8 of The Art of Possibility, I was most intrigued by chapter 8, which speaks of giving way to passion. My first thought was that I felt I must share this idea with my students as way to suggest to each of them how important it is to be completely committed to the activities they choose to take on. I often remind them that participating in any activity or organization for the sake of tile, position, and/or stature is neither beneficial to them nor the activity or organization they are involved in. Reading the suggested two steps in giving way to passion are notable concepts that I will include when discussing this overall theme of passion to my students.

How gratifying it was for me when chapter 8 later used Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata as an analogy to long lines discussed in that chapter. That particular sonata, which is one of my most favorite pieces to perform, is ironically the piece that I often use to demonstrate several concepts when working with select students. I think because of the familiarity of the piece, students become more engaged, which allows me to really articulate the expressive movements within the music. The Moonlight Sonata, when misinterpreted musically, bares a strong resemblance to life itself. Just as in the Moonlight Sonata, life can produce a “dull and numbing performance” when emphasis is placed in the wrong areas.

The heart of the matter, in my opinion, and as suggested in the reading, is that knowing your passion and allowing yourself to be consciously open to discovering that energy and life force, enables you to demonstrate a positive uniqueness. That uniqueness in expression is what brings meaning that extends beyond the “meaning viewed from the ground.”

My comment to Marty:

Marty, I too was intrigued by chapter 8. I love that your ‘first thought’ was to immediately share this idea with your students in order to emphasize the importance of being totally committed to their projects and activities. It sounds to me like the commitment level you have to your students is gigantic, which is so refreshing. I know that each person here in this program with me shares the same vision to an extent, to bring the latest technology and the passion for sharing that with the young people who will be the next generation of teachers and other professionals. I also share your love of Moonlight Sonata, it being one of the pieces I taught myself to play later on in life. Your final analysis at the end of your post really sums everything Zander is trying to get across, I believe. Well done and another insightful, enjoyable post from you Marty!

Week 3 – Response to Patricia Ort’s Post on Zander

Pat wrote:

This is good timing for this book. Since my co-worker is also reading the book, I have had the chance to talk about the Zander's ideas with her, as well blog about it. The concept of dealing with negative feelings by sticking with them and using them as a form of exercise to enable us to be able to handle and rise above greater challenges we will face in the future was novel. It was also empowering. A fellow teacher who was given a difficult assignment used to say, "It is what it is." Not quite the same thing, but the idea of acknowledging the way things are, then moving on made me think. I wonder if my way of giving way to passion and getting out of a survival mind set would be to take the leap of leaving my current position and looking for an opportunity to work in a really creative environment that embraces the use of technology in education.

If so, what would that be? What am I most passionate about? The book has made me ponder these questions. I also have revisited the ideas in the book and challenged them. What gives the Zanders the authority to make these claims? Why do they resonate with me and with my colleagues? Is it because we recognize the innate truth in them, or because we want them to be true?

I also appreciated the bit about not taking ones self so seriously. Funny, but good advice. The discussion of leading from every chair is relevant to me because there is a parallel to teaching. Enabling musicians to be their best is really a lot like enabling students to achieve academically. The idea of giving the students a chance to lead is appealing, too. I have done that from time to time, but certainly not enough. I was reminded to make a point of giving students more opportunities to "be the teacher." I know they really like to do that and it builds up their self-confidence.

I am looking forward to reading the rest of the book. It has certainly encouraged me and given me a lot to think about.

My comment to Pat:

Hi Pat,

I think it’s pretty awesome that you and your co-worker are both reading the book, what an excellent idea you had to order extra copies. I too love the book because it is interesting and thought provoking to say the least. I agree with you about the empowerment of using the negative feelings. I never thought about this in these terms before but it makes sense. Acknowledging the ‘way things are’ is also a big discussion point in the book, and I’m glad you mentioned it because I think I neglected to but was definitely interested in that philosophy when thinking of my own life and decisions I’ve made. You are certainly at a huge crossroads right now Pat, with all the turmoil you are facing at your school of employment. I have listened to you talk about the issues you deal with there since practically the beginning of our creation of Team Digital Horizon in Month 2. I know it has been so hard for you to hold everything together as you and your co-workers get shuffled around hither, thither and yon, and you have done everything that was asked of you and more, which is more than most people would have endured. I think the Zander book is perfect timing for you as you state in the beginning of your post. I hope it continues to help you as you rethink what you want to do as a teacher, especially now that you are about to graduate with this really cool degree in Education, Media Design and Technology!

Week 3 – Think Out Loud Post – Conference

In my search for a conference to present my AR project at, I came upon the Association for Educational Communications and Technology, which fits right in with my project perfectly! My e-book, “The Adventures of Little Boat,” would fit well into the education, the communications, and the technology, so I decided for fun to just drop a quick note to one of their conference organizers. I wasn’t thinking that I would get a response; I just wanted to put the feelers out there and see if I could get any further information. The surprise came to me within hours, a very positive response to my query! Below is a paste of my email to Judy Donovan and her response to me is below it (golly, I may end up at the conference next year!):

My email:

Hi Judy,

My name is Zoe Marlowe, and I am close to completing my Master's degree in Education, Media Design and Technology (EMDT) from Full Sail University in Winter Park, FL. I am looking to be a possible presenter at your 2012 conference, whenever it is that there will be one. I read your web page for the 2011 conference and it looked like it is right in my 'wheelhouse.'

Please allow me to give you a brief background on my area of study. For my Master's Action Research Project, I have written a high-tech, interactive children's e-book called "The Adventures of Little Boat" with 3rd to 6th grade students in mind. My book is a PDF format, is fully illustrated by me, and contains interactive links to my website where I have included video content with animal and bird videos I personally captured (I am a photographer/videographer). The purpose of my book is to reach young children in the way of inspiring them to spend time outdoors and in nature, in their natural environment in this day and age of electronic media and distractions. I am concerned with a fascinating condition, which is getting more and more media attention: Nature Deficit Disorder or NDD. Richard Louv, author of "Last Child in the Woods" wrote at length in books and articles about this condition, and is also the person who coined the definition of Nature Deficit Disorder. I feel as though my e-book has a lot to offer classroom teachers of younger children, and I have tested my book out on small test groups of children, and also an entire 5th grade classroom of 29 children, all experiments with resoundingly positive results, providing data I would love to share with teachers looking for technologically sound ways to reach their students. I believe my ideas are innovative, technologically savvy, and also inspirational. I will be creating a proposal to present at your conference as a part of my Master's degree program during this month, and I sincerely hope we can correspond further about this.

Judy’s response:
Hi Zoe - your research sounds very interesting and timely and I
believe the topic would be a good fit for the School Media and
Technology Division of AECT. I suggest you join AECT as a student and
attend the 2011 conference in Jacksonville, Florida this fall. I think
you would have a great time and be able to attend some fascinating
sessions. We will have a couple of sessions on Augmented Reality books
you might enjoy in particular. Thanks for writing.

Judy Donovan


Judy's response was unexpected and very positive. I think I may even try to get to the conference next year. This year is out of the question because I will be overseas for the entire rest of the year after graduation. Anyway, it was a nice email to receive!

Week 3 - Missed Wimba Notes

I had oral surgery on Monday to extract a very troublesome back tooth. The recovery from this operation has not been pleasant, and unfortunately, I was so drugged-up on Tuesday that I fell asleep and never made it to Wimba (only the second Wimba I have missed in my entire year of Wimbas at FSO!). So, here are a few notes I made from the wonderful archive!

It was good to listen to Joe talking about the 120 word abstract. I was pretty clear on what I needed to do, but listening to his description helped to solidify what I had done. I may have to revisit it, but at least I think I got it into some semblance of coherent form! Not a movie trailer! I get it!

Publishing and leadership - Joe reviewed our requirements for our presentations/papers. What we need is a link posted on the class igoogle doc, posted 24 hours before the session, to our Keynote or PowerPoint presentation. Joe is interested in our speakers notes. I will need to type in everything I am going to say. We need this so the instructors can see them.

Our ‘audience’ for our presentations - Audience depends on where we want it published. For my conference I will compress it and keep it academic and to the facts that I have. I will use my graphics and cut down my iMovie footage so it keeps the file size small. If my file size ends up being too large, I can put placeholders where the movies go and have links to my Viddler page where the movies can be viewed separately if necessary.

By Sunday in my class blog Week4 Publishing Leadership Project. Paragraph describing the project and links to my two previous think out loud blog posts, and a link to my Keynote document in igoogle. I’m working on my ‘think out loud’ blog post for this week at the moment and should have it posted soon. I’m kind of excited about it actually!

Presentation length limit: We will have about 10 mins to talk about our presentation on Wed (the day I signed up on). Joe will call on us and ask us to talk about our project, we briefly walk the people thru it. Class comments too. Condense my AR website and add the graphics for my 2nd cycle. 1st cycle needs data graphics revisions, I can talk about that.

Everyone knows I love the Art of Possibility. I didn’t spend a lot of time on this in the Wimba archive because I have already posted a very long blog entry about it. I wanted to concentrate on what Joe had to say about our upcoming Publishing and Leadership project, that is paramount for me right now! I did enjoy the Van Halen video!

Week 3 Reading: Embracing The BTFI Principle!

Once again, Ben and Roz Zander’s book filled my mind with all sorts of revelations about myself as I read the chapters 5 through 8. It was interesting really because chapter 5 was very ‘ground breaking’ for me to read, and then chapter 8 capped everything in-between off with it’s BTFI concept. This was all a bit ‘Von Restorff” for me as the first and last chapters stuck with me the most in this section of assigned reading. As I mentioned last week in my blog, this book is one of the most interesting ‘textbooks’ I have ever read. It really is just a collection of interesting stories told by Ben and Roz about the different happenings in both their lives as an orchestra conductor and music teacher, and psychologist, respectively. I am enjoying both of their stories so much as I read each chapter, in fact I really have a hard time stopping reading and going onto something else because I want to keep reading MORE!

In the “Leading from any chair” chapter, I loved the question Ben asked himself which made him become a much better instructor and conductor. This question “What makes a group lively and engaged?” is really a marvelous question for teachers to ask themselves. It made me think of teachers asking themselves this, because just asking the question would make that teacher much more open to finding out how their students respond to the teaching methodology that was currently being used, and what changes could be made to get the student interest higher, thus making them more lively and engaged.

I loved that Zander placed a sheet of paper on each music stand for the purpose of obtaining comments from the orchestra players. The ‘white sheet’ idea could be used in so many areas of teaching, in order to allow comments to the instructor. I think this method could be used in college courses anyway, not necessarily high school, but it could work there as well.

Another ‘take away’ from my reading of chapter five was a quote from one of Ben’s students at the school he teaches at: “Things change when you care enough to grab whatever you love, and give it everything.” Amanda Burr, student, Walnut Hill School.
What a lovely, insightful statement, and I can agree with it wholeheartedly.

Chapters 6 and 7 both had lots of interesting stories and wisdom, but perhaps chapter 8 sticks with me the most because of the BTFI concept, and the reason for this, is the fact that I am living proof of the BTFI factor in my own life because of choosing to complete this degree at Full Sail, and instead of locking myself into what I had originally planned to do after graduation, which was quickly get accepted into a PhD program, I decided to say “heck with that, I want to have fun and discover the world,” and now I am getting ready to embark upon the trip of a lifetime in Europe and the Middle East. I would never have done this ‘normally,’ but something changed in me as a result of this Master’s program at Full Sail, and with that, I let myself go and throw caution to the wind, and let my passion for photography and film (plus a few other factors) inspire me to take a whirlwind trip to discover what else is ‘out there’ for me to experience. I feel like this chapter of Zander’s book is dedicated to me and my transformation from who I was before Full Sail, to who I will be after Full Sail! Talk about everything just ‘falling into place”… oh my goodness more true words were never uttered!

Random Funny Post

This was on my iGoogle quotes from famous people today. I had to laugh as we just have had a lot of discussion at school regarding copyright, including the focus of our blogs during week 2!

Only one thing is impossible for God: to find any sense in any copyright law on the planet.

Mark Twain


I think Mr. Twain was onto something!

Week 3 - Personal Choice Blog Entry: My Life After EMDT

I was feeling bereft at the thought of leaving Full Sail...


For my blog post this week I want to mention how much I will miss the wonderful EMDT program at Full Sail University. It has been the hardest work I’ve ever loved doing. Seriously, you get out of a program what YOU put into it. I put a lot of myself into this program, and I learned so much great information and techniques that I will use for the rest of my life, that I know I will succeed in whatever I decide to do or whatever path I take after graduation. I found myself feeling bereft every time I thought of this being the nearly last month of my program recently. I know I am going to have a really exciting summer of travel, just going home to England then off to the Middle East and other countries to do some photography and videography. But, I thought to myself, then what? I have a lot of choices really, and it is up to me, I know that. I was originally pretty much set on applying to different PhD programs so I could eventually secure employment as a University professor some place. However, now that I have learned so much amazing stuff at Full Sail, I am finding that I really have a love for film production. I want to take the amazing opportunity I have this summer and shoot some documentary-style videos of different aspects of the Middle East, and then see if I have what it takes to produce documentaries and short films. YouTube is a great media vehicle for this type of experimentation, and I plan to make full use of my account there and the one I have at Viddler as well. This leads me to my next idea. I think I want to pursue another Master’s degree at Full Sail, but this time in Film Production. I think it would be amazing to spend another year doing the time consuming but incredibly productive and enlightening coursework at Full Sail. I am getting closer to a decision about this. Stay tuned to my blog for more!

Week 2 – Comment on Josh Tolar’s Post about Publishing AR

Josh Wrote:

Since I know that I want to go with the publishing option for my action research, finding a publisher is the next step. At first I started thinking about military e-learning and some of the publications that exist for that type of environment, but because my action research has nothing to do with the topics I work with in my professional environment, I decided to go with a more commercial technology based publication. I looked at some of the publications from my literature review, but those were targeted more towards interactive digital storytelling and educational simulations. While I may start developing research for educational simulations in the future, my final choice for a publisher was the Journal of Interactive Learning Research (JILR). JILR has more of a variety of educational platforms, a great list of papers that they publish, and I felt right at home when reading about computer based training and interactive learning environments. I did look at some other publications and I almost chose the International Journal on E-learning (IJEL) – Corporate, Government, Healthcare, & Higher Education, but I decided to stick with JILR because of the different types of papers they accepted. While the course I developed for my research is hosted in an e-learning environment and might seem to be a better choice to go with IJEL, I feel that educators or trainers that are working with other types of content might benefit from the results showed in my research with digital storytelling. So sticking with JILR feels like the right decision.

My choice:
Journal of Interactive Learning Research (JILR)
http://aace.org/pubs/jilr/default.htm


My comment to Josh:

Hi Josh!

I am very interested in the publishing aspect of AR project for myself as well. I like your ideas here, and your approach as your project doesn’t have anything to do with the topics you work with, so you obviously felt like you were outside your comfort zone a little bit when shopping for a publication? Not sure, but I sort of got that from your statement. The Journal of Interactive Learning Research sounds great. I may even have to look into that publication for myself, as I am a bit ‘clueless’ on this aspect of our AR projects. Journals are interesting entities in and of themselves. I have seen tenured professors of engineering at the university I used to work at get turned down for journals over the strangest things, such as the formatting of their papers, etc. So I think it’s good to go over the guidelines that many of these journals have on the Internet, I plan to do that anyway. It looks to me like you are really on track with this and I wish you luck with it Josh!

Week 2 – Comment on Holly Loganbill’s Post about Fair Use

Holly wrote:

It never occurred to me that someone would take one of my photographs like the one above and use it or portions of it in a new creation of theirs. This whole topic of “fair use” is so simple and complex at the same time. The guiding principles are simple, three qualifications to determine fair use; yet the interpretations and nuances can become incredibly complex. I don’t know how I would feel if I saw all or some portion of something of mine being used by someone as part of their “original” work. My guess is that I wouldn’t feel very happy about it, particularly if they were profiting from it. I would probably contribute to the Creative Commons collection; I’ve benefited from the generosity of others throughout these courses on dozens of projects.

My response to Holly:

Hi Holly,

You are right, the nuances of fair use are numerous and far-reaching as much as they are ‘fair.’ I didn’t think much about this even as a long-time published photographer. However, about a year ago, I ran into a disturbing issue on a photography/social network site I belonged to called “Redbubble.com” regarding my work. It wasn’t the fault of the site, but apparently some person was going on that site and basically ‘cutting and copying’ a lot of different photographers’ work, including my own, and then pasting it into a new site under his/her own name! Needless to say, we were outraged. Many photographers from Redbubble were up in arms, and rightfully so, this so-called ‘photographer’ was stealing our work and renaming the prints and calling the pieces her own work, even going to the trouble to ‘make up’ shooting stories and scenarios of how he/she captured OUR photos! You just don’t think about what happens to your art work on the Internet until you see someone else taking credit for it, it makes you feel violated, like when someone breaks into your house and steals your computer with all your memories and pictures on it. I think there is a lot that needs to be done in the way of security and protection for those of us who post our work regularly online to get it ‘out there’ and ‘seen’ for purchase and whatever.

When it comes to fair use, I think there are honest people out there who will put the credit where the credit is due, but then there are also just as many who will steal your work blind and claim it for their own, which is very disturbing and definitely NOT fair! Thanks for your post!!

Week 2 - Response to Patricia Ort's Blog on the Zander book

My response to Pat Ort’s blog:

Pat Wrote:
The Art of Possibility, written by Rosamund Stone Zander and her husband, Benjamin Zander, is turning out to be better than I first thought. Initially, the title intrigued me. However, it took me until page 12 to really start to connect with what the author's were saying. By the end of the fourth chapter, I liked what I was reading so well that I ordered two more copies of the book to share with the two other teachers in my alternative high school program.
I especially liked giving people an A (including yourself). I think perception is really important. I could relate this idea with our approach to our alternative ed high school students. What if we did this with them? How would it transform our relationship with our students if we did that? The authors address the image of the teen, sitting in a resigned posture - as our alternative ed kids often do - and speculate how that would change if the students were treated like A students from the start. If we treat them like A students, and they treat themselves like A students, what would happen? I think I'd like to find out.
I appreciated the author's thoughts on our "world of measurement." This was especially thought provoking for me because I have been deeply frustrated by my work situation. I actually have been doing a lot of surviving, especially over the past four years. I found the ideas in this book rather liberating. Now, if I can just maintain that mindset! I am imagining my future just one year from now. What would I write if I were writing one of those A letters?
I liked the idea that "...resources are likely to come to you in greater abundance when you are generous and inclusive and engage people in your passion for life." I think this is true. It actually goes well with my own conviction that you make your own luck. True, there are random circumstances and people I can't control, but I choose how I respond to them, and if I am positive and keep pressing forward, I will be ready when opportunity presents its self.
I have to say, I also enjoyed the Ted video of Benjamin Zander. My 19 year-old son is a college music major and wishes to be a composer. I shared the video with him, certain he would especially like it because he has a particular knowledge of music. I was right.

I am looking forward to reading the next part of the book. Reading it has also prompted me to do a lot of reflection. If all goes well, I should be getting my EMDT masters at the end of June. If I leave the survival mindset behind and change my way of thinking, what will my attitude be as I complete my degree? What new opportunities will present themselves? I look forward to the next year with anticipation.

Zander, R. & Zander, B. (2000). The Art of Possibility. Ch. 1-4. Penguin Books. New York, NY.

My response:

Pat, I remember you mentioning to me in a chat that it took you until about page 12 to start connecting with this book. I didn’t get the same ‘vibe’ as you, because it hit me right away what the Zander’s message was. I think it is great that you ordered two more copies of the book for your co-workers, that is SO incredibly thoughtful, and very much you are being a contributor as Ben Zander discusses in the book. Your co-workers are really fortunate to have someone as interested in their progress as you apparently are. I’m interested to see if you do try out the ‘giving an A’ to your alternative ed students. They could possibly be a group that would be receptive to this type of positive, unconventional type of grading by the mere fact that their education is unconventional as well. I think it is worth a try, what the heck, you could try it out for a semester or a year and see if it works. It is something to think about looking into. On also giving yourself an “A”…I have issues with that because I tend to be my own worst enemy and not really feel I ‘deserve’ that. I probably need to work on myself a bit more before I can truly give myself an A, but thanks for bringing that into the discussion so we can remind ourselves to also practice what we preach! I loved those “A letters” and I can tell you did as well. I also thought about what type of “A letter” I would write if I was in a course that was run the same way as Ben Zander’s orchestra class. I also thought the ‘world of measurement’ discussion was really interesting because he made us think of things in a different way than we are normally used to. I think Ben Zander has a tendency to do a lot of ‘critical thinking’ in his writing as well, which is really a different approach to read in a book like this one. I’m glad Philip liked the video!

Week 2 - 2nd Blog Post - Gryphons Woohoo!

Blogspot completely ruined my original post about World of Warcraft. I managed to recreate it below:

My World of Warcraft partner and I recently leveled up to levels 62 and 61, respectively. This means that we can now learn to fly our own Gryphons, the mythical half bird/half lion type of beasts that WOW gamers use to get around from region to region within WOW. We were SO excited about this that we went out and trained for advanced riding/flying lessons and we purchased a pair of Gryphons. The problem was we could not figure out how to fly them, then we realized that we could NOT fly them in the version of Warcraft we were currently questing in. We had to be in the expansion called “The Burning Crusade,” which we had just installed recently as we were leveling up so fast. So, we went through a ‘time portal’ and were able to mount our Gryphons there, but still could not figure out how to ‘fly’ them. They would gallop around for us in a rather ungainly looking fashion, but no flying…oh well. We would eventually be in the higher expansion levels and perhaps that would enable us to obtain a flying license or some such thing for us. Well, today I managed to figure out how to get my Gryphon airborne, and so did my partner. It was a matter of just pressing the space bar for ‘up’ and the x on the keyboard for ‘down.’ It was almost too easy, no wonder we couldn’t figure it out at first! So, my next video will be one of us flying our OWN Gryphons around, not the ‘rented’ ones as in my video above! I love this game…

Week 2 Reading - "A" Grades and the Art of Possibility

Ben and Roz Zander’s book “The Art of Possibility” is one of the best books of its kind I have ever read. It is a complete ‘page turner’ for me anyway. I absolutely love it and could not close my e-book reader until nearly 2:00 a.m. I should mention here that I am not a very engaged, excited or avid reader of non-fiction, textbook-types of reading materials, with one exception of course, I do love Adobe Creative Suite instructional books. This ‘textbook’ is so different. I really did not feel like I was reading a textbook or a ‘how-to’ book for our course. Roz and Ben’s stories are all true, from their own life experiences, so I feel very ‘connected’ to them right away. While each chapter is a sort of ‘technique’ description, such as “Giving an A” and “Be a Contribution,” they are also a testament as to why these individuals are so successful in their lives. I can’t personally see how anyone reading this book could not improve something about their own life, no matter how small.

Zander’s concept of giving an A is really interesting to me. Because he is a teacher of a group of musical students, who play orchestral instruments, it seemed to me that they would be a really receptive ‘audience’ for that type of grading. I can also see it working in other artistic courses such as drawing, painting, graphic design, etc. However, I think it would be difficult to teach say a high school English course and start the semester giving all the students an A to begin with, and somehow expect them to ‘earn’ that A as the time goes on. I suppose every case of this is different, and I really did like the idea, it sounded like his class really took it to heart from some of the wonderful letters the students wrote to him which he published in the book. I really enjoyed the heartfelt letters very much.

On being a ‘contribution’ in your life to others around you, that makes perfect sense. No matter how busy I am, I try to be there for people who need me or need something. I am up to my ears in my AR project as well as these courses at the moment, plus I have other obligations to take care of. However, I am making time this week to help a long time friend of mine who is out of work. I have offered to create a new resume for him and to shoot some photos of him ready for his job search efforts. He is not as computer savvy as I am, and he needs the help. I am glad to do this because he is going to make the effort to look for work in an economically crippled town in this poor economic time our country is going through. I think it’s the least I can do to contribute to someone else’s luck.

I love the book, I think everyone should read it regardless of what their profession or schooling is.

Week 1 Discussion – Reply to Michael George III:

Michael George III wrote:

Don’t even get me started on ‘fair use’. One thing that really irks me about copyright law is that ‘fair use’ is a defense but not a right. Lawyers and copyright holders do not respect ‘fair use’ exemptions like parody. For example, I create original parody videos and post them to YouTube like this one:

Mein Superintendent

Each time I post a parody video on Youtube, I get hit with a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) takedown notice by the copyright owner. This is clearly not the full-length movie. It is clearly subtitled. It is clearly a very short excerpt. It is clearly not something that could be confused with the original work or diminishes its value. Yet, every single time I post a parody, I get threatened for infringement.

YouTube labs has a great video on challenging a takedown notice under the “fair use” provisions to copyright like parody (in case this should ever happen to you.)

Know Your Meme: Challenging a YouTube Take Down with Fair Use

I have never lost on challenge, but it is just another hassle under our current system. YouTube must respond to all DMCA notices and remove potentially infringing material to comply with the Safe Harbor provisions.

Yet another thing that bothers me about copyright is there is no clear registry of ownership like in the patent system. This is a huge problem in the software industry. As companies file bankruptcy and have their assets parted out to creditors ownership becomes murky. Even if you wanted to legally use or re-release old games or software, it is nearly impossible to track down who even own the rights. I feel that in copyright law that if a product is not offered for sale after a period of 10-years than it automatically falls into the ‘public domain’. This would solve so many problems and we could then play all those 8-bit video games again from our childhood.

Copyright was put in place to develop our culture, but instead it starting to stifle us because we can’t re-use, re-mix, and even resurrect software that has long been abandoned. It’s just like the videotape library shown in the movie Good Copy/Bad Copy. Piles and piles of historical footage locked up forever because of copyright. A new balance needs to be struck and fair use needs to become a clearly articulated cultural right.

Hi Michael,

Your post here is absolutely fascinating to me!  Wow!  I had no idea that you could not do the parodies using clips like that.  By the way your parody was hilarious, I really enjoyed it, and it was just so perfect! I did not realize you could get threatened for infringement by doing that, I have seen so many video parodies and also audio ones as well, and I was unaware that there was such controversy over it.  This is all sounding like ‘unfair use’ to me after reading your writing here.  A key statement by you really resonated with me:  “…another thing that bothers me about copyright is there is no clear registry of ownership like in the patent system.” This makes it all the more insane that you would be threatened by YouTube for infringement.  I think it is all very convoluted isn’t it? Thanks for educating us here! Live and learn! 

Week 1 Discussion – Response to Patricia Ort

Pat wrote: 
I think teachers really get squeezed when it comes to copyright because many don’t know where to look for copyright free material that is also cost free. The Internet is a really big place, and resources that seem obvious to some are not all that easy to find for others. FSO has really helped me with that this year. As other students have shared resources, I have finally begun to find places to get music that my students can use and which don’t cost me anything. I still need to broaden that list of resources, though.

The drive to integrate technology into the classroom puts teachers and students in situations where they may need music or images they can’t make themselves. Digital natives resist the idea that they can’t share the things they find on in the Internet freely, and in any way they like. I have spent all year reinforcing the idea that you can’t use someone else’s work without their permission. We are doing better, but often kids have a specific image or piece of music in mind when they think up a project. When they find out they can’t use those things, they have a hard time coming up with alternatives. Actually, sometimes so do I. I needed medieval music for my class movie. I did purchase some music from iStock Photo, but it was a very limited selection. And no. I can’t make that in Garage Band.

I use online videos a lot, embedding them in my school web pages or blog. I could never create all of that myself. The rules about copyright can be a little slippery, too. Colleges, for example, can do some things that K-12 can’t, and vice-versa. And the rules change. I have required my students to use copyright free sources and to document their sources. However, it is still hard to be sure every item is safe and to check every student’s sources.


Hi Pat, 
As always, an interesting and thought-provoking post from you on the copyright and other issues you face as a teacher who is actually trying to be creative in your endeavors to teach in your challenging environment. I can see where students might get frustrated with having to come up with alternatives to their ideas of things they want to use that they ‘can’t’ without permissions, etc. I know what you mean about Garage Band. Although, you can create some nice loops by using your own keyboards, get your ‘musically inclined’ son to make some for you that would fit the genre of music you seem so drawn to, the medieval stuff. It’s funny, I hear quite a bit of that type of music each night as I quest my way through Warcraft with my partner, and I think of you and how you would probably enjoy it. I know you use video a lot, and that is a great way to reach today’s kids as they are so inundated with media on the web. As far as what the different institutions and grade levels can do, you practically need a degree in order to be able to keep up with the different laws, rules and regulations, not to mention all the hoops you have to jump through, both virtually and in ‘real life.’

Week 1 Blog Post – Presentation vs Paper

I thought a lot about this before posting my blog entry.  We have the option to do a paper or a presentation for our Action Research projects.  I would like to do both, but for the assignment and final, I really have decided that I will do a presentation. I think my main reason for doing this is that my project is really fun and colorful, and really deserves to be seen as a whole or ‘big picture’ in my opinion.  I like the idea of a paper for scholarly reasons and for participation in a journal at some point, but, my heart of hearts is in design and the colorful nature and wildlife photos and videos I produced for my e-book “The Adventures of Little Boat.”  The children who participated in my AR project cycles loved the book, and I have some really great video footage of different kids discussing the e-book, which I think also deserves to be seen and enjoyed for what it is.  I just loved the interaction of the kids together when they viewed my e-book, it was like one big “Little Boat” party for them.  This was really such a fun project that I want it shared with everyone who will watch my presentation.  There, in a nutshell is why I think a presentation will best suit my particular contributions to Action Research through my project!

Week 1 Reading: Copyright Issues

Photo "Takamine Dangerous" by Zoe Marlowe

Copyright, as many people in my Media Assets Creation (MAC) course which just started this Monday, May 2, have posted and commented, is really a super 'hot topic' isn't it?  I didn't realize that the length or duration of copyright is 'lifetime plus around 70 years.'  Our instructor mentions this in one of the videos we watched for this week's discussion topic of copyright.  

I have a little experience in my own copyright issues.  I have personally filed around 10 form PA Copyright forms at the Library of Congress for several musical compositions I created in the 1980s.  At the time I was not aware that I could have just recorded my tunes and then sent in the tape or whatever digital media.  I went to the trouble of having a transcriber write charts for my songs, as my ability to write down notes and musical notation is weak, and then I sent copies of those charts or 'lead sheets' in to the Library of Congress.  I still have the original form PA's that were sent back to me approved for copyright by the L of C.  

Later on I published a poetry anthology and had to do something similar,  although it was a slightly different form than the original music form PA I used in the 1980s.  So, it is an interesting area to study and think about all the 'copyrights and copy wrongs' while we are in this course creating our media assets for our Action Research Projects.

Sources:
Wimba, May 3, 2011 with Joe Bustillos
Personal experience with copyright