The Studio: 10 Years and Counting

Yes, it's been 10 years since we began the instructional technology design studio at the University of Georgia. Ten is a nice round number and is cause enough to stop, reflect, and hopefully celebrate. If this were a marriage, the traditional gifts would be tin and aluminum (kinda weird actually; of course, my wife and I just celebrated our 31st wedding anniversary, and I think the traditional gift is "linoleum.")

Most people know that the studio concept was born on the drive to Sapelo Island in March 1997 for the instructional technology faculty's annual retreat. Over that weekend, Michael Orey, Jim King, and I roughed out a structure and organization for the studio. Of course, a ton of work took place between then and the actual start of the studio in the fall semester of 1998. The studio approach was a radical departure for graduate education in instructional technology at the time, and remains one of the most innovative approaches to graduate education in the field. Over the past 10 years, we've since been a model for many other graduate programs around the world, even though relatively few have adopted a similar studio model. We have been held up as an example of a group who actually practices what they believe (and teach). In hindsight, I think it was a very gutsy move and I am very proud of my role in the studio's birth and life so far (I think we are at least at the adolescent stage).

The studio experience has proven to be the core experience for our masters students. M.Ed. students tend to report during their portfolio meetings that they were uncomfortable with the studio approach at the beginning, but came to understand and enjoy the studio experience by the end. Even for those students who did not resonate entirely with the studio approach, I find much satisfaction in knowing they at least experienced a different kind of "school" from what they experienced for their first 16 years of education (kindergarten doesn't count).

We had some notable events over the past year recognizing the studio at UGA. We had several sessions at the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) conference in Orlando in November, 2008 recognizing our efforts over the past decade. Most notably we were featured in AECT's Design & Development Showcase. The studio was also part of a session organized by Elizabeth Boling of Indiana University at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) conference in April, 2009 in San Diego in which many of the nation's leading programs described how they prepare instructional designers.

It is somewhat fitting that I write this entry the day after the spring 2009 studio showcase was held. This, it turns out, was the final showcase to be held in Athens. This is because the Instructional Design & Development area is moving its curriculum (which includes the studio) to the new UGA Gwinnett campus. So, we are entering into a new era, one full of promise and opportunity, but also some anxiety and apprehension. We certainly look forward to connecting with more students, schools, companies, and organizations in the Atlanta area.

It's been an honor working with and getting to know all of the students who passed through one or more of the studio courses over the past 10 years. I know you are out there and it would be great to hear from you. I've been humbled and inspired by all of the outstanding design projects over the years. However, I think it fitting to end this posting by recognizing those individuals who were part of the first studio back in 1998 and who completed the first cycle of studio courses: Sara Bradbury, Shannon Crupi, Sebastian Fiedler, Michael Gardner, Beaumie Kim, Vivian Liu, Bryan McLucas, Susan Paul, Jerry Slezak, Marcia Walker-Guy, Bethany White, and Hong Wu.

Here's to the next 10 years!

Global Perspectives in LDT

Ever since I worked at an international school in Caracas, Venezuela I have believed that immersion in another culture is an important experience for every human being on the planet. My old Spanish professors would talk about a fish not really knowing what "water" was until they ever found themselves out of water. We have very little understanding of our own culture until we leave it. Several years ago, I agreed to take a doctoral student from Brazil, Tel Amiel. Tel and I worked together to get a grant that would help students participate in an exchange between UGA and a university in Brazil. We wrapped this around the teacher education program, so LDT students did not directly participate in this project (except for Jo McClendon and Tel Amiel). So, after Tel graduated, we applied for another one of these FIPSE/CAPES grants and we were awarded another one. This time, our intent is to send our masters students to Brazil for two months in the summer (each student gets a $5000 package to participate in this exchange). We begin this exchange by receiving Brazilian students next spring and sending our students in the summer of 2010. We are hoping that we can help students form relationships during the spring exchange that will carry over to the summer exchange. All of these exchanges revolve around locally developed educational materials being redesigned for the "other" culture and in the "other" language. Of course, their students need to learn some English and our students will need to learn some Portuguese.

To get prepared for this exchange, I am testing this experience this summer in my EDIT 6600 class called, "Multicultural Perspectives on Technology." The course this summer will pair students from Veracruz, Mexico with UGA students and will focus on the redesign each others learning materials. We will meet this entire class online. We will make use of our audio online classroom (Wimba), our videoconferencing system, and any other technology tools we can think of to help develop relationships between UV students and UGA students. We will rely heavily on their English ability and a little on our Spanish abilities. I have ten of their students signed up and I hope I can match that number with at least 10 or our students.

So, if you are still here at UGA, please agree to participate in this class. If you have graduated, I would love to hear about how you have faced cultural issues in the educational materials you have designed and implemented. I would love to learn what you have already learned.

BTW, I have setup a wiki to manage what has been going on with us here at UGA as we grapple with learning, design, and technology as it relates to cultural dimensions. You are welcome to visit this wiki. It has some of our papers and it has some of the materials from various courses related to culture and education and technology.

http://projects.coe.uga.edu/mikeorey/

Welcome to the Learning, Design, and Technology Blog

The purpose of this blog is to keep everyone who is interested in the Learning, Design, and Technology Program at the University of Georgia informed of what is going on here. Our goal is to post something that each of us here at UGA is working on or thinking about every month or so. Look for the first post soon!