The flipped classroom is a model of teaching, in which students are in control of their education rather than their education being led by a teacher. The model allows for students to explore topics in greater depth, as the model is designed to place the student in the centre, and by doing this it opens up more learning opportunities. The teacher can still be present within these sessions, however, they don't lead the learning, but more provide content for the students to look at and explore for themselves.
French theorist, Jacques Rancière (b.1940) lived through the French revolution of May 1968, in which, primarily students, took an anti-authoritarian and radical stand against education, bringing forward the point that education was for all, not just the elite. Rancière challenged the role of the teacher and believed that educational theories were committed to preserving the power it brings to light, when in fact, he believed is it the teachers who need the students more than the students need the teachers. In his book The Ignorant Schoolmaster, Rancière conducts an analysis of the exiled french teacher, Joseph Jacotot, who was sent to Holland to teach. However, Jacotot was unable to speak Finnish and his students didn't understand French but were eager to learn. In order to bridge this gap, Jacotot gave students two copies of 'Télémaque', the original and a translated copy, and left them to figure out the differences themselves. This accidentally led to the principals of Universal Teaching, which propose that everyone has equal intelligence, that we are all able to instruct ourselves and that we can, in fact, teach what we don't know. Thus, it could be suggested that the teacher may, in fact, be holding students back from their learning by repressing students and socialising them into a reliance on a 'higher authority'.
This was referred to as 'The Distribution of the Sensible' by Ranciere, and was his most famous theory. Ranciere proposed that the distribution labels skills and abilities (e.g. illustrator, animator, etc) and decided where they belonged in society based on their skills and abilities. This 'distribution' is maintained by anyone who reproduces this theory. However, although Ranciere's theories are very popular, they will never take and so 'The Distribution of the Sensible' will always be in place, as it is not just the 'police' that keep this theory alive. By being contemptuous and behaving in a way we are expected to behave also enforces this theory and reproduces it. Despite this, Universal Teaching will not perish.
Although 'The Distribution of the Sensible' is present within the education of a creative practice through teacher led lectures and seminars, Universal Teaching is also present. Learning a creative practice involves a lot of self directed study through the exploration of techniques, skills and research and some may argue that an art students sketchbook could work as Telemaque did for Jacotot's students.
The overall principal of the flipped classroom is that the student is just as important, if not more, than the teacher and is also equal in intelligence.
Wednesday, 21 October 2015
Seminar One: Animation and Authorship - The Death of the Author
The topic of today's seminar was Authorship, in which we looked at Death of The Author by Roland Barthes. We recapped on what being an auteur meant and focused upon the point of an auteur not just being a film maker but also being an artist with a signature style. This was followed by us taking a closer look into Barthes' Death of the Author, which I found really interesting even though it was also really confusing to understand at first.
Although the text is a little difficult to get your head around, my understanding of it is that too much emphasis is placed upon the author, rather than the work and the reader. For, in fact, it is the reader that gives the work its meaning, as the meaning of the work is dependent on the reader's perspective of it, therefore, if they believe the work to be meaningless then it is meaningless, despite the author's ideas. However, Barthes believes that the "culmination of capitalist ideology" (Barthes. R, 1968, pg. 143) has given "the greatest importance to the 'person' of the author" (Barthes. R, 1968, pg. 143), teaching the reader to channel the author of the work, and their essence, rather than see the work for what they believe it to be. The author is seen as a person of importance, as 'God' because social structures demand that we take the work of an author and attach their meaning to it, because their 'message' and meaning is the only one that counts and is the only correct one. When this is believed, it also gives belief to the thought that the author nourishes the work, that they live for their work, that they work to create something perfectly, which is arrogant.
Barthes believed that this was incorrect and that things only 'mean' when they are read, they 'mean' because of the way they are perceived by the culture rendering the author unimportant. It is, in fact, "language which speaks, not the author" (Barthes. R, 1968, pg. 143), as the author is simply drawing upon already existing forms, re-cycling ideas rather than creating them. It could even be said that it is the language that writes the author rather than the author writing the language. This can relate to animation too, in the sense that it is technology that creates for the animator, it isn't their own style but rather the style of the technology they choose to create with. Barthes believed that "the birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of the Author" (Barthes. R, 1968, pg. 148), which is to say that you must follow your own perception of society, rather than following the one you are told you should believe. In today's society online forums allow for individuals to comment on work with their own perception and this allows for the 'reader' to invent their own truth of the world, as they get to see multiple perceptions of the world all in one place, completely eliminating the meaning the author gave to the work. Similarly, Landow suggested that "hypertext... infringes upon the power of the writer, removing some of it and granting that portion to the reader" (Landow, G. P, 1992, pg 90). Both suggest that the reader is just as important as the writer, which is particularly the case within animation, as it is, more often than not, the reader who determines the meaning of any animation and not the author.
Overall, Barthes and Landow are encouraging the 'reader' to take a revolutionary stand against the 'author' and not accept other people's view of society, but rather create their own, as they, some could say, have more validity than the author, as the meaning of work is created through the perception of the reader, not the author.
Barthes, R. (1968) "Death of the Author" in Image Music Text, (1977), London, Fontana Press
Landow, G.P. (1992) "Re-configuring the Author" in Hypertext: The Convergence of Contemporary Critical Theory and Technology, Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Barthes believed that this was incorrect and that things only 'mean' when they are read, they 'mean' because of the way they are perceived by the culture rendering the author unimportant. It is, in fact, "language which speaks, not the author" (Barthes. R, 1968, pg. 143), as the author is simply drawing upon already existing forms, re-cycling ideas rather than creating them. It could even be said that it is the language that writes the author rather than the author writing the language. This can relate to animation too, in the sense that it is technology that creates for the animator, it isn't their own style but rather the style of the technology they choose to create with. Barthes believed that "the birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of the Author" (Barthes. R, 1968, pg. 148), which is to say that you must follow your own perception of society, rather than following the one you are told you should believe. In today's society online forums allow for individuals to comment on work with their own perception and this allows for the 'reader' to invent their own truth of the world, as they get to see multiple perceptions of the world all in one place, completely eliminating the meaning the author gave to the work. Similarly, Landow suggested that "hypertext... infringes upon the power of the writer, removing some of it and granting that portion to the reader" (Landow, G. P, 1992, pg 90). Both suggest that the reader is just as important as the writer, which is particularly the case within animation, as it is, more often than not, the reader who determines the meaning of any animation and not the author.
Overall, Barthes and Landow are encouraging the 'reader' to take a revolutionary stand against the 'author' and not accept other people's view of society, but rather create their own, as they, some could say, have more validity than the author, as the meaning of work is created through the perception of the reader, not the author.
Barthes, R. (1968) "Death of the Author" in Image Music Text, (1977), London, Fontana Press
Landow, G.P. (1992) "Re-configuring the Author" in Hypertext: The Convergence of Contemporary Critical Theory and Technology, Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Thursday, 8 October 2015
Lecture One: Research and Epistemology - Part 1
This weeks lecture focused on gaining a more solid understanding of what is actually meant when the term 'research' is referred to, and how to use research within, not just our Context of Practice module, but all modules.
Research isn't just a product, but a process made of a range of methods used to help us resolve the problems/ questions we set ourselves. Rather than research just being a task in which you read information you already know about, it is also about finding out new information and gaining clarity on information you already know. We were encouraged to think of research as an activity and to embrace failure, as research as a process rather than a product is about experimentation and problem solving.
Another approach we went over was the stimulated approach, which is a subconscious and/ or conscious search for inspiration to fuel our ideas. This is especially the case within animation, as there is inspiration to be found in almost everything we look at.
Alongside this approach, there is also the systematic approach, in which you take information that you have found and change it to generate ideas. By adding to the information you have and then reproducing information, you are able to extract knowledge from the research you have engaged in.
A final approach we looked into was the intuitive approach, which refers to having spontaneous moments in which your though process occurs from the knowledge you already possess. However, although all of these approaches appear to be different, it is important to remember that they are all intertwined together and that one approach will most likely not occur without the other.
Research in relation to creative practice is a process of finding facts from a variety of different sources that leads to knowledge. It is also about carrying out experiments and trying out new things and gaining knowledge from them by reflecting upon your experience. Information is a result of processing data, which can be separated into four separate phases. Phase 1 consists of ordering the general information relating to your problem. Phase 2 is an investigation of the nature of your problem and an investigation into the solutions of that problem. Phase 3 refers to development and the refinement of solutions found in phase 2. Finally, phase 4 consists of communication and the discussion of these solutions through suitable methods, e.g. animation. From this research an evaluation is able to be made about which solution best fits the brief and meets the clients needs, resulting in a comprise being made about what you want to do and what would be best to do.
Overall, it is important to remember that the process is more important than the outcome. Epistemology distinguishes between how can know something, whether it is knowing that, how or where, it is subjective to each and every individual, as you are the centre of your own research.
Research isn't just a product, but a process made of a range of methods used to help us resolve the problems/ questions we set ourselves. Rather than research just being a task in which you read information you already know about, it is also about finding out new information and gaining clarity on information you already know. We were encouraged to think of research as an activity and to embrace failure, as research as a process rather than a product is about experimentation and problem solving.
Another approach we went over was the stimulated approach, which is a subconscious and/ or conscious search for inspiration to fuel our ideas. This is especially the case within animation, as there is inspiration to be found in almost everything we look at.
Alongside this approach, there is also the systematic approach, in which you take information that you have found and change it to generate ideas. By adding to the information you have and then reproducing information, you are able to extract knowledge from the research you have engaged in.
A final approach we looked into was the intuitive approach, which refers to having spontaneous moments in which your though process occurs from the knowledge you already possess. However, although all of these approaches appear to be different, it is important to remember that they are all intertwined together and that one approach will most likely not occur without the other.
Research in relation to creative practice is a process of finding facts from a variety of different sources that leads to knowledge. It is also about carrying out experiments and trying out new things and gaining knowledge from them by reflecting upon your experience. Information is a result of processing data, which can be separated into four separate phases. Phase 1 consists of ordering the general information relating to your problem. Phase 2 is an investigation of the nature of your problem and an investigation into the solutions of that problem. Phase 3 refers to development and the refinement of solutions found in phase 2. Finally, phase 4 consists of communication and the discussion of these solutions through suitable methods, e.g. animation. From this research an evaluation is able to be made about which solution best fits the brief and meets the clients needs, resulting in a comprise being made about what you want to do and what would be best to do.
Overall, it is important to remember that the process is more important than the outcome. Epistemology distinguishes between how can know something, whether it is knowing that, how or where, it is subjective to each and every individual, as you are the centre of your own research.
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