6: Future Vision

I held a baby last night. She was just over a week old. Teeny tiny. She just slept in my arms.

     Serena Louise, the peaceful warrior.

In the fall of 2020, she will be a third grader.

What will her world look like?

Her big sister, not yet two, is more competent on an iPad than me.

     How will I teach these young ladies?
     What will I teach these young ladies?
     Will I teach these young ladies, or will I act as one of
          many facilitators in their learning experience?



The video by Corning reminds me of a similar future vision by Microsoft.
Perhaps they could have teamed together to create one video of Microsoft's platforms on Corning's glass surfaces.
     And for the cynic, a parody.

I am shocked by the idea of surgeries occurring across continental lines. My local hospital in Qingdao uses x-ray equipment that is outdated by 40 years. The idea of a wired, or should I say, wireless hospital in Hangzhou is unfathomable. The connectivity, accessibility to information, cross-national political dynamics make it hard to envision such a world. I cannot simply watch Corning or Microsoft's vision broadcast on YouTube from within the People's Republic of China, yet alone live their reality. Will such a future dissolve political strongholds that censor information distribution?

But for a moment, like watching a movie, I will suspend disbelief and imagine a glass tablet transforming my school life in Asia. Not just Tokyo, Seoul, and Hong Kong, but here, locally, in this city of 3 to 8 million (actual urban population of 3 million but the greater sub-provincial city area is 8 million).

My students are synners. Original Synners. They are not bombarded by information; it is all they know. It is all they've ever known. And they are learning to synthesize. "Just-in-time learners, confident that when they need to know something, they'll know where to find it." (Anderson 4)

My school is partnered with a school in Australia. Despite all the interconnectivity and global flattening, we haven't figured out a way to dissolve time zones. We can fake daylight, and while businesses frequently disrespect nature's daily rhythm, schools continue to function in a traditional 8-3 time frame. We have other projects with schools across continents, but our sister school in Australia allows for real-time collaboration. Serena's class of third graders are currently working with a partner from the class in Perth to design an apartment that could be built in either country and meets the needs of both students' families. They have researched the demands of both locations, including environmental challenges facing each community. This project is one aspect in their unit of study surrounding immigration, emigration, and habitats. The designs will be (3D) printed and donated to the early childhood center for creative play. A contemporary doll house.

My classroom can no longer be called a classroom. There is a learning lab with specific tools and tables allocated for visual art, but most of the time, I traverse the elementary hub to the students' stomping ground. Everything we need is on the cloud or on my art cart of physical supplies. Nearly every surface is interactive. Despite the touch-capabilities and the digits on one's hand, we have tools to supplement learning. The stylus. The brush. There is something in the physicality that continues to appeal to some, young and old. It also helps transition students to experimentation with real media when they've used physical tools in their digital learning experience.

My schedule looks different each week. The grade-level advisers schedule their grade for at least one hour with me per week, but the day and time changes. As instructional teams, we've developed units that holistically combine previously separate disciplines into one thematic learning experience. Art is not subservient. I still focus on developing visual communication as creators and critical receivers, along with problem solving, fine motors, and links to art from across time and throughout cultures, but I don't work in isolation. Skills are developed as students express content learned from areas--areas traditionally seen as separate from art class. It is all part of their learning story.

My fifth graders, the class that includes Serena's big sister, are learning about government structures. As they track the struggle for power and control in different governments, the students are asked to release control in an art activity. They use a random selection application to generate stipulations for a collaborative piece of art. The work is then disseminated to the school via the intranet. Each work is accompanied with an explanation and challenge to alter the code and add one's own programming tag. After 10 students have tagged the work, they are to push it onto the art class electronic display board in the lobby of the elementary hub. Private. Public. Who has the power? It may be an exploration of chance, but it questions the power structures that control people. (Envisioning 1)

My goal is not to create art, to teach the creation of art, or to advocate for art; it is to see students develop into global citizens. This includes integrated training in art because art is integrated in global life.

Better Life & City with Art.



Assignment: Write a speculative fiction as a critical vision of art education in an imagined future teaching context. Revise/rewrite/revision future teaching in re-considering the essay at the beginning of the semester in light of the readings, explorations, and my feedback throughout the semester. There is no required length to the essay.

References:
Anderson, S. and A. Balsamo. (2008). A Pedagogy for Original Synners. Digital Youth, Innovation, and the Unexpected. 2008. 241-259.
Keifer-Boyd, K. (2012). Envisioning a Future Techno-Infused Eco-Pedagogy. NAEA White Paper.
Keifer-Boyd, K., & Smith-Shank, D. (2006). Speculative fiction’s contribution to contemporary understanding: The handmaid art tale. Studies in Art Education: A Journal of Issues and Research in Art Education, 47(2), 139-154.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZkHpNnXLB0&feature=youtu.be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5X2PxtvMsU
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qingdao