11V: Innovation Station

Innovation: something new or different introduced.

http://www.detektdesign.com/blog/so-you-want-to-be-innovative-heres-how/

This week in Inquiry class, we read about all of the ways in which creativity is essential for innovation. Creativity is the gear that keeps the world turning. Writing blog posts requires a lot of creativity and innovation. Every single person in both Inquiry classes has to write about the exact same topics every week, yet we have to make each of our posts unique. It is extremely difficult to do so, but I try my hardest to do so every week. I try to be innovative and come up with new concepts and ways to relate the subjects to my own life.

Two other words that relate to my classes this week are nullification and monotheism. Nullification is the failure or refusal of a U.S. state to aid in enforcement of federal laws within its limits,  especially on Constitutional grounds. We are learning about the first instance where a law was nullified.

Monotheism is the doctrine or belief that there is only one God. In my Sociology class, we are now on the topic of the sociology of religion. We are discussing how and why religion began. Monotheism is a type of religious belief that we were discussing.

I learn new information and words in my classes every week, and I hope to continue to learn something new every day for the rest of my life.

http://suzannetony.wordpress.com/tag/keep-fit-in-your-70s-80s-too/

11B: Q&A

This week, my peers and I have been asked to create college-level questions based on the readings we have encountered for homework. Some of their inquiries were very good!

http://www.blindfiveyearold.com/i-ask-good-questions

 

 

The first question that I thought was higher-level was this one by Kelly:
How can being bored impact creativity in a positive way?
I like this question because it does not have one specific answer. You cannot simply repeat facts from the articles to answer this question, you have to apply the topic. It leaves room to answer it argumentatively.
However, I feel that her answer to this question could be improved upon. (I provided the link below to her answer). Although she made good points, there were no specific details or examples. She argued her point pretty well, but it lacked the evidence to prove that what she was saying was right.
http://kellyrobinson19.blogspot.com/2013/11/11a-think-like-college-student.html 

 

The second question that I found to be college appropriate was this one by Stephanie:
What are ways we can promote more creativity? Why are these important looking towards the future?
I enjoyed this question because it asks an open-ended question that can be directly related to the readings, and it is followed up with a second question asking you to think about the topic in a broader sense. The first part can easily be supported by the articles, but the second part forces you to do higher-level thinking.
I thought that her answer for this question was also very good. (See the link below for her answer). It is quite long, but that is because it is so detailed. She uses specific examples to support her main points, there is a clear beginning and conclusion, and it is not simply repeating facts in the articles.
http://stepphhr7.blogspot.com/2013/11/11a-promoting-creativity.html 

 

The final question that I am going to talk about today is this one by Paige:

How can "micro-boredom” affect a college student in a negative or positive way?

This question is good, in my opinion, because although it requires you to define a term mentioned in the readings, it forces you to elaborate on the topic. It is not just asking you for a definition, you have to apply it to the life of a college student and argue whether it is a positive or negative thing.

Unfortunately, Paige did not answer this question in her blog.

http://paige2017.blogspot.com/2013/11/11a-inquiry-based-questions.html

 

http://www.contentcurationmarketing.com/a-view-into-content-marketing-in-2014-q-a-with-michael-brenner/

 

I feel that this assignment will be very beneficial for me when it comes to anticipating quiz questions in the future. I have learned to expect more than just being asked the definition of new terms. I realize now that college-level essay questions require you to think at a higher level than that. They should be treated like mini essays with thesis statements and conclusions. I can apply this to my own studying by imagining what open-ended questions could be asked about each topic as I am reading. I believe that I will be better prepared for my next quiz because of this week's exercise.

 

 

http://s3.amazonaws.com/rapgenius/1291131680_two-thumbs-up.jpg



11I: Out of Shape

This past Tuesday, a few of my friends accompanied me on a hike up West Rock!

 

 

On my first day of orientation at Southern over the summer, I attended an informational meeting regarding all of the different ways that SCSU students can stay in shape. I learned about the Fitness Center, various classes, and sports teams, but one thing that stuck out in my mind was hiking up West or East Rock. I had been wanting to do this for a while, and in conversation earlier this week, my friend Amanda informed me that she has hiked West Rock in the past and knows the area fairly well.

 

We then became inspired by the idea and headed to the mountain. Most of the trees have lost their leaves at this point, so it was very open. You could see far ahead of you on the path. I would have liked to see the trail with beautiful, fall colored leaves, so I wish we had thought of this idea sooner. However, it was still a pretty scenic trip. The hike turned out to be very fun despite the cold and how out of shape I am. I will definitely go again some day!

 

 

http://www.123rf.com/photo_12233370_cartoon-of-happy-couple-hiking-in-forest.html



11A: Questioning Everything

This weeks readings focused on both creativity and innovation.

The articles I read made me think about both of these topics, and I have come up with a few questions that I would put on a quiz or test regarding the previously mentioned readings...

http://learningthenow.com/blog/?p=2191

 

 

1. What is "The Overnight Test," and how can it produce the maximum amount of creative output?

 

2. Why are young people often more innovative then their elders?

 

3. How can boredom produce creativity?

 

4. What is "Interleaving" and how can it increase your ability to learn new material?

 

 

Answer to #4:

 

"Interleaving" is a method used for learning new material in which you force yourself to move back and forth between subjects and ideas you are attempting to learn. According to Bjork, the best way to learn something new is to reject the common method of "mastering one thing before moving on to the next" and interleave instead. The article gives an example of a learning situation where you are forced to "leap from translating Hebrew to reading Jonathan Edwards and back to biblical Hebrew again." This process creates a sense of difficulty which "increases your capacity to learn and retain knowledge." When learning in this way, you are studying information in relation to other things in your memory. This gives you a new reference to help you remember all of the information better.

 

 

http://www.tatianasadak.com/BiofeedbackandNeurofeedback.en.html

 

A good, college-level critical thinking question should never ask you to simply regurgitate information. It should encourage you to make connections and think more deeply about a topic. A worthy answer for such an essay question should be argumentative, and it should have some form of introduction and conclusion. It should also contain details and specific examples from the readings given which support your answer. I believe that my questions and my answer model that criteria pretty well, and hopefully this exercise will better prepare me to take my next quiz in the future.

 

 

http://www.smarttan.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/2009-08-17-good-answer-copy.jpg



10V: Creativity Killed The Cat's Inhibitons

This week, I have spoken quite a bit about creativity and how it can benefit you, but what exactly is it?

http://stacyennis.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/CreativityDef.png

Creativity has been the main topic of my Inquiry class recently, but creativity relates to every part of life. The ability to look beyond traditional ideas and think of new ones is always a helpful trait to have. Having a creative outlook really helps in my Inquiry class. If I wrote my blogs blandly and simply regurgitated information discussed during class, I would definitely not have a good grade. I try to relate the topics to my own life and think more deeply about a topic until I come up with my own original input.

 http://media02.hongkiat.com/increase-creativity/creativity.jpg

Some other terms that have been the focus of conversation in my others classes lately were Cohabitation and The Whig Party.
The topic of cohabitation arose in my Sociology class. This word means to live together as if married, usually without legal or religious sanction. We are currently discussing the sociology of marriage.
The next term, although it is more of a subject than a single vocabulary word, is a new topic that I had never heard of until this week. My U.S. History course is  focused on the period before the civil war in the 19th Century. At that time, the Whig Party and Democratic Party were rivals in politics. 

Although these three terms have no direct relation, they are proof of our capacity to constantly learn new things and improve our intelligence. Whether I am learning new vocabulary words or how to think about an old word in new ways, taking the information provided in your classes home with you is of utmost importance. There is no point in going to school every day if you are not going to digest anything you have learned.

http://assets.www.palabea.com/assets/stage/learn-everything-e28f7072986a7495c323ec36ecfffe23.jpg

10B: The Creative Bird Gets The Most Worms

I have always considered myself a rather creative person, but what is my creative biography?

http://www.arsix.net/2011/12/creative-thinking-is-specific-process.html

 

I believe that everyone is born creative. Young children are always thinking of new ideas and viewing the world in abstract ways. The issue arises as we get older, and our creativity fades. We develop a fear of being wrong, and this hinders us from thinking too outside of the our safe, comfortable boxes.

 

Creativity is not solely married to the arts. You do not have to be a good artist or dancer to be creative. Creativity is about innovation: finding new ways to look at an idea that has been around for a while. Creativity can be expressed through words, actions, your body, inventions, etc. Everyone has this capacity inside of them, but some people started ignoring it a long time ago.

 

http://www.gonannies.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/ideas.jpg

 

My creative ambition simply stems from my internal drive to set myself apart. When I create something, whether it is a project for school or something I want to do on my own time just for myself, I strive to be original. Why take someone else's ideas when you have your own brain full of untapped resources and original thoughts? If I am going to put the time and energy into accomplishing something, I want the finished project to be worth my while. The only way I know how to do this is to just allow my thoughts to flow and my mind to wander. The world is full of endless things to think about. When you open up your mind, you are bound to come up with something you have never thought of before.

 

http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/wysiwyg/image/chickenoriginal(1).jpg

 

The obstacles I sometimes experience that hold me back from this ambition come from distractions. I cannot develop my most creative thoughts when there are a hundred other things surrounding me or running through my mind. In order for me to be able to create something out of the ordinary, I absolutely need to be focused on the task at hand.

 

The person who regularly lights the match beneath my creativity is my dad. I truly believe that his innovative spirit is what has made me such a creative person. He is one of the only adults I have met whose creativity has never faded in the slightest. All my life he has been  teaching me how an open mind can solve almost any problem. If I ever had a desire to give up on something, he would be very upset. From his perspective, everything has a solution even if you have to create one yourself. He never looks at a problem in just one way. If one idea does not work, he always comes up with a few more to try.

http://www.spreadshirt.net/think-outside-the-box-creative-thinking-thoughts-are-free-t-shirts-C4408A17884060

 

I wish that everyone would see the world like my dad. Nothing is ever set in stone. Creativity is the universal key that can unlock doors you never even knew existed. Sometimes we encounter these doors, but we are too afraid to walk through the thresholds. We do not know what is on the other side of the doors, and we may fear that these new ideas will be wrong. We do not want to risk the embarrassment. We have to be more like our childhood selves. Kids are not afraid of being wrong because they know that they are constantly learning. We never stop learning for as long as we live, so we should not feel shame about being wrong as adults. Creativity keeps society going. Without it we would never be able to progress. The future of the world we live in is in our creative hands.

 

http://www.search-engine-optimizers.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/future.jpg

10A: Midterm Movie Mayhem

After spending weeks on my midterm video blog, getting multiple interviews, and making sure transitions and voice-overs are lined up with the videos properly...guess what happens?

 

http://davidhetherington.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/it-rage.jpg

 

I'm sorry, that was a little dramatic. I actually did not even use a computer for this project. However, I did throw my phone across the room once.

At this moment I would like to give a short customer review of the IPhone app "Splice": DO NOT EVER USE THIS APP, IT DOES NOT WORK AND WILL ONLY MAKE YOU WANT TO RIP YOUR HAIR OUT.

 

I am not good with technology by any means, so when I found the previously mentioned app, which appeared as though it made video editing simple, I was thrilled! Unfortunately, as the old saying goes, when something seems too good to be true, it probably is. The volume and clarity of the video work well on my phone, but I am completely unable to upload it to the Internet for others to watch. Thanks to this app, my poor Inquiry professor has not even bee able to watch my midterm project. I want to thank her again for being so understanding about all of this.

 

http://d24w6bsrhbeh9d.cloudfront.net/photo/aEwRMyn_700b.jpg

 

Despite all of my technological issues, I do believe I fulfilled most of the requirements for the project (besides submitting it on time of course). The time limit requirement for the project was 5-6 minutes, and my project is a little over 6 minutes long. I believe that a slightly longer project with more relevant information is superior to a shorter one.

 

I provided more than what is required for the interview portion as well. The finalized draft of the video has to have at least three student interviews and 1 faculty or staff interview. My project has three interviews with freshmen students, one with an upperclassman, and one with a professor. I wanted to provide a few different perspectives of the First Year Experience program.

 

http://blogs.oberlin.edu/pictures/Aries/interviews_comic.jpg

 

My video definitely has a clear beginning, middle, and end as well. It begins with a title page with my topic and name, and then a voice-over begins of me going into a little more detail about the program and my project.

The middle is full of entertaining videos and some more serious interviews. I tried to captivate my audience and keep their attention by adding some video clips that are informative but are also on the more comical side. I know that watching a video that just lists information and shows less than exciting interviews is not fun to make or watch. Also, I tried to make the interviews visually interesting by asking people my questions in unique areas or giving them props. 

Finally, the video ends with another voice-over in which I provide a conclusion and recap the main points of my project. There is also a credits page at the very end thanking all of those who allowed me to interview them.

http://www.zazzle.com/greek+life+hats

 

If I was given more time to revise my project, (besides using an entirely different video editing system) I would like to find a way to adjust the volume on certain parts of my project. My voice-overs have perfect volume and most of my interviews do as well, but there are just one or two that were recorded in louder, more crowded areas where it is slightly more difficult to hear. Unfortunately with the "Splice" app there is no way to edit those aspects of the video. If I had more time to use a different editing program, I would absolutely fix that.

 

The grade I would give myself for this project would probably be an A-. I would choose this grade because all in all I feel that I have created a very good video. I went beyond the requirements, I made it interesting, and I provided a lot of useful information. My only downfall was the uploading process which was out of my control. I understand that some repercussions must be made because I did not submit my video, but all things considered, I feel that I made a project worthy of a good grade.

 

 

http://www.funnyjunk.com/channel/stoner-humor/its+not+working+what+am+i+doing+wrong/iGfDGvT/