The middle-aged meddler

May I tell you a story?

A drawing teacher who fancied himself a hipster looked around his classroom and noticed that his students seemed very busy with laptops and smartphones. Of course it turned out that screens were filled not with drawings but with facebook. Well our teacher was also on facebook, and he questioned if his course could somehow capture the energy of this social networking influence. Our hero envisioned a cross-over role for this entertainment technology in drawing studio.

The teacher thought that if his course featured facebook and twitter and blogs, then such an integrated social media construction could model an electronic portfolio. Research had suggested that portfolios enhanced student attitudes about course work. He hoped for increased student participation in deliberate drawing practice. He decided to give a student perception survey as the first order of business on the first day of the course.

Our hero confronted several perils along the way. Most students spent enormous creative resources online. Social networking was often a distraction. A few students viewed social networking with great scepticism and were vigorously opposed to joining. Other students viewed such cross-overs as unwanted intrusions into personal domains. No matter how hard he tried to be hip, our quixotic teacher would always be a middle-aged meddler. But he persisted, hoping the idea could transform studio.

At the half-way point of the course, the teacher assigned the presentation boards project worth half each student's grade -- the stakes were high. Up to this point the teacher had measured learning as hypothesis-driven classroom interventions applied to each drawing assignment. Students assessed and reflected upon incremental progress. The teacher and students now simulated a professional architecture office and the design presentation board.

At the conclusion of the course students were given the same perception survey taken on the first day. The teacher was pleased to observe significant changes in student attitudes about personal drawing ability, the role of deliberate practice, the role of technology and an enjoyment of reflective learning. Yet, he still had several inconclusive ideas to consider, such as student appreciation for hand-drawing, how each student assesses his or her drawing quality, the persistence of positivist attitudes regarding technology, acceptance of social networking in the classroom and realistic workload expectations.

So, what happened next?

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