This week a presentation will be made on friday to the faculty and staff in the Web Design and Interactive Media department. I have provided the powerpoint presentation that has been produced so far, although it does need more polishing.
Some clarification is in order. I don’t want to replace textbooks and literary forms of education. I DO want to replace the traditionally flat, linear way of teaching, though. Textbooks are wonderful sources of information, but supplemental information such as films and videos, sounds, or interactive digital environments are a great addition that have recently become possible. There is no replacement for hands-on learning such as dissection and field trips, but it is physically impossible to take an entire classroom to the bottom of the ocean, or even more than just a few feet beyond the surface. The use of an environmental simulation may not be 100% accurate and realistic, but it is as realistic and accurate as it could possibly be at present times.
Updates to my ‘thought map’ have been made, as well as a few cosmetic changes.
Last week we were asked to take a more in depth evaluation of our project. It has become clearer to me now that there are an abundance of resources available for this project and others like it, but there is still the traditional way of textbook teaching that is cumbersome and, at times, pretty boring. Furthermore, I am even more convinced that students and educators could both benefit from a media-rich learning environment. I have included my documentation with this posting as a downloadable file.
Although many people have read about and studied it, very few people have actually gone to the ocean floor. Over 95% of the habitable area on the planet is underwater and yet it is the least understood environment of all. Scientists today know more about the dark side of the moon than they do about the bottom of the ocean, and more people have been into space than have been to the deep ocean. It is my opinion that educators and the general public could gain more knowledge from an interactive environment than from a textbook, and that such an environment should be made. The primary focus of this project will be on the abyssal plane of the global ocean, with emphasis on locations of interest such as hydrothermal vents near the mid-ocean ridges and plate subduction zones as well as on cold seeps as are located off the cost of the Carolinas. Until recently nobody knew that life could exist without light from the sun, but this is being proven wrong even today. An entire ecosystem is alive and thriving that humanity never dreamed possible and it’s just below the water. What else could be discovered by generations inspired to look for more than what they believe to find
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On the first day of class we held a discussion on the aspects of interface. First, an interface can be defined as something that bridges the gap between the physical reality that we can experience and an intangible concept such as an idea or data. It must be compatible and easy for people to use while filtering out unnecessary information to provide what is needed or intended to be seen by the user. Why is an interface important? It serves as an accessible medium between what is understood and what is not, as well as managing and giving structure to data and concepts. What makes an effective interface? To ultimately be effective, an interface must be easily manipulated by a user as well as providing an environment in which the user feels comfortable coming back to in the future.
