[iDC] Undermining open source: iTunes U

[Tiffany Holmes]

Hello IDCers,

I've been following this discussion about pedagogy for FLOSS vs.  
proprietary software for the last week with great interest.  I wanted  
to address this last point that John brought up in the context of a  
problem that I'm facing at my institution:

> As for worrying about savvy and less-than-savvy computer users -- I  
> find that generally there are fundamental problems with both sets  
> of students.  The savvy ones often have no clue as to creative  
> social uses of the machine -- and instead of exploring the  
> possibilities they stick closely to their known.  The less-than- 
> savvy ones often have a phobia for the machine.  A broad digital  
> literacy is problematic for both.  And again, unless one may  
> provide a fearless context for exploration, little will happen.

Here in Chicago at SAIC we have implemented a mandatory laptop  
program for our first year students.  Translation: We have added new  
turf to the Kingdom of Mac.  This program has its positive and  
negative points: the positives have been summed up in an  
extraordinary piece of propaganda/marketing recently featured on  
Apple's website: http://www.apple.com/education/profiles/chicago/.   
The negative are many, but the main issue I see is that the "less- 
than-savvy" computer users that John speaks of get "branded" early on  
and become reliant on proprietary products (think iMovie, iDVD) that  
make input and output tasks comparatively easy as these products are  
pre-loaded on the machines.  Unless discourse is initiated in the  
classroom that critiques the negative aspects of FLOSS/proprietary  
software as well as the positives, most students will simply utilize  
the pre-loaded tools.

I am in favor, overall of this program mainly because I totally agree  
with John that owning a computer alters your your perception of the  
tool and enhances your ability to explore new options and uses for  
that tool---most lab machines do not permit downloading or loading of  
any trial software tools.  Incidentally, I really put my foot in my  
mouth in a meeting because I was complaining (loudly) that students  
are at a loss for this proprietary software when they graduate (think  
of Andrea Polli's story of graduating with no box and no tools).   
Evidently, the institution has struck a deal so that students can buy  
all the software at graduation for a mere $200----but we all know  
there are still the problems of the endless versions.

So the enormous problem that I am facing is that there are 400  
students wielding laptops loaded with proprietary software and a  
dearth of faculty who feel comfortable integrating the laptop into  
class activities.  Progress has been made: I offered a 1 week  
workshop to get first year faculty up and running on a few tools and  
this has promoted some confidence to develop small collaborative  
projects using the laptops.  The fear level in the new user  
population (both faculty and student) is relatively high still so we  
are attempting to develop a very compact course to promote digital  
literacy with the laptops.  But what is digital literacy? And how is  
it the same or different from "BIC pen" literacy?  Or paintbrush  
literacy?  And how do you best teach digital literacy to new users in  
a 14 week course in essentially 20 hours? (Each course meeting is 1.5  
hours long).  Certainly, the idea of presenting multiple software  
packages (both proprietary and FLOSS)  is key to teach students that  
there is a logic to how each package works.  How does one evaluate  
what kind of learning has taken place?  Ideally, in 10 years, this  
kind of learning would be integrated into every classroom, however,  
we simply do not have the faculty resources at the moment to swing  
this. So, this proposed curriculum is what I would call a "band-aid"  
solution but it's hopefully an interim solution and I do believe we  
need it.  I've attached the curriculum draft in case anyone is  
interested and feels like offering advice and/or critique; I'm  
working this up for the fall term.

I am curious if those of you on the list who teach classes that  
involve new computer users have any good solutions to this pervasive  
problem of how to promote integration of software/hardware into an  
art classroom?  Which FLOSS packages (other than Processing--it's  
fabulous) are really user-friendly for the new computer owner?  We  
can't offer an Introduction to Digital Imanging (Photoshop class)  
though many institutions do.  As one of my colleagues recently  
pointed out, there is no class called Introduction to the Pencil.

Best, Tiff

____________________________________
Tiffany Holmes, Assistant Professor
Department of Art and Technology
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago
112 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago IL 60603
Phone: 312-345-3760,  Fax: 312-345-3565
Mobile: 312-493-0302
http://www.tiffanyholmes.com

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