Reflection on Introduction To Intercultural Communication course

Reflection on Introduction To Intercultural Communication course at University of Jyväskylä

I have an interest in intercultural communication through my studies and work experience in teaching. Intercultural communication is a topic in our pedagogical studies, called Global and Multicultural Activities where the learning objectives are: 

“The student teacher understands the role of the cultural background in the human behaviour. The student teacher is able to support the student’s adjustment process in a new environment. The student teacher is also able to guide and enhance the learning of a multicultural group. The student teacher knows the various sectors of the school’s international activities and is able to enhance his/her own globalization processes as well those of the students”. (VOC2, iVet course).

I found the course very interesting and I learned a lot about the meaning of intercultural communication from different cultural perspectives. For example, Professor Galina Elizarova’s video lectures were very interesting, as I saw that there were some comparisons between Serbian and Russian culture. Especially in the attitude to arguments, these can be also described as lenient or holistic. ‘Russian language has the more holistic approach to arguments were the rules of traditional logic may not apply and the arguments are drawn from many different areas and fields’. ( Elizarova, video lecture, date of retrieval 28.05.2014). This I believe is also the case with Serbian language as well.

I learned a lot from Benet's developmental model. We looked at the model of intercultural sensitivity that has six stages: denial, defence, minimization, acceptance, adaptation and integration. I think that I am in the acceptance stage and moving towards adaptation and integration. Sometimes the work culture can be very different in smaller and bigger organizations. Smaller teams may discuss more personal issues which some cultures might find uncomfortable. These are the areas that I find challenging.

I would actually like to show a video with Benet's developmental model to my students. I believe that they would benefit from seeing the importance of adaptation and integration of cultural differences. They are studying in an International IB school and must see the importance of these values and build on their personal experiences of different cultures.

All education should look at the global educational needs and emphasize skills in educating about racial tolerance, empathy and human rights. The knowledge of these areas is important and it can be taught in the context of individual subjects.

I guess the subject of arts and photography is perhaps more natural way to introduce the concept of intercultural competences as it has a long history of looking at cultural differences, telling the story of a certain culture and how it has evolved through history. So this is a way also for me to definitely put to use the things I have learned on the course.

Politics has pervaded our life and it is also present in education. One can’t deny that and teachers will inevitably have their own political views. Educating students to objectively read the media articles can then lead to better understanding of culture and cultural differences. There has been a shift with constructivism in education to create more active approach by students in education and a more socially and culturally aware “pedagogy of freedom”, which was promoted by Freire. So through “dialogue, caring, community, courage, ethics, and responsibility toward society” we can be questioning the status quo. (Howard, 2013, date of retrieval 17.03.2014)


References:

Elizarova, G. Video lecture. University of Jyväskylä. Date of retrieval 28.05.2014

http://moniviestin.jyu.fi/ohjelmat/hum/viesti/en/ics/7

Howard, L. A. 2013. Connecting the World to the Word, Living Newspapers and Intercultural Communication Pedagogy. Communication Pedagogy Journal of Intercultural Communication, ISSN 1404-1634, issue. Date of retrieval 17.03.2014

http://immi.se/intercultural

Teaching Digital Photography as a short elective at Espoo International School.

3 x 45 min

I have been teaching Digital photography at Espoo International School since August 2012, and I would like to demonstrate my teaching practice for the last three lessons in May 2014.

During the year students have covered many different technical aspects of digital photography such as aperture, shutter speed, exposures, editing in Corel PaintShop Pro. We have also looked at themes of portraiture, lighting, elements of composition, landscape photography and during this last few lessons I wanted to explore the idea of merging different exposures.

Lesson on the 5.05.2014 ( 45 min )

Objective of the lesson

Give students an overview of the importance of a wide range of tones in a scene and an understanding of high dynamic range photography (HDR). Recap on the use of shutter speed and its importance in determining exposure.

In the first part of the lesson I showed students a video that I thought would give them an introductions to this topic and at the same time show how the exposures are blended in Corel PaintShop Pro X2.

After the video we discussed the topic and how much was understood, I asked questions related to their previous knowledge: What is exposure ? How to create an underexposed image and what role shutter speed plays in this ?

The material that I prepared for the lesson can see here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-hCn_983CnuaUxOd0k0Z0ZaeEE/edit?usp=sharing

This was followed by a practical exercise where students went outside to take images. In the last few lessons we were taking images of landscapes and I asked them to focus on landscape for this particular exercise as well. This did not work so well with some students who wanted to take images of other students or action photos. As we had to work with adjusting the shutter speed I decided to allow some flexibility and give some of the students an option to work on a series of action shots as a shutter speed exercise.

Lesson on the 12.05.2014 ( 45 min)

The objective of this lesson was to look at the student's images that were taken in the previous lesson with the different exposures and merge them in Corel PaintShop Pro X2 using a feature called HDR Exposure Merge. Most of the students were able to take images with varied exposures but some of the images did not line up perfectly so there was a slight blurring effect in the final merge. 

We have only couple of tripods in the school so it was not possible for everyone to use the tripod and have perfectly aligned images. I decided to repeat the exercise,  and this time the students who were not able to get good images were using tripod and making sure the images were aligned.

Overall I think that this exercise went well and the students were able to understand the importance of holding the camera still.

Some feedback from students :

http://padlet.com/wall/4hsnxde88hfn

Some exercises with shutter speed and HDR merge: 

HDR Merge example with the use of tripod:

Teaching Photography in Espoo International School

I have been teaching Photography in Espoo International School since September 2012, and I will give an overview of the lessons on video production and editing with year 9 for the last three weeks. I have this class once a week on Tuesdays for a double lesson (2x 45 minutes).

The objective of these few lessons was to show students the basics of filming with the video camera and also editing in Adobe Premier Elements. This was in collaboration with a Drama group students that were working on a Drama piece performance.


Week 1 (2x45min)

Objective of the lesson:

Understanding the process of creating moving images. We  looked at:

•          Camera settings
•          Frame rates
•          Video format
•          Camera moves

The first week was an introduction to using a video camera, so I demonstrated with a slide show: camera controls, frame rates, camera angles, importance of video format etc.

There was time for questions and the discussion as well. Students were curious about frame rates and I guess this perhaps comes from the more digital understanding of video technologies, such as video games where frame rates are much faster. In analogue broadcasting, which I was focusing on, the frame rates appeared very slow compared to video games.

The slide show can be found here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-hCn_983CnuWWJqdTRHQkNZUjA/edit?usp=sharing



Week 2 (2x45min)

This was then followed by a practical lesson on actual filming with video. I was inspired by a lecture on Immersive Digital Installations by Katariina Nyberg that I saw during my observations at Aalto University. Katariina filmed a symphony orchestra players from different angles and sometimes also with individual players having the camera attached to their bodies for a truly immersive view of their hand movements, whilst playing instruments etc.

I divided the students in groups since we have 5 digital cameras that can be used at School and also the drama group was divided in 3 sub-groups so that we were able to film at the same time, different parts of the performance.

The students were working on applying some of the techniques I showed them such as moving around the scene and filming from different angles. Some of the shots were taken outside which was at times difficult since we did not have an external microphone at school, and there is a lot of background noise that can interfere with the speech. In addition to that, it was not so easy to always come very close to the performers because we would have lost  the overall sense of the scene etc.


Week 3 (2x45min)

Objective of the lesson is to understand the basics of video editing in Adobe Premier Elements 11. We looked  at: 

• How to add video files and other media 
• Project assets
• Timeline 
• Trimming and splitting clips 
• Time remapping

In the following week I divided the students in groups that were still filming and the group that would be editing the videos. We have limited external space on the school computers which totals only 50GB for the whole of the school. The whole of this space would have been taken by our video footage. Luckily we had two external hard drives, but this also meant that I could only involve two students in editing. I showed some videos and slides on main points of Adobe Premier. These students have already had prior knowledge of this software as they wanted to use it for one of the Photography projects in order to animate a sequence of images.

In the following week the students that were not filming nor editing joined an art class as our last lesson of the year.

Editing in Adobe Premier Elements 11,  materials that I used can be found here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-hCn_983CnuWGFlLXhhS1g3Vm8/edit?usp=sharing

Additional training video material was shown from Lynda.com. I subscribe to their monthly service, so these videos can be only viewed with the subscription:

Grisetti. S. Up and Running with Premiere Elements 11. Date of retrieval 3.04.2014

http://www.lynda.com/sdk/Premiere-Elements-tutorials/Up-Running-Premiere-Elements-11/109763-2.html


Assessment:

The Photography class (also using digital images) was assessed with IB school criteria. The last video project was more of an optional project as it was an extra grade or a way for me to give an opportunity to students to improve their final grade. I have included the link to my project customized assessment criteria . Also the link to general information on Assessment procedures in IB schools and a link to official IB Art Middle years program that is valid from September 2014. There is also the link to my Unit plans for the period of two years with year 8 and 9, with different projects in Photography and Technology, that I worked on with students and the assessment criteria that was used.

IB - MYP Unit planners for the two year Photography and Technology electives, schemes of work.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-hCn_983CnuVWlQcnI4VjlkclE/edit?usp=sharing

IB Assessment criteria adopted to Community and Service Photography project :

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-hCn_983CnuQVdtYzg5QWN5WWs/edit?usp=sharing

IB Art Middle years programme that is valid from September 2014

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-hCn_983Cnudy1fbVVDYXJGLWM/edit?usp=sharing

Observation - Ethnomethodology – fieldwork & questionnaire design

4.03.2014, Media Lab
13:00-16:00 pm ( Ethnomethodology – fieldwork & questionnaire design,  Professor Lily Diaz-Kommonen
 )
16:00- 17:00 pm Lecture by Katariina Nyberg, Video production, installation in orchestra context, Sibelius Academy .

The lecture was focused on fieldwork and questionnaire design for designers when they are collecting information for Ethnomethodology :"Ethnomethodology is a method for understanding the social orders people use to make sense of the world through analysing their accounts and descriptions of their day-to-day experiences." (Karamjit, 1996)

Some of the important components of the fieldwork methods are  clarity, having an introduction and studying the demographics.

The interview

In designing questionnaires, the essential information comes first, for example what is the first language, age, sex, education. One can prepare a package a notebook, set of software tools, where people can make notes on a weekly basis and disposable cameras that they can use and give to collect visual information too.

In order to study social interaction and how people relate or respond to a software or a product one can use primary sources --- focus groups. It is a good method to have a social interaction. Key studies can be done over longer period of time. Field work can be for example, spending two a three days in the museum, and observing what do people do in a museum and what made them decide to look at one image etc.

Some things to take into considerations whilst designing questions: questions are simple and to the point, each question should address the single issue, check with the colleague if all the questions are intelligible, avoid leading the respondent, transcribe and quote text out, do not reveal the identity of your sources, thank the respondents at the end. Questions can be structured and unstructured. It is also important to codify the interview and make a detailed transcript with time references.

The lecture was followed by examples of students work in game design and also an art project called Race code -- an interactive installation against racism.

This was followed with a presentation by Katariina Nyberg who came to talk to us about her Immersive Digital Installations.

"She was invited for a six month internship by the digital department of the Philharmonia Orchestra, where she assisted in the Orchestra's digital installation, the Universe of Sound, helped with building their new website and edited films as well as organised film shoots." ( ExClaM, date of retrieval 15.05.2014)

http://www.philharmonia.co.uk/universeofsound

She is also part of the company called ExClaM  who organises events in Helsinki with the view of creating immersive experiences between musicians, dancers and digital artists. 

This is something I would like to explore in my teaching, especially for example in installation art or performance art, there are elements that can be explored in the similar way.  

References

Karamjit S. G. 1996. Human machine symbiosis. Springer. Page 330.

Huffpost Arts & Culture, Satter, R.2012. "Universe of Sound" Installation at London Science Museum Puts You on Conductor's Stand. Date of retrieval 15.05.2014
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/22/universe-of-sound-london-science-museum_n_1536463.html

ExClaM. Date of retrieval 15.05.3014
http://www.exclam.fi/index.php

Observation-Human-centered design methods

25.02.2014, Media Lab

13:00-16:00 pm ( Human-centered design methods, Professor Lily Diaz-Kommonen )

16:00- 17:00 Lecture by Anton Sormina on Synaesthesia in the art of Jean Sibelius

The students are preparing an interactive design project for Ateneum Gallery, 100 year anniversary of Jean Sibelius.

The lecture was very interesting and it raised questions about serendipity in design. There is usually intention to design something but it ends up being something else since humans are unpredictable. We can use the phone as an example since the idea of the phone was not intended for the purpose it is used today and the 'evolution' of the mobile phone is remarkable since a lot of the work has gone into creating a smart phone.

The same can be said for Douglas Englebart's staged public demonstration of a networked computer system, held at the Augmentation Research Center -- the first public appearance of the mouse, windows, hypermedia with object linking and addressing, and video teleconferencing. It is amazing to think how far we have developed since 1968.

Another interesting Human-cantered design methods Lily showed us was using comic strips to visualize design specification:

Scenario design exercise

1. Context

2. Persona – actor

3. Plot – imagine and depict the sequence of actions and events

4. Interaction

 This is a good way to document how well a product has been made and how people can understand the different processes. There is also the room for serendipity as quite often artifacts are made for one purpose and end up being used for another.

Is the whole reason in design to make life easier?

Kinect for Windows

The lecture by Anton Sormina on Synaesthesia in the music of Jan Sibelius was truly fascinating. The students were invited to create an interactive piece for an exhibition at Ateneum museum celebrating the 100th anniversary of Jean Sibelius.

“For him there existed a strange mysterious connection between sound and colour, between the most secret perceptions of the eye and ear. Everything he saw produced a corresponding impression on his ear … And this he thought natural, with a good reason as those who did not possess this faculty, called him crazy or affectedly original …”

Paul 1891, quoted in Karl Ekman 1956:52

The connection between art and music is something that the students at Taidekoulu Maa have also been exploring though music video pieces and also various experimental audio and sound pieces. I really liked the way Anton Sormina brought many references to art that perhaps inspired Sibelius in his work for example stories of Kalevala. Lemminkäisen äiti (1891) painting by Akseli Gallen-Kallela, inspired Lemminkäinen suite by Sibelius.

Observation- The analysis of artefacts lecture

18.02.2014

 Professor Lily Diaz-Kommonen
 13:00 -16:00


The analysis of artefacts lecture gave an interesting insight into the ontology of design or the nature of objects. For example first we looked at the design of a cup. We can analyse the cup through: style, manufacture, material, and context (historical –cup in a museum or a designer cup for example).

The cup can be made of porcelain or paper. Form can be cylindrical or spherical. If we analyse the shape we can say that in order to be the cup it has to cover the bottom and be closed at one end.

So we can ask the question, how much do these objects influence our behavior? How is it that we make the shapes of objects?

“Experience design (XD) is the practice of designing products, processes, services, events, and environments with a focus placed on the quality of the user experience and culturally relevant solutions”.

As opposed to the material world of objects there is also the digital domain or virtual world where the  properties of objects can acquire new dimensions, for example we could be teleporting  the cup from one space to another in a game. 

After the lecture we worked in groups in order to go over the properties of different Social Media tools such as ( Pintrest, Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter etc.) in order to define what is a social media tool?

The students on another course have come up with some ideas for these properties such as : intuitive, allows monetization, public, easy to use etc and we had to refine and modify them.

Reference:

Wikipedia. Experience Design. Date of retrieval 14.05.2014
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experience_design

Fourth Observation - Java Script Programming

21.01.2014

Java Script Programming

Lecturer: Forrest Oliphan

This workshop was aimed at Media Design students and it was showing them how to programm in Java Script. We were using an online environment to follow the exercises and write the script :

http://jsbin.com/uDUbIqO/5/edit

The exercises were for example showing us how to give properties to an object in code. For example how to change colour or position, movement etc. The lecturer was demonstrating and explaining the code via a projector and we were then writing the code in the online editor.

This process was followed by most students, it was obvious that they  had some previous experience of programming and understanding of more complex terms such as arrays.

I had some experience of Java programming, which is a bit different to Java Script so I was able to follow the exercises. 

During the break I had a short discussion with the lecturer and explained the purpose of my observation. He gave me a link to a site, which he co-created called Meemoo. This site is an open source creative web app and Forrest  suggested that I could get my students to test it for him and to send him the feedback.

I did show the site later to  my IT study group and the students were quite keen to try out different apps. Some of them were more intuitive then others and perhaps a bit difficult also for the age group that I was teaching 15-16 year old, so I was not able to send feedback in an a way that I would like to have done.


Software Studies for Media Designers: http://softwarestudies.mlog.taik.fi/

open-source creative web app : http://meemoo.org/

The third observation - 3D Animation lecture at Aalto Media Lab

20.01.2014

9:00 - 11:00 am ( 3D Animation, Soft Image )

Media Lab, Aalto Univeristy 

Lecturer: Kai Lappalainen

The observation of the 3D Animation lecture at Aalto Media lab was also very interesting. The session started with the lecturer showing some early animation films from the Russian animator Fyodor Khitruk, ‘Man In The Frame’, which wittily satirized the stultifying two-dimensional life of a bureaucrat.

The lecturer asked students to analyse the animation form the conceptual point of view. For example there were many metaphors that were used, the frame as a boundary that protects the bureaucrat. The frame gets thicker and more ornamental as the bureaucrat progresses in his career, symbolically saying that the more one creates an image around them the more their life becomes constrained. This animation was made in the seventies and is a critique of the Soviet time in Russia. It is graphically inventive and uses stop motion effect, with a neat visual style.

This was an interesting lead into the technical aspect of creating a 3D motion effect where students had to create a movement of hitting someone. They had to use key frames and animate a series of poses: Starting pose, anticipation, stronger anticipation, hit contact.

The lecturer used quite of lot of body movement to show many small details that need to be taken into consideration, lowering the arms, elbows pointing a bit outwards in 90 degrees. Then how to start building the anticipation of the hit. Rotating the right shoulder backwards, rotating the chest backwards whilst keeping the eyes on the victim. 

The second observation a lecture by Liz Wells

16.01.2014
13:00-15:00

Department of Media / Photography ( Aalto University )

The second observation a lecture by Liz Wells, writer and curator from UK, gave a very interesting insight into the way curators organise themed exhibitions and choose artwork. Wells analysed the exhibition by Bozar Expo, called 'Sense of Place, European Landscape Photography', from the cultural, political and artist point of view. ( Bozar, Brussels, 2012)

“Sense of Place looks at our relationship with the environment in the context of European photography. Presenting some 160 works by 40 photographers from every member country of the European Union, the exhibition demonstrates the diversity of the European landscape. Divided into three major geographical regions - northern, central, and Mediterranean Europe - the works show how the natural environment has helped to shape identities. The photographers show that Europe is not just a political zone, but also a place with personal meanings for every individual”. (Bozar Expo, European Landscape Photography: Sense of Place, date of retrieval 20.04.2014)

This was a very fascinating collection and it raised some interesting questions from students. For example Latvian student was unhappy that Alexander Gronsky (Estonian- Russian photographer) was representing Latvia. It is interesting how the sense of identity and politics is very much present in this context and the curator was explaining how they have to make decisions based on the response from artists and also judging the quality of work. The nationality of the artist was not so crucial in this context but how their body of work was linked to the country they were representing. This discussion did not seem welcome by other students who were mostly silent and perhaps avoiding overly nationalist and political nature of the question.

Some of the photographers that were discussed in the lecture were :

Jeff Wall

Martin Parr

Hellen Enis -- Australian photo historian 

Stephen Daniels 

Stuart Hall 

David A. Bailey 

Carl  De Keyzer 

Jem Southam 

Bart Michels

Gina Glover 

Anthony Haughey

Jan Eric Lunstrom 

Elina Brotherus 

Gerr y Johansson 

Per Bak Jensen 

Alexander Gronsky

Olafur Eliasson 

Flo Kasearu 

Arturas Raila 

Ilkka Halso 

Ivaylo Ditchew 

Andreas Gursky 

Vasselina Nikolaeva 

Thomas Weinberger 

Andreas Muller 

Tudor Prisacariu

Sandra Krizic Roban -- Croatian writer 

Kudasz Gabor Arion 

Maros Krivy 

Yenny Huiber

Peter Kostrum

Pavel Banka 

Pedro Cabrita Reis 

Augusto Alves da Silva

Chrystel Lebas 

Celine Clanet 

Gerardo Custance 

Nigel Baldacchino 

Marianna Christofides 

Theodoros Tempos 

Irene Kung 

Nicos Philippou

Massimo Vitali


I was very much inspired by this lecture to use the content in few of my teaching lessons. For example I created a lesson plan for a photography class in Scotland that was part of the Global Education course that can be found here :

https://drive.google.com/#folders/0B-hCn_983CnuYV85WVdjQ25hcW8

I used the materials from a book called Land Matters, Landscape Photography, Culture and Identity ( 2011). by Liz Wells.

References :

Wells, L., (2011) Land Matters : Landscape Photography, Culture and Identity, I.B. Tauris, London 

Bozar Expo, European Landscape Photography: Sense of Place. Date of retrieval 20.04.2014

http://www.bozar.be/activity.php?id=11616&lng=en)

The first observation Research Methods at Photography department

14.01.2014

Lecturer: Marja Seliger 

Time: 14:00-16:00

The first observation Research Methods at Photography department was interesting as it focused on how to improve skills in research thinking, forming research questions and interactivity between art and research. A lot of the information was based on a book by Rose Gillian, Visual Methodologies (2001).

There was a discussion on the difference between science and art. For example where science is rational, art is emotional. Also where science emphasises systematic, art is more creative. Science is also about methods and art is about experience. Science is objective and art is subjective. We have looked at the word re-search which could be explained as search again, explore, and investigate. Build a bridge between theory and practice.

The scientific practices have a strong emphasis on empirical data collection, analysing data, writing articles and presentation. The field of art has a strong tradition in the production of artefacts. The field of research has a strong tradition of producing knowledge. The questions that we can ask for example are: What kind of knowledge is hidden in arts? How can we acquire new knowledge from art and design?

The challenge is to combine art and design practice with theory. So the proposed process in the seminar was for the students to follow the steps:

1. Find the topic and justification (what and why).

2. Research proposal, research objectives.

3. Find literature and former research and artworks.

4. Conduct the research, producing the artwork and documenting the art work.

5. Link the work to future, will this topic be interesting to other students?

Also to take into consideration viewpoint, perspective of the producer, artist, design products, site of the audience and users. List the research questions relevant to the topic. What are the results, knowledge they expect to find.

The presentation was very clear and detailed with the slideshows. In the second part of the presentation the students were asked to form a group and discuss methods on how they would design research . For example is the research going to be 1.) Theoretical 2.) Artistic or 3.) Production based research.  What kind of processes the student could use, for example interview artists etc.

There were about 30 students from different art departments.  

Peer-Assessment Activity for video by Mikyong Shin

Peer-Assessment Activity for video by Mikyong Shin

Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJgFpcoQL7g&feature=youtu.be


Mikyong’s lesson topic was ‘Students with special educational needs and depression’. The learning objective was stated clearly at the beginning of the video (the part 0:08 in the video), for the student to be able to evaluate own symptoms of depression, life imbalance signs and impact of long-term stress. Also to be aware of impact of suicidal depression on global, national, local and personal level.

The student and mentor in the video was Leena Haakana who is a nurse and has had quite a lot of professional first-hand experience with this topic. There were supporting materials that Mikyong used to support the discussion such as a video: ‘Understanding Depression and Anxiety’ which has been referenced on the slide (the part 0:34 in the video), so I was able to find it on Youtube and watch it myself. This was followed by an inquiry teaching style method that I think suited the situation very well. Mikyong promoted analysis of the topic through questions on how to help and manage depression and anxiety. Also there was the equal relationship between the student and the teacher, it was a discussion where both of them were stating their opinions, although I can see that Mikyong has put a lot of research into the topic as she made references from many different angles; the influence of society on depression for example where Mikyong shows a graph ( the part in the video 4:32) ‘Suicide and Mortality 1970-2012 in Finland’ which demonstrates quite a difference between the suicide rates of men compared to women. Also it shows a significant periods of increased suicides particularly in 1991, during the break up of Soviet Russia, where a lot of factory workers lost jobs that were supported by the Soviet Union.

This is followed by discussion where the student Leena comments on the reasons for the significant difference between male and female suicides, she believes that the family life and children help women in their desire to carry on although there might be hardship and despair.

The following slide (the part in the video 4:36) shows the suicide rates in various countries such as Austria, Korea, OECD countries and Japan. The graph shows a very disturbing increase of suicide rates in Korea which peaked in 2009. The Japan also has marked increase compared to OECD countries. Mikyong makes the link to Emile Durkheim theory on different types of suicides (the part in the video 5:42) Perhaps there could have been more discussion on how the suicide rates in the before mentioned countries link with the Durkheim’s theory of altruistic, fatalistic and egotistic suicide types. This was also linked to the video material by Andrew Alan Nierenberg M.D. Massachusetts General Hospital, which demonstrated inadequate delayed response by USA medical care for patients with depression (the part in the video 5:52).

Mikyong summarises the lesson by inquiry discussion on Finnish education and social system and how it prepares young people for understanding about depression. Also the final question is on what should be done to reduce the suicide rates. The student’s response is focused on how to manage the symptoms of depression, by maintaining family contacts and social networks. In the mentoring comments she emphasizes the fact that the topic of the lesson was too broad. Perhaps Mikyong could have summarised the links with the global and national suicide trends with Emile Durkheim theory if she wanted to give a different perspective to the perhaps more nursing focused knowledge of the student.

Peer-Assessment Activity for video by Yanhong Xi

Peer-Assessment Activity for video by Yanhong Xi

The assessment criteria is specified here:

http://ouluedu2.blogspot.fi/p/part-3.html

Yanhong’s video fulfils all of the criteria that was set out for the assessment. She starts the video with an objective of the lessons which is the discussion on globalisation, with 3rd year students from Oulu University of Applied Sciences Business Administration group. She also states that globalisation is required knowledge for the International Marketing course.

Yanhong gives a brief introduction to the topic of globalisation and divides the students into two groups for group discussion. This method works very well with the students; they are given the task to discuss two questions:

1. What are the benefits of globalisation?

2. What is the criticism of globalisation?

The groups have later summarised their findings to the whole group with comments such as: positive aspect of globalisation is that it benefits international businesses and international companies. It benefits consumers as well as it gives them more choices, and it gives more opportunities in the job market. Yanhong also emphasized that globalisation actually reduces the gap between rich and poor countries. China was given as an example as a country that has increased its wealth in the last 20 years.

The negative aspect of globalisation were summarised as the inequality that can arise from unequal distribution of wealth, contribution to global warming and difficulties for smaller business to compete with larger international companies.

I think that all aspect of assessment in terms of motivation, classroom relations and learning methods were met to a high degree. Also this is demonstrated through the comments from one of the students and her mentor who emphasized also the international nature of the topic and the fact that Yanhong contributed to that very well with her knowledge of the Asian and other markets. She has also summarised the discussion at the end too.

I believe that the materials used for demonstration were to a high standard (the part 2:03 in the video), it is just that I cannot see them in the video so well. So perhaps it is something to improve for the purpose of video making to demonstrate teaching, having the actual video clip or a slide in the video itself.

Teaching Practice 9

29.04.2014

17:00-20:00

The second day of the workshop Ernest Tree took place outside. The participants explored what was really possible to do together with plants in exteriors located in urban environment and green areas.

The workshop started with the food sharing and informal discussion.  We had to vote whether to go outside since the weather was not so great and there were intermittent rains through the day. We decided to go outside anyway and that turned out to be a good decision since the sun came out  and gave us a nice backdrop to our performances.

Whilst outside in the nearby open green area we collected fallen branches from trees with the idea of creating a tent structure. We brought the plants and objects that were used during the previous day and started constructing our new habitat. This was a collective effort and the whole group worked for a common goal of creating our tent house. There was a lot of co-operation among the members of the group as the participants came from  Egle's course at Tiadekoulu Maa and knew each other for several months. The group dynamic worked very well.

After we have constructed the tent house we decided to place our plants and food inside. This gave us a background for our performance. We walked around the tent and brainstormed our idea for the drama role-play and once one person was ready to perform the rest of us set nearby and observed.

Each participant came up with their own interpretation of the new habitat, some saw nature with a more threatening view whilst others perceived it as a more peaceful place. Once each participant completed their performance we would discuss the symbolism and the meanings behind the role-play. When this was completed we split in groups of three and had to improvise another performance with the newly formed group.

I enjoyed performing with the newly formed group, the other two members of the group initially thought that we should destroy the tent as we were the last once performing. I disagreed with this as there were still plants inside and they could be damaged. I realized how destructive our energy can be at times even in this context, although the nature can be destructive in its own way, we as humans should be caring.

This workshop also had the purpose of introducing ideas around sustainability as we will all participate in a festival organised by Pixelache during 6-8th June 2014, on beautiful Vartiosaari, a nature island surrounded by eastern suburbs of Helsinki:

"The island is currently under-threat of full-scale residential development by Helsinki City Planning Department, and there is a grassroots campaign to protect it’s particular qualities, in which artists & cultural practitioners are involved. We are hoping that the occasion of Camp Pixelache can also provide a discussion forum around Helsinki-Commons issues".

Teaching Practice 8

28.04.2014

17:00-20:00

I helped with a the two days workshop Ernest Tree that aimed to invent performances involving men and plants. The workshop was held at Espoo Adult Education Centre:

http://www.espoo.fi/fi-FI/Paivahoito_ja_koulutus/Tyovaenopisto/Ernest_Tree_workshop(47703

The first session was spent indoors and the participants experimented with their perception of plants in human habitat, using performance. First Egle led a warm up exercise workshop to ease everyone out of the daily stresses and open up the creative thinking flow. We asked the participants to bring a plant of their choice, food, mirror and drawing materials. These were out props in the workshop.

This was followed by a group discussion on how we interact with plants in our daily lives, we discussed the type of plant we bought to the workshop and if it had any specific significance. Then we looked at the food we brought and started to share it with each other.

After the group discussion we agreed that the plants had some resemblance to the owner, something of the nature, shape or colour of the plant and it's flowers had the similarity with the person who brought it. We decided to proceed with the mirror exercise where each participant found a pose that they thought brings out the best aspect of the plant and themselves. This was then followed by a drawing session where we drew one person at the time with the plant. There were nine participants including Egle and we took turns to pose with the plant for others in short intervals. These were meant to be quick sketches that were giving us the sense of unity with the plant and its owner.

 The next stage of the workshop was a sort of drama performance where we had to individually stage a role- play on a symbolic level that involved the plants and other objects in the room. We had to do the individual brainstorming and improvising on the set up for our performance.

Each individual performance was followed by group discussion on how we saw the performance, what was the symbolism and any interpretations of it's meanings. Some students decided to use the furniture, tables for example as a stage and involved their bodies, bringing out the sense of different habitats and the way they relate to the plants.