6 replies to this topic

[thebiz]

On the recent anniversary show Ken discussed how he saw the educational portion of the TMUniversity programming happening.

If I were to contribute to this initiative I foresee my "course" as a very short and very specific one offs. For instance it struck me that I could pretty easily put together a 30 minute session for new sketchup users that would look at how to create useful images (think title screens, overlays, posters, comics, etc) from sketchup. It would go from opening up the program, opening a model, using the 3d text tool, exploring shadows, changing the background, ground and sky surface colors and finally exporting the image at the desired size. No modeling but a fun intro use to the program. And then maybe a couple of months later I could come up with some other little learning idea.

My point here being that a long term commitment as a educator or an educatee is a turn off for me (obviously I only speak for me) so it would be nice to think about short term commitments as well..

I'm assuming the TMUniversity events could be recorded and archived for folks to play later yes?

Anyone else got and Learning ideas?

[Ken White]

Thanks for getting the whole Machinima-U/TMUniversity thing out there and letting me see it when I was actually at the computer. I've been meaning to put in this subforum for a week, and keep thinking about doing it when I'm either driving or in bed trying to fall asleep. And by the time I'm not, I've forgotten it.

Are you talking about one-off classes, or short classes? There's probably a place for both, though in truth, all of the classes will be relatively short. I'm thinking roughly six weeks, with weekly classes/worskshops - so six in total. If that's a standard, then we can go either way (shorter or longer) based on the material/subject and the instructor. And other than possible live interaction, with live video or interactive chat if wanted or needed, most of it will be, from the instructor's perspective, not that different from posting on the forums - answering questions, commenting on workshop projects, etc.

How about repeats? In theory, the instructor will have all of the class materials - written, video, audio - and could easily repeat the class down the road. Sketch-Up 101, for example, being repeated 3 times a year if there was an interest.

And yes, all materials will be archived - so people could, in theory, go through the class on their own (watching the videos, doing the projects, whatever) without a live instructor being attached. The advantage of "taking" the class rather than "doing" the class would be in the area of interaction with the instructor and other participants.

[thebiz]

Yea, Im talking about one off classes. Just a specific little thing. My thinking is I'm not an expert and I'm not much of a teacher. Creating a six week course is not up my alley. But showing how to do a specific (hopefully useful) thing is something I can see myself committing to.

I dont know how the software works but Im assuming it could be used to create quick tutorials as well. Say heres how to create animated overlays with The Movies Software, or heres how to use Rileymans prop to set converter in The Movies...ect.

[Ken White]

I dont know how the software works but Im assuming it could be used to create quick tutorials as well. Say heres how to create animated overlays with The Movies Software, or heres how to use Rileymans prop to set converter in The Movies...ect.

Yes, we could certainly do tutorials with it.

[Johnny Ex]

Yea, Im talking about one off classes. Just a specific little thing. My thinking is I'm not an expert and I'm not much of a teacher. Creating a six week course is not up my alley. But showing how to do a specific (hopefully useful) thing is something I can see myself committing to.

I dont know how the software works but Im assuming it could be used to create quick tutorials as well. Say heres how to create animated overlays with The Movies Software, or heres how to use Rileymans prop to set converter in The Movies...ect.

You are a good teacher, some of us arent great students, ie: you once tried to teach me this exact concept, via PM.
Fail.
ONLY because I absorb the spoken word and a viusal far more than reading it.
2 cents...

[Benjamin Tuttle]

They need to be interactive. I noticed that Adobe has project files as their tutorials that guide users into learning their programs. A video tutorial can't do much, perhaps something over Skype, like a video session or something in the matter? Google hangout perhaps?

[grape_escape]

Let me know the when/where of Freshers' Week.

Edited by grape_escape, 01 March 2015 - 11:45 PM.
Added a full stop