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The Educators Program

By Hal Newnan
8-15-01

In this program educators may rethink what education is, and join researchers and artistic adventurers in finding out about next year's technologies, production breakthroughs, and non-idle speculation. Presenters preview the latest in concept, design, and implementation in architecture, scientific visualization, fine and performing arts and entertainment. For speakers and topics, see the Web. If you are an educator attending a SIGGRAPH, don't miss the Educators Program Ramp-In: it will give you good insights in how to optimize your experience. Also, use the "Pathfinders" service: they delight in using your information about who you are and what you are looking for to suggest best ways to achieve what you want to accomplish here. This year's Forums are exceeding all past attendance records.
Some of the following are excerpts from a report Colleen Case, Program Chair, wrote about the SIGGRAPH program:

FORUMS

New to the Educators Program this year (2001) are the Ed Forums. In response to feedback from last year, the jury designed seven Forums around clustered presentation topics. Presented in a unique learning environment, they are designed to blur the line between attendee and presenter. This allows all participants to come together to explore a wide range of perspectives and learn. We hope that it is a place where you will generate ideas, and bounce them into the mix. Watch them develop and spread into the public realm.

PAPERS

Our Call for Participation asked for Papers, Panels, Workshops and Demonstrations. Later after feedback was received from the SIGGRAPH 2000 audience, we added Forums and other social scaffolding to enable educators to connect. The content was identified through a jury selection process choosing ten papers, which are documented in the Conference Abstracts and Applications. Two of these papers will also be published in LEONARDO, a journal for the Arts & Sciences.
These include Internet Studios, a collaboration among seven universities in the Americas for teaching Architectural Design online. This paper compares the traditional architectural design and critique process with one conducted using Internet technologies.
Speeder Reader from Xerox Parc is one of several experiments in reading. These actual demonstrations are also on display for hands-on use in Emerging Technologies.
Internet 2 is a consortium of 180 universities in partnership with Industry and government. This paper provides examples of the types of applications under development which support research, teaching and learning. Examples include things such as high-energy physics data mining, digital libraries, and virtual reality in health care, to name a few.
Webtanks (think tanks on the Web) comes to us from NASA Ames Research Center. It looks at web environments to support think-tank activities targeted for high school students in a cross-disciplinary science and technology curriculum.
Life Drawing and 3D Figure modeling with Maya is both a paper and a hands-on workshop in CAL. This Yale University workshop looks at the tradition in the arts of presenting the human figure in a non-realistic yet believable way.
Curricular Modules:3D and Immersive Visualization tools for Learning summarizes a collaborative project among faculty in different disciplines, including human physiology, graph theory, introductory physics, organic chemistry and biochemistry, cell biology, and astronomy, and uses 3D animations to increase students' understanding of key concepts.
Brigham Young University's presentation, "The Process Behind Rupert," is a student-produced 3D animation documenting the two-year collaborative development of a student produced-animation. The stages of development and the production approaches of group organization are discussed, citing what worked and areas of improvement.
Rich Resources for Computer Graphics Educators graciously shares demonstration resources for teaching computer graphics programming in a computer science curriculum.
"Cybermath: Exploring Open Issues in VR Education" comes from The Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden. It looks at teaching a wide range of mathematical subjects: physics, algebra, color science, cultural artifacts and global climate change using an avatar-based multi-user virtual environment.
"From Pixels to Scene Graphs" looks at the Evolution of Computer Graphics courses-discussing 2D and 3D topics and building a curriculum that meets industry needs.

PANELS

Our jury selected five panels, including:
"Designing Experience: Modeling On-Line Collaborative Learning in Art & Design." The representatives from the Technical University of British Columbia and Muse Corporation take a look at the deeper understanding of the collaborative learning process in a connected environment. They look at questions of narrative and staging in the virtual classroom, problem-based collaborative models, event-based interaction and other discussions around responsive spaces.
"Seeing Drawing" comes from a number of schools in the United Kingdom which have developed a product that addresses the important subject of drawing, and focuses on the process of developing visual literacy.
"21st Century Literacy: the Me and Meaning Panel" combines great experts from WNET 13 New York, Oxygen Media, Insighters Educational Consulting, Inc. and Justhink Inc. and looks at how we as learners process content. Looking at such topics as the capacity of hypertext and video-enhanced interfaces to redefine how we organize, convey and understand information.
Designing and Developing Interactive Entertainment at Bell habitat Canadian Film Center looks at training new media thinkers to work collaboratively to develop applications for the Web, interactive TV, real-time installations, wireless applications such as distributed-story system and multi-user virtual communities.
Three schools (University of Arizona, California Institute for the Arts, and Ringling School of Art and Design) have joined together to look at "Teaching Computer Animation for Results!" They look at the different challenges at different stages of development of the student, foundational, undergraduate and graduate level--looking at long-term and more immediate accomplishments.


WORKSHOPS
In addition to our Life Drawing with Maya workshop in CALl we have four more hands-on workshops scheduled for the Educators Program.
They include:
Hands-On Classical Animation, which introduces classical processes invaluable to digital production. Participants will work with animators and directors and create an animation video to take home that helps to de-mystify the classical animation production process.

Resumes and Demo reels workshop will focus on how to showcase your talents in a demo reel or portfolio to those making hiring decisions.
Graphics in a Flash is an introduction to vector-based Web graphics. It will be held in CAL and show how to create dynamic effects which incorporate moving images, audio and interactivity.
Adventures in Modeling: Building Systems with StarLogo is our MIT workshop that introduces the process of designing, creating and analyzing models of complex dynamic systems. StarLogo is a tangible model-building tool that allows the learner to focus on the model rather than on the technical aspects of the modeling program.


WORKSHOPS
In addition to our "Xerox Park Experiments in Reading" demonstration display in Emerging Technologies we have one additional Emerging Technology display from Goldman Sachs & Company. The IRIS Information Space as Learning Space demonstrates how an Intelligent Recognition Inference System can help learners to re-see the world by evoking an openness to new patterns of thought. It is a unique look at information space in the context of a corporate learning center.

RAMP-IN

This year's program includes a focus on how to build a curriculum around industry leads
The Five Panels provide a collaborative learning process narrative, and staging for event-based interaction and spaces that are responsive.
Drawing - is about how to develop visual literacy.
Literacy and Meaning is about how learners process, convey and understand information.
Film School training program in new media--collaboratively create wireless apps distributed stories and multi-user communities...
Teaching computer animation for results. Long-term goals and immediate accomplishments of what the students need to learn.
Resumes and Demo Reels teaches how to showcase your efforts in computer graphics to people who are making the hiring decisions.
 



 
This page is maintained by YON - Jan C. Hardenbergh jch@siggraph.org All photos you see in the 2001 reports are due to a generous loan of Cybershot digital cameras from SONY