Sounding Off: Turning Up the Volume on Informal Learning
My concept map is a continuation of my exploration of sound art as public pedagogy through social media. It was built with and on MindMeister. I found it to be intuitive and conducive to tacit knowledge building after a bit of messing around. The map is presented from top to bottom starting with black highlighted node bubbles representing reflexive references/influences. But, a radiating pattern through the gray connection lines reaches out from the core idea (the title) to all node bubbles. The first tier “node bubbles” are the central nodes that directly correlate to the posts on my blog about the informal sites explored. They are highlighted in green to represent growing ideas. Links to the posts for those analyses are embedded in the node bubbles themselves. The central concepts are the building blocks of the overarching idea and all connect back to these growing ideas. They are highlighted with the primary colors as a metaphor for the building blocks of color theory in art. The connecting lines are color coded to match each central concept and connect to node bubbles highlighted in white that represent outside researched references/influences. Each of these is represented directly by an APA format reference and any audiovisual, hyperlink or direct quote is embedded within the structure of each individual node bubble; likewise for the contrasting white reflexive reference/influence at the bottom of the map. As I worked I found the layout to be very important aesthetically to me. It became very much a process similar to painting in which I found myself falling into flow. I found the feeling comforting when approaching such a technically tedious task as concept mapping. “Letting go of technical rationality frees us to make space for sensory imagery in a world dominated by cognitive processes”(Lawrence, 2008, pg. 66). The end result almost resembles an atom, a fundamental piece of matter with its core emanating from the most important concept to my overall philosophy and research, art as public pedagogy.
Reference
Lawrence, R. L. (2008). Powerful feelings: Exploring the affective domain of informal and arts-based learning.New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 2008 (120), 65-77.
Lance,
I’m interested to see what you explore for your final project. I am also interested in exploring the community and visual arts, especially in spaces where I see “missed opportunities” for learning in spaces as ways to help interpret the world around us.
Also, you are leaving me wishing I had used mindmeister. I found popplet frustrating, as it would give an error message every time I tried to embed an image or video. It also locks into a grid system with only straight lines, nowhere near as visually pleasing as mindmeister.
People often don’t see, or in the case of my final project hear, opportunity for learning through art. There is purpose in the process and sometimes all that is presented is the product. In that case, potential learning opportunities are wildly neglected.
I like the color Lance, It is very visually interesting. Much more so than others (even mine). I like all the lines too. Looks like the inside of a brain. You wrote a lot more in your nodes than others did too. Very rich and informative!
Lance,
Thanks for the explanation for each color in your map, I like the purpose behind it all. It is a clear, non-confusing map to follow and appreciate that.
Thanks Caroline. I like to use every opportunity to infuse meaning.
Wow, I really love the audio visual component of your map; I wasn’t successful in the same way with Mind Meister. I did use a similar coding system which helped me organize my thoughts and how they related. The use of arrows really show how many times the articles from our course and main concepts overlap and inform one another.