Desgin Journal #7 - Boost of Inspiration

So, last week I was in a rut. I was frozen on ideas of my scrapbook pages and I still did not like the look of my front webpage. With time slowly slipping, I pulled myself up by the britches and told my self to get back to the basics. What is that you ask? During one of the initial studio classes (9/11/08 to be exact) we were discussing css templates. I was researching some things and I came across a beautiful template that was for sale. Of course, I was not going to pay for the item, but I loved the colors and functionality of the design. I had wrote down the link on some notes that I took that day and stuffed it into my notebook. During my rut of last week, I was just looking through my notebook and I came across the link to that design. I typed in the URL and as soon as I hit enter and saw the design, my spirits were renewed. I started to draw some sketches on a piece of paper, and by the end of my day, I can designed my version of the webpage that will hold my scrapbook pages. I was so excited that, yet again, I was able to move past a block and turn out a pretty product. I am looking forward to actually being able to say that I "completed" a project that I had set out to do. That is a big milestone for me.
For this upcoming showcase, I will not have my whole project complete. I am about 65% done. I still have to do at least 7 scrapbook pages to complete the "year" timeline. I also want to add some more functionality to the initial homepage with the use of some rollover images. There is still work to be done, but I am actually seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!

For my literature review, I read Weigert's chapter on Academic Service Learning: Its Meaning and Relevence. The article was written in 1998 and it discusses the importance of incorporating service learning into higher education. She discusses that "Institutions of higher learning have multiple purposes which focus on teaching, research and service." I am aware that UGA and the college that I work for (College of Agriculture) really stress the importance of these three components. What I was struck by was the comments by Boyer in 1990 as the direction of the "New American College - a vision of a new entitity as an institution that celelbrates teaching and selelectively supports reserch, while also taking special pride in its capacity to connect throught to action, theorey to practice". I think that we can parrallel that idea with the studio class and coin it as the "The New Classroom". In the Studio, teaching is celebrated by the instruction of new technologies and softwre. Research is selectively supported by choosing a authoring and multimedia program, but allowing the student to research their own program, topics and focus. The last idea of service is being obtained by reaching out to the community and connecting theorey to practice as we service others. Eighteen years ago Boyer had a vision and now the Studio has risen to the occasion.

WAY TO GO STUDIO!

Next Steps:

• Complete months 7-12 of the scrapbook pages
• Add rollover effects to the front page of the website

Resources:
Weigert, K.M (1998). Academic service learning: Its meaning and relevance. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 1998 (73), 3-10.