John Orlando posted a great article this week on Faculty Focus titled Education Remix: Unlocking Creativity to Boost Learning discussing social media and remix culture. One of the most common forms of remix culture is making videos, which can be used as a great learning activity in the classroom. As Orlando states, “remixing is also a fundamentally creative process, as the creator must develop links between two different topics. The process forces the creator to see the topic from new perspectives.”
Orlando also notes that “one simple way to use remixing in your classes is to provide extra credit to students who develop a short video that reinterprets some part of popular culture in a way related to the class subject. The original can be a song, commercial, movie, etc. Students can also remix elements of photographs or text.”
If you are interested in using remix culture in the classroom, or are considering how remixing can foster engagement, creativity, and learning, take a moment to read John Orlando’s article and follow the helpful links he provided in his article below.
Remix examples:
- “Diagnosis Wenckeback” (Student video. A lot of fun. Trust me.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVxJJ2DBPiQ - The Class (Parody of “The Office” for a class)
http://mediatedcultures.net/ksudigg/?p=254
Discussions:
- TEDxNYED—Lawrence Lessig (Great discussion of remix culture)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhTUzNKpfio&feature=player_embedded - The Machine is (Changing) Us: YouTube and the Politics of Authenticity (Discussion of social media and communication forms)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09gR6VPVrpw - How Social Media can Create History (Discussion of the transformation brought about by social media)
http://www.ted.com/talks/clay_shirky_how_cellphones_twitter_facebook_can_make_history.html