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Pachyderm Dialogue Day Follow-up

We have compiled more of the products / ideas from the 61 faculty and staff who participated in the January 30 Pachyderm: Building Meaningful Content with Learning Objects Dialogue Day . This was hands-down one of the most high energy and active ones of the sessions we have run in a long time. Unlike many other workshops and sessions, we managed to limit the "lecture" part (Peter Samis' presentation) to 1 hour, and the bulk of the time was in group activities.

So what we have posted this week includes....

Some comments on the event evaluation:

"This was wonderful! What a great way to enhance learning in the classroom. This could easily create the close connections necessary between the learner and the information necessary for the brain to retain."

"This energized and motivated me more than any workshop I've attended! The possibilities!"

"This was probably the best workshop overall that I have ever attended. You did an excellent job of 'hands-on' activities without using the actual technology."

"How well the presentation was put together. First, by explaining with visuals, and second, by group activities. It made it really simple to understand how Pachyderm works."

"I now have an image/vision of how to use this new tool."

"I enjoyed the storyboarding group experience. It was great to have the items to work with, instead of having to work in our area of expertise. Breaking up into groups by discipline helped turn it even more to, "What can I do with this?" Bouncing ideas off each other was great."

Photos from the event:
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/dd/pachyderm04/photos/index.html

Documents (all the storyboards, a few articles), activity handouts, a copy of Peter's presentation:
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/dd/pachyderm04/documents.php

Some examples of the storyboards created by our groups for Activity 1. In this part, the participants were asked to "pretend" to be art teachers, and using three of the pachyderm storyboard templates (Timeline, Comparison, Variety of Media), plan on paper a Pachyderm presentation using digital representations of art work from the college's Southwest art collection (these do not exist- the "database" we provided as a piece of paper describing the art work, when it was created, the artist, and native american tribe if appropriate).

The engagement of our group in this part was unbelievable as they all dove in eagerly, and each group developing different ways or themes to represent the same group of 20 srt pieces. See some of the storyboards
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/dd/pachyderm04/activity1.php

In the second activity, we asked participants to assemble in groups by discipline and develop some ideas on what content / ideas they could see using in Pachyderm, what they could do in the next few months to prepare for putting it together, and what their questions/concerns are:
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/dd/pachyderm04/activity2.php

Mostly, people wanted access to the software NOW (they did not here the part that it was being developed based on the SFMOMA version over the next 3 years). There was concern over technology (will it work on Macs?, where will the server be installed, will the server crash on us?), and quite a few about wondering how they will acquire/assemble the digital assets (who will chase copyright? where are all the free, royalty-free web sites where we can pilfer media??).

We will be following up with our folks over the next few weeks. The plan is to convene a hands-on session April 23-- this puts some good pressure on the Pachyderm programming team!! Even if not ready, we can definitely plan some hands on sessions on finding and working with digital media.

But indeed, the elephant was flyin' high over Phoenix, and is still crusing.