A Reaction to the Pedagogical Agent Readings

In this post I will be responding to the final two readings for the CI 5472 course, Conversational Agents and Their Longitudinal Affordances on Communication and Interaction by Aaron Doering, George Veletsianos, and Theano Yerasimou, and When sex, drugs, and violence enter the classroom: Conversations between adolescents and a female pedagogical agent, by George Veletsianos, Cassandra Scharber, and Aaron Doering.

One statement from the second reading, When sex, drugs, and violence…, that I found surprising came at the end of the article. It said, “Even though we expected the students who took part in this study to exhibit some off-task behavior, we did not anticipate such a widespread abuse and misuse of the pedagogical agent. Likewise, we did not expect to find that more than 40% of student social comments would be sexually explicit, flirtatious, expletive, or referencing drugs and violence.” REALLY? You give 59 middle school students, ages 14 to 15 (as referenced in the reading), a chance to talk to a computerized “person” who can’t defend herself, WITHOUT any supervision (again, as referenced in the article), and you’re surprised that the students were off-task and abusive? REALLY? Maybe you should’ve done a bit of pre-research on middle school students!

From personal experience I can say that middle school students in a computer lab, without supervision, are a bad idea. Colleagues of mine have had students who have stolen parts from computers during class. I have had students attempt to use the Microsoft voice software for less-than-savory purposes. They’ve also tried to reformat computers, erase items off of other students’ server files (if not their entire server identity), and ask the Microsoft “paperclip” some illicit questions. And all of that came with me walking around the lab for the entire period, watching the students!

I did find it interesting, though, that the adults from the other article did practically the same thing with their computerized agents. They used their agents more as social connections for small talk instead of using them to answer questions about their assignment. It was also interesting that, once in a small group of friends, some of the adults treated their agent in the same manner that the middle schoolers did. Each group wanted to test the limits of the technology instead of use it for its designed purpose. I think that this would be true of any new technology; people are going to want to test it before they actually use it for its intended purpose. It is similar to trying out a new video game without reading the instruction manual.

I also related to the adults’ frustrations with the technology in the article Conversational Agents… For example, they were frustrated when they know the agent would know the answer to their question if the human could just think of another way to ask it. Haven’t we all had similar issues with various Help programs and over-the-phone voices? I get very frustrated when I’ve enunciated something as clearly as possible and the disembodied voice doesn’t get it for the third time. As stated in both readings, this type of educational tool is still in its infancy. There is a lot of work yet to be done to make it better and more accessible.

On a semi-related note, I am somewhat uncomfortable with having a Gizmoz version of me online. I don’t like that my information, even as basic as my name and e-mail address, is now stored on another database somewhere, for something that I wouldn’t have done had it not been an assignment. I am a firm believer in privacy; it took many months of convincing to get me to sign up for FaceBook. I have my account set to the highest privacy setting, and I do not like that each action you take needs to access your information and your friends’ information in order to work. That’s a lot of information being spread around that could, some day, be stolen off a database. With all the identity theft that’s been occurring over the last few years I feel the less information about me in cyberspace the better. Also, as a teacher I do not want students to be able to access my personal information without my knowledge. I am very open in class and in person because I know what’s being said (and asked). I don’t want someone else sharing information about me, or worse, creating it. This probably sounds like a technophobe rant, but I just don’t think it’s prudent to allow your personal information out of your control. I get that in today’s technology-driven world it may be inevitable, but I would invite caution. I haven’t yet decided, as of the time of this posting, if I am going to continue keeping this blog, and the Gizmoz creation, active. Feel free to offer opinions and comments!

My Gizmoz Avatar

This is the web address to reach my Gizmoz site:

http://www.gizmoz.com/newsite/presite/itemPage.jsp?partner=studio&scene=13608459

Enjoy!

Teaching with Popular (Middle School) Culture

Assignment 1: Creating a Graphic Novel
Rationale-
Middle school students (and I’m sure some high school students) are addicted to graphic novels. For some of my students, this is all that they read. They can read through about 15 in a day! Rather than fight this trend, I decided to embrace it and work with it. I would rather have the students read what they want than not read at all, and some of the newer, non-manga graphic novels really do a good job of telling classic stories. I have also seen non-fiction graphic novels that are about historical events.

In this project students will be creating their own graphic novel as a class. I would use this with my Basic Language Arts class for two reasons. One, it is my smallest class and it will easier to handle a novel of 12 pages as opposed to 36. Two, this is the class where graphic novels are predominantly used.

Lesson-
On the first day of the project, as a class we would discuss what graphic novels are and how they are similar to and different from “regular” novels. Topics to be included in the discussion would be: showing rather than telling, read differently (panels vs. paragraphs), both have the elements of fiction (plot, setting, character, conflict), dialogue is in bubbles rather than quotes. As the discussion progressed, I would make a Venn diagram on the board and keep it up during the remainder of the lesson. After the discussion I would then ask students for samples of their favorite graphic novels, if they had them in class, and I would also provide some from the media center. We would spend the remainder of that day sharing and reading graphic novels. Student’s homework for the night would be to think of a story from their lives that they can tell in graphic novel form.

On the second day I would have students write their personal stories in prose. The stories do not have to be long, but they do have to have all the elements of fiction and a beginning, middle, and end. If students are having trouble with this exercise I would help them out by giving an example from my life, or guiding them to interesting events in their lives. Students in middle school, though, often don’t have trouble talking about themselves! This would take about half of the class time. After students were finished writing, we would go through and edit for word choice, spelling, etc.

On the third day, students would now begin transitioning from prose to graphic novel. I will have various page layouts available with different sizes of panels and formats. Students could also make their own pages if they wished. Each panel in the novel should flow from the beginning of the story to the end. Also, students will create a cover and title page for their graphic novel. I will have examples for them to look at from the books we used on the first day of the lesson. Other than these requirements, the students will be pretty much on their own. They will have about a week to complete their novels. My expectation is that the students took their time on them and that they are the best work that they could produce. Once all novels are finished, we will have a sharing day in class where students will display their novels around the room and the other students can read them and discuss them. Then, we will put them in the media center for the school to see.

The grading of this project is more open than some teachers might be comfortable with. The grade will be based on keeping up with the project’s deadlines, the grammar and punctuation of the story, the flow of the story, and whether or not the final project has something of a “final” feel to it (did the student put in effort to make it look done). Teachers can create their own rubrics/point values and emphasize other aspects if they wish.

Further Inspiration-
The following websites were my inspiration for this assignment:
http://www.absolutewrite.com/specialty_writing/self_pub_graphic.htm
http://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Graphic-Novel
http://www.ehow.com/how_2085763_create-graphic-novel.html


Assignment 2: The Great Debate- Video Games
Rationale-
Like it or not, video games are a large part of today’s youth culture (and mine). There has been much talk about the influences these games have on our children, good, bad, or otherwise. In this debate, students will research the multiple viewpoints on the issue, decide which have merit, and use them in a class debate. Students will be using their critical thinking skills to decide what valid resources and arguments are and what they aren’t. They will also use their presentation and summarization skills.

Lesson-
I would start this lesson with an introduction to video games that includes their history, the various game formats (first-person, shooter, puzzle, role-playing, etc.), and a short survey of the class’s attitudes about video games and their uses. The survey would be a short (one page) sheet that asks if the student has played video games, which systems he or she owns, which types of games they enjoy playing, and how many hours per week are spent playing. I would tabulate the survey results for the next day’s class.

In class the next day I would share the survey results and we would discuss them. Were the results what the class had anticipated? If not, what was surprising? I would now introduce the students to the research part of the assignment. This part will be done in the computer lab, using our research techniques and knowledge about valid sources of information. This lesson will need to be done after our 8th Grade research unit, where we discuss Internet research techniques and quality of sources. I would allow at least two class periods for this part of the day. The students would be expected to find various web resources both validating video games as beneficial and criticizing video games as “mind-numbing.” I would make sure that they understood that they might fall on either side of the debate, and that they would want as much information as possible to provide a good rationale. I would offer some starting websites for both sides, listed below in the “Further Inspiration” section. I would, of course, expect students to also expand the search from these sites, and maybe into other topics related to video games.

After the web search, I would give students about two days in class to compile their information into two cohesive arguments. They would each write a brief (1 page) summary of their information on both sides. They would keep their notes/printouts, but working with a 1 page document will help narrow their scope a bit.

Finally, we would have the debate. I would divide the class randomly into the two sides, video games are beneficial vs. video games are unhealthy. I would then give them ten minutes to prepare their opening statements and choose a spokesperson. We would flip a coin to determine which side starts, and then each side (without interruption) would present their opening argument. After, the groups would get five to ten minutes to form a rebuttal. They would then present, and then we would open up “general discussion.” During the formal debate, students not speaking would be required to take some notes on the points being brought up so that they have something to include in rebuttals. During the general discussion period, students would be encouraged to take notes. This part of the lesson, if not handled respectfully, could get chaotic, especially with excitable middle-schoolers. Consider the type and size of class when formulating how to do this lesson.

As a concluding assignment, each student would be required to write what their opinions of video games are now as opposed to when we started the lesson, how those opinions were changed (if they were), and some of the things they learned during the research.

Further Inspiration-
Some sources for the history of video games:
http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15734058/

Some websites on the positive aspects of video games (students, and you, can judge validity):
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.05/view.html
http://www.nhpr.org/node/20825
http://www.channel3000.com/education/4121724/detail.html
http://www.creativeteachingsite.com/videogames.htm

Some websites on the negative aspects of video games (again, students can judge validity):
http://www.apa.org/science/psa/sb-anderson.html
http://www.slate.com/id/2164065/
http://www.healthcentral.com/drdean/408/60891.html
http://www.epilepsy.com/info/family_kids_video

Students could also go to YouTube and work on this assignment; there are some videos of the history of video games and some videos associating video games with violence. A teacher might be able to show them in class, too.

Real vs. Fake News Assignments

Lesson 1: Jon Stewart vs. the Fool
In this assignment, students are going to compare The Daily Show’s host, Jon Stewart, to the character of the Fool in Shakespeare’s King Lear. While reading King Lear, we will have class discussions on the role of the Fool and why he was included in this play, and many other similar characters in other Shakespearian plays. Sample questions for the discussion would be:
1. Historically, what was a jester’s or fool’s job?
2. What does the Fool do in the play?
3. Does this character provide a service to Lear or to the audience? How so?

Next, we would examine some highlights of The Daily Show, especially using some highlights from the Bush administration years. Now a comparison can be made between Jon Stewart and the Fool, using very similar discussion questions.

Rationale: By doing this lesson, students are able to see a few concepts. One, they can see the roots of The Daily Show in an historical context (always know your history). Two, they can see that the role of the Fool was to spread the “truth” about leaders without the leaders knowledge (they were there to question the leader’s wisdom and provide an alternate voice). Three, they can understand that the “official” view of things isn’t always the best view to take.

Lesson 2: Writing a Parody News Article
In this assignment, students will be creating their own version of a news item found in a newspaper. I would bring in many different copies of different newspapers, some local, some national. Students would be given time to read through them and find some articles that interest them, with the understanding that we’re going to exclude a lot of the paper (sports, weather, celebrity gossip, etc.). Students would be allowed to share articles and discuss while I monitored. After this, the class would vote on the top five most interesting articles. I would then collect the papers for use later. After class, I would go and get corresponding articles from The Onion or a similar parody newspaper.

The following day, students will read these parody examples of these same stories and compare them to the accounts from the day before. A discussion would be had as to how the stories are different. Also, we would discuss how they both share information, but one is obviously a parody (assuming a discussion of parody was had before this lesson).

Finally, the class now receives their assignment. They are to create their own version of a parody news article. They can use any topic they wish, again with the understanding that it be actual news. They are to turn in an original/source article and their own work. After they are turned in I would display them and allow students time to read through their peers’ articles.

Rationale: Many students learn best through doing, not just reading or listening. By creating their own parody article, they begin to see how a person creating a parody needs to really be knowledgeable about the “real” story in order to do a good job. Also, everyone enjoys critiquing other’s works and laughing!

Assignment 3: Getting the “Real” Story
In this lesson, students will study Video News Reports (VNRs), especially those related to new prescription drugs, and the actual findings of the FDA or other sources. This lesson assumes that I can find examples of VNRs. The best examples of these are going to be of the diet drug Phen-Fen, and the pain drug Vioxx. Both had VNR examples that were shown during news broadcasts, then were quickly called off the market when it was discovered how damaging they could be.
First, I will show students the VNR examples. After viewing, I would ask students whether or not these drugs seemed too good to be true. Would they buy them, ask their doctors about them? Why do you think these were included during the broadcast? Would there also have been commercials related to these products during the program?
Next, I would show the FDA findings and then news broadcasts about their recalls. We would discuss how the stations were influenced to show the VNRs as is, without digging into them. We would also discuss how damaging this kind of “reporting” was to the general public and how to be critical viewers so it doesn’t happen to us.

Assignment 4: Credibility
In this lesson, students will examine the credibility of various news sources from many types of media. They will also look at how these institutions, people, and organizations gained their credibility and what groups are deeming them credible. We will look at radio and television news program hosts like Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, local television anchors, Jim Cramer (CNBC’s Mad Money), Oprah, and others.

First, we will look at how these people present their stories. Is there a slant or bias? Do they present all sides of a story? Do all sides of a story get equal air time? Are all sides presented in the same manner, or do some get ridiculed?

Next, we will look at who is watching and listening to these people. Do they have a defined audience? Who makes up their viewership/listening audience? We will examine demographic data to determine this, as well as trends in audiences.

Finally, we will examine how these shows are being marketed to a specific audience that is going to agree with the hosts’ points of view. Students will then interpret the findings by writing a short opinion essay. They will need to answer the following questions:
1. Does each person determine if the host is credible, or do the marketing departments?
2. If a source that you like is deemed credible, do you ever go look at alternate sources?
3. Does your version of news become “real” just because you (or someone else) has deemed the source credible?

News Analysis Lesson Plan

I would love to have my students critically analyze the local and school newspapers! We would do this in a very similar way to how we were asked to do the local television news analysis that went along with this assignment.

I would bring copies of the school paper in for the first part of the activity. We would brainstorm all the different types of articles the class would be likely to find in the paper (local, national, world, film and music critiques, etc.) and each student would list them in their notebooks. I would then give each student a copy of the paper and I would give the students time to read through the articles and classify them in their charts. I would allow some discussion during the activity, as students may want to classify articles in different ways. Their discussions could lead to talks about editorial responsibilities and privileges. After they were done categorizing, the class would look at how many items fell into each category. My predication is that there will be few “news” items and a lot of “fluff” items.

For the next part of the activity I would bring in copies of the local paper and we would do the same thing. This time, though, I anticipate the class finding much more “news” items and a lot less “fluff,” except in the Entertainment section. We could now discuss why there is such a large difference between the two papers. If the discussion didn’t get there on its own, I would bring up the following points: writing for different audiences, different writing ability (professional vs. student), and editorial processes and expectations.

Finally, I would ask the students to take one article from the school newspaper and rewrite it in the form found in the local paper.

Local News Reflection

Let me start by stating that I usually watch the 5:00 or 6:00 news; I’m rarely awake by 10:00. One major difference that I’ve noticed between the 5:00 and 6:00 broadcasts is the amount of sports coverage. Sports gets about 5 minutes of coverage at 6:00, but barely any at 5:00. Now, I’m not a big sports guy, so it doesn’t bother me in the slightest, but this got me to thinking about the reasoning behind the programming decisions being made. I think that the editors/programmers at KARE 11 view their 5:00 and their 6:00 audiences differently, perhaps based on Nielsen data. Maybe 5:00 viewers are more affluent, and therefore appear to have a preference for “real news” over sports-related content?

The diversity of the anchors and reporters was, in my opinion, fairly balanced. One anchor was male and the other was female. The head of the sports department was male, the meteorologist was female, and the reporting staff included a mix of male and female. The two anchors shared work reporting the stories; switching from one to the other for almost every story. This decision was made, I think, to appeal to a larger audience. The more representative your newscast, the more people you appeal to, the larger greater your ratings become, which leads to more advertising money coming in.

Something that surprised me, as I wrote the viewing log (above), was the lack of any real crime story. Usually, I’ve found that news programs will start with some reports of fires, gang violence, gun shots, or the like. Tonight, for whatever reason, out of the 30 or so items listed, only 2 could reasonably be argued as being “crime-related,” the two fire reports. Either bad things did not happen today (unlikely), or the program director felt that the other stories had more value than reporting on items that didn’t affect a lot of people. I say this because the majority of the stories seem to affect communities as a whole, like the U. of M. story and the Hecker Automotive story. I think that the news directors wanted to appeal to a larger audience, so they went with these broader stories. Again, this ultimately can bring in more advertising money to the station.

Also, it was interesting to note that the only “live” coverage of anything was the Hecker Automotive piece. It was also the starting story. I think that the producers put this story at the beginning because it was their only live story and the “action,” as it were, can entice viewers to stay tuned. After this lead-in, the stories were progressively less live for the first third of the newscast. It went down to reports that were live at one point, but then edited into a clip, then the anchors reporting on clips, then just the anchors reporting.

Finally, a very obvious appeal to the viewers was all the “teasers” to maintain viewership, right down to the very last story. A statement in Richard Beach’s book, teachingmedialiteracy.com, from a class participant, gives us the reason stations use them: “[R]esearch proves that most people change stations or turn the television off after the first 10 minutes.” I don’t blame the station executives for using them, but I would appreciate it if they used less of them; I’m not one for gimmicks.

Local News Viewing Log

KARE 11 NEWS, 5/17/09, 5:00 P.M.

Introduction: 23 seconds (Anchors read, video montage)- bus fires, Hecker auto. troubles, plane crash all being reported tonight

State/Local News: 4 minutes, 26 seconds (Anchors introduce, reporter live “on location”)- Customers in 15 MN counties complain about dealings with Hecker Automotive Group (trade-ins, license plates, vehicle titles), State Troopers raid 2 of Hecker’s homes, Hecker’s central headquarters, and 2 dealerships

Local News: 53 seconds (Anchors introduce, reporter “on location”, taped before broadcast)- Twin Cities businessman dies at Crystal airport, crashed own plane

State/Local News: 2 minutes, 35 seconds (Anchors introduce, reporter “on location”, taped before broadcast)- U. of M. cutting budgets an additional 4%-6% in response to Pawlenty’s budget cuts, tuition increases, some workers demonstrate

Local News: 1 minute, 47 seconds (Anchors introduce, reporter “on location”, taped before broadcast)- 2 Totino-Grade High School buses burned, suspected arson

National News, 29 seconds (Anchors report, video montage)- Republicans respond to Obama’s health care plan

Teaser: 27 seconds (Anchors read)- “Still to come”: airline loses 2 passengers, Kevin McHale out, weather

Commercial Break: 2 minutes, 16 seconds

National News: 30 seconds (Anchors report, video montage)- MySpace laying off 400 workers

State News: 1 minute, 30 seconds (Anchors introduce, sports dept. head reports, video montage)- Kevin McHale released from Timberwolves, no reasons stated, “More at 6:00”

Station Promo.: 29 seconds (Anchors report, screen shot)- “Hero Central”, food drive this weekend, “Visit KARE11.com for more information”

Teaser: 19 seconds (Anchors read)- “Coming up”: airlines, Minneapolis home sale, weather

Commercial Break: 2 minutes, 45 seconds

National News: 1 minute, 29 seconds (Anchors report, video montage)- Continental Airlines lost 2 girls when traveling, both ended up at wrong airports, eventually got to correct location

Anchors/Meteorologist Chat: 28 seconds- having own families on planes

Weather: 1 minute, 5 seconds (Meteorologist reports)- explains tornado scrawl at bottom of screen, which has been there for entire broadcast

Weather: 59 seconds (Meteorologist reports, graphics)- 24-hour forecast

Weather: 41 seconds (Meteorologist reports, graphics)- Radar/maps

Weather: 1 minute, 33 seconds (Meteorologist reports, graphics)- In-depth and Extended forecasts

Anchors/Meteorologist Chat: 13 seconds- Father’s Day plans

Teaser: 12 seconds (Anchors read)- “Coming up”: Minneapolis home sale

Commercial Break: 2 minutes, 28 seconds

Local News: 49 seconds (Anchors introduce, reporter “on location”, taped before broadcast)- Minneapolis home had estate sale, neighbors complained about it being piecemeal, sale stopped for now

Local News: 11 seconds (Anchor report/addition to previous story)- A parrot that was living in the home is being taken care of

Teaser: 27 seconds (Anchors read)- “Tonight at 10:00”: saving money with coupons, tips from local man

Teaser: 3 seconds (Anchors read)- promotion of final story for the broadcast

Teaser: 12 seconds (National News Promo.)- “Stay for these stories on NBC Nightly News, next…”

Commercial Break: 2 minutes, 10 seconds

International News: 30 seconds (Anchor reports, video montage)- gold beer stein created in Japan, along with other gold items