Tag Archives: CURVE

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Randy Swearer – The Provost with a Message

  April 20, 2015 , , ,

Dr. Randy Swearer came to Georgia State University to give a 2-part talk titled “Understanding Emerging Trends in Higher Education” last week. Swearer has been provost of Philadelphia University since 2009 – and I find this to be an exceptional detail. It is exceptional because this is the first time I have heard someone with this kind of institutional power speak about a radical change in the system of higher education. Let me give you a summary: Swearer talks about the need to unbundle the university system. This means, in general, that we need to be less focused on disciplinarity, and more focused on a more flattened hierarchical system that relies on training for skills, rather than training for tests. It is student-centered, and it is a place where faculty can focus on a variety of ways to deliver content, rather then the way we have been doing it for the last 150 years. What is more, Swearer has a model that he believes might work. In the picture above, Swearer is showing an overview of his Part 1 talk before he goes into detail about his proposed system. Here, he proposes to disintegrate the existing model, opening up new ways for students to move through the system – minus arbitrary grading, lecture-only classrooms, and other models that critical pedagogues argue against. Once the talks were over, everyone I attended with that works in the Exchange had some very interesting conversation about Swearer’s proposed model. For me – the outcome … Continue reading

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Improvements in the CURVE experience

  October 23, 2014

As CURVE begins to gain “regulars” , “newbie” traffic, and large intellectual groups I continue to see the growth and resources that the CURVE space is able to provide for not just GSU students but the community. The visuals in the space are incredible and it is a daunting task coming up with ways to optimize all the resources that the CURVE space provides. As the weeks go by and seminars, classes, and research groups have come in and out of CURVE, its become a bit more clear the type of students and researchers that CURVE is meant to attract. These ambitious intellectuals are seeking knowledge on their own personal interest or to improve their abilities in the subject matter at hand. As a SIF member of two innovative projects as well as computer science major, the amount of knowledge that is out there simply by meeting the right people and gaining meaningful relationships has impacted me in being proactive to seek these opportunities much more especially when it is to gain that connection for a job or internship or simply for personal knowledge. One specific  The entrepreneur workshop seemed very useful in not only the sense of helping guide entrepreneurs and giving them the tools to succeed on their own but also to provide them opportunities to network. Specifically a guest speaker was brought to the workshop. The speaker named MK was a GSU alumni who has been the successful business  owner of 3 companies and was now working … Continue reading

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3D Reconstruction of 81 Decatur Street Project

  October 2, 2014 , , ,

Hey Guys! Just wanted to talk a little this week about the project some of the SIFs and I are working on! It’s been a rough week due to a stagnant cold that’s been ailing me, but we’ve managed to accumulate a lot of good data to throw at this project. What is it you ask? Well–every time you happen to walk by Classroom South on Decatur St, there is actually a rich history swept underneath the building that now stands there, namely 81 Theatre. It started as a Vaudeville stage and slowly evolved into a popular African American theatre in the 30s onward. The street was bustling with activity–pool halls, barber shops, clubs…it was an extension of the Auburn Avenue community’s spark. So our team wants to rebuild this block of Decatur St as an interactive environment–a game of sorts. If you’ve been reading my blog up until this point, you’ll know how into gamifying experiences I am. By adding a layer of engaging interactivity to this historical environment–we hope to promote education through engaging experiences that reflect what the different departments we represent do best: English and Literature, Anthropology, Geography, and Computer Science. It’s one thing to build a historically accurate 3D environment through maps and computing–it’s another thing entirely to fill it with narrative and meaningful culture that grabs attention and keeps it engaged. Can someone interact with this small microcosm and leave that interaction knowing more about the past than they realize? It’s hard to say, … Continue reading

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Growing Atlanta

  September 3, 2014

The title of this post was inspired by the website created by four undergraduate students I worked with this summer, along with the documentary “Growing Cities”.  I am a virgin to blogging, both because of a resistance to my generations need to express every thought and complaint to the world and my own misconception of what blogging is and is capable of creating.  So, when deciding on what to blog I revisited a blog created by those undergraduates to remind myself of the contribution blogging can have to connect people and invite new ideas. These students, who came from all over the country and knew nothing of urban agriculture in Atlanta, came together in a 7 week research experience and created an introduction to the world of urban farming from the farmer’s perspective.  Adopting a truly bottom up approach to their research- they worked in the gardens, followed the growers through the city for deliveries and other day to day experiences, and took the time to interview and understand the people involved in the slow food movement in Atlanta from planting to policy. Utilizing technology to bring to life the story of these grows, a storymap (http://www.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/?appid=1734e76f0dda47b289403180265865f0 ) was created and a wordpress website started (http://knowyourgroweratlanta.com/ ).  Following their lead, I furthered my investment with these gardens.  After an arm full of fire ant bites, cuts and pricks, stings and burns, I began to fully conceptualize the hard work and commitment it takes to sustain and develop agriculture in the city. … Continue reading

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Using Technology to Democratize Archaeological Knowledge

  September 3, 2014

This is my first post as a member of the CURVE project–and I’d love to introduce a little about myself and my goals while working at such an awesome space. For anyone who doesn’t know me–my name is Robert Bryant. I’m currently an M.A. student in the Anthropology department, studying archaeology with a focus on software/hardware methodology within a praxis framework. That sounds really official sounding, so to make it sound more exciting–I’m heavily interested in freely sharing archaeological and historical information over through the democratic access of the internet.  I think everyone should have equal access to our shared cultural heritages and getting all data online, accessible, and more importantly engaging, fosters an extremely community forward interpretation of the past. How can this be accomplished? The term ‘public’ has positive connotations but can easily fall short on civic engagement–or “Working to make a difference in the civic life of our communities and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make that difference. It means promoting the quality of life in a community, through both political and non-political processes.” So, how can open public access to these collections be extended directly to its communities and stakeholders without endangering artifacts and carefully organized datasets? The answer lies in current technological innovation. With the advent of high-speed internet data transfer rates,  data digitalization technologies(such as the recently acquired NextEngine scanner at CURVE), and the wide-spread availability of computing devices capable of processing these large datasets—like smart phones, tablets and … Continue reading