Experiential Learning & Film Making

This past week was a good experience for me. I felt uncomfortable, overwhelmed and pushed. I felt the same way I'm sure that some on my students feel. I kept at it, I reached out to others for help, and I dug in to finish the job at hand. I learned how to make a film this week by doing it myself. I did not take a class or read in a book how to make a film. I just did it. While at times, I was frustrated and overwhelmed, in the end I felt pure elation. The links to my views on education are numerous.

In some cases, some students learn best by doing. This is known to me as experiential learning or kinesthetic learning. Going through the experience can be disconcerting. Having gone through this again myself, I feel a better connection to my own students. Some of them are experiential learners by their nature. I try my best to present my courses in a variety of ways to hit a variety of learning styles including experiential learners. I teach college accounting, which has a bad reputation for being a tough subject matter. It is the kind of class that requires practice, lots of practice. To some degree, all of my students are forced to be experiential learners. The practice of accounting involves translating business transactions into an accounting format which culminates into financial reports. All of this requires the act of doing accounting. It is not enough to think about and write about accounting. To master accounting, one must do accounting. It is good for me to re-learn what it is to feel lost in the midst of the experiential learning process.

Another major insight this week has been the recognition of learning new skills to support professional growth. To become a better person, a better teacher, a better partner, etc.; it is sometimes necessary to acquire a new skill to get to where you really want to go. To become a better person, perhaps I need to learn time management skills. To become a better partner, perhaps I need to learn better listening skills. To become a better teacher, perhaps I need to learn better technology skills. The technology skills I am learning in CEP 882 are sometimes dramatic to me. All the while I am using Facebook and even now typing up a new post for my blog, there is a part of me deep inside that is surprised and impressed. Before this class, I had a 3 month old Facebook account that I did not use and had no interest in pursuing. I had never blogged and wasn't exactly sure why the term actually meant. I had used my digital camera for occasion snapshots, but my kids were the ones who really understood its capabilities and possibilities. I had never used anything like Camtasia or Windows Movie Maker prior to this week. I get cranky when I am forced to learn new technology. Overall, I tend to be a quick learner, but it also tends to be a somewhat unpleasant experience. After a little bit of use, the new technology seems like second nature and quickly I can't imagine ever not using it. Yet the process of introduction and assimilation is a bit scary for me. I am glad to have learned how to make a simple movie and am accumulating lots of ideas on how to incorporate simple bits of film into my classes. I am inspired and ready to do more with this new skill.