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Re: [xmca] http://vimeo.com/groups/39473/videos



Listening to this my mind goes crazy. I can think of a hundred topics for 5 minute videos!

Last night I was doing a search using Google Videos and (1) I was blown over by how many different currents of psychology there are, and (2) Watched a video explaining Vygvotsky's concept of learning and development in terms of scaffolding and zoped that would be pretty controversial on this list. ... but (3) Nothing apart from the new vimeo collection reflective of the general views of people on this list (as diverse as they are).

Andy

(Hope you're on high ground, Deb. I hear there was 260mm overnight in your part of the world.)

Deb Rockstroh wrote:
Couldn't agree with you more Jenna.
As a full time internal post grad student who works from home because after
5 yrs she can no longer afford the daily 2hr drive to and from uni (where
no-one else is into Vygotsky anyway), XMCA has been my lifeline. Andy's
videos on vimeo are excellent (and great to put faces to names) and the one
by Mike on your site is fantastic - as though I was in class with you all.

The hardest thing I've found as a researcher is knowing where my voice fits
in to the conversation, like the little kid standing knee height to the
giants in the room. I tend to think because something is written somewhere
that everyone knows it, and I've read pretty widely so it becomes rather
confusing/intimidating. So the emails and debates on xmca are brilliant for
clarifying things, but at the same time as you mentioned, hearing someone
like Mike explain something can be a revelation, even the simplest concept
can be expressed in a way that adds so much more meaning.

The 'learning leads development' concept is a major one in my thesis ... due
to submit Friday, I'd best get back to it  :)

Deb


-----Original Message-----
From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu]
On Behalf Of Jenna McWilliams
Sent: Monday, October 11, 2010 12:07 PM
To: ablunden@mira.net; eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
Subject: Re: [xmca] http://vimeo.com/groups/39473/videos

And here's what I just wrote in an email to Andy:


In thinking about our recent conversation with Mike, I kept returning
to a few really huge moments in the discussion where he said something
I felt was extremely, extremely important. To me, those are the
moments worth pushing out to the general public (i.e., the several
dozen people in the world who care about mediation and CHAT). To me,
those are the moments worth discussing.

For example: Mike said that what Vygotsky _actually_ said was not that
"learning precedes development" but that "learning can be organized in
such a way that learning can precede development." For those of us who
have only brushed the surface of Soviet psychology, this is a big
revelation and one worth discussing. What I enjoy about XMCA is being
able to watch people debate these sorts of issues--if every xmca email
was a long piece of writing that didn't engage in conversation with
anyone else, I'd be just as well off if I just sat by myself somewhere
and read all of the xmca members' books and articles. But it's the
_conversation_ that clarifies and crystallizes things, the
_conversation_ that pushes theory forward.

And video can't do exactly what xmca can do, but it can group together
footage of people engaging with a central idea, right? Wouldn't that
be neat?





I really like the idea of organizing a semi-weekly or perhaps monthly
video topic--for example, perizhivanie or LSV's use of metaphor--and
collecting short video clips in which xmca folks weigh in with their
thoughts. This could be a way to capture and share the ideas discussed
in this listserv--to make them available to a broader public (as in,
for example, newer academics for whom xmca feels too dense and too
daunting). Of course, this may be too narrow of a focus for this
group; I don't know.







~~

Jenna McWilliams
Learning Sciences Program, Indiana University
~
http://www.jennamcwilliams.com
http://twitter.com/jennamcjenna

~
jenmcwil@indiana.edu
jennamcjenna@gmail.com




On Oct 10, 2010, at 8:54 PM, Andy Blunden wrote:

Thanks for the promo, Peter, but I need to make a small correction:
The video of Gita is provided by Natalia Gajdamschko, and Natalia is
working on more videos of Gita as well. Gita is responsible for the
whole process, not me.

Another issue. Jenna McWilliams has suggested that *very* short
videos on specific problems or ideas or issues, I mean 1 to 5
minutes, make very useful objects for class or group discussion, and
perhaps we ought to concentrate more energies on collecting material
like this.

So! Anyone who would like to record a short interview or talk, upper
limit 5 minutes, is welcome to contact me via Skype, with their
webcam at the ready, and we can get busy. Not just me, others can do
it too. Jenna? Almost every post on xmca offers an opportunity for
such items. The big advantage of the 2 minute video over the 200
word essay is that a video can be shared in a real and immediate
way, in a way that written text cannot. That's over and above all
the secondary channels of communication that video talks offer.

Any takers?
Andy

Peter Smagorinsky wrote:
http://vimeo.com/groups/39473/videos/14850621


Hi, Andy Blunden has made available a video of a talk given by Gita
Vygotsky
(LSV's daughter) at UGA about a decade ago; the video came from a
VHS tape
provided by Marty Carr and JoBeth Allen, was converted to digital
form by
OIT, transferred via ftp through a website, and converted to a
viewable
format by Andy. This is part of a growing collection of interviews,
etc.
about Vygotskian research that Andy and others are making available
on the
web, including both archival material such as this talk and newly
conducted
interviews with current researchers from diverse continents. Andy
can do the
interviews from Australia via skype and record and edit them for
public
viewing. What a world!  Enjoy, p

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--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Andy Blunden*
Home Page: http://home.mira.net/~andy/
Videos: http://vimeo.com/user3478333/videos
Book: http://www.brill.nl/scss


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--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Andy Blunden*
Home Page: http://home.mira.net/~andy/
Videos: http://vimeo.com/user3478333/videos
Book: http://www.brill.nl/scss


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