#self-directed

Unschooling STEM – Learning Multiplication Tables

Unschooling STEM – Will they learn the times tables if I don’t teach them? – Listen to this amazing podcast that I had the honor of chatting with Robyn Robertson on her channel “Honey, I’m Homeschooling the Kids!” Unschooling STEM at “Honey, I’m Homeschooling the Kids!” http://imhomeschooling.com/unschooling-stem/ It gives you insight on how children learn math symbolically and on paper, the…

Summary:

For my self directed project, I decided to write my own song and record it using audacity. I used several online tutorials as well as my own intuition to learn audacity and get my desired result. This project started as something that I was very hesitant about. I was my first time writing a song, and I had no idea if I would be able to write anything at all- let alone anything good! On top of that, the fact that I had no actual audio recording equipment, and access to only a guitar as an instrument made me scared that this project would not be a success. Though I was hesitant, I feel as though I was able to make something I was truly proud of with this project, and I’m really happy that I took on this challenge! 

How I learned:

The songwriting process was largely something that I improvised, I figured that following tutorials would ruin my creative process, and that I would find it hard to be original. I started writing by playing chord progressions that I found nice, and added a melody and then words on top of it. I found that everything came very naturally and seemingly out of thin air. More than that- I found the process almost magical, like I created something from nothing.

Learning audacity was definitely something more structured, and actually required tutorials to do. I followed several different online tutorials (linked below) to get a general understanding of audacity, as well as tutorials that addressed how to achieve specific effects I wanted. I also sometimes found myself on the audacity forums to find answers to specific problems I had.

Tutorials I used: 

I also found this Wikihow article helpful.

I didn’t find audacity too difficult to master tool wise, but I definitely found it a little finicky when it came to rerecording audio and syncing it up properly. I felt like those actions had a bit of a learning curve to them, and only could be done efficiently with a good feel for the program. 

What I liked:

I found audacity to be a very user-friendly program, with lots of documentation available on how to use it. I didn’t find it hard at all to record or edit my audio, and it was very easy to apply the effects I wanted onto what I recorded. The effects I put on (such a reverb, bass boosting, echo, volume stabilization etc…) still maintained the natural, lo-fi sound that I wanted for the recording, which I was happy about. I also found there was a lot of freedom in audacity to truly produce exactly what I wanted. I could meticulously adjust every setting to my hearts content to get the exact sound I envisioned- something that the perfectionist in me really loved.

What I didn’t like:

The audacity software tended to run slowly on my computer- which is pretty odd considering that resource heavy programs such as Premiere Pro and Photoshop haven’t had many issues regarding lag in the past. Sometimes audacity would freeze, sometimes when recording audio there would be dropouts in the recording due to lag- something that forced me to re-record pieces that I thought came out well. It was also very tough to line up audio, as there were no tools to actually do so. This process was frustrating and time-consuming, and I wished there was a way to do it more efficiently.

The worst thing ever!

Definitely the worst and most frustrating part of this entire project was the moment my audacity software crashed out of nowhere and decided it could no longer read any of my files. At this point I was just adding the finishing touches on the song, and somehow the program just gave up on me! When I googled it, I was told what I experienced was an uncontrollable audacity error, and could not be fixed. Learning this was of course very discouraging for me going forward, and was a big obstacle I had to get through to achieve my final result. Though momentarily feeling like it was the end of the world, I was able to re-record my parts to produce what I think is a better produced recording overall. 

All my audio was lost! 

Conclusion:

I am extremely happy with my results using Audacity, and would definitely use it again for a variety of purposes, which could include writing new songs, editing voice overs for projects or videos, or creating audio compilations. I think that Audacity is a very powerful tool, and I am very happy that I chose to learn how to use it in IDC. As well as this, I think this project really made me less afraid of songwriting in general, and has inspired me to continue to write and make music in the future.

Source.

Typed and handwritten notes by Octavia E. Butler for her novel Parable of the Sower, ca. 1989. Octavia E. Butler papers. The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. © Estate of Octavia E. Butler.

[SELF-DIRECT PROJECT]

Video description: Doing this, I appreciate the things around me. Doing this, I appreciate the things that I am looking at. Doing this, I appreciate the things in front of me. Doing this, I appreciate the things I can feel. Doing this, I appreciate that I’m able to see what I see. Doing this, I appreciate Nature, for showing me its true form – a beautiful sight. I appreciate Nature, for making that sight something familiar to me. I appreciate Nature, for allowing me to live in it. For allowing me to be a part of it. Doing this, I appreciate, that – at this very moment – I am alive. Project statement:  My project started with an influence from Ghibli Studio movies – Hayao Miyazaki’s nature scenes. I like the way how he, not only captured, but able to represent the images of Nature in his own aspect. I also like the way how Miyazaki gives Nature a magical feeling by colours and effects. The Nature still remain at itself: with plants, trees, animals, leaves, flowers, water… but the colours are so much more vibrant and gorgeous. Using his skills and techniques, Miyazaki gives Nature that “alive” feeling, makes the audiences feel like Nature is not just a scene, a landscape, or a collection of unmove objects. Nature appears in his work in a form of an actual living thing that speaks and somehow is able to communicate to both the characters in the movies, and the audiences watching it through a screen. Seeing Miyazaki’s works makes me want to create something beautiful, attractive and make an impact on the audiences. 

The whole video is about 5 minutes long, but in reality, it only took me 2 seconds to take a photo like the one presented in it. However, that 2 seconds was compacted, then expanded to a longer presentation that comprises much more than a single photo could be. As every second passes, the Nature is changing and those changes are unique. Knowing that I can never experience the exact same thing again, I wanted to capture everything I saw, everything I heard, everything I felt, everything that I absorbed from that exact moment. In that 2 seconds, what had happened? What was happening? What might had happened but I couldn’t see? Those are the things that I “absorbed” from looking at the scene, therefore I wanted to capture that special moment, and share it to other people, as an experience of me communicated to Nature. 

The theme for my project this time is Nature. The reason I chose such theme for my project is because I think that, Nature, in our life, has become familiar to us. It is, infact, too familiar that we started to see it as a normal, common, sometimes even vulgar, thing. We started to ignore it, instead of enjoy it. We forgot about its existence instead of treasure or appreciate it. Through my work I want to show people how Nature - without interruption or distraction - actually looks like, the way it communicates to us, the way we link to it. From that, I want to create a media work that can show other people the “life” of Nature and how it looks in my own perspective. That is why I named my work “Your vision, my view”. And most important, I want to show people how much I appreciate the scenario of Nature in front of my eyes, and how much thankful I am, that I am alive, to be able to see such a sight.