What do I know about innovation? Well, something, I guess. I have been teaching computer animation/visual effects for 21 years, so there’s that. And I suppose it’d be hard to argue against the notion that “the means of production [in my field] have been revolutionized,” as my social science colleagues would say. Two-dimensional animation, once drawn and colored on paper and then photographed, is now crafted on computer using software applications such as ToonBoom Harmony. And visual effects, once painted, sculpted, and armature-driven in silicone are now created in software such as ZBrush and animated/rendered in Maya. Innovation in computer graphics has allowed for a more seamless, believable photo-reality of the cinematic effect.
Innovation in computer graphics has also allowed for more downstream edit-ability, so that character attributes, animation paths and timing, and visual effect reads can all be tinkered with extensively during a production as opposed to rigorously planned out, as they formerly had been. I remember a colleague telling me about the 1998 movie Stuart Little – that even after animation on much of the film had been completed, changes were still being made to the character’s form, shading, hair, and clothing.
For me personally, among the most helpful of innovations is wireless convergence/my phone, which has allowed a person like me to, you know, have a calendar and stuff, respond to emails and texts right away so they don’t build up, and take care of things on the fly that I may have forgotten, like getting directions to the bar. Even though I never stop working, I make fewer unforced errors at work, thanks to my trusty phone.
Oh yeah, and also my heart. If not for over 30 years of innovation at treating arrhythmia, the procedure to fix my atrial fibrillation would’ve been so much more invasive. Insert “gulp” emoji here. These days the surgery to correct a-fib is a one-day, outpatient affair.
At times, I can’t help but amuse myself at the full-circularity of innovation, in that so often a computer is allowing for something to take place on a computer that used to take place on a piece of paper or using some other equipment. As in: Microsoft word is a typewriter; 2D animation is still essentially the same flip booking it always was, you just do it using software; And one could argue 3d animation is just virtualized stop-motion animation. And more broadly: an electric car is basically a huge, battery powered fan that pushes wheels instead of fan blades; Zoom is just basically a video conferencing enabled telephone party line; VHS dating for people with mullets vs swiping on apps. Feel free to send me more examples.
From a governance point of view, the age of high-speed internet and everyone-having-a-computer has allowed the Senate to stay very much intact in its function at GCC. The phenomenon of a college, formerly an actual physical gathering of people, becoming patterned clusters of data being exchanged in real time is pretty cool to think about. But I’m not sure Zoom is so much of a recent innovation as it was a miraculously-already-there solution to our collective emergency needs as an institution. I guess I will let Zoom plus high-speed internet still count – and, you know, the whole real life becoming data thing, for sure.
What I am sure of, as steward of Senate business and goofy champion of the ten plus one, is that significant innovation is taking place with regard to student contact within the distance education environment. For instructors newly DE Certified and developing asynchronous content, the manner in which to effectively deliver course content is being rethought, as sequential modules or “chunks” in the learning management system. For areas like art, where demonstration is key to student learning, the availability of recorded sessions, both in SOI and asynchronous courses, has helped students, especially those who benefit from being able to view project steps repeatedly. And for synchronous online instructors, the challenge of keeping classes engaged while meeting online is leading to products like Class being explored as enhancements to this modality. Of course, there's a lot more going on than just that at GCC.
I will sign off for the year bittersweetly, with some pep-talking and mentions of things that give me pause. On the sweet side, I believe there is always a way for one to connect more productively (and healthfully) with others, and I see how much we as a college care about doing just that – and how hard we are trying. On the bitter side, innovation, like using oil to run machines, can feel miraculous at first but continue without adequate factoring in of economic externalities, resulting in addiction-like toxic effects to the innovators themselves. Going a little bit deeper into the bitterness, I wonder the degree to which any innovation has not been weaponized by those who wield influence. Will there be an unanticipated long-term cost of having rebuilt the college as a digital entity?
Who knows? But, hey, let’s close with something sweet: we as a college are helping people survive, get a little better at things, and lay claim to more fulfilling lives. I can’t think of a better thing to do than that.
Roger
Glendale Community College | 1500 North Verdugo Road, Glendale, California 91208 | Tel: 818.240.1000
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