Garrett Baggs

As a non-traditional student, juggling home, work, and school has been a bit of a challenge. Without a doubt, finding that perfect balance to keep two of the three up in the air while focusing on the third. So, when Dr. Jones offered the opportunity to earn extra credit for volunteering for at least 16 hours this semester, I thought long and hard about how much I would need those points versus the time available to do the work. Now, I’m not against volunteering, my family and I participate regularly, but I had serious concerns about adding that “chainsaw” to the three pins I was already juggling. One quiz into the year and I thought, surely there were 16 hours I could find to make it happen. Thankfully my employer offers one day per year to volunteer, so I was halfway home.

At the beginning of the semester, I first had the opportunity to participate in an event at Decatur Central High School in Indianapolis. The students were building props to be used in a science fiction movie. They had to build a model and then “sell” them to potential buyers. I played the role of a buyer and then got to grade them on their presentation, communication, and creativity. This project was a part of an interesting program they are using called Small Learning Communities.

This idea takes the Renaissance idea of becoming well rounded in education, athletics, and social skills and applies it to the Information Renaissance we are now living in. There are 6 different SLC’s, at Decatur Central. Each focuses on a different approach to learning and applies it to each subject within the community. For example, New Tech IDEAS uses computers and emerging technology to solve problems and real world issues, much like we do at Ball State through our institutes and Building Better Communities programs. It was fascinating to see how this school was mixing old concepts of the Renaissance with technology to reach out to today’s students. Dr. Jay Gillette, in his paper, Leadership for the Information Renaissance: Clarity, Challenges, Opportunity, notes that the Renaissance men and women of the Information Renaissance “work in more than one area; they take ideas in from many people” (Gillette, 2007). This is exactly what these students are doing. They are working on teams, with staff members, parents, and other members of the communities to develop their own characters. Hopefully this will continue as they move to the next levels of their development.

I saw some very creative work. I am pleased that these students are embracing the importance of their work at this stage of their lives. While they may not be developing movie props, they will be designing software and hardware applications which tap into that creativity and forethought which they displayed.

Works Cited
Gillette, Dr. Jay (2007). Leadership for the Information Renaissance: Clarity, Challenges, Opportunity. Retrieved December 5, 2009, from Academia.edu: http://ballstate.academia.edu/JayGillette/Papers/97235/Leadership-for-the-Information-Renaissance---Clarity--Challenges--Opportunity