Kean University Writing Project Student Educators Hack Their Notebooks

Publication: NJ.com
Date: October 20, 2014

Summary: Student teachers learn how to add another dimension to their writing by illuminating pages in a "Hack Your Notebook" workshop led by Kean University Writing Project Director Mia Zamora.

Excerpt from Article

The light bulb has long been a metaphor for learning. Inside the Kean University Writing Project (KUWP), an innovative space for writers and makers, such `aha' moments are sometimes accompanied by literal flashes of light. At Kean University writing is at the center of pedagogy and practiced every day. Under the guidance of the Kean University Writing Project's Director, Dr. Mia Zamora, Kean's student educators utilize paper circuitry as a new way of engaging with language, illuminating written pages with conductive tape, LEDs and small batteries.

Recently, the National Writing Project and the Educator Innovator network helped launch 'Hack Your Notebook Day,' which featured a special writing-engineering "maker" challenge. Working with circuit stickers developed by Jie Qi, a doctoral candidate at the MIT Media Lab, Kean University Writing Project's student educators illuminated their writing with copper wire, circuits, LEDs, and more.

As Director of the Kean University Writing Project, Zamora teaches fellow educators to think about Connected Learning. 'My students are peers,' said Zamora. 'I'm still the professor, but the students aren't university students; they're teachers thinking about their own pedagogical approach.'"

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