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THE UNIVERSITY OBSERVER 1 February 2011
FEATURES
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Le lasadh lampa bheag bán... Le stiúideo Pixar ar an saol le 25 bliain i mbliana, breathnaíonn Meabh Ní Choileáin ar an turas dochreidte atá déanta acu ó na laethanta tosaigh
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íl ach áit amháin ar domhan gur féidir smaointí a phitseáil go rathúil faoi francach le scileanna cócaireachta ar aon le chuid Jamie Oliver nó faoi róbat a thiteann i ngrá agus é ar thuras spáis, ag déanamh iarracht an chine daonna a tharrtháil le phlanda. Ní áit é seo atá suite i gcaisleán draíochtach nó i measc na scamaill ach oiread, ach sna Stáit Aontaithe, i gCalifornia. Dár ndóigh, is é stiúideo Pixar atá i gceist. I mbliana, tá 25 bliain de scánnáin bheochana á chéiliúradh ag Pixar agus ag breathnú siar ar an liosta mhórthaibhseach atá acu, ní chreidfá gur thosaigh sé go léir le lampa bheag bán. Sa bhliain 1986, léirigh bunaitheoir Pixar, John Lassester, an ghearr scannáin Luxo Jr., a thaispeáin an stíl leithleach a bhí ag Pixar, cé nach bhfuil sé ach dhá nóiméad go leith ar fhad. Bhí an scannán rathúil ón tús ach ní an ríomhbheochan amháin a bhí daoine tógtha leis- thit siad i ngrá le Luxo agus Luxo beag ag imirt lena chéile agus leis an liathróid. D’athain daoine an phearsantacht agus an chroí a bhí tugtha do na rudaí neamhbheo seo agus b’shin go díreach an freagairt a bhí ag teastáil ó Pixar ón bpobal. Anois tá Luxo beag mar lógó don chomhlacht agus aon uair go bpreabann sé trasna ár scáileáin roimh thús scannáin, tá a fhios againn go bhfuil turas iontach eile de chuid
Pixar os ár gcomhair. Más cuimhin libh na hoícheanta sin agus sibh níos óige, ag coimeád súil amháin ar oscailt sa leaba ar bhur mbréagáin, tá an seans ann go raibh sibh díreach tar éis Toy Story, an chéad príomhscannán le Pixar, a fheiceáil sa phictiúrlann. Ag fás aníos sna nóchaidí, is scannán é seo a thugann sainmhíniú ar ár n-óige agus fiú anois, agus muid ag freastal ar an ollscoil, is muidne na daoine a threoraigh na sluaite i dtreo an bpictíurlann nuair a thánig Toy Story 3 amach an samhradh seo caite. Is é sin an éifeacht atá ag scannáin Pixar ar dhaoine; fanann siad linn go deo agus ní féidir linn ach draíocht éigin a cheangailt leo. Ar an iomlán, tá aon scannán dhéag léirithe ag Pixar, ina measc: an tríológ Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, Ratatouille, WALL-E agus Up. Ón liosta seo, tá rogha scannáin ag gach duine. Más sárlaochra ag troid ar mhaithe an chine daonna a thaithníonn leat nó seangán beag gorm ag iarraidh a féiniúlacht a oibriú amach, cabhróidh Pixar leat teacht air. Dár leis an bhfealsúnacht atá acu, níl na féidireachtaí teoranta agus is fiú breathnú ar gach rud faoi dhó mar is minic an rud is nórmálta an rud is suimiúla. Thar aon rud eile, is é an áilleacht agus an ardéirim a bhaineann le Pixar ná an inniúlacht atá acu mothúchán agus taithí an duine aonarach a ghabháil trí samhlaíocht pháiste. Cé go néiríonn leo tithe a chur ag
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faoileoireacht tríd na spéire leis na mílte balúin agus bréagáin leanaí a chuir ag rith ar crios iompair an aerfort, fós féin, tugann Pixar faoi roinnt mhaith de na mhórcheisteanna. Leagtar béim ar lochtanna na gcarachtair chomh maith leis na buanna agus brethnaítear ar chuid de ghéar réaltachtaí an saol chomh maith. Is léir nach síscéalta simplí atá i gceist leis na scannáin seo, ach fórsaí láidre a thugann aghaidh ar an mbás agus an aimrideacht, ar theaghlaigh briste agus ar
bhulaíocht. I mbliana, cuirfaimid fáilte roimh Cars 2 sa phictiúrlann agus an bhliain seo chugainn, Mosters Inc. 2 agus Brave. Má tá aon rud foghlaimthe againn ó stiúideo Pixar go dtí seo, is é gur féidir linn lán-mhuinín a infheistiú iontu. Mar sin, is cinnte go bhfuil gach duine ag tnúth go mór le Luxo beag a fheiceáil ag preabadh trasna an scáileáin arís. Nach iontach na féidireachtaí a thagann chun solais le lasadh lampa bheag bán!
Scannáin bheochana – animation films Mórthaibhseach – impressive Stíl leithleach – unique style Ríomhbheochan – computer animation Rudaí neamhbheo – inanimate objects Príomhscannán – feature film Inniúlacht – ability Géar réaltachtaí – harsh realities
E-volution With the usual low figures of students attending lectures since the beginning of this semester, Faye Docherty and Natasha Murtagh investigate how the online revolution has rendered attending class inessential
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ourse documents, announcements, contacts, assignments and so much more can all be found on our beloved Blackboard. UCD Connect has brought about a new community of internet-reliant and up-to-date students who seem to be informed on just about everything. It’s no secret that there are more empty seats in a lecture and more occupied couches at home these days. A majority of students feel that relying primarily on Blackboard is as beneficial as attending their lectures, but will this luxury hinder a student’s experience of college? Will future students of UCD become a generation foreign to the idea of face-to-face contact? In today’s fast-paced world, it should be no surprise that online education has become increasingly accessible and remains ever expanding. Universities, colleges and institutes are focusing their attention more on web-based education, exploring and discovering what it has to offer. It is being promoted as the best way forward, yet this can be seen far beyond the Belfield campus. It’s happening in most universities across Ireland and throughout the rest of the world. Education Editor of The Irish Times, Sean Flynn, makes the point that Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has grasped the concept of online learning to its full potential. MIT has a web-based publication called Open Course Ware (OCW), which contains the entire course content of the various programmes that are on offer at the institute. The OCW contains the full course material of 200 different undergraduate and
graduate subjects taught at MIT, including architecture and planning, science, management, humanities, arts and social sciences. “If the Massachusetts Institute of Technology can do it, I can’t see why we can’t do it,” says Flynn, questioning the inefficiency of Ireland’s online education abilities. This effortless system for students to attain all information from their lectures without even stepping inside the university’s grounds is a perfect example of where education is heading. Web-based education illustrates how our global community is gradually relying on what technology and the internet can provide for us. Hibernia College Dublin is another third-level institution that, according to Flynn, has taken advantage of technology and pushed online learning to a successful programme. In their mission statement online, it states that the success of this model is due to it being ‘dedicated to helping professionals meet their current work challenges and by continually building on the interactions of students and faculty’. On demand content, live virtual classes and learner communities are the three forms of content with which a student at Hibernia will collaborate, all of which are online. For adults with children or mature students who are balancing a job as well as trying to get a degree, this method of learning is ideal. Flynn says that what Hibernia claims to have done is “the first real test of online learning in Ireland, education based, at a high level, and it’s been very successful, and it shows you how successful this distant form of learning can be”.
With companies and institutes such as Hibernia making great strides in this area, there is no denying Flynn has a point. Web-based education will help
much more than just novice students not bothered to travel into their nine o’clock Monday morning lecture. It will provide a system so that anybody, at any age, can
Students have become increasingly dependent on online materials as a source of learning since the internet came into widespread use in the late 90s.
further their education. However, this colossal advance in technology regarding education does have its handicaps. Emma O’Reilly, a second-year Business and Law student, says that “most lecturers would put up most of their notes, and that’s basically what they go through in the lectures, and they say they say stuff in the lectures that they don’t put up on Blackboard, but they don’t”. The fact students are finding more information online does not seem to bother nor hinder the students of UCD. There is no evidence of a decrease in the amount of students completing their degrees after their course has finished because of the option to skip classes and lectures. Will this burgeoning phenomenon completely change the teaching methods in colleges for future generations and mean the idea of a nine o’clock lecture on a Monday is an alien one? Gone are the days of chalk and dusters and so we must advance for the benefit of future generations. In the words of John Dewey: “If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow.” Granted students use far less paper and pens, instead choosing to depend on their laptops but isn’t that just a case of students moving along with the times? Nowadays, it’s impossible to ignore technology, let alone survive without it. Embracing new ways of learning is essential if universities wish to engage with an ever-changing student demographic. The transformation is already well underway, but how it will change to suit the needs of new students is anyone’s guess.