As an Art teacher that teaches a variety of traditional Drawing and Painting classes, Advanced Portfolio classes and Digital Media classes I am using technology like this constantly. I am always looking for ways to motivate my students, provide them with information and keep them connected to current and historical art examples they can use to progress in their own work. I also look for examples to give them direction when they need more clarification on a project or an example to demonstrate a method that shows a process visually. It is extremely difficult to gather and store all of the visual information that I use daily with limited storage space. Relying on the Internet and some of the free information and storage systems available there has helped tremendously.
I currently have a del.icio.us site and although I have not used it often yet I will be relying more heavily on storing my resources here. I use hundreds of websites to teach kids platform functions and using tutorials that are found on different sites is a necessity. To be able to store links and to publish those so that students have a list to use is extremely helpful and will be something I begin initiating more frequently. It is also great for my advanced students to find more in depth sites to research from as well as gather information on processes and inspiration from images.
I have also used YouTube as a constant resource in my digital media class. I teach Flash and need examples of flash animation all of the time. I keep all of my favorite video casts organized in a YouTube account. I have also talked with another teacher who is going to be teaching me how to download video content from YouTube so that I will not run into the possibility of an example not being available after a certain period of time. Not having text books in our classrooms, as Art teachers, we have to keep a variety of resources "up our sleeve" and this course is helping me to create a large resource pool to allow me to give my students a strong enrichment within their curriculum.
12.10.2008
Assignment #6 Tasks
I must say that wiki's are definitely not my thing! I am not really sure why, as a teacher, I would need to use these as I have already so many other controllable ways to interact with my students online. I am not thrilled with the fact that posts can be placed unedited and would never trust all of my students to use respect and consideration when using the wiki. I find the whole wiki thing difficult to navigate and, sort of, a glorified chat room where anything goes. It feels like overkill to me.
9.16.2008
Assignment #5 - Video Resource Review
I believe that all four of the video share sites are helpful/useful in their own way. It depends on what you are searching for and the user that is conducting the search. As a teacher in the visual arts all four have their benefits.
Youtube, obviously, has the largest content base but you need to do a lot of searching through subjects and proofing the videos for the specifics as some sound appropriate but are not. Teacher tube provides a variety of subject matter that is definitely appropriate in content but the selection is not as vast. Next Vista has the potential of being great but is so new and probably not as well publicized therefore the information is sparse. It could take some time to build up a reference base that would be beneficial to teacher and student needs.
As parent, student or teacher the availability of these sites can be a goldmine of information. Just as Wesley Fryer commented in his podcast, Moving At the Speed of Creativity, students can access information and learn the pieces they may be missing without drawing attention or learning on their own time. Teachers could use these sites as assignments for research possibilities, or as resources in the classroom as visual cues instead of always written or verbal transfer of information. I know that I have often used videos from YouTube to demonstrate lessons or generate examples to encourage student motivation.
Youtube, obviously, has the largest content base but you need to do a lot of searching through subjects and proofing the videos for the specifics as some sound appropriate but are not. Teacher tube provides a variety of subject matter that is definitely appropriate in content but the selection is not as vast. Next Vista has the potential of being great but is so new and probably not as well publicized therefore the information is sparse. It could take some time to build up a reference base that would be beneficial to teacher and student needs.
As parent, student or teacher the availability of these sites can be a goldmine of information. Just as Wesley Fryer commented in his podcast, Moving At the Speed of Creativity, students can access information and learn the pieces they may be missing without drawing attention or learning on their own time. Teachers could use these sites as assignments for research possibilities, or as resources in the classroom as visual cues instead of always written or verbal transfer of information. I know that I have often used videos from YouTube to demonstrate lessons or generate examples to encourage student motivation.
7.11.2008
Assignment #4: Thoughts on blogging and pre-collegiate education
The world of blogging is very new and overwhelming to me. Although I am technologically savvy, so to speak, I feel out of my league here. I can say that in just the past week I am much more educated in the area of blogging. I believe it opens a lot of doors in the profession of education. It allows many to come together in situations that would be impossible without the blogging arena. I have taken a class that used something very similar to blogging and realize that students and teachers are able to communicate with the whole group as well as the individual almost simultaneously. Students are able to attend class from any number of locations and still remain part of the communicative group.
I see pros and cons for teachers below the collegiate level, however. College professors have the ability to run a course entirely on the web where ALL of the grading, teaching and communication is conducted there. As primary and secondary teachers we still have the responsibilities of lesson planning and classroom teaching a full class load along with the possible maintenance of a website and all of the paperwork and politics of the regular day. I can see where a teacher could get in over their head as far as the volume of blogging and how they use it in accordance with their current responsibilities.
There are so many different ideas and different ways that blogging would be benefitial to students but teachers would be shortchanging themselves and their students if they were to place all of their ideas into effect at one time. I could see getting caught up where you would be checking during other class times or taking away from planning time in order to keep up or you would be putting in so much extra time that you may get burnt out. I think the challenge would be taking this blogging idea and only plugging in small pieces at a time in order to maintain time management.
I would personally use blogging for Art/Artist critiques of web gallery sites, discussions on concepts and arguments in the art arena, peer critiques of student work, homework assistance, etc. I believe students would not only benefit from the interaction but also become more motivated, more involved and feel more a cohesive group as they walked into the classroom each day. They would be able to be in contact with each other outside the classroom and still be engaged in the learning that took place in the room at a previous time.
I see pros and cons for teachers below the collegiate level, however. College professors have the ability to run a course entirely on the web where ALL of the grading, teaching and communication is conducted there. As primary and secondary teachers we still have the responsibilities of lesson planning and classroom teaching a full class load along with the possible maintenance of a website and all of the paperwork and politics of the regular day. I can see where a teacher could get in over their head as far as the volume of blogging and how they use it in accordance with their current responsibilities.
There are so many different ideas and different ways that blogging would be benefitial to students but teachers would be shortchanging themselves and their students if they were to place all of their ideas into effect at one time. I could see getting caught up where you would be checking during other class times or taking away from planning time in order to keep up or you would be putting in so much extra time that you may get burnt out. I think the challenge would be taking this blogging idea and only plugging in small pieces at a time in order to maintain time management.
I would personally use blogging for Art/Artist critiques of web gallery sites, discussions on concepts and arguments in the art arena, peer critiques of student work, homework assistance, etc. I believe students would not only benefit from the interaction but also become more motivated, more involved and feel more a cohesive group as they walked into the classroom each day. They would be able to be in contact with each other outside the classroom and still be engaged in the learning that took place in the room at a previous time.
7.05.2008
My First Post
So, I am testing this blogging thing out for the first time. Not sure if I am getting it all but hopefully I can get the hang of it before September. I am hoping to get a photo in here soon but not quite sure how that works right now. Here is a quote for inspiration, enjoy:
"A fool-proof method for sculpting an elephant: first, get a huge block of marble; then you chip away everything that doesn't look like an elephant."
~Author Unknown
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)