Technology & Education

Technology has had an impact on education. Technology has been able to change and impact the way that we as teachers are reaching students. We as teachers are now able to reach students that are not in our classroom. We have the ability to teach lessons to students outside our classroom because of programs like Skype and Voice Thread. Students are now able to be more engaged in the introduction of lessons as well. With tools like the Smart Board students can be introduced to a lesson using games, stories, or videos. Technology has made it much easier to make lessons interesting to students. The use of technology has had an impact of students' interest as well. We as teachers are able to make our lesson more visually pleasing and that means that we can keep students' attention much longer. Since there are many different learning styles, we can use technology to help students learn by using technology to provide a variety of learning styles in our technology. We are able to focus our lessons to help those students who have special needs so that they have the ability to learn much better. As an art teacher, I have been able to give my students a much richer art experience because of technology. I am now able to show my students art works that they otherwise will not be able to view. I am able to give them the best art viewing experience as possible without taking them to the museums. I am also able to have them create artwork using technology. Technology has drastically photography. Students are now able to produce beautiful photos without a large amount of expensive equipment. My students are also about to use technology for graphic design and other digital media pieces of artwork. They are able to create art using technology that is very low cost. Overall technology has brought a lot to the classroom and has changed the way that teachers teach students. I believe that as technology continues to advance that it will continue to positively impact the way that we teach our students.

Below I have an audio piece about the technology tool Voice Thread. This piece talks about how it enhances my classroom. Have a listen!! (Just click below)

listen to ‘Voice Thread Tool’ on Audioboo

Graphic Organizer

During this week, I discovered a great resource that I plan to use in my classroom. This resource is called a graphic organizer. Basically it is a visual study tool. The graphic organizer consists of images and text that can help break down a larger idea. This resource is great for the classroom because it allows those students who are visual learners in the class a better way to learn. The organizer can be used in discussions to connect images with the information, as a study guide for students, or as a group discussion starter. There are numerous other possibilities as well. I plan to use it in my art room to organize the main themes in art. I see a big advantage to having a resource like this. One reason being that it helps the visual learners of the classroom. Another reason is so that I , as an educator, can switch up my teaching style. Finally, I feel that it engages students much more. It is a more exciting method of learning. Below I have an example of a graphic organizer. This was created for my students in my ceramics class to use as a study guide for their final test. I hope you find it to be useful!

Graphic Organizer (Inspiration)

Inspiration is a great tool that is used to make graphic organizers. Like the title says a graphic organizer is an outline of information made with graphics as well as text. I would use this in the classroom to help keep students engaged. I believe that many students are more visual learners so as a result a outline that is mainly graphics would help each student learn much more. It can be given out as part of notes in the class so that students can have a fun way to study and remember much more. I will use it to help me when I am teaching. I tend to lose my place when I teach off of notes so I believe that by following images I will be much less likely to lose my place which would lead to my lesson teaching going much smoother. The biggest advantage to using a graphic organizer in the classroom is that it keeps students interested. I am also able to get a large amount of information into a small space which then gives me more space to teach. One other advantage to using the graphic organizer is that it can be posted up in multiple ways. I can change my view from a web to an outline in a few seconds. This versatility allows the advantage for all students because they can all look at the information that suits them best. I used Inspiration to create my graphic organizer. This program is user friendly and fun to use. I recommend you give it a chance. Below is an example on a graphic organizer. I made this one to help my students get a better grasp on the many different concentrations of art and a few examples of each. Enjoy ...

Podcasting

Podcasting is a good educational tool. I feel that students can learn from podcasts. They can use podcasts to hear from other educators teach the same subject they are learning in a different way or style. They can learn from other students through podcasts by listening to projects that fellow students created. I also think that podcasts can be a great research tool as well. Students can use them as an additional resource to gather information. The main advantage of using podcasts is that they are usually free. Having good podcasts available to the classroom opens up a lot of possibilities since they are free there is really no limitations to where they can be used. I also like that podcasts are done by so many people. This allows students to get numerous perspectives on the same subject. As great as podcasts are, there are some disadvantages as well. I found that the main disadvantage to some podcasts is that there is no visual attached to them. This can be a problem, especially when discussing art because without the visual of the art piece being discussed; students could have a hard time visualizing what is being discussed. I feel that sometimes students do not get the full effect unless they have a visual. However, overall I feel that podcasts are a useful learning tool for the classroom.

I watched a podcast today. It was a TEDtalk by Lucy McRae titles- How can technology transform the body? This was a really informative video especially for me as an artist so because of that I made a quick summary. Just click on the link below to listen.

Digital Story Telling

Digital Story Telling is a way to make video presentations. I used Photo Peach which I  thought was user friendly and a great resource. I feel that this can be used for education in many ways. I can use it in my art room to introduce lessons. Using it to introduce my lessons, students will be able to see examples and information that goes along with those images, as I am going over certian aspects of the lesson. I can also use it to show students different artists. I can create a weekly presentation on a certain artist and do a feature artist each week. This tool is also a great help for me when I am going over the steps of the lesson. I can have an image and the instructions up as I do a demonstration. It can even be an alternative to an altered book. Where they can use Digital Story Telling to create a "book" or just use it to create a story project. There are really an endless amount of possibilities.

My students can use this as a tool as well. They can make a presentation to share with the class about a certain topic. They could use it in place of a test to show me what they learned. I can have them use it for a project. They can use it to showcase their photos from a photo project. My students can use it to can also use it for their final project as their portfolio.This will show their progress throughout the year and showcase all their finished pieces. They have the ability to discuss their opinions on Photo Peach as well which would help them in talking about their portfolio. Photo Peach would be a great tool for the art classroom and my students.

Here is my example of how I used Photo Peach to introduce a lesson.


Sculptural Art on PhotoPeach

Twitter

Twitter is a site used mainly for entertainment purposes. However, some teachers find it to be a useful tool in the classroom. I think that teachers should use it. I feel that there are a lot of benefits to using twitter. Teachers should use it to reach students. Teachers should use what is relevant to students to reach them. Twitter can be used to do many thing for students. It can be used for reminders, important information, and other tools like research. It can be very beneficial for students and teachers. Teachers can use it to get help from fellow teachers on issues, figure out ways to help students, get helpful information or helpful tools from other teachers, get lesson plan ideas, and find people who can help their students learn. In art, teachers can twitter to benefit their students. The teacher can set up tweets with the artists to get an inside look into that artist's work. It can be used for students who are in art as a research tool. They can use it to look into contemporary artists, get opinions for a social justice art project, see what other students are making, and just to get inspiration. Other non-art students can use twitter for similar ideas as well. They can use it to hash tag to do research, get opinions from other students, and get other helpful educational information. Twitter does in fact have a place in learning. However, it must be used carefully because with out careful use then Twitter can become a destructive tool in the classroom. Twitter like all other internet related tools can be useful and dangerous as well. However, Twitter should be used in the classroom because its usefulness out ways its harmfulness.

Blogs and RSS Feeds for Education

There are numerous educational blogs and RSS feeds. I have found that many are helpful. As an art education teacher, I have found that it is somewhat difficult to find resources online. There are some but there are not as many as for other subjects. However, I have found that blogs and RSS feeds are incredibly useful.

I found one blog that is called Art is Messy. This blog is from a fellow art teacher. She uses this site to display artwork created by her students. I really like this site because it is a great site to get ideas from to use in my classroom. She is a teacher who is teaching at an American school in China. She has lessons and posts from her art 2 class as well as her graphic design class. There is another section called artists to know. All three of these are very helpful.

I find this teacher's blog so interesting because 1) she is in China and able to give a different view of art. 2) She has experience with graphic design and finally 3) because she also has some middle grade work on her site as well. These are also the main reasons that I find this site helpful to me as a fellow art teacher. It has given me new ideas and a different perspective to teaching.

The other site I found is an RSS feed site called The Art Newspaper. This site has soooo much information on it. It has exactly what the title says....news on art. This is helpful to me as a teacher because it keeps me up to date on what is happening in the art world. I am able to see what is happening in the contemporary world of art which is really important because as a teacher I have to keep art relevant to my students and looking into contemporary art is one way to do that. There is also museum information on the site as well. This helps keep me informed as to how the world is affecting art which also helps my students learn. The information on museums may be interesting to some of my students as well. I will mainly use this site to see what is relevant in the art world and find out any information that would be important and interesting for my students.

I hope this information on these two sites helps... 

Teaching in the 21st Century

Teaching has changed over the years. however, not until recently has it really been noticed. As a teacher today, I have access to so much more than I would have had if I taught where technology is not as advanced. I am able to teach so much more information to my students today because I have access to virtually anything I want because of the internet. As an art teacher, my approach to teaching art changes as well. I am now able to expand my students minds. I do not have to stick to traditional ways of teaching art. I am able to teach students how to use software like Photoshop and Light room to create pieces of art. I can also use websites like Art 21 to show students newer contemporary artists. I can have students use technology like Power Point to make presentations that inform the class about artists they find interesting. I as an art teacher have so much more of an opportunity to open and stretch my students minds. Teaching in the 21st century means that we now have so much more and because we have so much more, our students' will have so much more as well. As a teacher I aspire to let my students explore, create, and discover and with the help of technology; I can do that with ease. Students can chase after ideas or convictions they have. I can challenge students on different social issues related to art. I can help them discover their love for art. Because of technology, art is no longer stale, it becomes a rich and inviting topic that challenges students to grow. That is what teaching art in the 21st century is all about; letting our students grow.