Course 520 Progress

I honestly have had a great time with the assignments of this course. I felt the evaluation of online-learning sources was a valuable experience. I do not do many research assignments in my art classroom, but I am looking to incorporate more projects that utilize an online software. I learned how to look for validity within the sites I researched.
Reading the Tom March quote forced me to really think about my stance on technology use in the classroom. My mind swayed back and forth numerous times, because I could see his point at times. The intense passion in his words is respectable. In a later assignment regarding Wikipedia and its value, my mind was back and fourth once again. I like the idea of Wikipedia, but it is important to remember than anyone can change its contents and that can be dangerous. But it has been years since I had to do an Annotated Bibliography. It made me remember the value of researching multiple sources to get all the facts before formulating an opinion.
With our group project, I find it is ALWAYS valuable to tryout some of the free software that is out there. I will continue to play with 280Slides in the future. And whenever I am interested in a specific topic, I will be sure to create a Google Alert to keep me up to date with all that is happening.

Week 1 Course 520

Well aside from the complications in class with the audio, things have gone very well this week. I enjoyed learning about the evaluation tools to find and utilize educational resources. I never really knew how to teach kids that they can't always believe what they see on the internet. I can tell them this over and over, but I know I know what to look for to show them the steps in determining what makes a site valid. I was unclear at that the start of this class what internet learning resources really were. So I had a bit of a naive opinion. After reading through the syllabus, I am became much more excited to start this course. I had originally thought that this class was going to be similar to that of our past courses, and I see that it will not be which is exciting.

Course Wrap Up

This course has taught me a lot of valuable information that I will refer to in my own teaching. Starting with the readings, there are useful tools presented in requesting software, planning for technology, benefits of technology in education, and so much more.

The most useful tool presented in this class is the software evaluation procedures. This assignment taught me to effectively evaluate software. Currently, I do not have a particular software that I would like to purchase for my classes, but I am confident in the process to assess and present to my technology committee and administration if the opportunity presents itself.

I also found the technology plan for our personal education curriculum to be a positive task. My PDP writing for the state consists of a goal to incorporate more technology in my classes. I knew this, but I really wasn't sure how and what to do. I feel more confident everyday with incorporating technology to better enhance my students' learning. Overall it forced me to create a step by step plan for incorporation. I have set smaller benchmarks for myself to conquer the the larger idea of technology.

Week 5 Connection

Creating a Technology Learning Plan this week in class, is beneficial in setting the goals I want to accomplish in a clear time line. Instead of just thinking about incorporating more technology, I know have the plans set forth with the means of doing so. I have wrote the plans to get the ball rolling with student online reflections. This forces students to get used to writing about their and describing where the strengths and weaknesses are instead of simply saying, "I like" or "I don't like". But to be able to tell me why in words, is a important concept to learn. This will flourish into peer critiques and eventually online critiques with students from other schools around the world.

The task of evaluating software for classroom use was scary to me at first. It turned out to be simpler than I thought with the help of presented sources which outlined what to look for in purchasing software. Although I feel more confident in evaluating software now, realistically I will not be looking to purchase any in the near future. The software my school currently owns is more than sufficient enough for student use. My school purchased the Adobe Creative Suite software which includes Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Flash, etc. Students learn to work effectively with Photoshop in Digital Photography and Computer Graphics. Dreamweaver and Flash play a role in web page design and advertising. Besides this program, I am interested in doing more research in the free software offered by many companies. We have already learned so many beneficial tools that I will use in teaching students to collaborate with others from various regions in the world like Skype. However learning to evaluate software, enables me to review the free software also in order to distinguish which is worth downloading and which is not. I just won't be looking to purchase software anytime soon.

Week 4 InTime site video

The InTime website was easy to navigate with a choice to search videos by content area, grade level, and many more options. I chose to search by my content area of Fine Arts. There are 10 different categories to chose from. From this search, I had 7 videos to choose from. The choice was fairly simple due to age and subject level. Many of the videos were on music, whereas I teach Art. There was a kindergarten lesson on farm animals that may have been help to me when I taught elementary. This is even too primal for my cognitively disabled students.
The video I chose is a unit on photography and Microsoft Image Composer. I do not teach the digital photography course at my high school but I would be willing to give my Art 1 class a taste of photography. In this video, students are instructed to take photos at a school event using a digital camera. The images will be put into a collage with Image Composer and uploaded to the school website. Currently at our high school, the web-design class takes all the images that are displayed on the school web page. However, I could collaborate with the teacher of web design to share a lesson with his students and mine. I could look at my students to take photos that have a strong composition, while his students could do the technical side of uploading the images.
As for the usefulness of this tool, I'd say moderate. It is always good to have a wide range of ideas for student learning. As an art teacher, I usually don't have an issue with creative lessons. However, I like the technology side of this unit. I would consider using Microsoft Image Composer with my students in the future. I may change the subject topic of student photo shoots.

Week 3's Progress

Mixed feelings arose in week 3. I found some information to be very helpful and pertains to my teaching. On the other hand, I don't know how often I will use the information realistically. It is definitely beneficial for students to know spreadsheets, I teach a studio art class. Yes, I could be creative in finding ways to incorporate the use of spreadsheets, yet I have so many art techniques to teach in a year that I can't spend time with spreadsheets. Don't get me wrong, I work to incorporate technology where possible with blogging project reflections, art history research, and hope to incorporate more in the future. I am all about cross-curricular education, but my studio time is precious to my classroom. Therefore, I may use a spreadsheet project for an extra credit option or perhaps a day when the students need a change of pace.
I did have fun reading chapter 5. Creative thinking is something I teach and require of my students daily. Too often, I think our students are being taught rigorous subject appropriate techniques, and creative thought is left behind. This chapter encouraged me to reflect on my own teaching to see where I encourage creative thinking the most, and where I could do more of it. As a creative person myself, it was hard for me to understand how difficult creative thinking can be for students. High school students are so self-conscious that it is hard to put yourself out there for ridicule, when they could stay safely in the comfort of the norm.

Rolling through week 2

This week in class, we looked at various web browsers and online word processing.

Online word processing has become a daily tool for me since the beginning of this class, that is seems anything but new to me at this time. I admit, I solely rely on Google docs, but so far I can't complain about them. I enjoy being able to post to the web and share with others. The topic of collaboration was focus from our readings. Students struggle with collaborating effectively, and online word processing can help. I will use a source like Google Docs to have my students write written reflections at the end of a large art project. They will be able to share the document with me, and I will be able to write comments right on their reflection. I can eventually have students reflect on others' work. I did look at the other word processing systems, but think I would stick with Google. That way I can also have my students email me and so forth. Mainly, it is what I am comfortable with. But I plan to have students experience the other software available.
Looking at the various web browsers was fun. I may even switch to using Bing, more than Google. I really like the history feature of Bing. I can look up past searches easily. As an art teacher I appreciate the beautiful photographs on their home page. Basically I only use my web browser for searching the web and images. Oh and the occasional direction look up. I would enjoy a weather tab. I thought Google always had a weather tab, but I could not find it today.
I frequently use Hotmail as my personal email program, which Bing supports. So Bing is a useful tool for me. But as Google is my default browser in my toolbar, it makes for a quick search.