Wow! I have learned and experienced so much through this Web 2.0 class, but I'm lousy at documenting every Thing. I know it would have been more meaningful to blog as I explored each Thing, but I didn't. I get caught up in the tools and forget about the blogging.
Things 1 through 3 were pretty simple, but only because we were guided through them during class. I'd like to think that I could go back and do everything again, but I know I wouldn't be quick about it. I'm persistent and have spent many hours over the years, frustrated but keeping at hardware and software to figure out ways for them to be useful to me and my students. I Love gadgets!
Things 4, 5, 6-- I have been using Flickr, finding common use photos to illustrate art project samples for my web pages in PBS works. I've got that system down due to frequent use. It's exciting to quickly show students a professional sample of the art process they are about to experience. I don't have a use for Glogster at this time.
Things 7, 8, 9-- I have enough trouble maintaining a focus on needful things without getting into Twitter, Facebook or surfing RSS feeds. Talk about major distractions! I've tried them and find myself burning time on things that are entertaining, but not usefull to me as an artist, teacher or person. I don't deny their usefulness to others; I just can't manage them myself.
As a creative person, I have little need for others' ideas. I have more of my own that I'll ever get to for myself and my students. My biggest problem is narrowing ideas down to the one I want to pursue in the next lesson. In art class, there is a freedom about what media or process to do next, without many constraints of chronology based on time or sequence. I research what I need after I have a plan in mind and the internet is an amazing tool for finding any resources I need.
Thing 10-- De.licio.us is definitely cool and does make your favorites available wherever you are. I can see this becoming a tool I make my own.
Thing 11-- With the alternative kids that I teach, as the art teacher, I focus on visual and spatial skills and give the students a break from letters and numbers as much as possible. I can see that Wordle and TagCrowd would be creative and effective tools, but not in my current situation.
Things 12, 13-- Wikis are the best, although they have some shortcomings. At Summit, we used TeacherWeb for 2 years and then Moodle last year for our Summit website and teacher pages. I was frustrated by the boring format of those tools. PB Works is a huge step up and I use it as the structure for my whole curriculum. I have all assignments and projects there with due dates, points for grading, detailed descriptions and visual samples. What I hate are the hours wasted trying to correct the default font changes that happen: wrong font, wrong size, bold or not, wrong line spacing. As a visual person, I want my pages to be consistent, look good and be easy for my students and parents to read. Lori gave me some suggestions, but they mostly involve retyping everything in again, and that doesn't always fix it. As a staff, we share documents with open edit in ALEC to document student behaviors and student evaluations.
Thing 14-- Voicethread would allow a student to describe the steps in the process of creation that they experienced on an art project. Because it is involved with visuals and allows for classmates to comment, I think it could be a valuable learning tool in the art classroom, and enjoyable for the kids. Our students have enjoyed doing elaborate Powerpoint files on themselves as an Enrichment this year with lots of creative applications of imported photos and videos. I think they would dive right in to doing Voicethread.
Thing 15-- Working with kids and video has been something I've wanted to do for a long time, but the expense of equipment and my inexperience have always precluded me form doing anything. A few of our students have been working with Flip cameras this year and last, editing, but have not used storyboards. I've had students do hand-drawn storyboards for cartooning lessons. I've taught them about the use of storyboards in the creation of professional films and animations. I definitely want to take the next step with them by using storyboard and editing software with the Flip cameras. I've got a learning curve of my own to conquer before I'm ready to guide my students. When school resumes, I plan to have the students who have been working with the cameras teach me what they have learned. Then we can work together with storyboards in Kids Vid and editing with Moviemaker before I attempt to teach a class of students. The camera is so simple to operate and I've uploaded and saved video, so I'm ready to take lessons from students next week.
Things 16, 17-- I've been a fan of YouTube for a long time. I've been able to find some useul video for myself and classroom use. I keep trying TeacherTube, but there is very little there for art classrooms. I subscribe to podcasts for myself, but again there isn't a lot of art stuff out there, mostly museum lectures not suitable for students. I'd never thought of creating my own video or podcasts, but why not try?
Things 18, 19-- Slideshare, Google Earth
Thing 20-- Ning