Flickr for the Art Teacher

     Here is what I find with further exploration of Flickr. It was very easy to sign up using a yahoo account. There is an opportunity to establish a profile and a set of friends, or create albums that are totally public. It was easy to download images from my computer files, although a purchase would make the download quicker. And there, as far as I could find, is the end of the free services. You can purchase Picnik, which is a web-based photo-editing program. I do not need this, since I have a very fine editing program in iPhoto on my Mac at school. I see that short video clips can be included in the albums. I do not see any gallery templates, which I was hoping to find. I have spent many, many hours looking at Web 2.o tools that can do all kinds of things, yet this one is very basic. It seems that when I follow up on the tools I usually run into the "purchase" button sooner or later.

     As far as creating web-based galleries, I can see the usefulness of sharing our student art with parents on the school website. I could use it for sharing images between classes, over time, inspiring students with other student work and connecting with other schools and teachers. It can be used as a promotional feature. It can store individual archives. Students could access their own work from home, put it on their Facebook or into their own blogs.

    I realize that these are fundamentals that most people who are even a little savvy with technology probably already are familiar with. I wish to express my mind-blowing experiences looking at blogs and websites that are filled with practical applications for technology in the classroom. I am really excited about a site called iEARN, at http://media.iearn.org/ that contains fabulous ideas for collaborative projects that integrate online global project work into the classroom. I think that I need to look closer at these types of websites, learn what other educators are using, and THEN explore the tools as they apply to lessons. It is not that I can't be creative with this new plethora of technological tools, it is just that my time is limited and I have been down a lot of facinating roads, to the point that I can barely get a breath, and school has started. 

     I am going to set a goal to continue to post on this blog, though it may not be weekly, and I will not stop my inquiry. I have a big toe in the 21st century! 

Photo Management

     With further investigation it is clear to me that I will have better luck working with Flickr than with the tools available through Photoshop.com. I enjoyed looking at tutorials and examples from Photoshop tools likeLightroom3 and Adobe Illustrator CS5. I sent myself a dynamic "peek" at the vector artwork and perspective drawings that a student could create using this program, so that I can show it to my students and let them get excited about perspective and the possibilities of drawing on the computer, but I doubt that my school would be able to afford the price tag of $599. 

     I will be looking at Flickr, since it is free--at least some of it is free. I see that there are many applications within Flickr, and some of them do require a fee. I understand that I can create groups so that I control who views the web galleries of student artwork, or images of other groups of artists' work (or cultural exemplars). I can connect my high school with galleries from colleges, so that they can get a glimpse of what kinds of projects are done at the college level. I also noticed some little photo-editing games that I think would be a lot of fun for my students, such as "Photoshop Tennis," which has participants taking turns editing one image until it is completely transformed. I plan to try some of the apps to see what we can do in our "digital" art room this year. 

Surveying Educational Web 2.0 Tools

     I have been looking at some interesting Web 2.0 tools that other art teachers might like to know about. One of the most popular, and one that I have been curious about, is Wikipedia. Did you know that "wiki" means "quick" in Hawaiian? I have used this resource, but admit that I had misgivings about the validity of the information offered there. I love the ease with which students can look for clarification, clicking on terms and other data for quick understanding. I remember long Sunday afternoons lying on the living room floor as a girl, looking things up and going from one fat volume to another from my parents' set of Encyclopedias...what? kids don't like to do that anymore? Well, I will not go into my love for reading books (their pages, their smells...)but you can tell I am not of the tech generation. I worried about who was going to rewrite history on the computer, since wikis are a collaborative effort of anonymous, unpaid contributors. Upon further investigation, I am reassured to see the "5 Pillars" that guide these contributions, and that submissions do need to be referenced. I feel safe allowing my students to use this tool, which gives research an "edge for engagement" in the modern classroom.
     As an art teacher, I am looking for ways to archive and manipulate images. There are two photo organizers that I am checking out for my classroom and for my personal use. One is Flickr and the other is Photoshop.com. To be honest, I feel like I should be looking at more creative tools like Voicethread or something....there are so many new and different things available...but I really need to be realistic about what I can do at this point. I know I can use a new management system for the student  artwork and portfolios. I plan to dig deeper and to see which of these organizers has the best options for me. If you would, please let me know what experiences you have had with either of these--or other offerings that you find superior.

Subscribing to Feeds

     For those of you who, like me, are new to Web 2.0 tools, you will be pleased to find that there are usually tutorials and easy step-by-step directions for getting started. This is true with RSS ("Rich Site Summary") feeds, which help to gather favorite news sources, blogs, wikis and websites to one central location. If you have a Google Reader account you can go there and learn how. You can type in a search term, look at a list of available feeds, and easily subscribe. I used Wisconsin Art Education as a search term, and I chose to follow a fun RSS by the Wisconsin Arts Board named ArtBeet, Inc. I like it because it gives an art-related quotation every day. I like to post a new quotation on my (low-tech) chalkboard each week in the art room. These can provoke great class discussions on aesthetics and other art content. (By the way, I have found that the high schoolers at my school often cannot read cursive writing! It seems that keyboarding has replaced handwriting...this makes me sad, but if I want to be understood I see that I stand a better chance with printed lettering. Let me now what you think of this phenomenon, okay?) Another feed that I feel may be valuable to my students is ArtBistro.com, which posts information about art and design careers in our state. 

     Another interesting feed that I am checking out was listed when I used "creativity" as a search term. It is titled Creativity Tools, Creative Solutions. This feed is geared more for business professionals, but it has information that has helped me in my ongoing investigation into creativity. There are tabs for topics including Leadership Skills, Time Management, Problem Solving, Stress Management, and Practical Creativity. All of the topics are meaningful for teaching 21st century skills to teenagers. I did notice that many of the articles give brief overviews from materials that you must purchase in order to read them completely. In the Practical Creativity tab I found an article that describes several creativity techniques that are briefly described, though. One that I liked is called "Reverse Brainstorming." It involves brainstorming for the opposite concept, essentially defining solutions for a concept by coming up with things that it is not. I am planning to use this idea in a student interest inventory that I like to give at the beginning of the school year. Among my questions to students I will ask them what they don't want their art teacher to do. I will also ask them the big question of: "What would the world look like without art?"

     I plan to follow these feeds for a while, to see what comes across. The RSS "waters of information" are flowing into my Google Reader account now, and all I have to do is dip into them now and then to refresh the curriculum that I already have in place! 

     

Two Blogs to Follow

I feel a "tag cloud" in my head, and it kind of hurts! You probably know already that there is just a plethora of material and tools available for art teachers to use in the modern art room. Although I am overwhelmed, it is a kid-in-the-candy-store kind of hurt. Each blog I look at seems to be loaded with interesting goodies for an art teacher. It is worth noting that this greater use of the Internet does indeed require discipline!  

One blog that I want to follow is by Craig Roland, an art educator, author, and EduTech consultant. His blog is called The Art Teacher's Guide to the Internet, with a URL of <http://artjunction.org/blog/>. This blog was started in 2005 as an extension of Roland's book by the same name (Davis Publications, 2005). His goal is to enhance art eduction via practical strategies for using Web 2.0 tools. He provides lots of ideas, tools and resources for teaching art and design in these post digital times. There is a huge blog roll of art and art related sites. Roland lists "108 Web Tools & Resources" and has PDF copies of ArtEd articles that any art teacher can use, such as his Feb 2009 offering of "Online Art History Timelines." I looked at imbedded videos from Youtube that I will definitely show my students. A great one for inspiring student reflections is a "vimeo" called "What Does Art Mean to You?"

A second blog, which was named Best New Art Teachers' Blog in 2008  by Craig Roland,  is called The Teaching Palette, found at <http://theteachingpalette.com/>. This blog was started two years ago by two art teachers named Hillary Andrlik and Theresa McGee, who desired to create a "collaborative and resourceful forum for art specialists of all levels." They provide valuable teacher resources for classroom management, for music & art integration, and for teacher-authored product news. I learned about lots of uses for Flickr in managing images for classroom use and organization. Under their "Cool & Creative" tab I found an example of an ipod directed museum scavenger hunt. I found the "Shh" noise control app for ipod here too. When I looked at some of the Twitters, I found some awesome videos of drawing tutorials and some discounts for art supplies.

“Shhh” Noise Control

This is an interesting ipod application for noise control in the art room. 
&#8220;Shhh&#8221; Noise Control

Here's an Idea for An Artclass Blog

     Looking ahead to the new school year, I am thinking of ways that I can use the new things I'm learning about Web 2.0. Even if they are just the musings of a "kinderwebber," maybe you can use these as a springboard for your own classroom or studio. My first idea has to do with opening up the dialogue about media literacy in my high school classes. I am teaching at an at-risk school, where,  at 51; I am older than many of my students' grandparents (partly due to the early age of motherhood generation after generation...come on now!). The kids are shocked to see me use a cell phone. My point is that I want to meet them half way in this modern world they are plugged into. I want to guide them in their choices as they navigate the horror/fun palace that it can be. And I want to bring us all on a gentle peek into the amazing potential of a collective intelligence! 

     Now, that was just a little about where I am coming from...here is the idea for today:

I am thinking about having the discussion about social networking, explaining the concept of a blog, showing students how to make a blog, and then requiring that each student add to a classroom-published blog. The students could write about an event in the classroom, comment on art news either local or global, or even  -gulp- communicate with other students about their own artwork! We could invite classrooms from the traditional high schools to respond to our blogs. There is the potential to include images and podcasts...I am really psyched about the possibilities!

Consider Using Blogs in the Classroom

Good News! I am taking a very helpful class entitled "Emerging Technology," which has provided me with excellent guidance in setting up a blog, and it is EASY to do! There are many free sites available for bloggers to get started, and the directions are easy to follow. View the tutorial "Blogs in Plain English"  found at <http://www.commoncraft.com/> if you are a novice like me. I have admittedly tried to ignore social technology beyond email, but we all know that it is here to stay, and for good reason. People are finding more and more ways to connect, to express themselves, to communicate, to share information and to expand their knowledge base via technology. As a teacher, I recognize the value of Web 2.0 tools to reach my students on many new levels. An article that we read for class, written by Professor Henry Jenkins, Director of Comparative Media Studies at MIT, talks about "Why Academics Should Blog." He describes a pilot project that came out of a response to the bombing of the World Trade Center, where blogs were used to provoke public reflection. He goes on to describe many aspects of blogging that are compatible with the goals of academics. Blogs allow scholars to build their reputations, to share information with researchers around the world, and to hone their "skills as public intellectuals." These are not quite the same goals that I have for my at-risk high school students, but Jenkins highlights several other benefits to blogging that I do find quite appealing.  First off, as you probably know, teenagers are intrigued by technology. They are immediately engaged when they are invited to express themselves on a keyboard! Blogging is a 21st century skill, and we want to provide our students with direction in new-media literacy. We also want them to develop those old-fashioned skills like writing, interviewing, giving feedback, and collaborating--all of which are facilitated in this new, exciting way. We can even use blogs to promote our schools themselves!