BP7_2009122_Tool#2_Stage'd

I surfed high and low for a tool that I thought my students could and would use. Here is an animation program that does not require you to understand code or be a great artist to use it. They can work by themselves or as a team to develop a stage performance using their own personalized avatars (actors). It not only would be engaging but can be collaborative as well. The students could very easily use this as a delivery system for homework or a summery of some kind. For example the students could be paired a debate situation. Given a subject the students use the characters to give the high points of their assignments to the class. One character could be used to give a monologue in a drama class to help explore personal expression. I believe that the students would get a great deal of enjoyment and inadvertent learning from using this application. I know I will by using it myself! Another application along the same lines is Dvolver but is only supported by windows and not mac. Dvolver could be a little more versatile than Stage'd but I will have to play with Stage'd a little bit more to make that determination

BP2_2009121_RSSFeeds

Through Google Reader It is great to get continuos up dates on art sites and blogs that I am following. It saves time and allows me to see which sites are active and show true possibilities of use. I am finding that there are some site that are not worth the time because of the immediate feed back I get through reader. RSS feeds that I am using at present are:

http://arted20.ning.com/

The mission of Art Education 2.0 is to develop a global community of art educators exploring uses of new and emerging technology in the classroom. It aims to support this community of practice by promoting:

• professional discourse

• best art teaching practices

• the production and study of visual culture

• professional collaboration and joint creative work

• curricular projects and student art exchanges

• the sharing of information, ideas and experiences

other activities deemed important by its members.

http://21stcenturylearning.typepad.com/blog/

21^st Century Learning

is a global professional development opportunity for teachers, administrators and educators around the world interested in the use of Web 2.0 tools for instruction and professional practice!

BP_2009129_West_Mark_ ARBlog

What is your official problem statement?

The purpose of my action research project is to investigate enhancements of demonstration presentations through added technology to improve best practices and increase learning in the area of art education.

I began by asking : Can visual technology infused within the demonstration process of kinesthetic learning, subject area - art education, increase the effectiveness and dissemination of core art concepts?

How did your research end up shaping this?

Now I am changing to add in media and visual literacy. I have found through lit reviews that these are very pertinent to my project.

What outcomes are you expecting?

I hope to demonstrate how I am improving my practice as well as how I can contribute to the body of literature on kinesthetic, visual literacy and media literacy learning through embedding technology into the demonstration process.

How are your critical friends helping in this process?

Michelle Collins -( English teacher ) has been helping me with proofreading my APA format

Vandy Vela -( classmate ) has been a wonderful spring board in editing my project ideas

Joanie Western -( classmate - Art teacher ) helping in some of the technical end of things that I miss in tutorials

Gary Baker -( ceramics professor at Jr college ) providing a venue for implementation of project

How is this month’s course helped in shaping your ARP?

• It has provided me a greater opportunity to do lit research
• It has provided apps that have helped in organizing information that I have found in research
• It has provided apps to find people to collaborate on my projects
• It has provided apps to track sites and people of interest to me.

Over-all Question I am thinking about for end of year project:

Can visual technology within the demonstration process of visual learning i.e.. Art Education, increase the effectiveness and dissemination of core art concepts?

Possible way of research - Flip-flop assignment one with enhanced demonstrations the next without and through test and survey assess the outcome.

Possible issues to explore in research for adjoining paper:

Has the technology of today changed the learning style of students from a left-brained linguistic learning style more to a right-brained kinesthetic style of learning?

I have already found that no research has been done that I can find thus far on the effect of technology on the learning styles of children.

Is there an innate prejudice built in to the centuries old uniform educational system toward right-brained thinkers?

How do we bring teachers who are technological immigrants of the 19th cen. up to speed to teach the natives of technology in the 21st cen. so that they can once again be effective teachers?

How do we derail the uniform educational train of the 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th cen. long enough to implement 21st cen. technology best teaching practices

These two questions now haunt me more and more as this masters coarse continues. I am coming to the conclusion it must have a definitive answer and not in the future but now!

BP1_2009121_iGoogleScreenshots

BP5_2009121_SocialBookmarking

The information age has changed text, research, knowledge, social communication and all other kinds of verbiage from cups of water housed in the walls of institutions to an ocean without any normal boundaries. This mass of information has caused individuals to be confused or even lost in its immensity. This frustration had to address. Bookmarks were created so that the spoonfuls of information that was once retrieved could be retrieved once again. Individuals could now relax with doing their personal research. Other questions were now being asked. Is there better or more complete information available out there? Have I missed some area or issue dealing with my topic of research? I know there are others along the shoes of this technology giant who are interested in the same topic or have already completed and have a better understanding of this topic. How can I find this research? These questions were answered by the creation of tags. Categories where these spoonfuls of information housed and retrieved not only by the individual who placed it there but by all who were interested. So what is now launched is what is coined as social bookmarking. A collaboration of that would cross all social ad intellectual walls.


Eastment, Diana (2008). Social bookmarking. E LT Journal , 62/2, 217-219. Abstract retrieved December 2, 2009, from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=5&hid=11&sid=a5db95b7-5421-40df-8f6e-f4a0f3675723%40sessionmgr4.

Albrycht, Elizabeth (2006). From information overload to collective intelligence: Social bookmarking, tagging and folksonomy.. Public Relations Tactics, 13/1, 16-17. Abstract retrieved December 2, 2009, from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=8&hid=3&sid=a5db95b7-5421-40df-8f6e-f4a0f3675723%40sessionmgr4&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=buh&AN=19667301.


Weiling Liu, Lin Wu (2009). 2collab.. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 97/3, 233-234. Abstract retrieved December 2, 2009, from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=14&hid=108&sid=a5db95b7-5421-40df-8f6e-f4a0f3675723%40sessionmgr4&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=43445209.

BP6_2009122_Anti-Teaching

This class, as the first somewhat, has been very hard for me thus far because of the way I learn. From my early childhood I have not been a reader or a writer. The educational system is based on reading and writing almost exclusively. I didn?t want top go back to school because of the structure that I knew education is. I have always just made it. Not because of the content but because of the delivery system. Full sail has been hard, it has been frustration, it has been exhausting, but most of all it has been very rewarding. I love it even when I want to quit. I have never been pushed so hard but I also have never pushed myself so hard. It reminds me of art school but in an academic way. Why? It?s the way I learn. Is the education system broken? I say no ? Not for everyone. There are members in my graduating class now that would excel if it were all reading and writing. I am so envious of those who consume that type of education. Wow! So were does that leave people like me in the present educational system ? NO WARE!!! Can we give students a way to not only learn what they need to in a venue to will cause them to hunger for more. Full Sail has given that to me at 51 years old. I wish that it was at 10 or 12. The change seems daunting to say the least but I found hope in an article that I read. They gave the example of the automotive revolution that took place. The industry of the day said that the automobile would be short lived because of the things that would be needed to sustain it. Manufacturing of the automobiles, parts, roads, gas refineries, gas stations, mechanics, and so on. Is the task in education any less overwhelming or discouraging. After 3 months I know that my perspective has changed.
So how would I change my world; my classroom? Give my students different venues of expression. What is wrong with the spoken word (garageband) or even the sung word of maybe a rap? In art the projects are hands on and not reading and writing but the assessments are. There is nothing that I do to encourage my students to reveal what they have learned. A written critique or a live verbalization in front of the class is all that I have offered them. Well now I am looking , learning , exploring and asking what if. I have seen and experienced group collaboration through Lucidcharts, Google Docs., Ning, and other platforms which students can use to show me that they have learned. I have seen that collaboration can be extremely engaging and educational. It will be a part of my next classroom. I already have plans to make it part of my AR project. In my research for this blog I came across an university that is already going down this road.

The Loyalist University in Ontario Canada. They are using Second Life as a platform to teach several of its classes. WOW! I've been there. But not just an introduction but the whole course. I have place a call into them already to talk to someone who has designed it. I can't wait to pick their brains and get some ideas.

I hope that they will be forth coming.

It has taken me almost 3 days to sit and write this blog because of that wite page that sits before me but I wanted to share what inspired me to tears and to write. Please watch this video. I hope that it will do the same for you because I don't know about you but I don't want to be left behind any longer.

Bennett, Fred (1999). Education and the future. Educational Technology & Society, 2/1, 3. Abstract retrieved December 2, 2009, from http://www.ifets.info/journals/2_1/fbennett_short_article.html.

Means, Barbara, Olson, Kerry (1997). Technology and Education Reform [Electronic Version]. Washington, D.C.: Governmenrt Printing Office.

Burton, George B. (2009). Meeting Learners' New Value Equation in Education Through the Virtual World.. International Journal of Learning, 15/12, 169-173. Abstract retrieved December 2, 2009, from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=10&hid=108&sid=5e3be543-b575-48c2-89ff-d03cffe446f4%40sessionmgr10&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=ehh&AN=40825490.

Some of you started the program in Aug. with me. If you recall I had a bet with my so that who ever had the highest GPA each quarter would pie the other one in the face. Well, the first quarter is over and so is the first pie in the face. I won! You tell me if it was worth a banana cream pie.