Time to get INSPIRED...

This week we were introduced to Inspiration, a mapping and diagramming program that helps teachers and students organize ideas and concepts in a fancy digital format.

Here's the one that I made on American Abstract Expressionists:

It includes a textbook that can be referenced for more info for students, and the state standards/technology standards for educational reference.

Inspiration can be pretty cool by allowing you to add bubbles and links to images, websites, and other information to enhance the experience. Notes can be added to items to give more clarity or explanation. Bubble outlines and fill colors can be customized, as well as the background. Images can be imported by simply dragging them into the workspace, or the program provides a library of clip art images to use as well.

The only drawbacks I have with the program are mainly just design and aesthetic issues. I feel I could make something even better with Photoshop or Illustrator (more versatile image/text editing options) but Inspiration's ability to embed links, video, and sound make it worthwhile.

If you're looking for a program to do hands-on brainstorming activities with your students, give Inspiration a try. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Digital Scavenger Hunt

This week's project was to collect digital images as a group based on the criteria provided in the form of a scavenger hunt activity. Our hunt was titled "Shapes" and it sent us scavenging for various shapes outside on campus.

This activity was fun and allowed us to think outside the box a little bit, getting some fresh air and training our eyes to see the simple shapes in the everyday complexities. I love taking pictures, so luckily I was entrusted as our group's photographer. We got some really cool shots in some not-so-obvious places. The hardest shape to find by far was the octagon - we didn't want to photograph a stop sign like anyone else would, so we had to really hunt for it!

Uploading and resizing the images was easy enough. All the tools we needed were provided in the "Image" settings in Photoshop. I might try to amass some digital cameras for my art classroom and take my students out on this type of scavenger hunt. I think art students could benefit from having to analyze and really look around them to find things they might not immediately see.

MONSTROUS Image Project

^^^That's a Picasa slideshow of my MONSTER themed photo album.

It's cool that technology has given us so many outlets to acquire images from. In that slideshow, there are images from a digital camera, mac screenshots, Google searches, scanned images, and even from a program that provides free images! I knew little about the regulations and rules surrounding the use of images online, so I was happy to hear about sites that featured royalty-free images and were free for public non-commercial use. With so much stuff out there, it's good to know that some stuff is still free.

I had never used Picasa before this class, and I am glad to have learned about such a useful tool that I can use to store and organize my digital images. I'll probably be using this more often in the future for sure - I'm tired of losing files to viruses and hardware malfunctions!

wika-wika-wika-WIKIS!

Using the pages on PBworks really does cut down on the time and stress involved in a typical collaborative project. The convenience of each member of a group being able to edit a page from the comfort of their own computer is unmatched.... it definitely beats trying to find a day and time that is good for everyone to meet and collaborate. Those days are over!

Wiki's provide full control to all members of the group to analyze information on their own and then post or edit information on the collaborative site. If one person makes a typo, another person can proofread and fix it. One student posts a link to a resource, another person can add two more under the same heading to expand on the topic. The creative and collaborative potential is extensive within the Wiki universe, and just waiting to be utilized by educators and learners alike.

WeB 2.0

This newfangled idea known as Web 2.0 opens up tons of possibilities for educators on various levels, giving them tools to show students information and open up subjects to new levels of interactivity. For any teacher that has access to a computer with the internet in their classroom, the many Web 2.0 tools create new ways for them to teach, helping to hold students interests for longer than traditional methods.

Out of the 10 tools we discussed and researched in class, the one that stands out to me with possibilities in the art classroom would have to be VoiceThread. This tool would make critiquing and analyzing artworks more interactive, and most students could cooperate on their own time at home. The ability to draw on the screen and comment in real time really makes an online critique come alive!

also, Glogster isn't bad either... :)

Here's a link to my own "glog" I made for class:

http://brandonwd.edu.glogster.com/intro-to-glogster/

The Reliability of an Artistic Reference Database

Our latest assignment was to find and evaluate a website that relates to our selected field of study. I chose ArtNet because of its massive database of artists, art auctions, and gallery listings.

ArtNet has an extensive reference database that is international, and covers artists from the past and the present. Artists are listed alphabetically by their last name and have their birth/death dates and/or their active dates listed as well. On each artist page, the left-hand column lists the results available for the artist in different categories like # of artworks for sale, galleries, events, featured magazines, catalogs, biographies and other links. Some artists obviously have more of these results than others. Edgar Degas for instance has extensive results on his ArtNet page.

ArtNet also features old and new auctions for artworks, but some features require a subscription to the website.

One of the re-occuring problems art teachers face when presenting works to students is content. Many major artworks contain content deemed inappropriate for students, most often nudity. The nude in art is used in various ways, sometimes almost seemingly just to give it a "fine art" effect. This characteristic of fine art has edited what can and cannot be shown to students in a K-12 setting.

After reviewing and evaluating the site, I came to a conclusion of recommending the site with reservations. I feel like teachers can use the site as a guide to what is being bought and sold in the art world today, as well as a reference database for preparing information for lessons on particular artists. It might be interesting for students (as well as teachers) to know what some famous artworks are selling for in today's market.

Website Evaluation

For anyone seeking to evaluate the credibility of a particular website, the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) created this site that gives you some criteria to assess the questionable site on. The "EVALUTECH" site lists topics to look for involving the content and technical aspects of websites, and tells ways you can evaluate it. I recommend this site if you come across a site that might seem too good to be true.

http://www.evalutech.sreb.org/criteria/web.asp