Lesson 8

Online communication is a nearly indispensible tool in the field of education. Interacting with administrators, colleagues, students and parents has become much, especially through the use of email. The asynchronous nature of email enables teachers to converse with others at each party’s convenience. The value of a face-to-face conversation may never be replaced by online communication, but playing phone tag is quickly becoming a thing of the past.

Blogs and Wikis are also great ways to stay in touch with students outside of class time. Periodic posts to an online journal are a great way to extend lessons and enhance education when students are at home or anywhere that they may have internet access. The use of blogs and wikis by students are also valuable in keeping students engaged in and out of the classroom.

The use of technology in the classroom has broadened the horizons of students and has simplified administrative tasks. With all of the good comes some bad. When connected to the internet users are exposed to threats from all directions. Precautions must be taken to defend against viruses, Trojan horses and worms. Every single computer with internet access should have antivirus software installed and up to date. If infected by a computer virus, at best a computer will run slowly, at worst the entire hard drive may be wiped out and credit card or banking information may be stolen.

Social and ethical problems may also arise when students use the internet. Cyberbullying, much like the bullying that takes place on the playground, is the publishing of pictures or malicious comments online with the intent of embarrassing another person. Bullying of any kind cannot be tolerated whether it is in the virtual or real world. Plagiarism and piracy are issues that posed problems long before the proliferation of technology in schools; however, the accessibility to content and the ease of copying has exacerbated these problems. Educators and administrators must take steps to ensure that students are not committing plagiarism. Software and artistic piracy are the unauthorized use or sharing of software application and music, videos, or photographs. Teachers must model lawful and ethical behavior when addressing piracy. For example, if a student offers an unlicensed copy of software, the teacher must not only refuse the offer but explain to the student the problem with piracy. Teachers must also follow fair use guidelines when using the work of others in lessons.

Most school computer labs that I have used in the past have had at least some kind of filtering software to prevent students from accessing offensive materials while in school. I assume that the school’s network administrator monitors internet and email use in order to prevent or put a stop to any inappropriate use of technology. Usually highlights from the school’s AUP are posted on the wall of the computer lab as a reminder of unacceptable behavior.

Lesson 7

         This Fall I will begin my first year teaching high school Art. My schedule will consist of classes in Graphic Design, Digital Design, and Arts & Humanities. The Graphic Design and Digital Design classes will naturally make extensive use of software. Throughout the trimester my students will become proficient in the use of Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator in creating works of art. In this blog I will discuss the use of Illustrator, the standards it meets, and the challenges I expect to face.

         For those of you who are unfamiliar with Adobe Illustrator, it is a software program used to create distinctive vector graphics with precise and sophisticated drawing tools, and expressive brushes. The graphics created with Illustrator can be applied to print, web design, video or virtually any other media. Today, Illustrator is the preferred vector graphics software program among professional graphic artists.

         Illustrator will be used primarily by my Graphic Design students. We will begin by learning how to use some of the shape drawing tools and memorizing some of the basic commands, which may be common throughout a variety of programs (cut, paste, copy, save, etc.).  (NETS*S 6) Subsequent lessons will be designed with technical mastery and artistic applications in mind. Lessons in the elements of art (line, shape, form, color, texture) will coincide with the necessary technical training to complete the specific objective of the day. For example in a lesson on color, the use of Illustrator’s palette and color mixer will be practiced as well. After finishing the elements of art unit, students will have gained artistic and technical knowledge.

         Further lessons, in logo design, identity systems, and typography will function similarly to the opening elementary unit, but will incorporate the application of art concepts (rhythm, space, perspective, repetition, etc.) alongside new technical knowledge of the program. For example, when creating a poster students will study space and rhythm as they train in object resizing and rotation. By the end of the course, students will have an understanding of Graphic Design as an art form and a deep understanding of how to use technology as an art production tool. (NETS*S 1)

         Challenges will arise over the course of the trimester. Especially in the beginning of the course, students may find Illustrator difficult to use. It is not like drawing in a traditional sense. Drawing in Illustrator is more like connecting the dots. There may even be some students who are inexperienced in using a computer at all, which could slow things down a bit. As the course continues, if these problems persist they can cause significant lagging in artistic development. It must not be forgotten that graphic design is an art, not a computer program. It can be done without a computer. Therefore, the computer cannot be allowed to dominate class time. Students must not be allowed to be overly concerned with advanced techniques or gimmicks when using Illustrator. As a teacher it is my responsibility to keep students focused on art techniques and concepts.

Lesson 6

Lesson 6

This week we took a look at WebQuests as an educational tool. WebQuest are inquiry based research tools, which were developed by Bernie Dodge of San Diego State University in 1995. WebQuests give the learners a problem to solve, and then guide them along the path of discovery.

WebQuests lend themselves to problems which require deeper thinking and evaluative skills rather than recalling of facts. In order to perform the task at hand or solve the problem posed by the WebQuest the learner must navigate various online and possibly offline resources. Not all of the information available may be relevant to the topic, so the learner must analyze and filter out what is not needed.

The WebQuest is broken down into seven sections: Introduction, Task, Process, Evaluation, Conclusion, Credits, and Teacher Page. The learner typically needs to concentrate on the first five sections only. The Introduction is used to creatively engage the learner. The Task sets learning objectives for the student to complete throughout the assignment. The Process is a step by step guide as to how the student will complete the assignment and complete the objectives laid out in the task. The Evaluation is a rubric or scoring guide which will be used by the teacher to evaluate the student’s work. The student will most likely use the rubric for self-evaluation throughout the process. The Conclusion closes out the assignment and offers additional resources for the student to continue studying the topic beyond the scope of the WebQuest.

The other two sections, Credits and Teacher Page, are to give thanks to whoever influenced or contributed to your work and to explain the use of the WebQuest to other teachers.

When developing the WebQuest the hardest part for me was the introduction. It seems to me that the whole point of the WebQuest is to increase the level of student engagement. A creative introduction is necessary in doing so. Coming up with a topic, which can be studied via WebQuest was not as difficult as creating a situation, which seemed like an interesting reason for the students to want to study the material. Another difficult part of creating the assignment was the rubric. Defining how students are evaluated forces you to question what is really important, and what do you want students to ultimately get out of the project. It was an arbitrary process, which may or may not make perfect sense to the learner. I created a rubric, but I am not sure that I can answer the question of why I did it the way that I did.

I do believe that WebQuests can be a valuable learning tool, especially for today’s students, many of whom live on the internet. They can be very engaging and effective in multiple ways. Students learn content, study skills, responsibility, and technological literacy.

Lesson 5

To this point, email is the only form of online communication that I have utilized in the classroom. Through the assigned reading I am getting a sense of the potential for other types of online communication, which can enrich the learning experience for my students. When I begin my first year of teaching blogging will play a major role. The blogging in my classes will fall into two categories. The first category being teacher-led will consist of daily blogs posted by myself regarding the main idea or lesson to be learned for each day. Students will have access to reminders of key points to remember as well as reminders of assignments, instructions, requirements and due dates. In addition to this basic information student work and samples of my own work will be posted as a way of praising and inspiring others to do their best. A major concern when teaching is what happens outside of the classroom. For a student to excel he or she must continue to think and learn after the closing bell. Students will have access to examples of concepts and principles wherever they can access the Internet whether at home or in another classroom.

The second type of blogging will be student-led and will work similarly to our own blogging done for EDOL 533. Each week students will be prompted to write to their personal blog regarding certain areas of that week’s lesson, or another topic of my choice. If at all possible, I would prefer them to work on their blogs outside of the normal class time. As previously stated it is crucial for students to continue to think and learn after hours. Using a blog is an engaging way to review material with students or for them to answer the question, “Why?” Instead of simply recalling facts, the blog is a way for students to reach higher levels of the cognitive domain while practicing writing skills and participating in with the rest of the group. The fact that the blog will be available for everyone to see will hopefully encourage students to put forth effort that they may not normally do when working anonymously. Today’s average high school student is more than aware of social networking and online communication. For better or worse, we are in an age of exhibitionism. Letting the world in on the mundane details of daily life is commonplace, especially among teens. We cannot forget that teenagers think that the world revolves around them. A blog is a perfect way for them to fulfill that need to expose themselves a little. Other students could then comment on their writings and share knowledge, resulting in a kind of asynchronous peer tutoring.