Online Classes

Online classes are becoming more popular everyday. Colleges are using them to help students that normally could not go to school get their higher education. In taking an online class I found ti to be quite an experience and fun to do. In an online college class your classmates can be anywhere in the world and still be in the same class and that is a very unique experience and makes the world a much smaller place.

Colleges are not the only place online education is happening, but it is becoming a valuable part of high schools as well. In Texas students are required to take 4 years of English, 4 years of Math, 4 years of Science, and 4 years of Social Studies along with a fine art credit, and 3 semesters of physical education which can include athletics or marching band. Because of the new 4x4 as it is called and only 7 periods a day students have found it difficult to get any electives worked into their schedule. To help students some schools have started offering some of their classes online. One high school is offering PE online. It just goes to show that anything can be taken online.

In my district MOODLE is an online application that has been used by a few teachers with their classes to get their credit. MOODLE has been used in this district or at least presented in this district for about 4 years. It has been used by a 5th grade teacher to help students learn about working online, to learn responsibility, and proper etiquette online. The students enjoyed the many different things they could do online like chatting and posting to each other. They were very engaged in the learning. The problem was computer use time because the teacher had to use the lab and could only use it for 3 days in a row. She did stress to the students they could access the lesson at home and work from their. It took some instruction and encouragement but they did learn they could work anywhere. The link below is one of a teacher's website with the MOODLE link that he uses now in his nursing class. He uses this link to give test, help with vocabulary, reference instruction. He has been using this program for the past 3 years but he has not made it officially just an online class. He still has the students in the classroom he just has them access the MOODLE page for information and test. It is basically what he uses to teaches his class.

http://web.mac.com/meddude/HHS_HSTE/Online_Courses.html

I do feel like students could take even my class which is art online. I have discussed it with my principal but he has not taken the hint and let me start it. I envision it being where students can access the class and watch a demo of the instruction and then once they have made their project they can upload it to the website and I can grade it from their. I have found MOODLE to be very easy to use and after taking this class plan to pursue teaching art online. In so doing it would help high school students open up one slot on their schedule to take another elective.

Blog Post 6

In the my courses I have been learning about how to integrate technology more efficiently into my lessons. NESTS are standards set up nationally to show if used technology can help students. My goals have been to incorporate technology more effectively and more often than I have in the past. I am finding new ways to incorporate and I am trying to make things like research more fun with virtual tours. I have used virtual tours of museums to help students see other artwork as it would be displayed in a museum or art gallery. I have also used virtual tours to take my students on a field trip into a cave and see cave paintings. I want the students to learn that there is more to computers than just plain research.

New goals I am not sure about except to find ways to enhance learning for all students and incorporate Universal Design for Learning and help all students learn. I want to find ways that can make it possible for special needs students all the way to above average students learn the same materials on their levels. Computers do help make it possible to level the information for all students.

The Final Game Plan

The end of the course has come and I have been working on a GAME plan to help my students use technology to help them progress through an assignment. I have found when using the tool called GAME plan it helps me to plan my lessons with more completeness. I have found this to be a very useful tool to have. Using the GAME plan I have become more efficient with my lesson in making them reach all students. I can see where I need to change them to incorporate the use of technology so that all students are challenged on their separate levels. The GAME plan is a great tool for teachers and one I am glad I have learned. It has made planning my lessons easier and I have made very few changes during the lesson because I was able to see where the lesson was headed and with monitoring I could tell what needed to be changed sooner than before.

I have started using the GAME plan when starting a new lesson and feel better equipped to handle the little things that come up. I am finding ways to incorporate technology with the GAME plan and feel more prepared to help the students. There have been many new challenges that have come up in this particular class and using wiki pages to help communicate with each other is always a fun task. There are many new and challenging things to use with my students and I am excited about sharing them.

The Game Plan Revisited

I am going to change a little bit the way I plan to reach my goal. On our CreativeBees wiki page I have posted a lesson plan on solving a problem for a community that needs something built. They may need a bridge, a tunnel, a dome, a skyscraper, or a dam and the students have to decide which they want to build and then learn about all the different kinds there are and which one would be the best to build. To use this toward my goal in my GAME plan of collaborating with others I am going to have the students contact an architect and do an interview with them about what ever they are planning on building. The students could get advice and ideas on how to build and why the choice is good or bad. 

I do feel it is good for students to talk to people in the outside world that work in the field they are studying and they can get first had advice from them on the pros and cons of the job. Architecture is a great field and one that is also a part of creating. 

The Game Plan

Technology is making the possibilities of meeting and working with students from anywhere possible. I am working with the Technology director at our school on finding a Distance Learning lesson that I can do with my classes. I usually use one class to see how it will work. I did the Distance Learning a couple of times last year and it was an interesting experience. We do not have any set up yet but our Technology staff has been overloaded with some technical issues and have not had a chance to look for new lessons coming forward.

The lessons last year were more a teacher that taught to my class and this year I would really like to have a class that can meet with us. I think it would be a great experience for the students on both sides. I have begun using Twitter and a couple of art blogs that I am a part of to find teachers that would be interested. I have started talking to a couple of teachers in the same time zone I am in to collaborate on a lesson and see if we can share the students ideas with each other. Our plan is to group our two classes and have the students collaborate with each other.  I am excited about this because the technology being used is an interesting experiment in working outside the boundaries of a classroom.

Game Plan Beginning

In my quest to find art classes to share with I have joined several different art communities and have started talking to several different art teachers about lessons and if they would be willing to join classes and visit online to see how the students would interact and if they would find this engaging at all for the students. I have not received any positive responses yet but have some that might think about it. I guess that is positive.

The Game Plan/Trudy Driskell

During this 8 weeks I am taking two Walden courses and both require a blog post I am trying to keep them straight by putting the instructors name in the title and hopefully this will help the instructors know which one is for them.

In our last post for Dr. Driskell we had to talk about our GAME plan and areas that we needed to work on. This week we are to talk about resources we might need and or people we might need to talk to that will help us reach our Goals of the GAME plan. We are also to talk about what steps we have taken to ACHIEVE the GOALS.

When I look at the first part of my last blog the one thing I would really like to do is have an art class with another art class from somewhere else. I would like to have students be able to talk to other students and see what they are doing, to see a different culture even of people. We have so many cultures here in the US that we could do that with someone in this very country that would be a great experience for the students. I have at risk students that have not had the opportunity to see much outside their little world except for going to Mexico to visit family. What I need to do this would be finding teachers from other places willing to take the plunge and set up a date and time that we could connect. Time constraints would have to be taken into account as well. Also we would have to look into software like Skype or something that allows video conferencing. We do have a lab in our building that has technology set up where we could possibly do video conferencing because they do set up Distance Learning classes for all grade levels. They just have not ever set up with a class from somewhere else. I would need to visit with the technology specialist that takes care of this to see if it would be better in there with the bigger screen etc.

As far as taking steps to do this I have not yet done that. Starting a new school year and taking two classes time has not been something I have extra of. I am starting to get the time frame and a schedule set where I can begin looking at trying new things and learning about the students and what they need in their learning.

Game Plan

In reading through the ISTE Standards for Teachers I have found that there are bits of each I would like to become more knowledgeable in and more proficient in. For this assignment we are asked to pick two that we feel the most interested in working on. My GAME plan will be used on Standard 1 d. and standard 2.d.

1d. says the teacher will model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with students colleagues and others in face to face virtual environments. My goal is to find teachers within my school as well as outside my area to collaborate with and get ideas for my classroom and to show students other places in the world and how they learn by meeting with them in a virtual classroom. The ways to achieve this will be to go online and find other schools that would be interested in doing this kind of project. I will monitor the reactions and the learning of myself and the students to see if this is something that needs to continue and last my evaluation will be on how many more can I find because I know this will be a great time for the students and a great learning opportunity for all of us.

2d. Provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching. Goal is to find different ways to assess students work and to give them different ways to show they know the content of the lesson. To achieve this I will need to go online to look for different ways to assess students that others have used and also to look at the lesson and see how many different ways it can be assessed and maybe even let the students find ways to assess their own work. To monitor this there are some technology programs such as MOODLE that can be used by teachers to let students take test, post comments, download work to show how they are doing. I will evaluate if this is successful for all students when I see how many use the technology given and see what works best for the students.

On a side note I am sorry this was not posted by Wed. but I am taking two classes at one time and just got confused on the posting dates. Have a great week.

Reflection

Another class has come and gone and I still cannot seem to get into blogging. Some part of me finds it interesting to leave thoughts and ideas but the other part cannot seem to find the time and discipline it takes to do it.

In the post I want to reflect back on what I have learned about literacy in the Web 2.0 world of education. I am just getting use to the term Web 2.0 and found out that things are about to change. It is becoming Web 3.0 where the computer can almost read our minds and search for us. Not really but it seems that way. In the class I learned that literacy is quite different that when I first started school. It is more than just reading and writing on paper and books, but learning how to read and understand websites and what information they have available. Students must learn how to determine to the best of their ability what information is correct and valuable.  I have learned several different ways to help students look at a web page and determine if it is usable information or not. This will be very helpful when the students are working and hopefully keep them from waisting time in their searches.

Because of the nature of my class in being art we do not do a lot of web searching because the accessibility of the computers is not there. I am going to try and do more with the advanced class and hopefully I can teach the students something they can take with them to other classes when they are doing research for them.

New Post New Class

Well my last class ended on educational research and I still did not get around to adding post to my blog to show how the journey was going. Getting into the habit of editing and adding to a blog is one of those things that you have to make yourself do and I cannot seem to get in the habit of doing. It is takes some self discipline to do and realize the need to do it. Oh well maybe it will be better this time since I may need to use it for this class. The more I use it the more it will become important and I will incorporate it more into my teaching. New class started this week over literacy and technology and teaching. Will be an interesting class on how to help students become more literate in technology and not just dependent on it. I think students know just enough to not know how to use it. They are dependent on it without knowing enough on how to use it.

New Journey

This week begins a new journey in my trek to get my master's degree. We begin a class on research. AAARGGGGGGH. I am very undecided about this class. I am also very nervous about this class, because I have not written a paper over research in a very very very long time. I am thinking about writing my paper over why and how the fine arts make students smarter. If you look at graduating classes of today you will find that the majority of salutatorians and valedictorians have been involved in some for of fine art whether it is music, theater, or art.

There have been studies done and school set up that only teach the fine arts but they teach all subjects using fine arts to teach them. They learn history when learning about different composers or artist, they learn math and science when learning about tempos, and mixing colors, or timing in a play. Critical thinking and problem solving are also taught in the fine arts.

I think this paper will be an interesting exploration of the importance of fine art and why schools should not be in a hurry to discourage them or dismiss them as unimportant. They are more valuable than they are given credit for.

I will keep this blog updated on the findings and the journey of writing the paper.

Over the last 8 weeks not only have I learned how students learn I have also learned some new technology tools that can be used as instructional tools as well as learning tools. Voice threads and virtual tours are two of the technology resources that I found to be very interesting and could be fun and resourceful tools. The hard part is making the lessons that incorporate these tools for the students to use to learn from and not for me the teacher to just use to instruct with. I hated lectures and I know things have not changed and students hate lectures as well.

Over the summer I plan to work on lessons that incorporate more learning tools for the students. Now that we have a mobile computer lab it will be easier to have access to the computers for the students to use and be engaged and learning. I want to do more that goes across the curriculum and helps students to make meaning from their learning.

What I Have Learned

Over the last 8 weeks we have been learning about the different learning styles. I have heard for years that students do not learn the same. It seemed like every year there was a new way to teach so that everybody could learn. The most important thing is that students can learn if they are engaged in the lesson. That students have to find the lesson important and meaningful to them. Regardless of how they learn if the are engaged and use more of themselves to learn with they will remember what they learn. They will connect with the lesson.

Two goals that I am going to work on are 1. to find ways to use technology with my students to have them be more engaged in the lesson. I want to use things like voice threads for students to talk about art and how it affects them. 2. I want to make more lessons that go across the curriculum and help students see how all things are connected in some way.

I feel it is important for teachers to show students that learning is always taking place. I want them to know you never stop learning and to know the importance of continuing to be open to the new things that come along and enjoy the ride.

Instructional technology and Learning technology

I tried something new and that was to take my class to a Distance Learning Presentation. The presenter was  on a webcam in Atlanta Georgia at the Puppetry Museum. She took the students on a around the world tour of places and their puppets. After part of the tour the students made a puppet. The students were not real impressed with the program because they are 11th and 12th graders and the presenter was more prepared for elementary students. There were some things about it that the students enjoyed and they were talking about it today.

Something that was discussed was shadow puppets. What we are going to do in my class is make some shadow puppets and then use projection presenters and show a play that the students will write about their puppets to elementary students. We will either use overhead projectors or elmo type projectors to show the puppets. I want the stories to be about how to get along with others and what not to do. Bullying has become such a bad problem and I want the students to write their stories about what that is and how not to become a victim or a bully.

Try again

http://voicethread.com/share/1041874/

Voice Thread

voicethread.com/share/1041853/

Social Learning and Technology

I have started a lesson with my Art II students on making an animated music video that I found using Scratch and then using garage band on the apple laptops. I am posting pictures of the apple portable computer labs that we have at our school and the students using them. The students are having fun learning about writing their own music and putting it to an animation they design.  I am having fun learning new ways to use the computer. The students are learning using the social aspect of learning by collaborating with each other and giving their opinion about the different sounds they hear. When students are engaged and having fun it is fun to teach and to watch them learn.

I have been looking at different examples of the voice threads and one of the lessons that looked really cool to me was one that a teacher did and it reached across the curriculum. First at art class did art work, and then an English class wrote a story or poem about the art work and next a music class made music using garage band to go with the poems and pictures. All of these were recorded and played. Many students were involved in the project. Very interesting.

Constructionist theories of Learning

When students build on their learning they are constructing new experiences. Through these new experiences they are are engaged and learning. Project based learning is a great one to use for this because students are actively engaged in the lesson. They are designing how and what they will learn. Rubrics are a great way for students to monitor their learning. The student can use a rubric to determine their grade and keep track of what they need to do to get the best grade.

Computers can be used in so many different ways to help students find information and make presentation. I have also learned that we have a distance learning program where students can be taught a lesson by someone in another part of the country or the world. My advanced art class is going to learn about puppetry in other lands and get to make a pole puppet as part of the class. I have not told them about this yet, but I think it will be a very fun experience for them and me as well.

Mind map

I did not realize that the mind map would not fit to the page like I wanted it to. I do apologize for that. This is still a learning process for me. I do think this gives an idea of how I can use the mind map or at least in one aspect.

Mind map of the Elements of Art

Cognitive Learning

It never ceases to amaze me how interesting the brain and how it works is. Cognitive learning is taking an idea and getting students to connect what they already know to what they are learning. A teacher has to find ways to use students prior knowledge and building on it. If a teacher wants students to take hold of a concept they must find ways to connect with the student and make it relevant. In cognitive learning theories talk about how we understand, retain, and recall information. If a student can relate the information to something they already know it will help them retain it and be able to recall it.

Technology resources that we have learned about this week are very exciting resources. Mind mapping and virtual field trips are two resources that I am very excited about using. I have made a mind map about the elements of art on Bubblus and found it to be very easy to use and make. The virtual field trips are so fascinating. I had no idea they could be so much fun. My biggest problem will be to decide which one to use first. I see these field trips as ways to help kids see and go places that they might not ever be able to go to or see.

I can tell this is going to be a very interesting course and I hope for the next post I can get the information correct that we are suppose to post. I posted last time about the same information that I had posted on my discussion and not about the information we were asked to. I will have to read the instructions better the next time. So now that I know what we were suppose to post about I can do that now. Thanks for your patience.

In our resources this week we learned about using technology for "Reinforcing Effort" and "Homework and Practice".  In my school district we do not have one to one computers for our students and therefore their teachers have to sign up and use computer labs if they want to use technology in their lessons. Some classes use to have 4 or maybe 6 computers in their classrooms and these were used mainly for rewards for doing the assignment and completing it early. The teacher wanted the student to be busy and they would let them get on the computer and play games or do some type of enrichment about the lesson. Technology and computers can be so much more than a babysitter.

Homework and practice are still important in helping students learn the concepts that the teachers are giving them. If they do not practice what they learn soon after they will not learn the concept. In art when we teach an element of art we have the students do an activity or two that enforces what they are being taught and how it works. The problem I see with homework for many classes is that students do not understand the lesson and then go home and do not know how to do the homework because they do not understand the lesson. They get frustrated and then they quit. If teachers had blogs with videos that students could go back to and watch on the lesson when they are at home it would help them to see it again and they could continue to watch until hopefully they would understand. Sometimes students need to get away from everybody else and then they can absorb the information. Blogs could also be helpful for students to be able to post to the teacher questions or even examples of what they have done to see if they are doing it correctly.

Tutorials have become an integral part of learning. As Dr. Orey stated in the DVD tutorials are used from instructions to learning the computer to learning how to play a game. Everybody offers tutorials to give a quit lesson on the subject. Tutorials remind me of what we used in college English classes on books we were suppose to read called Cliff Notes, they were an abridged version of the story just to give you the highlights so you could pass the test. Tutorials are instructions for what you need to know, but not detailed necessarily.

Behaviorism learning is the basic school policy. Students behave they learn, they do not behave they do not learn. Reward good behavior and punish bad is the way of the school. Intrinsic motivation is hard to get when students have been conditioned to believe they should be rewarded for doing what they were suppose to do. Change is hard and breaking out of the mold is sometimes even harder. Using technology as a reward is not the answer either. Students have technology at their fingertips all the time and therefore it does not encourage them to do what they should like it would when I was a student and did not have the technology available like they do today.

Dr. Pat Wolfe talked about last week that students need to use as many modalities as possible to remember the information. I agree that students need to hear the information and practice but I do feel we can use technology to help them find different ways to practice and use the information. We have to make the learning meaningful for the students to want to learn what we have to teach them.

Welcome Back

Starting a new class in technology usage and we will be returning to our blogs again. I am excited and wish  I had been keeping up with it. Maybe now I can get into a better habit of using my blog and updating it with information and pictures of how technology helps in the art of teaching art.

Please join my blog page and make this a fun and exciting journey for all of us. I look forward to great discussions and comments from everyone.