Educating in a Digital World

Digital Distractions

It's hard to watch my classmates and not be totally distracted by all the distractedness (I know, not a word). Texting, surfing, and pursuing the multitude of web offerings constantly going on is very problematic. Maybe I'm just from a different era, it all seems like so much flotsam. They all are so unfocused that it seems impossible to get any classwork done. How can a person text friends constantly and still get assignments done? And that's just one example. 

As reported in the Digital Nation, it has been proven that it really IS impossible. Studies have shown that trying to read online, at school, in a text, all at the same time, AND truly comprehending all you're trying to do is completely impossible. The real learning that schools are trying to emulate is not happening. The desired environment is not happening because of all this distractedness. Reported in the Digital Nation, there was an unwillingness to see the problem for what it is. For the newer generation of learners, there is a such a great excitement about new technology that the addiction to it all is interfering with the learning experience. But as this is acknowledged by most students, there appears to be an unwillingness to apply this to their own personal addictions.

There doesn't have to be a problem using technology in education but in order for this to be effective there needs to be a way to channel the addictions to all this popular technology. Uses of technology shouldn't be a negative. Integrating all the positive possibilities there are with all the new, constantly changing, digital world is a possibility. There are a lot of challenges for all educators but keeping new technology updated in the curriculum can enhance classrooms, not detract, in keeping students engaged in the process of learning.

Blogs are annoying most of the time

I have had this blog for about a year now. It was started for my class at UT;  Tech and Mltmedia-Ed Envrnmnts. It was a very time intensive class and I didn't enjoy it much, but all the same, I put a lot of technology to use and learned a lot. I will start something new for this semester but would like some creative critiques. Any ideas will be useful to me. As it stands right now, it's pretty boring, I know, but I really need to have one idea I can focus on.

My problem is I have too many ideas and can't make up my mind. I always have this problem though, and therefore get nothing done. The old analysis/paralysis problem. But all you can throw at me will get me ideas on WHAT to focus on. Ideas I have so far are: Dog people and their weird habits, Old people stories (more like memories), the underground music scene, and maybe something about church people stories from all the many different churches I've gone to over the years.

I have a lot of thoughts for these blogs, but what do you all think would be most interesting?

 
http://myut.utoledo.edu/webct/webctfall.html

Visit my web site!

Here's a link to my web site were there is a lot of great information about education and my pursuits into my education endeavors!

Check out my Technology Activity Page for examples of the Lessons created using these and other programs.

Public Art Newsletter page has links to the Arts Commission of Greater Toledo.

Check out my Technology Activity Page for examples of the Lessons created using these and other programs.

The Public Art Newsletter page has links to the Arts Commission of Greater Toledo.

Check out the many links, lesson plans and helps for Art education students and teachers.

Date updated: 5/5/10

Last Blog!

Technology is here to stay so it just makes sense to put it to good use. Many of the programs learned in ETPT 2020 are going to be very useful.  Because of my subject matter, Fine Arts, the Technology is here to stay so it just makes sense to put it to good use. Many of the programs learned in ETPT 2020 are going to be very useful.  

Because of my subject matter, Fine Arts, the more visually interesting programs would most likely be easily utilized.  

One of the best programs, I believe, was Inspiration. The way you can connect the different elements works well to convey ideas and associations. As this program can also be interactive, it is great for the learners who need both visual and hands-on learning.

The Google Earth program is a real fun way for students to see places and locations around the world to make connections to lessons.  For my area of teaching it would be a wonderful way to send students to see areas of the world where certain art was created. Making links to historical content could be used as Google Earth has a historical image feature! This is a real good way to show associations between area art changes and historical happenings. 

Of course any teacher could use the database programs to keep track of information about students and classes, but using it for teaching is a very useful.  

There are many lessons that have a variety of lists of information to convey and connections to make. InspireData and Excel are both good programs for these purposes. The students could be given tasks to perform looking up information and gathering content in order for the lesson to have more meaning and for the knowledge to have more than one association, thereby adding to an increase in cognitive memory.  The more levels of knowledge you can add to a lesson the better retention for the students.

There are so many great programs that could be used for education that they can't all be listed here but this is a great start. 

Just get out into the new technology-filled world and try out all the wonderful things that can help enhance and really help your students learn and retain information in a new and amazing way.

Newsletter Activity

My wish is to be teaching in a secondary school setting, even middle school. Usually by this age they have a real interest in art and are willing to learn more about the subject. As we all know there are always those who take art believing it will be an easy A. But I will make sure that will not be the case. Art is just as difficult and important to the future as all other subjects and can be a very lucrative and rewarding career. There are even more opportunities than ever in commercial and fine art fields. Hopefully our future students will able to grasp this and work hard toward a real possibility of becoming a lifelong artist.

For this lesson activity we are teaching grades 9-10.

This newsletter activity is using the subject and content area from Ohio Standards used is Benchmark A: Explain how and why visual art forms develop in the contexts (e.g., cultural, social, historical and political) in which they were made. Grade level 10; Explain the circumstances and events that influence artists to create monuments and site-specific works. To address this standard the students, in small groups, will be creating a newsletter explaining the purpose and reasons (the how and why) public art is chosen and created.

After a demonstration of how to use the Microsoft Word program, a presentation of public art and monuments will be given. Then, after a discussion of the political, social and historical reasons people might have chosen public art, the student's group will create a newsletter explaining and discussing how and why these monuments were selected.

Following the formulation of the newsletter by the students, they will then present, as a group, their creation to the class, explaining the content of their newsletter. After each group presentation, there will be a class discussion.

This lesson will take approximately four to five class periods.

The students will learn from this activity the importance of art in the world, historically, socially, and personally, and how it always enhances every aspect of our lives.

Are there more positives or negatives with Wikipedia?

As far as I've been able to discern, Wikipedia has much more positives than negatives. The one thing people should keep in mind though is to be wary and remember that facts could be a bit skewed. But as the Wikipedia founder wanted, most of those unfounded postings are sooner or later weeded out and corrected. 

For most people, Wikipedia is a great way to look up information on a myriad of subjects. There is no quicker source to find information out there. If you're are as old as I am, you know that you used to have to get in your car, go to the library, spend hours looking up information that might, or might not be what you were looking for. If the local library didn't do the job you needed to spend a whole day driving to a nearby university get a pass for the day to gain access to what you needed. When that didn't do it you might be able to get information to the local newspaper archives or possibly the courthouse which could take days. As you can guess this could be quite exhausting!

While Wikipedia might be derided for some misinformation, they have a very reliable system to catch problem information that might be included in certain subject pages. As for me I find it a very reliable place to find information. Mind you if there is a very important paper I was writing I would probably double check the information against other sources. Because, if you don't know already, all those places I used to get information before (libraries, universities, local newspapers, court records...etc...) can most likely be found online also. And if they aren't on line yet, they're in the process of getting there as soon as possible. Most institutions have come to realize the importance of the internet and how it can help them save time and money.

I really don't use Wikipedia very often but I have no problem with those who do and see no problem with using it for important papers as long as you double check your information.

Back to school...getting toward the finish line.

Back again...I'll not post very often because I just don't have much time, but I'll let you know how life is treating me. Right now, I'm muddling through, as usual, but am enjoying the do-over in Innovations in Art Education. I think I'll do OK if i don't over-extend myself as I usually do.

For my added pictures I thought I'd take some creative commons pics that I might have taken myself as I've been there many times and most likely took my photos of the very same locations

So for your viewing pleasure...Hocking Hills...                        


Frozen Fall by Nimrod 43026

hocking hills 5 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Link to Ellen Prather's flicker photos;
hocking hills 5 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

School can be scary!

I've gone back to school! It's exciting and scary at the same time.

The plan has always been to get my Art Education degree. A few years back I had to drop out because of health problems. I was over half way through so it was a very painful decision. After quite a lot of doctor visits, a lot of physical and emotional therapy, I'm finally back at it. The pain is still there (some days better than others), but with my continued therapy, and a few legal drugs, I think I can make it.

So far so good.

I'm an artist. At least I like to think so. Ya' know I LOVE to create! It's what I love to do most in life. Yet so many life distractions get in the way. Getting back to school is one way to get the creative juices flowing again. Here I am forced to think, dream, create and get back to living more fully.

Life is great!

Video: What Do Teachers Make | General | So You Want To Teach?

This is an awesome clip if you want to be proud of being a teacher!

Video: What Do Teachers Make | General | So You Want To Teach?