It has been a while since I have had the opportunity to share my thoughts on all of the new information I am learning about integrating technology into the art room. My most recent class has brought to light some very interesting things to consider. The course, titled, Supporting Information Literacies and Online Inquiry, focused upon teaching new literacy skills within an inquiry-based project that teaches content. I had several revelations from the course, but the most striking one was the time it takes to thoroughly and effectively teach the proper application of new literacy skills. As I developed an inquiry-based unit, I often felt that the content got lost within the sea of searching, evaluating, analyzing, synthesizing, and ethical skills. I understand that students must learn these skills to effectively absorb the content but, in my experience they are not willing to use the stairs to reach the end goal, they would rather jump. It is almost a "Catch 22" situation, I know if they take the time to learn these skills, then the process will become easier and the content will become more of the focus but, until they learn the skills I must keep them motivated by dangling the content in front of them and sometimes sacrifice its mastery until they get the skills. I suppose it gets down to the old debate between process or product. Is it more important to focus on how they got there or what "there" ends up looking like? It is a challenge in developing my instruction, but I am always up for a challenge.
The knowledge and experience I have gained through this course has already begun to influence my teaching practices. Some of it has surfaced through teachable moments like,showing a student how to effectively use a search engine, or passing on a tip on evaluating information, but the greatest change has occurred in modeling proper ethical practices. I must confess that I often get caught up in the creative moment and when I need an image I will copy it into a PowerPoint or PhotoStory and not give credit. The Internet is just a playground of images, all just a keystroke away. It can be very tempting to just copy and paste away. I have begun to model proper copyright law practices and providing proper credit in all of my presentations I use in instruction and otherwise. As my students begin to create art using the computer, I have been reinforcing the protection of creative thought and images. We have even had discussions about the classic conflict of copying others' works of art in the studio. From kindergarten through fifth grade, students always have an issue with other students taking an idea they developed and calling it their own. This concept has opened up a dialog about how people who have worked hard to create images and ideas on the Internet would feel if you took their work without asking permission and call it your own. I believe that together, my students and I, can learn how to practice respect for the creative work of other people as we move into more opportunities to utilize modern media.
After taking this course, I have set some personal professional development goals to build upon my own literacy skills. I plan to focus mainly on visual literacy since they are directly related to what I teach in the classroom. Ultimately, I would like to develop my vision of the 21st century elementary art room and curriculum. To get to that point, I must start taking some classes on different multimedia techniques and the technology aspects of modern film making. I am working on some grants that will hopefully yield some funding to acquire some needed equipment for my classroom but in the meantime I need to become familiar and comfortable in its use by making examples of my own. I have located an online mentor at a Ning site that I am a member of Art Education 2.0. Tricia Fuglestad is doing the type of instruction and integration that I would love to be doing in my classroom and I hope that by communicating with her I can gain some insight on further direction I need to take to reach my goals. I also plan to take some more classes on the technical aspects of my classroom management system that my district calls E-Learn. I have a basic E-Learn site that I am using alongside of my instruction but I would like to take it to the next level and learn how to embed code for video players to start sharing the multimedia my students produce. Finally, I have a fifth grade student this year who is very interested in film-making and I am learning many new special effects, editing skills, and software programs because of his drive to get better. It is very motivating for both of us to be learning side-by-side.
Even without all the new "bells and whistles", I plan to examine my curriculum for opportunities to practice visual literacy skills even while using traditional art media. As I pointed out earlier, I have to guide my students up the stairs, not just let them jump into a bunch of new technology not understanding how to use it effectively. Dr. Jason Ohler, professor of Educational Technology at the University of Alaska, has been focusing his research on visual literacy skills and digital storytelling. In an article about the importance of utilizing the art curriculum to support new literacy skills he states the following, "I had an amazing experience a few years ago that helped me fully appreciate art's new importance in education. I was watching a 10th grader struggle at his computer to create a multimedia presentation for his language-arts project. He wasn't struggling with the technology-like any infoage kid, he could click around the screen with considerable ease. It was the aesthetics that seemed insurmountable. As I watched him clumsily cramming together scads of video clips, graphics, sounds, buttons, and a few words, it suddenly hit me like a ton of bits: He was trying to create art, and no one had shown him how. In the process of fumbling with the medium, he was losing his sense of what he wanted to communicate in the first place."(Ohler, 2000). This idea emphasizes the importance of integrating visual literacy skills even at the elementary age level so that students can become more proficient earlier on and be able to effectively communicate the content of their thoughts and ideas. I cannot alter the state curriculum, but I plan to creatively present it so that my students can be prepared for the 21st century.
Ohler, Jason (2000, October). Art becomes the fourth r. Educational Leadership, (58)2, 16-19.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Connecting the Pieces
Looking back over everything I have learned during the last seven weeks, I have had several “ah ha” moments. To start, I was pleased to find out a lot of my personal theory of how my students learn was reinforced by the research and major theories of learning we studied in this course. That is not to say my classroom is the perfect learning environment. I know that there are some modifications I need to make. Foremost is how I plan my instruction. It’s fine to say I understand the theory but it is how it is placed into practice which is most important. That starts with the planning stage. I now see the importance of including learning theory and research into planning instruction. Some additional modifications I would make would be to create more focused structure (i.e. rubrics, clearer expectations of outcome, etc.) to my student-centered lesson plans in order to make the learning experience most effective for my students. Finally, I plan to modify how I have been applying the Social Constructionist theory in my instruction. I now have a better understanding of how to construct my lesson so that the group has a real sense of interdependence and expectations for how the social unit should succeed.
When the new school year begins I have some immediate changes I plan to make regarding my instructional use of technology. I have used a lot of technology in the past but most of it has been used within a teacher-centered instructional presentation. I plan to make the paradigm shift to using technology as a learning tool where the students are using it for active learning (Laureate, 2009). One tool I plan to use to achieve this is Voice Thread. Because this application merges images with flexible social interaction, it becomes an invaluable tool to be used in the art classroom to support the interpretation and analysis of art. It can be used as an instructional but most importantly as an active learning tool. Its ease of use encourages students to utilize Voice thread to construct their own multi-media presentations. Another tool that I will use to enhance my student’s learning is Kidspiration. My school has had this program available to teachers and students alike for years. I received basic instruction on its use years ago but I was never told why it was such an important program. It was never connected to learning theory as it was in this class. Using this technology tool in the art room will enhance my students ability to identify similarities and differences, summarize and take notes, create advanced organizers, all while practicing their nonlinguistic representations. Research shows that these are important strategies to master and this technology tool will help students to gain both guided and independent practice in their use (Laureate, 2009).
There are two long term goals I have for my instructional practice regarding the integration of technology into the art classroom. First, revolves around access to the technology tools. I have only two computers in my room and for my students to be actively engaged and interacting with the technology, it can be quite challenging. Our school does have a fully equipped computer lab but it runs on the same schedule as mine and thus is always filled with another class when I am teaching a class. We also have a portable lab top lab but it is often hit or miss to find an open slot that coincides with my schedule or that they are actually functioning. So, my goal is to either rally for a change in the school’s specialty schedule in order to allow for flexible use of the current lab or write a grant for money to purchase a mini lab that could be used by teachers needing additional computer time for students working on cooperative project building.
My second goal is to have my students move toward using electronic portfolios. I have recently begun to use paper portfolios with my students as a form of assessment and have found much value in how they focus my student’s learning experience. The idea of an electronic portfolio lends itself to a greater transformative experience through critical reflection (Stansberry & Kymes, 2007). Our school district is in the infancy stage of setting up electronic portfolios as a feature on our Moodle sites. I hope to have the chance to pilot a portfolio program which allows students to provide written reflection on their work and select artifacts to enter as evidence of learning. In addition, because I see most of these children for five consecutive years, the portfolio can follow them and demonstrate their level of personal growth over time. Instead of looking at what seems like random ideas they can start to see the scope and sequence of their learning. As I become more familiar with the application I hope to have a feedback feature that would open up portfolios to the learning community for comment; for example, reinforcement from the teacher, the exchange of ideas between classmates, and the viewing ability for parents and other experts.
I always felt that I was exposing my students to a lot of technology for the purpose of engaging them more fully into the learning experience. This class has taught me the importance of putting the technology into the hands of the students as an active learning tool instead of just using it for instruction, that thoughtful planning must go into every lesson to truly consider the outcome I want for my students and the best instructional practices I need to use so they can achieve success, and finally this class has taught me that just having “cool techno” in the classroom doesn’t make learning happen, it involves making clear connections to learning theory, instructional practice, and the correct technology tools.
Laureate Ed., Laureate Education, Inc. (2009). Instructional strategies Part 2. Baltimore, MD: Laureate Ed., Inc.
Laureate Ed., Laureate Education, Inc. (2009). Technology: Instructional tool vs. learning tool. Baltimore, MD: Laureate Ed., Inc.
Stansberry, S., & Kymes, A. (2007, March). Transformative learning through teaching with technology electronic portfolios. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 50(6), 488–496.
When the new school year begins I have some immediate changes I plan to make regarding my instructional use of technology. I have used a lot of technology in the past but most of it has been used within a teacher-centered instructional presentation. I plan to make the paradigm shift to using technology as a learning tool where the students are using it for active learning (Laureate, 2009). One tool I plan to use to achieve this is Voice Thread. Because this application merges images with flexible social interaction, it becomes an invaluable tool to be used in the art classroom to support the interpretation and analysis of art. It can be used as an instructional but most importantly as an active learning tool. Its ease of use encourages students to utilize Voice thread to construct their own multi-media presentations. Another tool that I will use to enhance my student’s learning is Kidspiration. My school has had this program available to teachers and students alike for years. I received basic instruction on its use years ago but I was never told why it was such an important program. It was never connected to learning theory as it was in this class. Using this technology tool in the art room will enhance my students ability to identify similarities and differences, summarize and take notes, create advanced organizers, all while practicing their nonlinguistic representations. Research shows that these are important strategies to master and this technology tool will help students to gain both guided and independent practice in their use (Laureate, 2009).
There are two long term goals I have for my instructional practice regarding the integration of technology into the art classroom. First, revolves around access to the technology tools. I have only two computers in my room and for my students to be actively engaged and interacting with the technology, it can be quite challenging. Our school does have a fully equipped computer lab but it runs on the same schedule as mine and thus is always filled with another class when I am teaching a class. We also have a portable lab top lab but it is often hit or miss to find an open slot that coincides with my schedule or that they are actually functioning. So, my goal is to either rally for a change in the school’s specialty schedule in order to allow for flexible use of the current lab or write a grant for money to purchase a mini lab that could be used by teachers needing additional computer time for students working on cooperative project building.
My second goal is to have my students move toward using electronic portfolios. I have recently begun to use paper portfolios with my students as a form of assessment and have found much value in how they focus my student’s learning experience. The idea of an electronic portfolio lends itself to a greater transformative experience through critical reflection (Stansberry & Kymes, 2007). Our school district is in the infancy stage of setting up electronic portfolios as a feature on our Moodle sites. I hope to have the chance to pilot a portfolio program which allows students to provide written reflection on their work and select artifacts to enter as evidence of learning. In addition, because I see most of these children for five consecutive years, the portfolio can follow them and demonstrate their level of personal growth over time. Instead of looking at what seems like random ideas they can start to see the scope and sequence of their learning. As I become more familiar with the application I hope to have a feedback feature that would open up portfolios to the learning community for comment; for example, reinforcement from the teacher, the exchange of ideas between classmates, and the viewing ability for parents and other experts.
I always felt that I was exposing my students to a lot of technology for the purpose of engaging them more fully into the learning experience. This class has taught me the importance of putting the technology into the hands of the students as an active learning tool instead of just using it for instruction, that thoughtful planning must go into every lesson to truly consider the outcome I want for my students and the best instructional practices I need to use so they can achieve success, and finally this class has taught me that just having “cool techno” in the classroom doesn’t make learning happen, it involves making clear connections to learning theory, instructional practice, and the correct technology tools.
Laureate Ed., Laureate Education, Inc. (2009). Instructional strategies Part 2. Baltimore, MD: Laureate Ed., Inc.
Laureate Ed., Laureate Education, Inc. (2009). Technology: Instructional tool vs. learning tool. Baltimore, MD: Laureate Ed., Inc.
Stansberry, S., & Kymes, A. (2007, March). Transformative learning through teaching with technology electronic portfolios. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 50(6), 488–496.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Voicethread
I see so much potential for this application in the art room. Please view my first Voicethread, Overcoming Interpretation, and comment. It is about a problem I have with students not being comfortable talking about art.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Connected
Humans are social creatures. This does not suddenly change when students enter the classroom. Social learning theorists believe that we construct knowledge and understand the world around us, based on the interactions we have with others. We depend on others to guide us from what we already know, towards the information we are ready t0 learn. Each individual brings to the classroom their own personal context and culture with which they construct knowledge and understanding of the world around them (Laureate, 2009). Collectively a classroom full of children presents a wide spectrum of "experts" whose diverse strengths can contribute so much to learning as a whole. The United States of America, our country, is a fine example of that idea. Our motto, "e pluribus unum", "out of many, one", speaks loud and clear of the advantages that come from many different people, from many different backgrounds, working together toward constructing a common goal.
Educators have been using instructional strategies based on social learning theories for several years now. The jigsaw puzzle, numbered heads together, literacy teams, etc. are all wonderful examples of some of these strategies. How does technology fits in? The advances in communication, simulation, and the read/write web (Web 2.0), have brought the ability to interact and learn together to a whole new level. Even though I sit here alone in front of my computer, I have the ability to contact my friends, family, co-workers, classmates, world renowned experts, international peers.......I could go on and on. Most importantly, I can not only communicate with them but I can also learn with them by collaborating on projects over millions of miles. It is really amazing to think about. Overwhelming at times.
That is what brings me to a concern for utilizing these tools in the classroom. How do you focus students on the content so that they do not get easily distracted by the social aspect of many of these resources? As I explored many of our listed resources this week I found myself easily drawn away from my main purpose there (how to use it in my classroom). I was instead checking out what everyone else was doing and saying. Some resources kept me under better restraint than others but I feel it is something to consider when using them with students. I always complain about the filter system placed on our school network, but I can see how opening some sites can become a temptation to socially learn about topics not directly tied to the school curriculum. We are only human.....
Finally, I found George Siemens theory of Connectivism very interesting (Laureate, 2009). It seems to me as though in the future it will not be as important what we know, but instead knowing how to access it. I don't know about you but it conjures many Sci-fi movie images into my head. Excuse me...do you mind if I interface with your network a while? There are some benefits to being so interconnected as illustrated in this commercial.
Laureate Education, Inc. (2009). Social learning theories. Baltimore, MD: Laureate Ed., Inc.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Learning to Build, Building to Learn
The Constructionist theory of learning states, "that people learn best when they build an external artifact or something they can share with others" (Laureate, 2009). I guess it is similar to the old saying, give a man a fish, he will eat today. Teach a man to fish, and he will never go hungry. If educators just give students information they will retain it only as long as they have too. But if students have to take that information and manipulate it, interpret it, even test it's accuracy in order to create something; that results in an enduring understanding of the information.
This week's resources offered many examples of ways that "students could use tools and technologies to create artifacts in order to resolve disequilibration" (Laureate, 2009). If, like Dr. Orey states, we are always trying to reach a balance between what we "think" is reality and what truly "is" reality, then by challenging our students to explore outside their schema we induce the need to either assimilate or accommodate new information so that it fits into their world (Laureate, 2009). The booklet project done by Lynda Donovan's sixth grade language arts class shows that when students were asked to reflect on the novels they read, the end product wasn't a few meaningless paragraphs. Ms Donovan pushed them out of the typical book report schema and inspired them to actively create an artifact representing their knowledge using Microsoft Publisher. Ms. Donovan stated that the project took a lot of"trial and error" in using the technology for the students to achieve their end product (Laureate, 2009). Using technology for a project such as this also exposes students to many 21st century skills such as, organization, communication, presentation, research skills, time management, and reflection (Orey, 2001). Not only did the technology allow them to learn about reading and writing in a different way, but it also taught them many other valuable skills.
Have you ever heard the phrase, everything I needed to know I learned in Kindergarten? Dr. Mitchel Resnik of M.I.T agrees with this idea. His blog on Edutopia, Kindergarten is the model for lifelong learning, is worth the read because I think it relates deeply to the ideas behind the constructionist theory and how project-based learning can continue beyond Kindergarten.
Speaking of Kindergarten, you may be very inspired by this video I also found on Edutopia, Beginning the Journey: Five-year-olds drive their own PBL projects. I just started serving Kindergarten in the art room this year and I have found them to be the most creative and amazing little beings. What I don't understand is what happens to those beautiful creative minds? They just seem to vanish, sometimes as quick as first grade. Is it because their instruction is based less on the Constructionist theory of learning? Is this where technology can play a role in older students classrooms? I hope so.
Laureate Education, Inc. (2009). Constructionist & Constructivist Learning theories. Baltimore, MD: Laureate Ed., Inc.
Orey, M.(Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Cognitive Correlations
My school district mandated the application of the cognitive learning theory in all classrooms and trained us in a program called Learning Focused Schools. One of the main components of a learning focused lesson plan is the graphic organizer. Call them what you want, concept maps, webs, advance organizers, they all serve one purpose, to organize information, help visualize ideas and connections between ideas. As an artist and as a visual learner, I appreciate the value of these cognitive tools. Much of my art curriculum is focused around understanding, interpreting, and communicating with visual images, so by using these tools in my instruction I am able to model that very idea. I find that they help me very much when planning a lesson and laying out an entire unit. Cognitive tools such as these help to organize knowledge and present information. They can help the learner to go beyond their own limitations, like for me, memory (Orey, 2001). I use the concept maps to help guide my lesson and make sure that I don't leave something out or forget an important point.
Matter of fact to help me with this blog entry I have formed a visual representation of the correlation between several instructional strategies and cognitive learning theories on Webspiration. Check it out. You tell me which you prefer, a few more paragraphs or the map?
Laureate Education, Inc. (2009). Cognitive learning theories. Baltimore, MD: Laureate Ed., Inc.
Orey, M.(Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Matter of fact to help me with this blog entry I have formed a visual representation of the correlation between several instructional strategies and cognitive learning theories on Webspiration. Check it out. You tell me which you prefer, a few more paragraphs or the map?
Laureate Education, Inc. (2009). Cognitive learning theories. Baltimore, MD: Laureate Ed., Inc.
Orey, M.(Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Using Behaviorism in Instructional Technology
As I try to integrate more technology in my classroom, I see the value of correlating each element with leading learning theories. This week I explored many resources which support the principles of the behaviorist learning theory. Most all of these resources provided activities for students to either interact by answering questions or experience modeling through watching tutorials.
The resources I explored provided critical feedback (positive or negative reinforcement)in a timely manner. This type of instant feedback illustrates to students that they are learning something (Laureate, 2009). Using technology as programmed instruction, teachers can really target specific desired behaviors in individual students. "Behavior that goes unrewarded will be extinguished"(Orey, 2001). When teachers cannot supply the positive reinforcement, the reward, the instant feedback, in a timely manner, well designed instructional technology can do it for us. As technology gets more sophisticated, programs can go beyond just drill and practice and also link students to a variety of activities that meet their individual needs and differentiate instruction (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). Imagine how much more effective homework could be if it included targeted programs on the computer which provided the needed practice, but also provides the critical reinforcement which all students need but rarely get at home while doing homework. Homework could actually become a "fun thing".
My personal experience with instructional technology changing my behavior, mainly comes from tutorials. On-line tutorials,and multi-media presentations, model desired behaviors. Behaviorist theory defines this as observational learning (Orey, 2001). I have had much success in my classroom using this instructional strategy to teach origami. Students watch a video that demonstrates step by step how to fold a paper into a small intricate sculpture. They work at their desired pace and they learn by watching and doing it along with the video. They experience success, thus reward, much more often using this strategy in comparison with my students who attempt to learn it from book illustrations. I believe the modeling is key in this case. Having it on the computer allows me to divide my individual demonstration amongst several students simultaneously.
In having this success with tutorials, My behavior has been reinforced and I suspect that I will be including more of these demonstration videos on my Moodle site.
Laureate Education, Inc. (2009). Brain research and learning. Baltimore, MD: Laureate Ed., Inc.
Orey, M.(Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
The resources I explored provided critical feedback (positive or negative reinforcement)in a timely manner. This type of instant feedback illustrates to students that they are learning something (Laureate, 2009). Using technology as programmed instruction, teachers can really target specific desired behaviors in individual students. "Behavior that goes unrewarded will be extinguished"(Orey, 2001). When teachers cannot supply the positive reinforcement, the reward, the instant feedback, in a timely manner, well designed instructional technology can do it for us. As technology gets more sophisticated, programs can go beyond just drill and practice and also link students to a variety of activities that meet their individual needs and differentiate instruction (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). Imagine how much more effective homework could be if it included targeted programs on the computer which provided the needed practice, but also provides the critical reinforcement which all students need but rarely get at home while doing homework. Homework could actually become a "fun thing".
My personal experience with instructional technology changing my behavior, mainly comes from tutorials. On-line tutorials,and multi-media presentations, model desired behaviors. Behaviorist theory defines this as observational learning (Orey, 2001). I have had much success in my classroom using this instructional strategy to teach origami. Students watch a video that demonstrates step by step how to fold a paper into a small intricate sculpture. They work at their desired pace and they learn by watching and doing it along with the video. They experience success, thus reward, much more often using this strategy in comparison with my students who attempt to learn it from book illustrations. I believe the modeling is key in this case. Having it on the computer allows me to divide my individual demonstration amongst several students simultaneously.
In having this success with tutorials, My behavior has been reinforced and I suspect that I will be including more of these demonstration videos on my Moodle site.
Laureate Education, Inc. (2009). Brain research and learning. Baltimore, MD: Laureate Ed., Inc.
Orey, M.(Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
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