Voki: Avatar Andrea

What I Did

Using Voki I created an avatar to introduce myself. The site lets you record your own voice, but I hate to hear myself so I used one of the provided voices. I really loved the background options. As you can see below, I chose this one to put everyone in the Christmas spirit. Enjoy! My introduction can also be read here.

Wordle: Art with Words?

What I did

I was asked to compare the ISTE Nets-T standards in 2000 with those in 2008. I was introduced to a site called Wordle, which I used to illustrate the two differing years, shown below (2000 on top, 2008 on bottom). The size and color or words control the prominence of the word in the whole message. Technology, for example, is what this is all about and is the largest word shown.

 

 

When comparing the older standards with the more recent there are some major differences. Some changes include emphasis from just “technology” to “digital age,” “diversity” in the classroom to “global awareness,” “sound understanding of technology” to “fluency,” The 2008 version includes “active” learning for students in problem solving and  the use of technology as the resource or tool. "Safety and health” only mentioned in 2000 are specified as “responsible social interactions” and property rights later. There is an emphasis on the individual’s learning in the later as well as the frequent use of the words “collaboration” and “innovation.” The later versions reflect similar goals, but it is more specified to reflect the rapid growth of technology that has decreased the distance between people in the world socially and the expanse of free information readily available. We are connected to each other with clicks of a mouse, phone button, or touch on a tablet. Collaboration is easier with the sharing of information.

 

Application

This activity with Wordle can be applied to my art class in different ways. Students could use it to create an interesting aspect of another project by printing it off and incorporating it, such as a collage. Also, this might be a good begining of the year activity for students to create a "wordle" about themselves or as an intro for students to express what they think or feel about art, similar to the one I did below.
 

 



Carpe Diem vs. St. Mary

What I Did
I watched a presentation concerning the rapid growth of mobile use for the internet and the impact it will have on education.

How prepared are you to engage in each type of learning?

I have always found it easier to learn by doing rather than being “spoon-fed” information to only spit it out for an exam. With the Carpe Diem method too much relies on what the information is about, how much time is provided, and the individual’s own learning interests and style. You are going to get it or not get it. With the St. Mary’s approach mistakes are useful learning opportunities and there are many ways to achieve a goal. With more tools and technology comes more ways to explore and learn, so why continue drilling students for half the day? Facts look the same on the computer screen as they do on the board.

What would you suggest teachers in your field adopt based on current knowledge of mobile/wireless devices?
Art teachers should adopt the use of the internet as a major tool for creative purposes, which I believe most have done. They should learn as much as they can about technology available for art to expose students to the many options in this digital age. Teachers should adopt learning networks online with their students to promote team-work, group learning, and sharing of information so that students can receive information and give information to others. Incorporating different creative apps, similar to the Picasso activity previously explored in this blog, would also increase students’ motivation as they experience fun and are able to practice their creative freedom.

All teachers need to start adopting smart devices into the classroom. Rules are placed for students to put their phones away or not enter social networking sites in school. Why not use these as learning tools if the rules are going to be broken anyway? Use students’ interests and technology skills to their advantage.

What would you recommend in terms of a school wide initiative to improve teaching and learning at this point if you were in a position to do so?
Many Virginia schools could use a new initiative for teachers because it is often about test scores and numbers when the S.O.L.s are concerned. Though there are no S.O.L. exams for art, students keep that same mindset that their score is the most important thing, not the process and what they learn; if the number is lower than they would like then they have failed. This should not be the case. Like the presentation stressed, the 21st century is about problem solving and coming up with new solutions. It is about the process. If students are shown the destination automatically, how will they be able to understand how they got there or the reasoning behind it? It would be like getting art students to do paint-by-numbers all the time. The school-wide initiative I would like to see would be a new, exploratory learning process for students that involves group cooperation, use of as many tools and technology as possible, and that is project-oriented.

A mixture of the 2 models (Carpe Diem vs St. Marys) is probably in everyone’s future. How do you see executing your version of the blend in your field?
I would propose introducing the information/content in a way that allows students to be self-motivated. They can explore the aspects they find most interesting. Guide them through a specific activity by identifying a specific problem or question. They are presented with tools to discover the answer. They are able to experiment and inquire in different ways. The internet and available software, such as Adobe Creative Suite, Apps, etc., are the tools.

While the students have had time to “play” with the ideas presented, the Carpe Diem approach to learning might come in handy. Sometimes background knowledge needs to be given and understood to see the bigger picture. For example, an art student isn’t going to understand an art period/movement without first knowing the meaning of the terms associated.

When students need to be evaluated tests often take the approach of students regurgitating the correct answers on paper, which can show the teacher that the students do know information. However, students should be evaluated in different ways to cater to different learning styles with projects, written exams, and other activities. Students can be presented with a new problem and demonstrate what they have learned by using the same skills they used before to solve the new problem.

Excel: T-Test

What I Did

Excel is still new to me so I hope I did this assignment right. I generated the descriptive statistics for male and female reading scores and took a snipping of the two together to compare them.

 

 

I then followed the directions for the t-test: clicking on "data analysis," selecting "two-sample assuming equal variances," and selecting the male and female score columns separately for "variable 1 and 2." I compared the data entered for "P(T<=t) one-tail," which was about 1.6 to the limit of .05 for the confidence level. That means that instead of having a 95% degree of confidence or greater, I came up with - 60%. That means that there isn't any statistical evidence indicating that gender effects reading scores. The differences in scores are for other reasons, like chance or measurement error. I would have to NOT reject the null hypothesis- there is no connection between gender and reading scores.

 

What I Learned/Application

 

The t-test could be used on other data that is collected for research in my art classroom. For example,  a good research question might be do left handed students have better drawing skills than right-handed students? I have often heard that it is true because of the way the brain works but have yet to see evidence to prove it. The hypothesis would be students that draw/write with the left-hand have better drawing skills than students who are right-handed (the dominant writing hand is the independent variable). The null hypothesis would be that left or right-hand dominance does not determine drawing skill. This would be tricky because I would have to choose a good sample of students (male and female, different ages) and administer an art test that would test their hand/eye coordination, control, and understanding of light, form, space, etc. I would have to have a specific image that the students must render to have a control and also grade them as consistently as possible with a defined number scale (dependent variable).

 



Excel: NCES Reading Scores

What I Did

I visited the NCES website and uploaded the state comparisons (for 4th grade reading) into Excel. I had to first select the "Add-In" for Excel to use "Data Analysis." I was able to compute the "descriptive statistics" shown below.

The data I uploaded can be viewed here in an Excel worksheet. I sorted the data in ascending order before putting the data in a scatter plot.

What I Learned/Application

Virginia, my state, is ranked ninth with only eight states scoring over 226.378. That leaves 42 states below us, including Washington D.C. We are above the average of 220.4.

Google Sites: Art Education Materials

What I Did

I created a new website using Google Sites to use for teaching art. Google Sites allows you to create a FREE page or pages to share information whether it be personal content or professional, such as teaching. The nice thing is, since I already have a site that should contain the same documents, I could change things around and use it for my own personal desires. You can view it here. I first created the home page and simply clicked on "add page" to add separate pages for a couple documents from previous blog posts, which were "inserted" as Google Docs. The sidebar provides easy navigation to these different pages.

What I Learned/Application

I love this tool because this is an easy way to reach out to students on the go or at home as well as get family involved. I could make a page for events, such as art displays, so that students' families can come view the work. Students can view inspirational artists or their works that may be relevant to class or I could get them to create their own site of inspirational art.

Art is a field that is increasingly using new technology to keep up with the other interdisciplinary areas. We can't keep focusing on the stereotypical paints and brushes as the means for creating in the art world. Using online tools combined with traditional means of teaching art will demonstrate creativity by using innovative methods of teaching/learning and creating (ISTE Nets-T standard 3).

Another benefit of using Google Sites for teaching purposes is to communicate with the professional world about teaching itself, the ISTE Nets-T standard 5. This allows teachers to share ideas, improve methods, and grow as life-long learners in their own right. Information is free and readily available!

RubiStar: Art Critique and Rubric

What I Did

Okay...this has not really worked for me. I was able to go to RubiStar, create a login, and create a rubric. I reached a problem when I tried to save it in Excel format. It would say I saved it, but my computer didn't like opening it up because it said it might be corrupt since the "file type was a different format than specified by the file extension." It would open it up as a web page. It doesn't like the file type and I don't know what I did wrong. I tried to dowload the original document and it still doesn't let me. I officially do not like RubiStar. I don't see how it is that much easier than creating a document in another program.

I decided to click on the option of "create an offline browser-document" so that I could copy and paste it into Word instead. I was then able to upload it to Google Drive. Now you can see my rubric!

 

What I Learned

There is more than one way to achieve a goal. This is not the first time I have had to find another way to get the desired result. For example, I had to find a different formula to use for the self-grading document in the spreadsheet in Google. As long as your document completes the task and it can get out there for students or other people to see! There are so many options online for doing one kind of task that it is hard to learn it all and do it all successfully.