great video on collaboration! Check it out!

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/216

BP10_20091018_Commercial2ETC

This advertisement is brought to you by Mel Rainey, Art Educator of Tomorrow.

BP9_20091018_Replypost

LogoEase is a free online drag-and-drop logo creation tool that allows registered users to create business or professional logos for publishing. The steps to creating a logo are easy, the interface is fairly intuitive and the site's author claims that it is geared towards users with no design experience and those with experience.
The use of the site is completely free. There is a link for accepting donations, and the parent site ad offers professional logo design services for a fee.
This tool will come in handy for teaching basic logo design to first year students in my lab classroom. The interface and the ease of use will give them confidence to experiment with different font choices, placement of elements, design motifs and color without the pains of learning Adobe Illustrator initially. The tool also creates a download file of the saved logo design in popular file formats for print and electronic media: .jpg, .tif, .eps., and .png.
The site maintains a caveat; the logo users develop through this tool may or may not be eligible for copyright/trademark protection. I expect this is due to the clip-art type images and fonts that the site allows its users to choose from - the resulting logo is simply a compilation of their image and font selections.
I would use this tool as an introduction to logo development with plans for incorporating Illustrator and creating a logo as professionals do later in the unit. After all, a large part of my job as a career-technical instructor is to teach industry-standard software and equipment. I would also explain the copyright and trademark warning as a lesson on intellectual property rights/digital millennium act and have a discussion in class or on the Blackboard discussion thread.
As for the FSO ETC Course, I can use LogoEase to quickly create a logo to use for my final video project title or I could have used it for other projects in the course prior to this assignment such as my blog post images.
Communicating through visual media is a prominent part of reaching today's digital native learner. Using motifs, typography and imagery enhances the appeal of everyday lessons. One could use LogoEase to quickly create logos or visual elements for presentations, web sites, podcast intros and a number of other communicative media.
References:
http://www.logoease.com/News.aspx?id=56

BP8_20091018_We2.0_30f3

Web 2.0 Scribbls.com

Finally this week we come to Scribbls.com, which is a collaborative drawing community. IT is a simple platform like most Facebooks and MySpaces. The difference is the idea of the site is based around the ideas of simple combination or morph sketching. I find it to be a unique site and a lot of fun for students.

When arriving to the site after your initial registration you have options to configure your profile and settings. As a user you are given a personal page or a URL account. This is a nice feature, because viewers can come to your site and view it directly without searching for it. You are given several tabs at the top of the page. The first tab is browse, which allows you to browse all drawings on the site. The second is the draw tab, which will allow you to draw and categorize your drawings. Third, is your about tab, this will allow you to link to FAQ and information about the site. Fourth, is your profile tab, in here you will find all the information about yourself and the settings you wish to use in your URL. Finally, as you begin to maneuver through the site and its tabs you have your all-favorite Wall Posting option. Having this is always nice because you can post information that you want viewers to see and comment on. The premises behind the site are to create and share small sketches that combine into one final sketch idea. It is a neat idea to incorporate this into a networking site and to create connections between objects and things.

In the classroom, this would be used as another social networking tool for my students. Say I am working on a cartooning lesson with my students and they have to create a simple morph sketch. They could use this site as their drawing tool and personal site for publishing their work. Some concerns are that there is little in the secure department of what is posted and who controls it. As a user I have little control of what the viewer sees and what they can do when they visit my URL.

I found this site interesting and usable on a personal level, but I may not use this in my class for a Web 2.0 Tool, do to lack of secure means. As stated by Zach Johnson and Paul Armstrong, creators of Scribbls.com, “We set out to have some fun in our spare time, designing and developing web sites out of our homes in Minneapolis, MN.” Well, that could be why it is so open and free in Scribbls.com platform design.

References:

Armstrong, Paul; Johnson, Zach.(2007-2009). Watermelon Sauce LLC. Retrieved October 18, 2009. From http://www.scribbls.com.

BP8_20091018_We2.0_20f3

Web 2.0 WebCanvas.com

Webcanvas was another of my found tools to use in the classroom. It is an on-line collaborative art initiative to create the World’s largest collaborative painting. Uniting the participation of a worldwide community of artists (2007). This painting is continuously changing and evolving, every time a new artist signs up.

In first coming to the site I found it a storage room of artistic images from everywhere around the world. It just keeps going! The tools and login are easy to use and navigate. Initial registration is easy and secure.

My first impression was,” wow what a stew of visuals!” As you study it further it does show a larger presence of higher-level thinking and sophistication. But there is still that childlike illusion of the site when you first view it.

The site is set up to view the work at a quick glance. But as you zoom in and get to the canvas, you will see the tools pop up on the top center of the screen. The tabs that are available are,: user, location, extras, info, the tool being used and the zoom in/ out controls. At the bottom of the page you will periodically see the coordinates of individual locations (north, south, east and west). Under the location tab there is several option, the one I like most is the specify locations link. By placing in a set of coordinates you can view that section of the canvas. I thought this was pretty cool. Using the art tools is simple for any user of a computer to understand, basic draw and paint tools. Once an image is placed on the canvas it stays, unless someone reports a breach in artist licensing agreed upon registering to the site. The creator of these tools has sole rights to remove anything that is not according to his agreement in the registration process.

In the classroom I could use this as a lesson in Internet etiquette and artistic licensing. As students log into the site they will be able to see how collaboration on an artwork works. Students will also be taught the art of meaning and substance for their artwork by referencing historical works and comparing them to place on the Webcanvas site. It could also be used as a tool for drawing and sharing. Students could create a work of art with in the site, post coordinates to me to view the work and then I could respond to the students work on an individual student site set up for grading and remarks. Possibilities’ could be endless, and yet the students would be part of something larger than themselves! The creator Antonio Roldao Lopes stated this, “WebCanvas is different from other on-line painting initiatives mainly due to the introduction of the WebCanvas concept, where by a painting is no longer limited by a specific frame size.”

References:

Lopes, Antonio Roldao. (2007). Webcanvas.com. Retrieved on October 17, 2009. From http://www.webcanvas.com.

BP8_20091018_Web2.0_1of3

Web 2.0 Sketchcast.com

In this weeks search for new web 2.0 applications, I came across Sketchcast.com, which is a sketch-sharing network with an available channel to its members. Sketchcast.com is kind of like a Youtube or Teachertube tool for the web. I am able to create several sketch presentation and post them to my sight, with an option to have feedback and links to my Blogspot. According to the site, Sketchcasting is a new way to communicate something online by recording a sketch, optionally with your voice speaking. Any sketch can then be embedded on your blog/ homepage for people to play-back, and you can also point people to your Sketchcast channel here (or let them subscribe to your Sketchcast RSS feed). Being able to show sketching happening and being able to explaining small tutorials will come in handy when I need to present technical skills to my students.

The web tool is very easy to set up and login in. The platform has a basic tab set up with five options: create, explore, my channel, my account and log out. Each one of these feature tabs is very similar to most video or picture-sharing network. In the Create tab one is able to create their video sketch and audio if desired. Then one can publish it to their channel. In the Explore tab an individual can explore the main different artists who have already shared their sketches and presentations. The My Channel Tab views all of the sketches uploaded to the page. The My Account tab allows you to view and edit all of your information and settings. Exploring the site is very user friendly and fun. Clicking on the word Sketchcast in the upper left corner of the page will link you to their about information and most recently asked questions.

In my classroom this is a useful tool similar to a whiteboard. With all of my lessons on drawing I could create a plethora of drawing lesson publications in the form of sketching to share with my students and others. Some uses in my classroom could be to have each one of my students start their own Sketchcast and start sort of a journal with their sketches. Then I could view their work by going to their channel page and remarking on their comment area. This could be a useful tool in my classroom, if I am able to present this idea for students to use with internet etiquette for what is published to their channel page.

Here a few more ways in which a teacher can use Sketchcast.com: Create a tutorial explaining how boomerangs work (and why they don't always return), Explain a math formula, Create a cartoon (you can use the eraser tool to make place for several panels of the cartoon), Get a partner and explain a concept together... voice recording doesn't have to be used by only one person!, Create an online Chinese course and explain Pinyin writing, Create a masterpiece and show others how to draw, Explain baseball to Europeans... or explain soccer to Americans!, Create a riddle for kids: draw something and the kid has to guess while you're drawing

Sketchasting was invented by Richard Ziade on July 23rd, 2007.

References:

Ziade, Richard. (2007). Sketchcast.com. Retrieved October 17, 2009. From http://sketchcast.com.

BP7_20091014_MediaLiteracy

I know we don't have to post this here, but I felt it needed to come to the blogspot!!

In researching the topic of Media Literacy I came across a few articles that I thought pertained to the topics discussion. The articles that I found are: Media Literacy: Awareness and Analysis by Camille Vigil; Media Literacy By W. James Potter and Teaching Media Literacy in an Age of Edutainment by Jamie McKenzie. Each article shares an abundance of what Media Literacy is and where we are heading. Finding a common link between each article was easy it was the students’ use and understanding that caught my eye, which I thought would fit right in with the discussion. Something to always consider is this statement by Potter, “Remember that media literacy is a continuum. People are position along that continuum based on skills and knowledge they bring to bear (cognitively, emotionally, aesthetically and morally) for the purpose of gaining control over the meaning process.” We always do need to consider the different levels in which students are at in media literacy. I still have students that have no computer at home and the only time they get to use one is at school, with limited access.

When I see myself creating a lesson or school, based around Media Literacy, The key concepts would be that of Access, Analyze, Evaluate and Communicate. Each one of these seems to be one of the main goals found in each of the lessons that I have encountered here at Full Sail. Access is now one of the biggest movements in our history, because of the Internet. Before the Internet came along we were getting are information from television, movies, and the written word. In my own experiences, analyzing this new form of Media Literacy has been a struggle for some, because we can never truly know if the information is 100% factual or partial fictional. Vigil states that,” Today’s youth see 350,000 advertisements by the time they reach age 18 and watch about 28 hours of television per week. I believe Gerbner’s cultivation analysis could be applied to this type of heavy viewing as well. Young people begin to expect real life to mirror what they see in movies, television and magazines. Girls, and boys, begin to have unrealistic views of beauty and relationships.” All we can do is have faith that the information being published is true in nature and not just some fictional story made up. When evaluating and teaching my students to evaluate what they are reading or view, I teach them to research back stories or links that might help to validate their information. Go beyond the face value of the information and always back up you original research to prove its worth. Then we come to communicate, which is the largest change of time. Communicating now has become so much easier and direct, if you know how to use the technology. From my own experiences computers, digital sharing, streaming, distance learning, and many more new Media Literacy tools have paved the way for an increase in non-traditional classrooms to virtual classrooms. Each of these concepts, have been lost in our society today. It’s the same concepts that were taught years ago, but have not continued into this new digital age, as much as they should.

I asked one of my students they other day if they could tell me what they thought Media Literacy was, and they could not even understand the word “Media,” “What’s that?” they said. McKenzie states, “How do our students learn to make sense of their worlds when so much of their information arrives distorted through the "looking glass" of mass media?” To me this is a sign of the times changing but, the relevance of teaching literacy on the Digital level is way behind where it should be.

References:

McKenzie, Jamie. (1999). Teaching media literacy in an age of edutainment. From Now

On: The Educational Journal. Vol 8. No 9. June. Retrieved on October 12, 2009. From http://fromnowon.org/jun99/media.html

Potter, W. James. (2008). Media Literacy. P.21. Sage Publications. Retrieved on October

12, 2009. From http://books.google.com/books?id=1T8LX1lG-t0C&pg=PA21&lpg=PA21&dq=Media+Literacy&source=bll&ots=eR0Ksc30XA&sig=T2q0dgyXLfnobmS5HQUR9T1S-KE&hl=en&ei=ICHVSt26GsjUlAeL3Z2dCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=19&ved=0CEwQ6AEwEg#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Vigil, Camille. (2009). Media literacy: awareness and analysis. Retrieved on October 12,

2009. From http://www.unm.edu/~abqteach/media_cus/01-04-10.htm

BP6_20091014_FlickrLesson

Well upon pa-rousing Flickr and its many uses, I felt that I could use this for a digital platform for my students. Students can take digital pictures of their work and compose and tag their work into categories and genres. The Lesson might even be used for a final project to culminate the years works. Almost like a digital portfolio.

My lesson would start out with instruction on how to use Flickr and sign up for an account. I would probably make a Screenflow movie to help students when they are at home. After the initial lesson, that would take about one class period, I would move on to the lesson on creating a digital portfolio of the years work. As students build the portfolio throughout the year we can have class discussion on projects, as kind of like a critique, of sorts. As students learn to place and tag artworks in their portfolio, they will be reminded to only put their artwork into this account. If they want their own personal account they will have to create their own and on their own time. At the end of the year, students will present their work in a final Power Point Presentation or Keynote Presentation. They will explain their growth through the course and a progression of their artwork. The presentations will be around 5 minutes long and they could create a movie file to play for the class as an option, instead of getting up in front of the class.

In some cases students never really get a chance to see what their classmates produce over the year, so I think this would be a great way to celebrate the accomplishments of each other.

Web 2.0 Commercial for Administrators by Mel Rainey

Dear Administrators and School Board Members,

Please view the following Video. This is a short taste of what could and may happen if we don't come together right now!

Copyrighted Video@ 2009 by Mel Rainey

Blog reply posting with Critical Friend

Here is a posting by YorkieMom.blogspot.com and my reply to her posting.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

You Tube Web 2.0 tools

This is my third post for researching and using Web 2.0 tools. I researched many movie making sites, however, several had fees attached to them in order to subscribe or utilize their tools. We are a Title 1 school and therefore cannot pay for subscriptions. I really liked www.eyespot.com but it is a fee-based site, incorporating pixie flash.

YouTube is free. With YouTube, you can upload movies created in the classroom with digital cameras, web cams or even create a slide presentation and incorporate music from programs such as Garage band. It has many capabilities. There again, will your school districts allow YouTube? I have loaded YouTube movies onto a flash drive and shown them to my students, totally educational, of course. It is a great way for students to see what other students are doing around the world. I think the possibilities are endless for using this Web 2.0 tool in the classroom. Maybe you are having a little difficulty getting a particular point across in your lesson plan. You could create a slide show, or a movie explaining that point. Since most students are visual learners, and, they like movies, you will be able to demonstrate the point visually. I want to create something that will demonstrate mean, median and mode to my students. I was shocked yesterday when half of my class failed a math test covering this content! I suggested to the math teacher and the math coach that perhaps we could create a slide show or movie that would explain it in graphic animated detail. They jumped at the idea, so that's what we are working on next week. I'll let you know how it works.

I have found the perfect YouTube movie to incorporate into my presentation to our school board to further illustrate why Web 2.0 tools are needed in the classroom. The movie will follow this composition. It is entitled "Education Today and Tomorrow." It was created by Tom Woodward of Henrico County Schools in Virginia. He has granted permission to incorporate this movie into my blog and for use in presentation for educational purposes. I couldn't say it any better. Let me know what you think.

I have learned how to use YouTube because in our last course with Dr. Deason, we had to produce movies in our group project. I was so intimidated at first, but now, I love it!!!!!

As you know when you visit YouTube, you can view movies from any category in education.

For all of your curriculum, there will be a movie to help illustrate a point. Our art teacher has a collection of movies on art museums, mediums of art and demonstrations of everything from face painting to murals. The students love to view them.

We may be the most fantastic teachers and speakers in the world, but we all know that people of all ages will get more out of a presentation if you incorporate some type visual aid, and make sure it is colorful!

BP 3of3 Web 2.0

Finally we come to the end of this weeks search with Edmodo.com. Edmodo.com is a private social platform for teachers and students to share ideas, files, events and assignments. In plain words for me, I will be using this someday as my lesson planning book and syllabus. Software tools like this that allow me to share the year with my students, will allow me to save a lot of paper.

There are a lot of good features with this tool. Teachers can share assignments and due dates. Take polls of the class. I will be able to layout a public timeline for all to see the progression of the class. Send and share grades with individuals and groups of students. I will be able to store and share files with my students. I will be able to send notifications to my students and parents of upcoming events. And I can subscribe to RSS feeds and share them with my students on art appreciation topics. Students will no longer have excuses for not knowing what to expect or when it is due.

The platform allows for easy access to its tools a simple login and you are ready to go from any computer, as long as you are not blocked. Please, always check for permission from IT and Families before initiating this with students. Monitoring and creating safety settings are easy to perform. This will allow teachers easy of use and flexibility. As a teacher, any tool that will help keep students up to speed and moving forward is my cup of tea. This will definitely be a useful tool as any sharing network. Being able to share and deliver information in a new technical way always seems to catch student’s eyes, but it also allows for a lot of mischievousness. So as I continue forward on this adventure here is a helpful hint, always have permission from everyone/parties involved. Better safe, than sorry!

Reference

Edmodo. (2009). Edmodo LLC. Retrieved October 7, 2009. From http://

Edmodo.com.

BP 20f3 Web2.0 Tools

Continuing my adventure in finding web 2.0 tools to use in my class, I have come across carbonmade.com. This site allows for students to create their own digital portfolio online. I was thinking of my topic of appreciation in my action research and what a great tool for students to use as they are building appreciation for their own artwork.

Carbonmade.com gives an artist the experience of an online social experience. Each student of mine is able to sign up for a free account and begin to build a portfolio of images and artwork they have created. Along with the portfolio students can comment and blog about other artwork that they have seen on line or through this site. Using the site is made simple for anyone to use, only requirement is that you have a steady Internet connection for downloading. The tools are easy to learn and offer a variety of portfolio options from movies to photography. Setting up an account and monitoring it is also easy students and myself can set the web page for specific viewing and sharing methods.

In a world of crazy photography and sexting, one can never be too careful. This is a big concern and obviously would have to be monitored and permission from families to use. Allowing any image to enter the Internet is always risky, but should not be feared. Benefits would be that students could show their work to everyone anywhere. Some students just have no way to get their work home in a timely manner. Believe me I have tried to get them to take home their work. I have had piles and piles of work left over, maybe this way they will build more appreciation of the work they do and see.

References

Gorum, Dave; Nelson, Jason and Fry, Spencer. (2009). Carbonmade LLC. Retrieved October 7, 2009. From http://www.carbonmade.com.

BP 1of3 Web2.0 Tools

In searching the web for Web 2.0 tools to use in the classroom, I went the route of what my students could use in an art classroom. Upon searching many different finds I came upon Wepapers.com. Wepapers.com is a social sharing network that allows students and teachers to share research on any given topic.

After reading more thoroughly into the tool, students can not only research topics but they can find notes, teacher lectures, presentations, share what they have learned and get themselves organized with their research, notes and papers. Each user can place notes, lectures, and presentations for anyone to view, with moderation settings. I can use these sites to allow parents and students to see what they are learning in my class, at their own pace. This will also allow me as a teacher to tap into the Internet as a way to access my class notes and information for future use, instead of handing out tons of copied information in booklets. From an art teacher viewpoint, this will allow my students to interact with students from around the world. I believe this would give them better social understanding of art from many different cultures. Also Artists share statements and papers about their own artwork that can be beneficial to the students to read and understand.

There can be some benefits to using this in the classroom. One is that students will be able to access my notes and a presentation anywhere there is Internet access. Two, students and fellow teachers will be able to discuss and add evaluations of information in my notes and presentations. Three, students will be able to connect with notes and presentations from around the world that will help with their own understanding of topics I am covering. There may be a downfall to using this site and many students may try to plagiarize some of the information on the site for their own use. This could lead to a good opportunity to discuss Internet adequate with my students and the repercussions they may face.

References

Wepapers. (2008). Intertec. Retrieved October 7, 2009. From http://www.wepapers.com

BP4-Social Bookmarking and its Usage.

How can social bookmarking be used for educational purposes?

“A teacher could set up an account for each class, tag resources and make the URL available to the class. As the work is web-based it can be modified and updated from any Internet connected computer. Likewise students can access the resources from any Internet connected computer.

A specific tag (within a group of tags) could be used to direct individual students to specific readings or resources.

A collaborative account could be created, the username and password shared by a class or group of students who could then tag and share resources.

Library staff could maintain a list of tags specifically relevant to their school's curriculum

Many of bookmarking services also have RSS feeds, so students who use a news aggregator can see new postings automatically.” This information was found on the Department of Education and Training website. These are just but a few examples that popped up when searching for educational usages for social bookmarking.

When researching this topic I had no idea of what I would be looking at, since I have just been introduced to this Web 2.0 tool. When the search brought up hundreds of links I was surprised to find so many.

The idea of collectively building a list of bookmark sites and articles is a positive resource for teachers. In my area of Art Education and Appreciation, artists are increasingly putting their works on the Internet for review and discussion. This Web 2.0 tool will allow me to create a list of artists in which I would like students to visit to gain a better appreciation of Art and its many meanings.

“How many times do you bookmark the site and how many folders do you create?” This is a question often asked by many of the researchers found on line, this specific question was asked by Lorrie Jackson, in Education World Online. So many times have I found myself doing just that and having to fumble through all of my tabs to find the right links. I am finding out that using social bookmarking is a great tool to use in the classroom.

Students and teachers can find this beneficial to use in education. Students can use this as a way of collaborating ideas and thoughts about particular subjects. Teachers can use this as a way to direct students in any topic or discussion. In many ways all Web 2.0 social tools can bridge the gap between teacher and student. But again it all comes down to the monitoring and safety of the students.

References

Education and Training, Department of. (2009). Social bookmarking. Department of

Education and Training. From http://www.det.wa.gov.au/education/cmis/eval/

Curriculum/ict/socialbookmarking/index.htm. Retrieved on October 7,2009.

Jackson, Lorrie. (2006). Site to see: social bookmarking. Education World. From http://

www.education-world.com/a_tech/sites/sites080.shtml. Retrieved on October 7,

2009.

BP_Del.icio.us

I have become a member of Delicious the social bookmarking network.

Screen Shots of Mel Rainey's iGoogle site!

BP1_2009104_Blogs and its Educational Uses

Like Video RSS, Podcast and other types of new Media Assets, blogs can be use in classroom environments for Journal entries; it also can be a useful tool to link communication between study groups within a class or other classes or even schools. If used effectively, blogs can create a learning environment that extend beyond the school building

Thanh Nguyen stated in a blog(2006), that there are numerous educational benefits of blogs. Blogs are:
• Highly motivating to students, especially those who otherwise might not become participants in classrooms.
• Excellent opportunities for students to read and write.
• Effective forums for collaboration and discussion.
• Powerful tools to enable scaffolding learning or mentoring to occur

As the growing world of blogs become more accessible in more places and at different times, students can benefit from real time communication. Instead of waiting to find out what is going on the next day. Students can also benefit from using blogs in education by creating Discussions and Journals for teachers to read. "The personal journal, also widely popular in the late 1990s, actually developed independently of weblogs. Personal journals, or online diaries, were described by Simon Firth as "direct, personal, honest, almost painful to read and yet compelling too," but by the time Firth’s article in Salon was written in July 1998, personal journals were on the verge of extinction. "Many of the biggest journal ‘fans’ began online journals themselves, and soon everyone ended up mostly writing about each other. Some of them got famous, others got resentful," this was stated by Stephen Downes.(2004) In many cases students will be able to talk when they need to and open doors for educating themselves on topics they are interested in.

But the true test comes with monitoring the blog and what is posted. This above all else is what some students are not taught and that is internet etiquette. Eric Sinrod states,"More importantly, users simply should engage in proper communications on educational institution IT systems. If they do that, they will not have to worry about anything that unlikely monitoring would reveal."(2004). In all cases School IT should always be monitoring what students are looking at and responding to. In a teachers perspective, we also need to make sure it is okay for students to use these media assets, by suppling permission slips home and checking with the school Principal and District It Manager.

Works Cited in last blog, Sunday, Oct. 4th, 2009

References

Wesch, Michael. (2008). Anti-teaching: confronting the crisis of significance. Retrieved on the internet, October 2, 2009. From http://www.scribd.com/doc/6358393/AntiTeaching- Confronting-the-Crisis-of-Significance.

BP3_2009104_Anti_Teaching

After reading the two articles, “Anti-Teaching: Confronting the Crisis of Significance” article by Michael Wesch and “7 things you should know about...Personal Learning Environments” from Educause, I have discovered a new perspective on education and what it means to be a teacher. In many ways the two articles help lay the way for future discoveries as I journey through my Action Research project.

Between the two articles and my past readings from other classes there has been several connections made. Some connections are that the students should be the one's asking questions and that they should be the one's to produce the learned research. Other connections being made are: teachers should act more like mentors of question starting and formal guides throughout the learning process. Teachers also take on the roles of being the facilitators of discussion and interaction with the students’ projects or lessons. In some cases of connections it always leads to the idea of having the Web 2.0 tools and the Personal Learning Environments or PLE's, as an extending tool for teachers to help keep the students involved in a 21st century society.

I think a combination of using Web 2.0 tools and PLE's in a classroom environment will only aid in the experiences that students can draw upon in real world endeavors. The future classroom is going to be made of these media assets if not more. The growing number of PLE's on the Internet is astounding. When teachers can combine any new resources to their curriculum, it can only strengthen it. But as with any new tool, one must always be trained to use it properly. In my own experiences, I have only had glimpses of many tools, but have never really been formally trained on any platform or application, on how to use it properly. I also believe that a little lecture is necessary to get the ball rolling in the right direction. But that lecture needs to be precise, accurate, and knowledgeable and coincide with the goals of the lesson being taught. Once teachers can combine all of these aspects and deliver them with confidence, I believe education will be on the right path to redemption.

Is this the end-all answer to everyone’s prayers and concerns in education, I say no! When using these PLE's and Web 2.0 tools, I believe them to be an aid for reaching students and their multiple intelligences. Not everyone can be reached with these tools and some students will always surpass these media assets. As a teacher, these tools and virtual learning environments will be a great addition, but students still need all of the different educational tools and plans to help reach that idea of edutopia. "Edutopia" being the perfect learning environment, with the perfect students. Education really only happens if the students are interested in what they are being taught. Wesch states, “They make up a rather creative and interesting means of learning, but no reason for learning.” That is one of my main concerns in education is how do I get my students to understand the significance of education and learning, while using all of these media assets? As I continue using a Course Management System or CMS, with Full Sail University, I find that even over the web as a student, it is difficult to stay in the mindset of “This is Significant” to teaching and what I am teaching. Some might even say that I am questioning what I teach in art, computers or art process?

In all of the readings and using the PLE’s and Web 2.0 tools, I think learning can be accomplished past just teaching to the test. I also think that to achieve this, a teacher needs to be creative and willing to go outside of the box and push boundaries. How for can a teacher go?

BP2_2009104_GoogleReaderFeeds

The several RSS feeds that I have accumulated in my Google Reader all pertain to my Action Research topic Art Appreciation in High School. Each feed allows me to have access to different sections of art appreciation, through lessons, information, museums and home schooling topics. Each one of these will help benefit me, by allowing me tools that explain and encourage the use of art appreciation in class and out of class. They will also allow students to obtain a better grasp of what art appreciation is in our world today.