Digital Story/Video

Today we used iMovie to create digital story videos. This was really easy, and looks high quality and professional. My video is a brief overview on the life and work of one of my favorite artists; Andy Warhol. I will definitely be using this program again to create videos for my students, not only about artists, but also for step by step lessons and visuals about overarching concepts, art movements, and history lessons.

Excel

Today in TPTE 486 we learned how to create interactive spreadsheets using Microsoft Excel. This allows students to input information into a document to answer questions that you have created. The spreadsheet will let them know if the answer is right or wrong, and what grade they can expect based upon their finished assignment. This will be a great tool to use to create quizzes in the classroom for memorized facts or vocabulary, like the one I created below.

Inspiration

Today we learned how to use Inspiration in our TPTE 486 class.  This is a great tool to create idea web diagrams, and flow charts for students to access links and information on different concepts.  You can open web pages thru hyperlinks and create notes for each entry.  This will be a great tool to teach art movements in the art classroom. 

Photo Scavenger

This is the Google Presentation version of my scavenger hunt photo album.

Scavenger Hunt

Today in tpte 486 we did a photographic scavenger hunt!  My list to locate was shape based, and for an elementary level.  I used my camera phone, which takes good quality photographs, then used Photoshop to edit, and Picasa to create the album and gallery slideshow you see below.  This is a great idea for a lesson that could be used in the classroom to incorporate technology and would be applicable to any grade level.

My scavenger hunt list was to locate: (this is in order on the slideshow)
Something that is a cylinder
Something that is a cone
Something that is a corner
Something that is a face
Something that is a hexagon
Something that is an octagon
Something that is an edge
Something that is a rectangle
Something that is a sphere
Something that is round
Something that is a triangle
Something that is a square

Picasa

Picasa is a great tool for sharing, posting, and viewing photo albums online.  It is super easy to use and very convenient, with a drag and drop interface.  Picasa is also integrated with gmail and the other realms of the google universe like blogger and picnik, which i used to edit a couple of the photographs.  You can post slideshows of your albums, and share them with everyone or specific people you choose.
And best of all, it's free!

Picasa would be a great tool to use in the classroom to share images with students that they may need for  specific projects. You could also share photos from events, of finished projects, and "in progress" classroom assignments with students, parents, and fellow faculty.  This would be a great way to share photos from events with everyone too!

Blogging on a Blog about Webquests about Webquests

Today we learned about Webquests and the possibilities of using them as an online assignment or tool to supplement lessons in the classroom.  They are pretty useful and provide lots of resources online to allow students to work on assignments using reputable and safe online sites.  Some webquests seem a little poor, and have broken links or are poorly laid out.  I also didn't like how the ones we looked at in class were a little antiquated and not dynamic at all.  None of them included things that really draw students in on the web like interactivity, Youtube, or Flash.  Another good thing about webquests, however, is that they allow a great opportunity to have students work together on the steps of a project or independently gather information and then come back together to draw conclusions and produce a finished product or project.  I also think it may be slightly hard to use webquests in the art classroom, as they may take too much time away from students working independently on art production.  I could see using webquests to facilitate art history projects and art criticism though and they would be super effective for this.