- How you have used educational technologies and pedagogic strategies, self-directed learning, critical inquiry, or intercultural communication specifically within the context of your area of employment.
- Identify three (3) possible future goals for using technology in the arts and humanities classroom (or in your own context if it is different) and discuss one of these goals in greater depth (paragraph).
- Speculate on how this course might help you reach your goal.
- Post your response in the Discussion Forum WEEK 1 – Thoughts on Technology & Teaching – Week One.
- Read the introductory statements posted by your classmates and post a response to at least one of them. Remember when posting a response you should click on reply, while inside the thread for the other person’s message. This way your message is “nested” under their entry. It is useful to remember that everyone likes to feel included so try to spread your responses amongst the class
As a primary homeroom teacher, I don’t always teach art, it depends on whether there’s an art specialist teacher at the school I work in. I do think taking a cross-curricular approach to learning and teaching is important. When I was looking at the instructions for the tasks, I remember looking at the titles of the projects to consider and thinking how this doesn’t really make sense. Once I clicked on the link and found the projects, I was able to move from just words to a sense of understanding. I can’t help but feel that this is how my students might feel if I introduce content without additional visuals. I have used educational technologies such as iPads to give students choices/self-directed learning. For example, when sketching and labeling the different layers of the earth, I provided 3 different sources (2 videos, one website) for the students to look through. They had the option of looking through as many of those sources as they wanted to. I’ve also used apps like BugClub and Epic! for their read-aloud options for some books. Many of my students postively reviewed Epic!, letting me know that they used it at home to read too because of the quality and quantity of books available. One part of learning is opening up a new world, so hearing students are using an app beyond the classroom is rewarding. I did that too after I finished going through Daito Manabe’s projects to consider for this task.
Three possible goals for using technology in the arts and humanities classroom are: deeper understanding of digital literacy, alleviating anxiety around art for those students who believe they can’t “do art” and creating a space where students feel safe to make mistakes (the undo function).
Lessons where students can digitally manipulate photos, could help them gain a better understanding of how content online can be manipulated by anyone and that it can be altered to fit the intention of the creator. Students can alter their own photos using the lasso tool to crop their heads onto the bodies of other people or animals. It can be a fun lesson and at the same time, students can experience firsthand how their own image can be altered. I think this lesson could also be taken a step further so students can consider the importance of respecting people’s wishes and copyrights. After experiencing all the fun and sometimes silly edits they can use on their own photos, they might have a deeper understanding of why some people are not comfortable having their photos taken and posted online. Which could lead to students considering their own comfort level with posting their photos online. They could then explore what options are available to post photos and what rights they have when they post their photos online. My students are too young to open their own social media accounts, but it’s good for them to learn now so they can consider the options and consequences.