In reflecting back upon my personal learning network, I would say that the most useful tools that I developed were my blogging site at Blogspot.com, my input at our class wiki - PBWorks and my del.icio.us bookmarks account. I found these to be meaningful and I enjoyed adding to these. I used my Twitter and Voice Threads accounts, but to me it seemed that they both went off in so many different directions as far as what people had to communicate about. My blogging account, PB Works and the delicious bookmarks account I had, narrowed and specified information for me more easily.
I would love to continue using my favorite tools in the near future. I like the idea of being able to post information in my blogging site about what I am feeling, reading about and want to share. It is a professional journal - in a sense! I would continue to use a wiki, like PB Works, because it would offer me the opportunity to stay informed about topics of professional interest to me as an art teacher. Our LMC Coordinator has just established a wiki for the Edgerton School District teachers. It will be fun to read and contribute to it this summer! I would encourage all teachers I work with to check this out (or another professional wiki) so they can see how this type of tool works and benefit from a tool like this to collaborate and communicate from professionally. We have been provided many opportunities, within our school district this year, to learn about and use some of the tools like blogging spots and wikis and how to go about developing them. The instructors for these inservices have taken many library media courses through UW-Whitewater. I feel very fortunate to teach in a district where these are offered!
I really enjoyed the ease with which I could bookmark favorite educational/professional websites using my delicious account. At a glance, I could see how other delicious users "tagged" their favorite websites with identifying words that grabbed my attention. Using delicious, made it quick and easy for me to gather lots of useful information and to provide some of my own.
In summary, I really enjoyed learning how to use the various tools I described! I will definitely benefit professionally by periodically contributing to these and taking from these sites what others have posted. These PLN tools are a wonderful way to communicate and collaborate with other people who have some of the same interests that I do professionally!
Friday, May 14, 2010
In using my Twitter account the past few weeks, I was able to gain some useful information. Two of the groups of people I followed on Twitter were interested in events and art related content that connected to the Walker Art Center and the Smithsonian Art Institute. I was amazed at how following events at these art locations allowed me to connect with lots of other art related subject matter and events throughout the nation! One of the things I gained access to on a professional level were wonderful photographs and information on current exhibits within these art locations. It was also interesting to read other Twitter followers' comments about these events and to see their links about their own artwork and related art subject matter.
I would mostly use Twitter at this time for professional reasons. I feel it would benefit me by allowing me to stay connected and communicate with other "art followers". These types of people were most useful for me to follow. I did follow a person's individual art business, but got somewhat side-tracked in reading numerous personal comments that spun off of that business owner's personal side of life! I feel his Twitter account was more of a business marketing tool also. This link was not useful for me to follow.
I found myself mostly using Twitter to see links, comment on other people's links and respond to and create questions. It allowed me to share my thoughts and, possibly sources, that influence my professional thinking. I could see using Twitter in this way with art teachers in my district and with other teachers following me who would find my linked websites relevant to the subject matter they teach and/or are interested in.
If used by all art teachers Twitter would help facilitate collaboration, allow them to connect with experts, share reflections, allow feedback and idea development and serve as a resource sharing device.
I would mostly use Twitter at this time for professional reasons. I feel it would benefit me by allowing me to stay connected and communicate with other "art followers". These types of people were most useful for me to follow. I did follow a person's individual art business, but got somewhat side-tracked in reading numerous personal comments that spun off of that business owner's personal side of life! I feel his Twitter account was more of a business marketing tool also. This link was not useful for me to follow.
I found myself mostly using Twitter to see links, comment on other people's links and respond to and create questions. It allowed me to share my thoughts and, possibly sources, that influence my professional thinking. I could see using Twitter in this way with art teachers in my district and with other teachers following me who would find my linked websites relevant to the subject matter they teach and/or are interested in.
If used by all art teachers Twitter would help facilitate collaboration, allow them to connect with experts, share reflections, allow feedback and idea development and serve as a resource sharing device.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Delicious Reflection
Being able to continually add relevant bookmarks to my Delicious account has helped me to broaden my website base for this course and to use as a teacher in general. Some websites I would like to save to my own account from other teachers in our course are "A to Z Teacher Stuff For Teachers" and "The Innovative Educator: 100 Video Sites Every Educator Should Bookmark".
My own list of tags has grown because after I visited a website and used it, I was able to add more descriptive words or tags to my account. I am pretty consistent in using about 3-5 tags in my bookmark links. I generally use words like art, educator, teacher, collaborate and network. I usually did not change my mind once I had chosen a word to describe a tag. I was influenced by what other students used as descriptive terms for their tags. Sometimes I used synonyms like teacher for educator and collaborate for sharing.
I would teach tagging to my students by having them use a website and then think of about five words to describe that site and provide links to our class/school website also. I did not bundle tags together but I could do this for example if I had words like "draw" and "paint". These could be grouped as "art". The tags I have used the most often are art and educator. I did not add annotations to my tags, but by doing this it would make my link information more descriptive. I could use Delicious to connect with others in class by visiting a website that they've searched and then email them and discuss points of interest. I found Patricia Schaefer used many of the same tags I did. I would use the network feature of Delicious with someone outside of this class by visiting a certain bookmarked website and then go in and post a comment along with other visitors to that site, if possible.
I could use a bookmarking product like this in my art classes so students could pool their art-related websites to use as a resource for the entire class. I am convinced that the Edgerton School District would use a bookmarking device like Delicious. Especially for middle and high school students this tool, with LMC Coordinator monitoring, would serve as a nice web resource base for art students. It would be a nice way for students to share and collaborate on interesting art websites that they come upon. The art teachers in our district would also find this type of tool beneficial!
My own list of tags has grown because after I visited a website and used it, I was able to add more descriptive words or tags to my account. I am pretty consistent in using about 3-5 tags in my bookmark links. I generally use words like art, educator, teacher, collaborate and network. I usually did not change my mind once I had chosen a word to describe a tag. I was influenced by what other students used as descriptive terms for their tags. Sometimes I used synonyms like teacher for educator and collaborate for sharing.
I would teach tagging to my students by having them use a website and then think of about five words to describe that site and provide links to our class/school website also. I did not bundle tags together but I could do this for example if I had words like "draw" and "paint". These could be grouped as "art". The tags I have used the most often are art and educator. I did not add annotations to my tags, but by doing this it would make my link information more descriptive. I could use Delicious to connect with others in class by visiting a website that they've searched and then email them and discuss points of interest. I found Patricia Schaefer used many of the same tags I did. I would use the network feature of Delicious with someone outside of this class by visiting a certain bookmarked website and then go in and post a comment along with other visitors to that site, if possible.
I could use a bookmarking product like this in my art classes so students could pool their art-related websites to use as a resource for the entire class. I am convinced that the Edgerton School District would use a bookmarking device like Delicious. Especially for middle and high school students this tool, with LMC Coordinator monitoring, would serve as a nice web resource base for art students. It would be a nice way for students to share and collaborate on interesting art websites that they come upon. The art teachers in our district would also find this type of tool beneficial!
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Twitter for Work and Play!!
In exploring the many uses of Twitter, I realized I would probably use this tool more for play than as an art teacher. I could see where teachers could definitely use Twitter academically for reading and writing assignments in regards to developing vocabulary. I could use this tool this way also, while having my students develop their art vocabulary.
Using Twitter to communicate with parents would be nice too! So many of my students' parents email me periodically. I know most of them have home email accounts, so by using their computers, I could reach them with an online Art Newsletter using Twitter. I could post short (140 character) updates on what is going on in my classroom and around the school that is art related!
I could also use Twitter as a device to allow my students to gather information for art history reports. I have my 5th graders do an art history report each year. They would be able to do research quickly using other students information and by tweeting their own. This would be a nice collaborative/communication tool for my students to use. In using Twitter, students could gather data by applying the use of this digital tool. Then they could evaluate and use this information which supports the 21st Century skill of Information Literacy.
On a personal level, I would love to play around using Twitter to communicate with other adults in regards to professional and personal interests! It is also really neat to post a message about what you are doing at the moment - if you choose to! (:
Using Twitter to communicate with parents would be nice too! So many of my students' parents email me periodically. I know most of them have home email accounts, so by using their computers, I could reach them with an online Art Newsletter using Twitter. I could post short (140 character) updates on what is going on in my classroom and around the school that is art related!
I could also use Twitter as a device to allow my students to gather information for art history reports. I have my 5th graders do an art history report each year. They would be able to do research quickly using other students information and by tweeting their own. This would be a nice collaborative/communication tool for my students to use. In using Twitter, students could gather data by applying the use of this digital tool. Then they could evaluate and use this information which supports the 21st Century skill of Information Literacy.
On a personal level, I would love to play around using Twitter to communicate with other adults in regards to professional and personal interests! It is also really neat to post a message about what you are doing at the moment - if you choose to! (:
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