Useful Web 2.0 Tools!

I checked out some useful Web 2.0 Tools that classmates from our UW-Whitewater course researched and provided links to. Three that I found very interesting were: Collaborative Drawing Tools, GoogleEarth and Polling and Quizzing Tools. I tried each of the activities that these tools provided and I wanted to share with my followers what I discovered!

While trying out the Collaborative Drawing Tool called ImaginationCubed, I found I could use this tool with my art students to do freehand drawing and my kids could express their thoughts via pictures. While teaching art, this tool would help my students get ideas flowing for sketches. I discovered, while doing the suggested activity listed under this wiki, that kids could also do a "group" drawing project. Art products can be edited form various computers. I tried out the neat drawing applications of this tool and realized that it would be a nice collaborative way for my students to invite friends and classmates, via email, to join in on a group drawing.!

Another interesting Web 2.0 Tool that I learned about was called GoogleEarth. This would be a nice tool to help younger students learn their address and to become familiar with their surroundings in relation to where they are located compared to friends, neighbors and their school. Science teachers at my school could use this to teach students about the moon and planets. In art, this would be an awesome tool to help kids see buildings etc. from an aerial perspective and as 3-d forms. After downloading GoogleEarth 5, I saw some really beautiful 3-d images of buildings, maps and landscapes. GoogleEarth5 would serve as an image resource for my art students!

The last Web 2.0 Tool that I checked out that some of the students in my class researched was called Polling and Quizzing Tools. This would be a nice tool for teachers to use to gather information about what curriculum is being taught within their grade level/content area and/or to compare one school district with another. Online polls and surveys would be useful in art class with my upper-elementary students to get feedback from them on what they learned from various lessons throughout the school year. In trying out "Survey Monkey", I realized that I could get very valuable information from my students about my art lessons and teaching that they might not be willing to share with me verbally, in person!

David Warlick's Reading

David Warlick's Technology Transformed Learning Environments describes five aspects of a personalized learning environment. He discusses them saying that learning should be fueled by questions. While learning, students should be propelled to ask themselves questions as they encounter barriers while gathering information. They need to solve these questions while gathering the information. While learning, students should also be prompted to engage in conversation. As students formulate and ask questions, they are engaging in conversation. The learning situation should also be responsive to the learners' actions. A students' decisions, actions and conclusions are responded to. The learning experience that a student has should compell the student to make a personal investment in a project so that it contributes to the learners' identity. The learner should also be able to safely make mistakes while learning.
Ultimately David Warlick says it is not how much a student learns; but what he/she does with that knowledge that is really important. Students will need to be responsible to their peers , audiences and communities for what they have learned.

One use of technology in my setting that works well, is when students use search engines for gathering information. It fits with Warlick's ideas about learning because it makes students compare and contrast lots of information. The students need to be critical thinkers and decide what is the most important information to be used. In deciding what information is most important, students will be provoked to ask questions about what they encounter online and to then engage in conversation with their peers and teachers about it.

Alan November's Article

I agree with Alan November that it is important for students to develop Global empathy - the ability to understand and respect different points of view. Also, students need to be sensitive to the needs of people from other countries. According to November, kids also need to learn the social and ethical responsibility of working on the web. I agree with this. Especially at the upper elementary grade levels and beyond, students learn about internet safety and the dangers of inappropriate online behavior prior to lessons. Our school's technology program has blocks that prevent students from getting into "bad" sites most of the time. Students should also be taught about the permanence of information that is posted online. We do stress this to students at our school district. I also agree with November and I would teach my students that they need to develop the skills to find, develop and be critical of information they find online.

Technology makes it easy for students to learn about the current social and political conditions of other nations online via email and web conferencing. One thing I would work on in the next school year to achieve this, would be to encourage students to "tear apart information" they find on the web. I would teach them to seek out lots of information from many sources to compare and contrast what various people have posted.

Feelings about using Delicious at this point

Using Delicious at this time seems like a neat way to follow other educators areas of interest similar to your own. The Delicious Bookmarking Tool allows users to see how a site is perceived by previous users before we actually access those sites! I do like the fact, also, that it can be accessed anywhere and anytime by its' users. I was a little frustrated, technologically, in the beginning while setting up my Delicious Bookmarks account!

Comparing Diigo to Delicious

In comparing Diigo to Delicious, it seems both can be used as a vehicle to access useful information on subject areas of interest. By using these web tools, one can learn about subject areas that have been peer critiqued! Rather than doing a Google search for information, a user can get to information on a desired topic quicker and easier.



It seems as though the Diigo tool has more features. Besides researching, sharing, collaborating and organizing which can be done also with Delicious; Diigo users can highlight text and apply sticky notes to areas of interest!



As a teacher, I could see using both of these tools to collaborate on areas of interest in Art for students and with the other Art Teachers in my district. Very important information could be highlighted or sticky notes applied to it to show its' significance. These tools would really help my art students while they work on their art history reports each year.



These bookmarking sites could also be used as an arena where students could post issues of disagreement, biased or misleading information, or subject matter that raises questions that may require further examination.

Wikis related to my area of professional interest

I have been surfing the internet for wikis that relate to me as an art educator. A few I found that were very interesting and full of information are: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art. This link provides lots of excellent art vocabulary, terms and resources. There is also an abundance of art history information here. Another link I found is: http://movingforward.wiki.spaces.com/Education+Blogs+by+Discipline. This site is actually an arrangement of Art Education and General Education blogging spots. Teachers check them out!!