The Term Digital Media and What it Means to Me – Blog Question #1 September 29, 2008

The term digital media is defined in different terms by various sources on the web. Wikipedia defines it as the opposite of analog media, or electronic media that work on digital codes. The first examples of digital media that come to my mind are digital video, digital television, video games, and the internet in general. After thinking about it again, other examples come to my mind, like e-books and cell-phones.

Digital media should naturally be incorporated into the classroom by teachers to aid in transferring thoughts and encourage student self-expression. The art classroom is the perfect setting for students to explore new tools in depth in order to gain digital media expertise. Once students learn the basics, then master more advanced skills, they will be able to apply their proficiency to other class assignments and life situations.

From this class I hope to gain practical knowledge about how to incorporate digital media to make teaching and learning easier. I want to explore how digital media can enhance the learning and assimilation experience for students. I do question however how I will use digital media to help my special needs learners. Can these tools be an extra burden or seen as another hurdle to climb in order to finish an assignment?

This semester I want to learn to make more advanced websites. I can put together a basic website using raw html and Dreamweaver, but I don’t understand how to organize a page using frame templates. I also want to use flash to make interesting buttons and menus.

One memory I have about digital media and computers in general is the purchase of my first computer. I knew I needed a computer when I decided to major in Computer Science and minor in Art during my junior year of undergrad. My mother wanted to help me. With her small income, she saved up 1,100 dollars and took me to a computer expo at the Montgomery County fair grounds. We went with an uncle who had more knowledge of computers than us. He gave me a quick rundown of what RAM, MHz, and computer chips were. We chose a refurbished computer from a vendor that he trusted. I was really excited, but from the moment I opened the computer from its box, it had problems. The modem would never dial, the OS was very slow, and the computer constantly crashed. We stuck with it because of false warranty claims the manufacturer proclaimed would fix all of our problems. The computer ended up being a bad purchase, and a waste of my mom’s hard-earned money. Because of that experience, I am always very cautious of jumping on the technology bandwagon and making purchases of the newest thing.

Weblogs: Does Non-participation Put Me at a Disadvantage? September 22, 2008

After digesting our weekly reading, Weblogs: Learning in Public, I began to question if and what types of disadvantages I may have given myself by not participating in this blogging practice for years.  I even began to question what a difference it could have made during my undergraduate and other formative years.  I disagreed with Jill Walkers introductory comment of what may be a root cause of plagiarism among students, “…a lack of motivation, a lack of confidence in the worth of their own work.”  This intro statement made me laugh a bit cynically.  I don’t believe in the power of a web log to prevent plagiarism among high school students which is mainly due to lack of wanting to actually go through the work.  (This is attitude is one of the reasons why I shouldn’t be teaching) I did however agree with Walker’s notion that public writing can prevent plagiarism from occurring simply because it causes less aninimoty and more transparency in what a person claims as their own thoughts/ideas.

This concept of “making the game more real” and more connected to the lives of young writers appeals to me. After all, since adolescent children are always looking to communicate with their peers, this gives them another avenue to do so.  My personal experience with blogging is that it is making me practice formulating my thoughts in a way that communicates clearly and effectively, in such a way as paper writing does not.     When I am writing with the acknowledgment that others will be reading my work, I am more careful in selecting my words and backing up my opinions with facts.  The after-affects of other people reading what has been posted by you, incites an enthusiasm in the writer. Walker writes about this and eludes to the idea that it can cause an increased interest in the subject matter itself.  More importantly, this kind of exposure to public writing could possibly inspire a high school student to become a journalism major.

I like the idea of ‘how-to’ blog entries Walker writes about.  I think this could work well as a lesson for my high school kids.  It could involve a specific art task & pictures documenting  the consecutive steps to reach a specific goal.  Responses to ‘blog lessons’ would include questions about steps, suggestions for better clarification, and other constructive criticism.  Extra points would be given for comments on other students’ work.  I also like the idea of students learning to read, assimilate, and respond to media, rather than listening/reading, forming an opinion, and not taking an action or point of view.

All of these ideas for classroom lessons have brought me to the question of whether I have put myself at a disadvantage by keeping myself ‘network-illiterate‘. A socially collaborative process could have been helpful when I was studying for my Praxis II exam.  I could have used blogging to upload my practice essays and probably would have received helpful feedback.  I would have liked helpful critique for the paintings, drawings and other pieces of art work that I used for my portfolio applications to grad school.  I would actually like to find out if there is an artist’s website out there that allows for collaboration between practicing artists.  (This could also be used with my students to a certain degree.) This could help me and others break out of the “solitary” process we sometimes take as artists, creators and writers.

Digital Media and Learning for the Visually Impaired – a Challenge We Need to Address September 15, 2008

Last year I had the experience of teaching a computer-based art class to a group of children that included a visually impaired child. After reading our class article, which was over 70 pages long, I was disappointed that I didn’t find any information surrounding the advantages/disadvantages of teaching a curriculum that involves computers/technology to visually impaired children.

My experience last year involved teaching a student who had some vision, but required individual attention and foresight on my part as the educator. I did some searching on the internet before that semester began, and I got a lot of advice from my co-workers, and the one thing I found most important was preparation. Whether or not I prepared myself appropriately for that lesson could make or break that student’s lesson for the day.

I had to become familiar with what adaptive technologies were available to my student for the class. It was my responsibility to find out what a Braille writer, a slate and stylus, and a Braille note-taker were. I needed to find out what equipment she had at home, and if this equipment was mobile/easy to transport in case my school would not provide her with the equipment she needed (because unfortunately that was what occurred for the first 2 weeks of class).

Luckily my student knew the intricate basics: how to use a mouse without being able to see the entire screen, how to click on objects using keystrokes, etc. I also had to learn these skills myself in order to be able to teach her the class lessons. My student had to show me how to use her screen reader and screen magnification software.

I watched my student use Microsoft Word, a translating/embossing Braille reader, the Windows file management system, Outlook Express, regular Web email, and OmniPage Pro (for scanning handwriting to eliminate time-consuming typing). In addition, I watched and learned how she configured Windows to be more accessible.

It’s difficult for me to remember everything that I had to learn and prepare for my class with this student. I want to give a head’s up to other educators who may need to do this at some point in their teaching careers. I felt that I mostly did this on my own and that my student taught me more about the process of learning than I taught her about graphic arts.

Through a lot of patience, she was able to learn from my class a variety of graphics skills along with some presentation applications (like PowerPoint). I should have been better prepared though my certification classes. Since I took 3 Special Ed classes in order to become a certified public high school teacher, I feel that I should have been better prepared in how to effectively teach the visually impaired. I should have been given a training plan or been given help in creating one by my school.

I think it is important that in this class, we all become at least familiar with the strategies a visually impaired student uses to perform tasks, so that we can facilitate the smooth inclusion of technology and/or specialized teaching assistance in our classrooms.

This year my student joins me in our after school art club. Luckily she has been given an Assistive Technology Specialist. She is pretty valuable to all the teachers of my student. This year she has taken over all the installing and configuring for the needed hardware and software, provided training and technical assistance to the other teachers and me, and helped me to identify the technology that will be a potential hurdle to my student. She also gives me regular training so that I can train my student.