Thing #12--Google tools

The two tools that I have explored already are Google Translate and the Picasa tool. I often use translate while working on my Spanish homework; NOT to cheat! Often times I plug in a sentence I just wrote to make sure it translates correctly, or sounds right. I also use it to translate sentences or questions that I have a hard time understanding, for example if I can't figure out what it's asking me how can I answer it? So I just plug it into Google translate to make sure I can figure out how to answer it. Or if I'm in a hurry and I forget what a words means and my dictionary isn't nearby I can quickly type in a word for it to translate. The really cool thing is that Google Translate picks up on the language you type in and if you often translate to English to Spanish or Spanish to English it picks up on that and will jump back and forth without you clicking too many buttons to change things. It makes it super easy to use and I'm impressed with how smart the program is! It can be very helpful for students that have a similar problem understanding questions, but I would not give it to them the first day of class, I would show it to them after they've learned to conjugate and translate on their own. Otherwise it's like giving them the teacher's edition of a book and telling them to do the assignments without looking at the answers on the page. There's also the danger that things won't translate correctly, so they need to learn how to do it properly first before asking a translator things.

As for Picasa I explored that in the web 2.0 tool exercise and I loved all of the effects and such you could use. So, to brighten up my blog here's another example of how you can play with a photo in Picasa!

Woo-hoo! Me with long hair and a few pounds heavier. This fun effect emulates a polaroid, a thing I don't think our students will recognize but well, it looks cool to them right? Again I think this tool is more fun for personal use and can be a fun intro into photoshop and effects for students (especially the younger ones since photoshop can get complicated very fast).

Thing #11--More feeds

 I honestly do not like this subscribing to feeds thing, so I'm having a difficult time finding much of anything. There are a few teacher blogs out there that are interesting, such as Adventures of an Art Teacher, Mrs. Art Teacher! and Deep Space Sparkle: Art Lessons for Kids. I used the google search bar to find more art teacher blogs and I'm still figuring out how to use the feeds.

Thing #10--RSS Feeds

I honestly did not like the process of figuring out what an RSS Feed was. All of the links provided came up with errors of "not existing on this page" and such so it was frustrating to learn about. The embedded video would not play, but I was able to to view it on YouTube instead so I finally learned what the RSS button was on websites, where to find it, what it does, and how to use Google Reader. Not really knowing what I wanted to follow daily, since I have a small bookmarking system already, I simply followed two of the webcomics I read that update regularly, a teacher's blog I discovered last year while searching for lesson plan ideas, and a fun journal blog I stumbled upon while googling about a female animator I look up to.

This RSS Feed thing could be useful if I find more teacher blogs to follow to help with ideas in the classroom, and as for use in the classroom, I could find some fun art blogs that are age appropriate that I could follow with the students as a class. It could become something of a bell ringer, or a privilege to be earned by good behavior during the class period. It'd be like "Let's check today's feed! What ideas can we get today?" But, I don't think it has any real practical use for now. Not until I fully understand it that is!

Thing #9--Image Generators

I used image chef to create these images.


This can be used more for personal use, to make silly pictures and such but it could have some slight practical uses for the classroom. Such as if you were reading a book, maybe look up a picture of a character and find a frame that fits with the character, or not like the character so it makes the students think of why such a frame is not a good fit. They have to explain the character to you and maybe you can pick out a frame together on the website. Or, if you're afraid of inappropriate ads popping up have alternate pictures saved with different frames; some that are sillier and some that are more fitting to the character. Me personally, I'd save photos of artists and come up with silly frame and decorations to use so as to quiz my students on a person's background or personality.

Or I'll just keep putting my pets in these silly frames to give the kids a good laugh for the day.

Thing #8--Flickr Fun

Here is my mosaic made from fall photos I took last year. I created this image by letting the mosaic maker merge with my flickr account; it was pretty cool! I feel like these mash-ups seem more practical for personal use, but there are endless possibilities to how this can be used in the classroom! Being an art student, I love to rely on visuals. But you could create mash-ups of the students in the class, or with elements of a project, a mini mosaic to show at the beginning of every year to introduce yourself to your students, concepts of an activity and so so much more. It can be a fun and useful tool for the classroom. As for sharing photos online, I'm comfortable sharing my own photos, and certain photos of my person that show me working or looking professional; nothing too casual should be shown in the classroom, but just online in general is different. Facebook has private options for a reason! I want to be casual with my friends, but not with everyone, and I don't want my students to know that their teacher may go out with her friends on Friday evenings. So if this privacy was breached I could potentially lose my job if someone deemed any of my photos as inappropriate or unfit for students to view. I took a nude figure class, so even my personal drawings could be a cause for attack... so I have to be careful and make sure my profile stays private! Yet again, the things we can use this site and other sites for to share pictures online can have just as many pluses as it does minuses. One just has to be smart, and be aware!

Thing #7--Flickr

Will you use Flickr for classroom, library or personal photos, or in some other way? How? Have you ever used another photo hosting service besides Flickr? Which one? How do the two compare? How do you feel about having your photos in a public place (note that you can mark your photos private too) -- any concerns?

Well, as I said in my last post I've taken a digital photography class here at Austin Peay. We were required to get a flickr account so we could turn in our assignments (easy storage and viewing for the class and professor). Therefore I'll simply post a few of my favorite pictures from various assignments to share with you, my education class! Flickr is an amazingly fun website and I used it for more than just storage and school, I frequent this site also because I love to draw and so many wildlife photographers upload their works here; therefore I can find hundreds if not thousands of references to save to my computer for later use OR to draw from that instant if the image is not downloadable. Actually, the elk drawing I'm using as my background, as seen here was referenced from a photo found on flickr and drawn in photoshop on the spot because I could not save it. Now I have a gesture, or quick sketch capturing the pose and basic shading so I can reproduce this with more detail later on!


To continue with the referencing idea, I could use flickr as a place for my students to look up references for their own works, seeing as I will be teaching an art class. What better way to learn how to draw something than looking a preexisting image? It's how we learn; first we copy, then we practice, and then finally we are able to draw simply from our minds. By allowing them to use these public photos on flickr I can also teach them about appropriation and copyright, how it's appropriate to use references in their school-related work because they are using it for learning purposes and not making money off of it. But they must learn the difference in referencing, and stealing.

I could also use a flickr account in the classroom as a storage site, much like how my professor had us upload our homework, I could ask my students to upload their homework assignments to flickr for me to grade, as well as use flickr to review the students' works with their peers (if I get so lucky to teach a digital photo class of any sort, or even a media class). Flickr is so wonderful, I'm sure I could find many more uses for it in the classroom!

Color092Edit

Color092Edit, a photo by Krissy_Parker on Flickr.

Color043Edit

Color043Edit, a photo by Krissy_Parker on Flickr.

Thing #6--Web Tool Discovery

I decided to explore the web tool Picasa, because taking photos and editing them is a small hobby that I have. As of late I don't have time to focus on photography as I would like, after taking a digital photography class just knowing what you can do to get a photo to look it's best... it's just so cool! Yet I've always had the mentality that a good photo truly needs no editing, so a good camera and good eye is all you need. But, until I reach that point in my artistic career I'll rely on the cool techniques and tools available to me! So, back to Picasa, this web 2.0 tool is attached to Google and it's used to edit photos with very simple tools and effects. Like a mini photoshop, but not as advanced. Fun if you need to do something quick or on the go!

Here's a photo I played with, original first and the edited photo beneath it for comparison:

 I did a very simple edit here by sharpening the image, bringing out the shadows, giving some more contrast and tweaking colors a bit. Then I found the effects button, and who doesn't like to use that? So here's an example of a the same photo edited with an effect below:

This process or effect is supposed to imitate a holga camera which if you read here you can find out all about these nifty little cameras~! I love the effect they give, and the old, timeless quality of the photo. That and I just love mountain flowers. I could throw tomato juice all over the photo and still love it haha~

But now it's time for a critique! I really love the availability of this tool, it's easy to access so long as one has a google account, very VERY simple to use, anyone with no photo knowledge can figure out what the tools mean and have fun playing with the effects and processes. It's a basic tool and could possibly be used as a jumping off point for photoshop; in other words if I needed to teach my students how to used photoshop, I could let them edit photos with Picasa to entice their interests in photo editing and creating, then let them slowly work into photoshop once we've discussed what each tool does and how using this small program can help you get ideas before you jump into the high quality world of photoshop. The only problem I had was uploading photos; it would take them a minute to show up in my albums, but they were easily edited, saved, and put into blogger with ease! I'll give it a 7 out of 10. The quality of the photos are to my liking, but it's because it's a free program, so you got to work with what you get!

(all photos in this post belong to Christina Rose Parker, all rights reserved!)

Thing #5--Web/School 2.0

Web 2.0 was defined as a "new" web that's ineractive as opposed to an older "read-only" web where users could only look up information and read it... not respond. And that's what web 2.0 seems to be all about! Interacting, reading and responding to what you read through comments, or maybe even pictures or videos! The possibilities seem endless with all of this new technology. But the idea of web 2.0 seems to focus soley on participation. Everyone that stumbles across a blog can read it, chose to respond, and keep a conversation going with people that could live down the street, halfway across the country, continent or the globe! Getting perspectives from all over the world is something invaluable, because our way of life can be very different to those far away, so interacting with them online is a very good experience. But I'm getting a little off topic here...

Social networking seems to be the biggest thing about web 2.0 now, with twitter, facebook, myspace, pinterest, diggo, etc. all of these websites have the common factor of sharing. Sharing interests, experiences, photos, etc. and it's amazing to see. I feel sometimes like the internet has taken over our lives, though I'm not really one to talk... ever since my mother created a facebook for me, I slowly have become addicted to posting daily, if not weekly and reading up on all my friends through a newsfeed, or doing what people jokingly refer to as "creeping" or "facebook stalking" people to get to know them better through their likes, interests, and more. Sometimes I feel like too much sharing is going on, but our society seems to be accepting this idea readily, and those that don't like it are left behind.

But as for it's use in schools, web 2.0 could be a very fun and cool tool for class. Children love being involved with technology, especially since this generation has never seen a time where a flat screen t.v. with the internet on it hasn't existed. Or something with a touchscreen so one can scroll through pictures quickly, and zoom with a simple tap. I read a study once that a baby walked up to a t.v. and tried to change the channel by sliding her finger across the screen... children are just so used to what we deem "new" advances in technology, it's time to jump on board and learn what we can so we can stay on top of it in the classroom! Therefore, back to how it can be useful... as I stated in an earlier post, a teacher could use a blog or other type of website to showcase a class and it's members, activities, achievements, projects, and many other things. If it was a blog, students could comment on what the teacher has posted, giving their opinions or asking questions. A chatroom could be set up and the teacher can let her students know when she'll be available online to chat with to answer questions students come up with as they do homework, or simply to give advice if one is struggling with an idea, or a paper, or anything really! It opens up the world of availability of the teacher as a resource. And it makes the classroom larger than just the physical place... a student could log on while they're out of town to stay updated, or if a teacher keeps some sort of a log, students could look back to their time in that teacher's classroom for memories, or for resources.

The use of web 2.0 and it's wonders are limitless. I feel like I could talk all night about it! (er, all morning...) so I'll just leave you with this... where do you think we'll be in about five years? Ten years? I'm so anxious and excited to find out!