I had the pleasure of presenting at the 2011 Mid-South Technology Conference with my friend and colleague Carmen Weaver. We we were thrilled to have the audience engage in thoughtful dialogue about their own experiences with blended learning platforms, online resources and flipping their F2F instruction - all very exciting stuff! Kathy Schrock and Dr. Carl Owen were the key note speakers and I can't wait to share everything I learned with other teachers.  I also talked with an amazing 12 year old young man who taught me about a comic strip creator he and his classmates used to demonstrate strategies to solve linear equations.  Stay tuned for more info on integrating technology for language arts!

In grad student mode, I just finished reading some literature on Situated Cognition when my own elementary aged children asked what I was reading.  I quickly switched to mom & teacher mode and the conversation resulted in the development of a short animated story I used to describe the learning theory.  Since that time, my daughter has continued her interest in animation by developing her own story in PowerPoint.  

In the art room, this form of simple animation could be used to teach a number of concepts such as horizon line, perspective, motion, etc.  In the traditional classroom, this tool could easily tie into creative writing projects, short book reports, commercials, etc.  

Teacher effectiveness is clearly under the microscope... 

I believe there is no better time than now to use our creative and tech skills to engage students in powerful learning.  We are teachers in a digital world and we have opportunities to share information with our students in entirely new ways - our students should have opportunities to do the same.  Just imagine the type of formative and summative assessments that could be created with the combination of interactive web 2.0 and 3.0 tools.

This week, I wrote a paper on an instructional design model  (Smith and Ragan) for a course I am taking in my doctoral program.  In addition to the paper, my peers and I were tasked with the challenge of creating a digital presentation.  Since design work is often non-linear in nature, a Prezi seemed the best tool to share my work online.  The Prezi captured the nature of my paper but lacked a little something... so I used Screenr to narrate the presentation.  Although I detest the sound of my recorded voice, I believe the combination is an interesting one that affords me the opportunity to share content in a potentially powerful way.

In the art room, I am envisioning narrated tours of artwork, recorded critques, and more.  So... Let's get creative!

If you have any interest in instructional design, or just want to see the Prezi/Screenr combo in action please feel free to watch the videos below (just give this Southern girl a break on my less than radio quality voice)...

Click here to read my paper on the Smith & Ragan Instructional Design Model.

Assignment: Create a visual representation of the history of instructional design and technology.  I, being the glutton for punishment that I am, set off to learn entirely new software to complete the task.  ...And a few fumbles later, I am happy to post the final product. 

3DTimeline is a beautiful tool developed specifically for Mac users . The interface is fairly user-friendly; to add an event just click and type the title and date.  You can also easily add a photo, note, outside link, change text and background colors, etc.  Unfortunately the tool is NOT free.  Users may download a trial version to create and view their work in 3D but the timeline cannot be exported without payment.  The software has potential so I coughed up the $39 educator rate.  3D Timeline is a great presentation tool that can also be used in classrooms by students and teacher generated.  Just think - about the possibilities for teaching history - but the timeline tool could also be used creatively in all subject areas.  I'm thinking about observations of science experiments  (since the time can be recorded up to the minute), or field trip agendas, etc.  I recommend reading the FAQ blog page PRIOR to using the software :-)

TPACK - a framework for thinking about how we teach with technology.

Technology Standards - know what is expected of you and your students
Tennessee Technology Standards
National Education Technology Standards

Remember to start SMALL!  - let your students be the experts! 

Collaborate:
Wikis are collaborative web pages created by multiple users.  Students and teachers can use the tool to write and edit information, and add images, video and audio.  Since a wiki can be edited by a group, the content can continuously change and improve. 
Try: Wetpaint or Wikispaces

Blogs- write, react, and share in a mulitmedia format
Try: edublogs, blogmeister, weebly

Social Networks: organize around your content and interests, join professional learning communities.  Check out Ning

Bookmarking - Save all of your favorite Internet resources and access them from anywhere.  Diigo and Delicious

Nike+ - record physical exercise, map routes and challenge your peers!

Digital Stories:
Share your message with video, text, graphics and audio.  Collaborate with classmates to present your new knowledge! Digital stories beat out traditional poster presentations any day!
Check out: VoiceThread 
Annimoto - automatically produces videos from your photos, video clips and music. Fast, free and easy.
50+  Web 2.0 ways to tell a story

Present:
Presentation tools allow users to share their knowledge with others.  Some tools also provide collaboration features!
These great tools:
Prezi - non-linear presetations, zoom in and out across text, graphics and video.
Google Docs - collaborative office suite for word processing, spreadsheets, powerpoints and more!
Voki- motivate students to participate, create

Mapping:
Google Earth - tour the earth, moon and sky in 3-D satellite imagery.  Mark places of interest, link resources and tours to share with others.  Click on "learn" to view a tutorial. Visit existing tours in the google earth gallery
Feel free to download my Memphis example & share with your class!  Add your city to it and share with us!  Download Memphis Landmarks kmz file, save it to your computer, open Google Earth, click file, click open, find the kmz file, click open then drag the file from temporary places to "my places" .

Mapwing- build, share, and explore virtual tours. Use digital photos to create virtual tours that include interactive maps, images, and comments.

Poll Everywhere - instant feedback
Wordle - create beautiful word clouds!

It has been a while since I posted any new content but my classroom has been busy nonetheless.  This quarter, we are studying the art of  Memphis painter, David Lynch.  Before viewing the work, we had a fantastic group discussion about cities and about what one might find when visiting such places.  Given that our school is in a rural location outside Memphis, only about half of the students had actually visited the city. 

After naming various known Memphis landmarks, we took a 'field trip' to Memphis, via Google Earth. Then we visited David Lynch's website, observed the work and discussed the differences between what we saw on our field trip and the artist's representation. The kids were more than excited, they were engaged... best of all the content stuck!  Check out the tour below for a quick peek.

Vocabulary is an important part of learning in the art room.  We spend part of every class reviewing art terms and academic vocabulary.  As a parent and a teacher, I struggle with ways to motivate some children to learn new words.  SpellingCity.com is fun site which may encourage youngsters to spend time learning important words through games such as "hang mouse" and crossword puzzles. 

Teachers or parents simply type in the list of words and students can click on the "Teach Me" button to hear words pronounced, spelled and used in a sentence.  Or click on the "Play a Game" button to interact with the new words in a fun and meaningful way.  Once a student is ready, click on the "Test Me" button to take a test and then review the words missed. Teachers and parents may also print handwriting sheets.  This is a great site to add to your classroom centers or "at home" studies!