Tags: voicethread, ES, art

Here are a couple links to Edgar’s PhotoStory projects:

Principles of Art
The Colorwheel

Tags: photostory, MS

Tags: voicethread, ES, iditarod

I’m hoping to take a little time today to get these projects and ideas posted.  The teachers currently using technology in their classroom deserve the recognition!

Tags: edtech, WCS

Enjoy!

I like open source software.  So many people overlook this option when buying software for their computers.  Gimp Shop (an image editor) is FREE and works great.  It has so much Photoshop functionality built-in. 

I was reading this post about GIMP vs. Photoshop and think the author makes a lot of valid points.

The vast majority of the people that pirate Photoshop do not need it.
The people who legitimately use Photoshop use a fraction of its
capabilities. Honestly, unless you’re putting out a print publication,
you really don’t need Photoshop. You can just as easily use the Gimp to
float text over a Dragonball-Z picture to post as your image signature
in a web forum as you can with Photoshop, which is what most people end
up using their pirated copy for anyway. Oh, and to create bloated,
image-heavy web layouts that slow down an already overworked internet
connection. What great reasons to pirate a grand worth of software!

I often found, and many teachers have noted this as well, that the students would publish to their school blogs even when not instructed to. Students really enjoy reaching out to the world and they are so motivated by it that they want to write even more. They would describe how there day was, what they learned in class, or even things they learned or read on the news that day. It’s amazing.

I’ve noticed the same thing.  Why are kids so motivated to post to a blog?  They are reading, writing, internalizing, posting, thinking, reacting.  Why does the internet make this so much easier?  Or doesn’t it? 

During a session at the Web 2.0 Summit, author and consultant Don Tapscott shared results from a research project on the Net generation, the first humans to grow up digitally. An estimated 80 million people in the U.S. alone are coming into the workplace and marketplace with a far different set of experiences and skill than previous generations. “Kids are lapping their parents on the info track,” Tapscott said.

We, as educators, are certainly aware of this change.  Part of our pilot program with BOCES and Will Richardson is to examine the shift educators must make to meet the demands and ideals of this new student.  We need to understand how this generation thinks, how they act, and what they like.  According to the same article:

The Net Generation also wants the freedom to schedule. In the survey, 42 percent of those survey watch TV asynchronously, time-shifted viewing.

Relationships and collaboration are part of the Net generation psyche.  Hence, the rise of social networks, or ‘n-fluence’ networks, in which the Net generation influences each other and other generations.

Does this mean online classes would be more appealing to the net generation?  What do you think?

Integrating technology into the curriculum is a priority — if not a
mandate — in most schools today. Most educational technology experts
agree, however, that technology should be integrated, not as a separate
subject or as a once-in-a-while project, but as a tool to promote and
extend student learning on a daily basis. The challenge, of course, is
in finding ways to use technology — and to help students use it –
that don’t take time away from core subjects.

This couldn’t be more true.  I strive to accomplish this everyday.  As a huge technology fan, I find that it’s hard to get others excited and motivated to integrate it.