Not so stumped.

Who knows if this will help anyone but it has certainly helped me!


I have heard so much about BlogEd. So many people seem to be using it. I am desperate to use it as I feel I have been missing out!


Whilst researching a range of education technologies in the holidays a few members of my PLN (Personal Learning Network) suggested that I use BlogEd. And so the search began...


It has taken about three weeks now to find out how to access BlogEd. I couldn't find it, I didn't have the right tab, my principal did not know how to get it from AMU, etc, ect. With the help of my PLN and the DET's ICT Service Desk I have finally worked out exactly how to access BlogEd. Now it is in the hands of my principal and I hope that by the end of the week I have logged on! Of course, instructions are on the DET's website however, I was not able to find this info and the service desk had to email it to me:


Schools: Teachers who would like to create blogs using blogED will require access to the Learning Tools tab from their DET portal. This tab will appear within 24 hours of the Principal giving access to the teacher to blogED through the Access Management Utility (AMU). Principals can request access to LT Learning Tools in AMU by emailing 'blogED_access@det.nsw.edu.au'. N.B. If the Principal doesn't have the option in AMU to add BlogEd access for you, the last line applies.


Sometimes even for the digital literate problems present themselves that are difficult to resolve. Thank you to my PLN for pointing me in the right direction and helping me though the process. See, I told you I heart my PLN ;-)


Phew. Almost there.

Tweet this - I HEART PLNs!

What is a PLN?

Please note, like all my posts, I speak very simply for those who have not encountered a PLN yet, not for those who are already in the know.

A PLN is a Personal Learning Network. It is the entire collection of people that innovative educators engage and collaborate with, usually online.

Why do I love my PLN? I can connect with other like-minded souls from around the globe - teachers, academics, experts in technology, the list goes on. I have at my fingertips information that I may or may not be able to get from conversing with people at school. Having an online PLN means that I can get answers to important questions or problems very very quickly - at times even instantly!

Where do I start setting up my PLN?
I started with Twitter...

WHAT? Twitter? Isn't that only for popstars and politicians? No...

Twitter has been amazing.

I have 14 followers so far and I follow 28 people so far. They are all educators/teachers/experts. I am working to build my PLN however, at present, I have 14 people from which I can get assistance! A PLN takes time and effort to build but, as other people have suggested to me, build your PLN by following people's posts, contributing to discussion, following people who you feel will be helpful to your own personal learning.

So far I have posted on Twitter a couple of questions that I had no idea of the answer for. My PLN helped me through the problems by giving me solutions and it meant the world to me. They taught me about posting a PDF on blogs through Scribd and they taught me how to access and use the new DET blog BlogEd.

Yammer is also a tool I have just begun to use.

The blog 'Once a Teacher...' has good information about PLNs including a chart which shows the range of tools able to be used for building a PLN.

The video below by Shell Terrell discusses the use of Twitter in building a PLN.



I look forward to continuing to engage and collaborate with my PLN and I encourage any new teacher to get one.

In the News

Another article on the Visual Arts and the National Curriculum.

artvalue08.07.10

The Visual Arts and the National Curriculum.

A recent article about the Visual Arts and the National Curriculum. Let's keep barracking for our subject.

I wish I could have posted this earlier, however, I have just been introduced to the joys of Scribd so can FINALLY post a PDF. Yes, I am a slow but keen learner and that's what counts.

Inner West_visual Arts

Audacity ideas for Visual Arts

My education and technology friend Bianca is looking for ideas on how to use Audacity in different subject areas. I have not used it before but wanted to respond so I could come up with ideas for my own practice. Even though my ideas were quite simple, I found that to leave my response purely as a response to Bianca's blog and to not take my own ideas further would be a shame. So, I thought I would post my response here so that I might look to the future and implement these tools in my own classroom...

Hi Bianca!

I am sorry I did not get in on time for your last post but I too would be really interested in learning about audacity.

I have not used audacity myself for Visual Arts yet, however a fairly obvious use for this tool in the subject would be for students to describe an artwork to an audience. A lot of museums use podcasts to teach people about artworks however, to get students to use this approach would help them to develop how they analyse, talk about, discuss an artwork from different points of view.

Students often find describing art works in an in-depth manner difficult and to get them to publish their description in this manner would give them practice and accountability.

They could also post an image of their own artwork and use audacity to publish a description of their own artist practise – describing their work, why they did it, how they did it, what it means, etc.

Students could also be told about access in museums for those with disabilities which is a really important focus for museums these days. Students could be asked to use audacity to provide access to an artwork for blind audiences – how might they describe the work so that blind audiences have the best access possible. Students could be told how their recordings could be combined with having the actual sculpture/painting, etc. present in the gallery for touch and feel so that blind audiences get to know the work through other senses than sight.

I hope this helps. Maybe I will look at implementing my own suggestions this term!

Sal
x

See MoMA for an example of Podcasts about arworks.

Learning Curve

Are you feeling overwhelmed by the possibilities of technology in education? Me too. But...

I feel very lucky - my digital literacy is really very good. I have a good knowledge of computers and a range of programs.

I have, however, feel like I have been living under a rock. I didn't hear about Edmodo, Yammer, Education Blogs, etc until a few weeks ago.

But then, how lucky am I??? - My ignorance has pushed on a very very steep self-guided learning curve. And even luckier, because I have discovered all these amazing teachers and educators using these tools in so many ways.

So what have I done to solve my ignorance problem?

Here is a list.

In the last few weeks I have:

- Re-started my art teaching blog. A project that was abandoned after only a couple of posts has now had new life breathed into it!
- Re-started my Twitter account. Before I realised other teachers were using it, I had NO idea how Twitter was a useful tool!
- Started a group on Edmodo. Even if though only one of my year 10s is regularly using it at the moment, it is going to be an amazing tool in my classroom.
- Stayed in touch and made contact with other like-minded educators on Twitter, etc.
- Watched many powerpoint presentations and articles on the use of technology in education. This I hope to keep doing!
- Thought about the many possibilities, and tried not to get too overwhelmed by these possibilities by becoming more knowledgeable.

Do you have any other suggestions?

Digital Tribes and The Social Web by Steve Wheeler

Some very interesting slides as part of this presentation. I particularly like slide number 24, which shows a diagram of the three web tools that facilitate the three human interaction characteristics of cognition (blog), co-operation (wiki) and communication (social network).

Slide number 34 is also particularly good. As a teacher, I often think of different kinds of 'literacies', and even though digital literacy is high on my agenda for both me and my students, I had never thought in-depth about what these characteristics of digital literacy might be. I have listed them below for my own reference and possibly for yours! What are my students doing at the moment? They are creating animated self-portraits. As part of this project they are expected to develop their competencies in identity management, creating content, organising content, filtering and selecting and self presenting.

- Social Networking
- Transliteracy
- Privacy Maintenance
- Identity Management
- Creating Content
- Organising Content
- Reusing/repurposing content
- Filtering and Selecting
- Self Presenting

Digital Tribes and the Social Web

View more presentations from Steve Wheeler.