BP4_Google Art Project

The Web 2.0 tool I am reviewing today is the Google Art Project at http://www.googleartproject.com. I actually found the source through the TedTalk gadget on my iGoogle FSO page. The creator, Amid Sood, grew up in India and was frustrated with the lack of access to the greatest museums. He asked for permission to work with some of the world's most famous art museums and seventeen agreed to place their work of art in the project. If you are interested in more of the background, click on the caption for the screenshot of Amid below.

Amid Sood, creator of Google Art Project, speaking at TedTalks.

The site has two features. The first, you can virtually walk around each of the museum galleries seeing different pieces of art and get the sense of ambiance of the museum.

National Gallery in London, England

In the screenshot above you can see the movement arrows to move throughout the museum and the arrow pad in the upper left hand corner, you can see the tools to direct your sight. I find that the controls are difficult to move at first, similar to SecondLife, but once you work with them, they are adequate. I just have to keep reminding myself that I am going through a 3-D world on a 2-D screen:/. Beside the pictures the museum has allowed to be used is a white square that you click on to the painting and background information.

An easier way to see the works of art is by clicking the Artwork button and the art is listed alphabetically withing each museum listing. This is the greatest feature of the project. As an English teacher, I may place a piece of art on my smartboard such as Four Elements: Fire by Joachim Beuckelaer.

Four Elements: Fire by Joachim Beuckelaer as seen in Google ArtProject.

I would ask the students to write a description essay or a story based on the picture. Students today do not do very well with details and I would emphasize the point to include as many details about the picture they can into their story. I would then use the zoom feature of the site and go into the room just above the woman's left shoulder and ask how many students saw the events taking place there.

The piece of art is actually depicting the scene from the Bible when Jesus visited Mary and Martha's house. This Web 2.0 tool will allow me to emphasize to my students the importance of details in writing by viewing various pieces of art. This is not necessarily a tool I could use everyday, but is definitely a tool to use to teach certain objectives. As you visit the Google Art Project on your own, take to realize all the details you can see that you normally wouldn't even if you visited each of the museums in person.

PE3_iMovie

I finally finished the lynda.com course iMovie'11 Essential Training course and earned my handy dandy certificate.

My Certificate of Completion from lynda.com.

I make a little fun about the digital certificate, but I realize the more tools that I can show evidence that I have completed training, the more marketable I am in a tough job market.

I chose to try my new skills and create a short video where I use different audio skills.

Screenshot of my most recent project in iMovie.

 When I finished the course early Saturday morning, I realized that I really didn't have too many clips that lend themselves to different types of audio editing. Being the wearer of many hats, I decided to let my back seat student in my driver ed. car videotape the other driving. I had several minutes of video that I could use but shorten it to the slightly over minute piece below.






As you can see I made sure to hide the student's faces and take audio away from the car to protect their identities as I promised the students. My primary focus was to work with editing the audio. Everything turned out fine except the beat jumps didn't work right when we were merging onto the highway. Any hints would be appreciated. Thanks.

PE2_iMovie

The second thing that caught my eye during the iMovie Training '11 course on Lynda.com was the visualization of the audio tracks attached to the videos. This is significant to me because I have battled hearing loss for the majority of my life. I currently have 40% loss in my right ear and 60% loss in my left ear. Because of this disability, it is difficult for me to distinguish the beat and tone of any music and other audio. The visualization tools in iMovie help me distinguish the beat of background music to place the beat makers. If I use multiple tracks, the visualization tool will make it easier for me to determine which track is drowning out the other audio pieces.

Example of the audio visualization tool in iMovie.

The other part of the tool I thought was of great use was the ability to reduce the sound level of each track. This allows me to take out unwanted sounds (or comments) and makes it easier to keep students identities hidden in the classroom or keep the ambiance of a sporting event without the cursing not suited for children. This tool will be of great use as I become more comfortable taking, editing, and publishing video without worrying if my physical disability will hinder me.

PE1_iMovie

Being an English teacher, I was looking forward to pursuing my master's degree without fear and trepidation. Why? I knew I could write papers without a problem. Therefore, this course has thrown me out of my comfort zone by requiring so many videos. iMovie has been a great help to ease the transition. I am going to post in rapid fire today about iMovie, and this isn't the best way to blog so I apologize in advance.

One of coolest this of interest to me I learned in the iMovie training was the capability to use old HD tape so I don't have to "pitch" my old collection. I had my National Board Videos on "tape" along with children's dance recitals and ballgames. I am so thankful that I have it easier than my parents' generation when they had to transfer the old movie reels to VHS and not just let my tapes gather dust.

Screenshot from lynda.com iMovie tutorial uploading videotape.

Another thing that this video showed was the changing landscape of technology. Those that have been alive longer than 30 years remember the old Beta tapes and the two piece recording systems that were very cumbersome. The HD cameras that is seen the video is no more than 10 years old, manufactured since 2000, and is considered antiquated. We have to continue to change with technology in order to remain relevant to our students' lives. Tools such as iMovie make it easier to accomplish that in our classrooms and lives.

Schoology Continued

I am still happy with schoology, but this week was frustrating. Many of my students lost their passwords and there was not a way to retrieve them. The students had to create new accounts, leaving their old work behind. A suggestion to those that try schoology or any other Web 2.0 tool, create a Google doc spreadsheet with student passwords and logins so you can manage them better, or even assign each student a login and password that they are to use for each tool.

I tried to use their tool to transfer my moodle page assignments, but I haven't had any success yet.

Screenshot of schoology's page to import moodle settings.

I had the students take a quiz using schoology, and they did well with the interface. It was also easier for me to grade and download the grades in an excel document to place them in my school system's grade program.


All of those that have expressed an interest in this tool thank you and it is worth the effort to try it out.

BP2_Schoology

During the next four weeks I will be using a new Web 2.0 tool that I have never used before. These tools may be a little obscure as I drive my students crazy with the number Web 2.0 tools I have already implemented. As I tell my students, I hope to fill my toolbox so I can the right tool for any situation that may arise in my courses.

The first tool I am reviewing, I cheated a little and picked schoology.com. I heard about this tool during this week’s Wimba Archive. The description was intriguing as it was lauded as an alternative to Facebook. However, it is more than that. It has LMS possibilities, even the ability to import your Moodle sites into the platform. You can create online quizzes and assignments along with blogs and discussion boards. Entire schools and even school systems can use it as their basic LMS.

I allowed my students to make accounts and use it in class. They loved the facebook features and didn’t have trouble finding the discussion board I wanted them to participate in for the class period. Many called it a “lame” excuse for Facebook, but most enjoyed the fact the tool met their desires to have social media halfway. Most students placed an avatar picture up without being directed, creating their own personal space. One class completed an online quiz using the platform and did not experience any difficulty. Probably another great benefit is that the students don’t have to have an email account to create an account with the service. This will especially be pleasing to elementary school teachers.

The greatest negative of the tool is managing the multiple types of screens that you can use without confusing the students. It has a gradebook and attendance taking features that can be a great benefit if you are not overly concerned with privacy issues, as I didn’t see any secure connections.

Overall, I was impressed with schoology.com and plan to use it in the future. 

This is the control panel for teachers. You can see each of the courses you have created and the students.

This is a discussion board through schoology. I was just having my students drop me a "hey" line.

This is an activity board from all of the classes.

This an example of quiz creation page.

BP3_iGoogleScreenShots

The Emergent Technologies in a Collaborative Culture course has already paid for itself by showing the iGoogle tabs and apps. Life is already running smoother for me and I haven't been able to create all the tabs I need. Teaching face to face classes and online courses, I am using various LMS systems and numerous Web 2.0 tools. The organization this tool provides is reducing my workload already.

This is my Home iGoogle tab. I have several my personal links I use on a regular basis along with several professional links.

This is my FSO iGoogle tab. As you can see, I am a child of the 80's. I am still adding different tools to this tab.

This is my CBR iGoogle tab. This will end up being my deep thinking tank :)

This is my ETC iGoogle tab. There still part child in me and thankful that iGoogle has themes that relate to my youth.

You can see that I have other tabs for my other areas in my life and learning environment. I may not be a Digital Native, but I am a Digital Emigrant because, unlike a immigrant, I am never planning to return.