Technology and communications EDUW 692

Spring 2015
Jeanine Gelhaus

IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
Reflection
I am an art teacher for 450 students ranging from kindergarten through fifth grade in three buildings
with different technology capabilities. I meet with each student once a week for 30, 45, or 55 minutes
depending on the age. My students do not have chromebooks, an iPad cart is available at each school as
is a computer lab which is shared by all the teachers in the building. Having access to technology during
a given art period and the time required to become ready to be productive on the technology is a great
deterrent to my using computers or iPad in my teaching. If I were given more instructional time, the
students were assigned chromebooks, or some other means of easy access, I would be happy to include
more technology in my teaching.

Weebly
http:carlsondominique.weebly.com
What did I know?
Knowing that this is a major component of the graduate studies program and being very much a
beginning beginner with technology, I approached this task with great anxiety. The program is however
very easy to navigate once set up and the instructor made the setup very comfortable. I was quickly
confident in making cosmetic changes to my pages, adding texts, changing pictures, adding documents,
and moving pages around. It was a little limiting in that being very interested in visual appeal, I was not
able to make pages look as I would have liked.
How can I apply what Ive learned to my classroom setting?
My third through fifth grade students are periodically given the opportunity to do a free choice
project. During this time they have the opportunity to explore whatever art inspires them. During these
times I give a Challenge project which is an idea for those who cannot come up with one of their own.
During a challenge project I plan to offer the students the opportunity to create a weebly about an artist
or art period. If I had older students I would do this as an assignment. It could be a creative outlet for
those who have difficulty with fine motor skills.
How do I feel about teaching this technology?
I am not sure that there will be an interest level at third through fifth grade to use art time for this but I
am willing to give it a try. I am not comfortable taking a lot of art production time to teach weebly
technology. I feel that it would be more appropriately taught by the technology teacher.

Padlet
http://padlet.com/dcarlson8/artlady
What did I know?
I had never heard of Padlet before the class. I found the setting up of a padlet straight forward. There
were not too many options making choices easy. Navigation was simply done with a single click.
How can I apply what Ive learned to my classroom setting?
I first created a Padlet with a variety of links as we were taught. I then asked a few adults to post on it. I
did this as a suggestion for those of us who would find it difficult or impossible to do this in a classroom
setting. However, very few of my family and friends complied with my request. I then created a page
with a question for my students. What was your favorite art project this year? I had to do this activity
with whatever group I had available at a time that the computer lab had an opening. It worked out for
one of my fifth grade classes. I took the students to the computer lab, instructed them how to open the
padlet, add their name and answer the question on the screen. This kids were thrilled with the
immediate feedback of seeing their comments on the screen with that of their friends however, this
quickly deteriorated to being silly and I had to correct the class, ask students to remove comments and
since many had not followed the direction to start with their names, it was a challenge to discover who
had done the silly postings.
I could see using this with older students as a resource page about artists, art periods, or art techniques.
If students had chromebooks I could see asking students for their response to a piece of art or even as a
critique tool.
How do I feel about teaching this technology?
I do not see much value in teaching this to my current students for use in art education. It is too time
consuming to take my students to the computer lab in order to interact with a padlet that I created and I
certainly dont have time to teach creating one. I found this a cumbersome way of getting an answer to
a question due to having to go to the computer lab, and the time spent on behavior issues. I doubt I will
use this technology again. If at some point I teach older students I will revisit the idea.

Quizlet
https://quizlet.com/82503587/elementary-ceramics-vocabulary-flash-cards/
What did I know?
I have used quizlet in the past as a foreign language teacher and really like it. I had however, not used it
since becoming an art teacher. I was reminded that I could be using it now as well. I find students enjoy

the games and therefor put time and effort into their study of the information being given. Quizlet is
effective, easy to navigate for both teacher and student. As a teacher can easily add lists of vocabulary
and can include images which is helpful for younger students and for foreign language translations
besides being more aesthetically pleasing. The scatter games is simple enough for young students to
pick up easily and learn to navigate. The other games require typing skills and are therefore more
appropriate for older students. I highly recommend Quizlet.
How can I apply what Ive learned to my classroom setting?
I taught one of my third grade classes to use quizlet. The purpose of the quizlet was to teach ceramic
vocabulary terms. I gave the students a pretest showing that on average they knew 4 of the 12
vocabulary terms. I then taught the use of quizlet flashcards and two games in which they could practice
their terms. After a class period devoted to the study of these words on quizlet they took a post test.
The average score on the posttest was 11/12. Clearly they learned the vocabulary quickly with quizlet
and it was obvious that they enjoyed themselves doing it as them competed amongst themselves for the
quickest scores. Quizlet is a successful means of teaching vocabulary.
How do I feel about teaching this technology?
Despite my success with the aforementioned third grade class, I doubt I will use it very often because I
do not test vocabulary in the art room at the elementary level. I also do not have enough instructional
time with my students to devote much time to academic pursuits such as learning a long list of
vocabulary terms. I present one or two vocabulary words per unit at the elementary level. Therefore,
quizlet as wonderful as it is, will likely not be used. Our art production time is precious. Perhaps if
someday I am given more time with my students I will have the opportunity to go deeper into the
academic side of art. I do however see many opportunities for the middle/ high school art teacher and if
I have the opportunity to teach at that level I will enjoy implementing quizlet.

Artsonia
https://www.artsonia.com/
I chose Artsonia as my example of 2.0 technology to share.
What did I know?
I have been using Artsonia for two years. Artsonia is a visual gallery of student art work that is shared
worldwide.
How can I apply what Ive learned to my classroom setting?
There are two ways of using Artsonia in the classroom. The first way is teacher led. I do this,
kindergarten through fifth grade for all 450 students. Every work of art produced is photographed and
uploaded to Artsonia all year long. Each time a student has a new piece loaded the parents, and
whatever other persons are given access, receive an email stating that a new art work is available.
Parents and friends may leave comments for the students. The second way of using it is most
appropriate for older students. In this case the students uploads their own image of their work and write
an artist statement that will accompany the image. This is a great way of integrating literacy in art.

How do I feel about teaching this technology?

I am a proficient user of Artsonia in the first method described above. I do not do more of the second
method only due to the amount of time it takes young students to write. I would definitely incorporate
more writing about their art with older students.

Computer terminologyWhat did I know?

As a tentative technology user I found the computer technology vocabulary instruction quite useful. I
probably could not have come up with a definition of any of the terms prior to class, even for those
terms of which I had a working knowledge.
I will now integrate this vocabulary in my teaching and general speaking though I do not intend to
specifically teach these terms as I believe that is the role of the technology teacher.
Web browser- is a software application for retrieving, presenting and traversing information resources
on the World Wide Web. The major web browsers are Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Opera, and Safari

Omnibox- is a combination of the address bar and the search box.

Chrome Landing page- The landing page for your site is the page people will see when you link to the

base level of your site

Array- to display objects in an orderly or decorative way.

Extensions- the ending of a file that helps identify the type of file in operating systems such as Microsoft

Windows.
App - is the most common software on the computer that performs a special function or task.

Bookmarks - is a method of saving a web page's address.

Back channel Chat - a text-based communication that is live or in real-time.
Google doc - A fantastic free solution from Google that allows you to open Microsoft Office documents

as well as share them with other users with Internet access.

Todays Meet
What did I know?
I had never heard of Todays meet
How can I apply what Ive learned to my classroom setting?
I could see setting up a todays meet if we were discussing so art work that we were examining and I
wanted students to give their viewpoint electronically.
How do I feel about teaching this technology?
I dont feel this technology increase instruction or student achievement. It seems more like a parlor
game and invites misbehaviors. I will skip this one in the classroom.

Password
What did I know?
I had not heard of password although I had played a similar game Heads-up at a social gathering.
Heads-up is also available as an app. I really had not thought of it in an educational setting.
How can I apply what Ive learned to my classroom setting?
I copied the instructors password and changed the background and vocabulary. I inserted vocabulary
that applied to the art room, practices, and lessons of this past year. Several of my classes had extra
time during their last art class of the school year so I chose to introduce this game at that time. I shared
this game with three 3rd grade classes, two 4th grade classes and one 5th grade class. I was not able to
get the countdown clock to work but that did not seem to matter at all. I found that I needed to ask
students to raise their hand rather than shout out clues, but raising their hand proved difficult when
emotions ran high. One third grade group was challenged by several words, and it was perhaps not
challenging enough for my fifth grade students but all students enjoyed it and were sad when the game
was over.
How do I feel about teaching this technology?
I did not teach the technology but I enjoyed using it and will do so again as meaningful time filler or
perhaps as a substitute activity but probably not as instructional time. As mentioned before, teaching
vocabulary is limited at the elementary art level.

Blabberize
What did I know?
I had never heard of Blabberize before.
How can I apply what Ive learned to my classroom setting?
When I opened the program and watched the intro video I thought cute, but what do I do with that?
But I pressed on and as soon as the program asked me to find a photo a light bulb went off in my head.
Would it work with photos of my kids artwork? I gave it a try choosing a Lion painting that my
kindergarten students made. I chose one and read an excerpt from the book with make a literary
connection with. Oh what fun! I knew my student would adore it so I emailed it to her family. They were
on love, but now I wanted to have it be relevant to my students learning. That was when I remembered
my fifth graders Pop Art self-portraits. I grabbed a fifth grade class and taught them how to make their
portraits speak. Many had chosen the Lichtenstein pose of talking on the phone so it was perfect. The
students had a great time and I was happy that it tied in to their art making.

How do I feel about teaching this technology?

This technology was a win win. It was applicable to our art learning and therefore I was enthusiastic
about it. We did have a little trouble getting the microphones to work but otherwise the steps were
clear, few, and the results quick and pleasing. The students had fun and the results added a new
dimension to their art work. I will definitely do this again with this portrait lesson and look for other
opportunities for other grade levels.
Wordle
What did I know?
I had made wordles before but I had not liked my results. This was a few years ago and the program has
improved greatly. When I first did it there were much fewer options for the creator and just about
everthing was determined by the program.
How can I apply what Ive learned to my classroom setting?
As it is the last few days of the year I asked a classroom teacher for a few students she could spare and
taught this activity as an extra activity. I have decided that next school year I will have this be a first
day of art activity. I will ask them to make a wordle with their name enlarged and words or phrases that
will help me know more about them. After printing them we will apply them to our sketchbook cover
with contact paper. I hope this will help me get to know my students a little better. That has always
been a challenge for me since I see them only once a week.
How do I feel about teaching this technology?
I was pleasantly surprised by the improvements on the Wordle site since I has seen it last. I like the
ability to make more choices in colors, fonts and what words are enlarged. It is very easy to teach
because there are very few necessary steps. The most difficult part for young students is coming up with
enough words to make the worldle look interesting.

Skype
What did I know?
I have skyped with family members but had not thought of it as a classroom tool.
Is this something you would be willing to try in your classroom setting?
I would love to have my students skype with an artist. It would be great to have them hear from and
watch an artist at work. I would also enjoy giving my students virtual tours of museums or earthworks.
Positives/negatives about this technology?
In the area of negatives there is finding a suitable person to skype with and setting up a meeting that
works for both parties. Also due to the live nature of the technology the teacher takes a risk about how
good, relevant, or appropriate the message will be. You cant preview it. As positives, students are

exposed to material that is current. Students are able to interact and ask questions that peak their
personal interests. It gives the student another means of learning.
How might this change student achievement now? And in the future?
If this technology is easily accessible and it becomes easier for students to engage in skype events in
areas of their personal interests I could see a tremendous increase in relevant learning which could
translate into higher achievement. Generally achievement follows interest so I could see this being very
helpful. However, if the skype meetings are directed only by the teachers interests it is little more than
an entertainment. I also wonder if it will be that fascinating if it becomes more commonplace, is it the
novelty that captures the students or the information being learned?

Blogging
What did I know?
I have read several blogs and follow a few but I had never tried making a blog.
How can I apply what Ive learned to my classroom setting?
The blog allows me to have additional interaction with classroom parents. I can share content with
students that I dont have time to address in class. Students could also explore further, themes they had
in class. It could also allow students from my different buildings to interact with each other.
How do I feel about teaching this technology?
It took me three hours to set up my blog. I would never had stuck to it if it were not a requirement and
as it was I nearly quit anyway. Therefore, I would never teach my elementary students to create a blog.
The platform I used, Blogger, required several workarounds in order to get the blog to perform the way I
wanted it to. I had to Kludge several things in order to make it work. For example , in order to keep one
blog post at the very top I had to set the date of the post several years ahead rather than simply
designating that post as a first post. Now that it is set up, it is my hope that maintaining it will be easier. I
certainly would encourage my students to interact with my blog and perhaps engage their parents.
With the small amount of time I have with my students, I am not likely to use blogging in the classroom.
It might have some applications if I had a flipped class scenario.

Podcasts and Vodcast

Vodcasts are video-based recordings while podcasts are audio only. I listened to several podcasts. One
by Heath Amstrong, who has created a series of art themed podcasts
http://podgallery.org/artrepreneur-now-funky-inspirational/ and one on the topic of art theft from the
Victoria and Albert Museum http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/v/v-and-a-podcast-preventing-arttheft/ . Although the topics caused me to investigate and listen to their podcasts, I found the activity
difficult to stay engaged with. As it did not maintain my interest I would find it difficult to imagine my
students engaged in such a listening activity.

I then watched Vodcasts. This was much more interesting. I watched a Vodcast by Springville
Elementary School, http://www.springvillegi.org/webpages/spodcasts/art.cfm. These Vodcasts
were regarding artist in residence activities that the students were involved in. Limited
explanation of the project was given by a narrator and students read artist statements about
their experience. I could see doing something like this. There is a major collaborative project
planned for next year at IC, so I will try to follow it up with a Vodcast. The second Vodcast was
from The Courtauld Gallery. https://www.youtube.com/profile?user=courtauldinstitute. The
Vodcasts available discuss works in their gallery. I enjoyed watching them however, they are
clearly created for a more mature audience than my elementary students. It would be fabulous
to find something like this done for their level. I will continue to see if I can find some. I realize
most of my students have never been to a museum and sadly, some may never do so. It would
be fabulous to give them at least a virtual trip. It would be easy for me to incorporate specific
works discussed in a Vodcast into my lesson planning.

Graphing
What did I know?
While familiar with graphing I had never come across this particular program.
How can I apply what Ive learned to my classroom setting?
Due to it being the end of the school year, my students did not create an online graph. Instead, they
provided the information which I turned into a graph. The students decided to find out what the favorite
art projects were. They listed five art projects and asked classmates to rank how they felt about the
project. They gave a score of three to projects they liked, a score of two to projects they felt OK about
and a score of one to projects they didnt care for. I then took their results and created the graph on
line. I think it was interesting for them to see how they felt as a class.
How do I feel about teaching this technology?
I do my own more thorough survey of similar information every year. I do this for reflection and for
adjusting the curriculum for the next year. However, this particular program does not allow me the
flexibility I need. I use google docs. I do not see a purpose for having students graph in the art room
therefore I will go back to what I am familiar with.

Edubakery
What did I know?
I was not familiar with Edubakery
How can I apply what Ive learned to my classroom setting?
I created bingo cards with art vocabulary. I will use the bingo game on days that have extra time such as
just before breaks or I may leave it as a substitute activity. I believe the students will enjoy it.
How do I feel about teaching this technology?

It was a bit difficult coming up with 24 terms that they would be at least somewhat familiar with since
we do not focus much on vocabulary. Other than that the setup was very easy and straightforward. I
have used other Bingo card creating programs when I was teaching foreign languages. this one is very
user friendly. If I were to have the need for Bingo cards again, I would come back to this program.

Open Courseware
What did I know?
Although I was not familiar with the term, I actually was familiar with the technology as my husband is a
frequent participant in open courseware.
How can I apply what Ive learned to my classroom setting?
I would not teach the concept of open courseware to my students. However I believe they will indirectly
benefit from what I learn through my personal use of the technology. As I learn more I am able to share
my knowledge with them and they will benefit from my growth. I found this class, a series of 23
YouTube videos of a professor's lectures on Roman architecture. She is teaching at Yale. Since I am
unlikely to be a Yale student, I am thrilled to be able to attend her lectures. I listened to the first (42+
minutes) and it was a very familiar format. I could have been sitting in the lecture hall myself.
http://oyc.yale.edu/history-art
Through online College Classes I found a list of 77 sets of Art courseware materials. I did find that
not all of these were Fine arts related and some I looked at were not really courses to be
taken.
http://www.onlinecollegeclasses.com/open-courseware/visual-arts/
Through Coursera, I found, by the Museum of Modern Art, two courses I would love to take. The first is
called Art and Inquiry: Museum teaching strategies for your classroom.
https://www.coursera.org/learn/artinquiry
and the second, Art & Activity: Interactive strategies for engaging with art.
https://www.coursera.org/learn/art-activity
Both come with an optional verified certificate and are go at your own pace classes. I believe I will do
both of these.
How do I feel about teaching this technology?
I love the idea of being able to learn without it costing money and if the time is flexible then Im all in.
The problem I found in this research is that some of the options simply report what a particular class did,
or will be doing. This is great information if you belong to the campus and are looking for what to study
but not designed for learning on your own. In the area of Fine arts I think that art history and art
appreciation classes lend themselves to this technology.

Piktochart
What did I know?
I was not familiar with this program prior to being asked to use it.
How can I apply what Ive learned to my classroom setting?
Piktochart enables me to make signs and posters giving visual directions throughout my art room . This
provides autonomy and allows for freedom of movement. It enables the student to problem solve
without interrupting the teacher. It is especially important for the reinforcement of routines such as
cleaning up.
How do I feel about teaching this technology?
I love this program. It is not perfect and has limitations but If I continue to use it I assume I will become
more proficient and thus it will not be so time consuming. I do not feel that it is as user friendly as I
would like and I sure wish I had someone I could just ask How do you rather than hunting and
fishing and sometimes compromising what I want for what I can figure out how to do. However, I feel
the outcome is worth the time investment. There are tons of templates but they need so much
modification for what I want that starting with a blank slate may be easier. I do wish they had an insert
text box feature that was more flexible.

Flip your Classroom

What did I know?
I was aware of the flipped classroom concept but really hadnt put that much thought into it.
How can I apply what Ive learned to my classroom setting?
Now that I have studied this technology more closely, I am more excited about it. I would like to try
some video lessons as options for my free choice art projects. It would enable multiple students or
groups of students to work on different art projects at the same time. This would be possible because
they could get instructions from me via video. That would allow me to give more individualized
assistance. I hope to try this with my fifth grade students this fall.
How do I feel about teaching this technology?
I would not teach the technology but rather teach with the technology. I am rather excited about trying
this. I do see that it presents a lot of teacher preparation up front. However, once done the videos could
be reused from year to year.
Survey monkey
What did I know?
I have answered several surveyMonkey surveys but had never created one myself.

How can I apply what Ive learned to my classroom setting?

In the elementary art room I could see using this technology as a get-to-know-you activity on the first
day of class if I printed they survey first since my students dont have access to technology in my room. I
dont see it as a very practical art teaching tool at this level although older students might enjoy this as a
different kind of assessment tool if technology is more accessible.
How do I feel about teaching this technology?
SurveyMonkey was fairly easy to manipulate. I had a few hiccups but figured my way around. I do a
survey at the end of every school year regarding the art lessons we did. I would need to upgrade in
order to use Surveymonkey since my survey is photo heavy. Again, I would need to make a print copy.

AnswerGarden
What did I know?
I have had no previous experience with AnswerGarden.
How can I apply what Ive learned to my classroom setting?
If my students had individual iPad, tablets, or other individual technology in the art, I could see asking
opinion questions in this manner. It is interesting for students to see the variety of thoughts and which
are more common. However, in my current setting this is impractical.
How do I feel about teaching this technology?
I had a hard time with AnswerGarden, it seemed very simple the first time I tried it but then I tried with
my students at summer camp and used the iPad app. That version would not enlarge duplicate answers,
which I thought was the fun part of the program. I could not figure out how to retrieve it later. Then I
tried two more times to use the program, each time getting frustrated at it telling me I couldnt
duplicate words. The program needs some work.
Diigo
What did I know?
I was not aware that there was something like this before.
How can I apply what Ive learned to my classroom setting?
I could see using this to organize research on education topics and perhaps to keep a log of future
lesson topic ideas or other inspiration for teaching. It would be a tool for me, not for my students.
How do I feel about teaching this technology?
I would not teach this technology to my elementary art students. I dont feel it would be age appropriate
to have them collecting art related documents and not a good use of our instructional time.
I did not expect to, but I enjoyed working with diigo. I found it to be similar to Pinterest, which I love,
but for non- visuals. I like the idea of saving things for later. In exploring Danielson Diigo groups I found

some interesting articles. One in particular that caught my eye was about having students monitor each
others behavior. I could see getting lost in reading these posts as I do looking through Pinterest.

TIMELINES
What did I know?
I have created time lines but not on this program.
How can I apply what Ive learned to my classroom setting?
If I had older students I would have them build time lines based on how their art projects reflect art
history.
How do I feel about teaching this technology?
This program was very frustrating. It was straight forward to set up the timeline but it uses RTW, a file
format that is difficult to open. Also, once made I could not figure out how to retrieve my timeline on
the site itself. I ended up recreating the same timeline several times. You can also not leave the page or
it loses everything. I think this would be very frustrating to students.

Animoto
What did I know?
I was not aware that there was such a program.
How can I apply what Ive learned to my classroom setting?
This would be fun to have the students do as a virtual art exhibit of their work at the end of the year. If
we had a license we could have each make a video of all the art they have produced through Elementary
school. I could also see it as a running video during parent teacher conferences demonstrating student
growth in art.
How do I feel about teaching this technology?
The technology is easy once you know how to input your photos or videos. It does the rest of the work
for you. That is very nice for busy teachers. I feel this would be easy to teach to my fifth grade students
as a yearend project.

Kizoa
What did I know?
I knew there were programs to do this sort of thing but I didnt know or use any of them.

How can I apply what Ive learned to my classroom setting?

I will use this as parent communication tool at Open House and parent / teacher conferences to bring
awareness of what amazing things our students are creating.
How do I feel about teaching this technology?
This is a great program. It took me a long time to upload my pictures onto my computer as I had to do
them one by one, but once they were loaded the program was very simple to operate, has tons of
options for personalizing, and looks really professional.

Socrative
What did I know?
I have used many test making programs but I was not aware of this one.
How can I apply what Ive learned to my classroom setting?
If I were to give a written test this program would be a useful tool. However in elementary art we
seldom use written tests.
How do I feel about teaching this technology?
The technology was straightforward and easy to navigate. Students could easily create tests for each
other if that was desired.

GOOGLE FORMS
What did I know?
I had not previously used Google forms.
How can I apply what Ive learned to my classroom setting?
I do not expect to be teaching this to my elementary art students. If I want to have them create such a
document, there are easier programs for them to navigate.
How do I feel about teaching this technology?
I feel it is cumbersome. There are so many easier programs available for creating tests. I do however
like the idea of emailing grades to the students if we ever have the occasion to flip a lesson.

ONLINE RUBRICS
What did I know?
I have made many rubrics but I have not used this particular program

How can I apply what Ive learned to my classroom setting?

I make rubrics for every art lesson I teach. It helps me to clearly communicate with my students and
their families as to why they earned the grade they did.
How do I feel about teaching this technology?
I do not see a reason to teach my art students to create rubrics. But I would be happy to teach a fellow
staff member if needed. This particular program is straightforward but I am already comfortable with
the template I have.

eduCanon
What did I know?
I had not previously known about either of these.
How can I apply what Ive learned to my classroom setting?
I am so excited to personalize the youtube videos I use in my instruction. I will also create some for
individualized instruction for students who wish to do projects that need limited guidance.
How do I feel about teaching this technology?
I hope to get more comfortable with editing the video. I have not figured out if it is possible to combine
videos that would be fabulous. Inserting questions is user friendly but I have struggled with clipping or
editing the video itself. I need to play with it more. Again I feel this technology is for my use rather than
something I would teach.