It was a great privilege to share the ideas in my book with colleagues from around the world. 
The archived WEBINAR is available from ISTE as a recording. Go to: www.iste.org/webinars
Saturday, April 25, 2009
ISTE Art & Technology Education WEBINAR a Success!
It was a great privilege to share the ideas in my book with colleagues from around the world. The archived WEBINAR is available from ISTE as a recording. Go to: www.iste.org/webinars
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
USING TECHNOLOGY TO MAKE EVERY CLASSROOM AN ART CLASSROOM
Accompanying materials/resources for ISTE Webinar:
“Using Technology to Make Every Classroom an Art Classroom”
April 22, 2009
You may access the PowerPoint presentation @:
http://www.slideshare.net/markgura/every-classroom-an-art-classroom97-a
Also: Animation Project @ http://www.slideshare.net/markgura/food-chain-1277806
and…
African Culture Sculpture @ http://www.slideshare.net/markgura/african-culture-sculpture
The presentation references the use of the following free resources:
Picasa – Photo processing application (download) http://picasa.google.com/
YouTube Introduction to Picasa: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rskC6c_5L1M
Picasa Web Albums – Online Gallery/Slide Show, Videos, etc. http://picasa.google.com/intl/en_US/web/learn_more_picasa.html
GIMP multi-platform painting program http://www.gimp.org/
TUX Paint multi-platform painting program http://www.tuxpaint.org/
“Using Technology to Make Every Classroom an Art Classroom”
April 22, 2009
You may access the PowerPoint presentation @:
http://www.slideshare.net/markgura/every-classroom-an-art-classroom97-a
Also: Animation Project @ http://www.slideshare.net/markgura/food-chain-1277806
and…
African Culture Sculpture @ http://www.slideshare.net/markgura/african-culture-sculpture
The presentation references the use of the following free resources:
Picasa – Photo processing application (download) http://picasa.google.com/
YouTube Introduction to Picasa: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rskC6c_5L1M
Picasa Web Albums – Online Gallery/Slide Show, Videos, etc. http://picasa.google.com/intl/en_US/web/learn_more_picasa.html
GIMP multi-platform painting program http://www.gimp.org/
TUX Paint multi-platform painting program http://www.tuxpaint.org/
Saturday, April 4, 2009
New Life.com Photo Archive Brings Access to Usable Images to Your Classroom
Photos are a perennial source of inspiration and material for student art projects. Read on about a new source from LIFE magazine. Note that the article below states "Photos on the site are organized into five channels: news, celebrity, travel, animals, and sports. Visitors can print individual images and share them through sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Delicious. New features of Life.com, due to roll out in the coming months, will allow users to create their own photo galleries (on, say, the life and work of Maya Angelou, for English class, or animal life in the Everglades, for science). All the site's tools will be free."
From edutopia:
"Alabama governor George Wallace stands in the doorway of the University of Alabama, physically blocking African American students from integrating the school. Humphrey Bogart, in Washington, DC, protests the blacklisting of artists by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walk on the dusty surface of the Moon.
These and seven million other images of American history and culture are newly available on Life.com. The relaunched site -- accessible to everyone but especially useful to educators -- makes the entire archives of photo giants Life magazine and Getty Images available free. Users can view galleries curated by the site's editors or search the library by names, dates, subjects, and locations. The archive chronicles current events, too, with daily news galleries and the addition of 3,000 new Getty photos a day.
These and seven million other images of American history and culture are newly available on Life.com. The relaunched site -- accessible to everyone but especially useful to educators -- makes the entire archives of photo giants Life magazine and Getty Images available free. Users can view galleries curated by the site's editors or search the library by names, dates, subjects, and locations. The archive chronicles current events, too, with daily news galleries and the addition of 3,000 new Getty photos a day.
Once America's leading photo-centric news magazine, Life chronicled the nation and the world for seven decades before issuing its last print publication in 2007. Life's last editor, Bill Shapiro, who heads up the new project, wants students, teachers, and parents to use the site to make history more tangible. "The most iconic moments in American history -- we have those," Shapiro reports. "We didn't want simply to create a historical repository or a dusty archive. We wanted these events to feel as alive as they did when they happened."
Photos on the site are organized into five channels: news, celebrity, travel, animals, and sports. Visitors can print individual images and share them through sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Delicious. New features of Life.com, due to roll out in the coming months, will allow users to create their own photo galleries (on, say, the life and work of Maya Angelou, for English class, or animal life in the Everglades, for science). All the site's tools will be free..."
Read the full article @ its source: http://www.edutopia.org/online-photography-archive-life-magazine
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Technology makes art eduction a bigger draw
"Technology makes art eduction a bigger draw" is a wonderful article (see below) from eSchoolNews that explains how the use of software in student projects faciliates the art experience in many ways for both student and teacher. This is a theme I explored extensively in my recently released book 'Visual Arts Units for All Levels' (ISTE) giving many examples of meaningful, easy-to-do activities that can be done largely with free or already in place software.
Some excerpts from the article:
"In art classes at schools and universities today, new and emerging software is rendering art appreciation and even actual artistic production accessible to a far greater number of interested students and aspiring artists than ever before"
"I don't think technology is replacing traditional art instruction, but I think it's a really good piece to use alongside it. ...It's really a skill they need to go on and be competitive with the rest of the world."
"Using technology in art classes also might help take the pressure off students--especially younger students--who enjoy art, but who feel they aren't talented enough to draw or paint."
"The software "has lit the creativity fire for so many of my students--especially those who struggle to communicate their rich thinking through more traditional means," said Wade Whitehead, a fifth-grade teacher in Roanoke, Va. "
"As part of his role, Ponton helps teachers learn how to incorporate technology into their lessons... DrawPlus offers pre-defined shapes, which Ponton said is beneficial for students who might not have top-notch drawing abilities themselves. This helps keep such students engaged, he explained, whereas before, they might have lost interest out of frustration.
"Ponton said students in his district use DrawPlus not only in creative arts classes, but also in core subject areas to create and animate illustrations for concepts ranging from chemistry compounds to Spanish verbs."
Yes, software to support student art making efforts has the potential to elevate art from something few teachers are comfortable with or equipped to offer their students, (and that many students find difficult because of limited technique), to an eminently practical approach to successful learning that can be made part of a great many common school activities! Youngsters naturally want to explore ideas visually, and supporting them in doing this through the use of simple to use software is an easy step to take in making classwork more motivating and relelvant. My book 'Visual Arts Units for All Levels' shows how student art can be made easily with free resources like Google's Picasa or nearly ubiquitous applications like MS Word and PowerPoint, which nearly all schools have already.
These free or ubuiquitous applications can get teachers started down this wonderful path. As their experience and interest develops and success grows they can acquire expensive pieces of software, which in many cases are more robust and elaborate. However, teachers can absolutley start out making great art with their students without buying new software.
I want to state emphatically that items like this one offered for sale, do have their value and I suspect that teachers may be tempted to purchase them AFTER they have begun to make art with their students using the free resources I recommend and are ready to go to the next level. This software was offered at the price of " Elementary School Site License - $2,200." on the company's website when I checked.
The article from eSchool news can be found in its entirety @ http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/?i=55283
"Technology makes art education a bigger draw Sophisticated software and new online collaborations are helping students of all abilities acquire key art concepts and skills
In art, as in life at large, technology has changed everything – or, more precisely, almost everything.
In art classes at schools and universities today, new and emerging software is rendering art appreciation and even actual artistic production accessible to a far greater number of interested students and aspiring artists than ever before.
In the classic approach, talented apprentices toil under the tutelage of a highly skilled master to perfect their skills and learn the fundamentals of their art. That approach works well for the talented few but not so well for those who lack dogged desire or raw native talent. It also imposes strict limits on the number of individuals permitted to benefit from the wisdom, skill, and experience of the master.
To a remarkable degree, technology in the service of art and art education is changing all that...
Some excerpts from the article:
"In art classes at schools and universities today, new and emerging software is rendering art appreciation and even actual artistic production accessible to a far greater number of interested students and aspiring artists than ever before"
"I don't think technology is replacing traditional art instruction, but I think it's a really good piece to use alongside it. ...It's really a skill they need to go on and be competitive with the rest of the world."
"Using technology in art classes also might help take the pressure off students--especially younger students--who enjoy art, but who feel they aren't talented enough to draw or paint."
"The software "has lit the creativity fire for so many of my students--especially those who struggle to communicate their rich thinking through more traditional means," said Wade Whitehead, a fifth-grade teacher in Roanoke, Va. "
"As part of his role, Ponton helps teachers learn how to incorporate technology into their lessons... DrawPlus offers pre-defined shapes, which Ponton said is beneficial for students who might not have top-notch drawing abilities themselves. This helps keep such students engaged, he explained, whereas before, they might have lost interest out of frustration.
"Ponton said students in his district use DrawPlus not only in creative arts classes, but also in core subject areas to create and animate illustrations for concepts ranging from chemistry compounds to Spanish verbs."
Yes, software to support student art making efforts has the potential to elevate art from something few teachers are comfortable with or equipped to offer their students, (and that many students find difficult because of limited technique), to an eminently practical approach to successful learning that can be made part of a great many common school activities! Youngsters naturally want to explore ideas visually, and supporting them in doing this through the use of simple to use software is an easy step to take in making classwork more motivating and relelvant. My book 'Visual Arts Units for All Levels' shows how student art can be made easily with free resources like Google's Picasa or nearly ubiquitous applications like MS Word and PowerPoint, which nearly all schools have already.
These free or ubuiquitous applications can get teachers started down this wonderful path. As their experience and interest develops and success grows they can acquire expensive pieces of software, which in many cases are more robust and elaborate. However, teachers can absolutley start out making great art with their students without buying new software.
As an example I created this graphic using MS Word, MS Powerpoint, and Paint (included with all Windows OS computers)... please compare this with this demo from Serif software, which is referenced in the article. True, their 'for purchase' software can take the student a little further, but the piece I produced with software that cost me nothing clearly indicates that this same activity could be done well without purchasing anything. As a result of my 18 years as a middle school fine arts teacher in an East Harlem public school, I know the value of this type of activity and understand that this would be an appropriate resource set and series of techniques to use with my students to accomplish it. This image was done in just a few minutes using Word's Auto Shapes, importing them into PowerPoint as a group where images are easily positioned and text easily added, and touched up in Paint...easy!
Serif Draw Plus DEMO video...
http://www.serif.com/education/videodemos/drawplusproduct/
I want to state emphatically that items like this one offered for sale, do have their value and I suspect that teachers may be tempted to purchase them AFTER they have begun to make art with their students using the free resources I recommend and are ready to go to the next level. This software was offered at the price of " Elementary School Site License - $2,200." on the company's website when I checked.
The article from eSchool news can be found in its entirety @ http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/?i=55283
"Technology makes art education a bigger draw Sophisticated software and new online collaborations are helping students of all abilities acquire key art concepts and skills
In art, as in life at large, technology has changed everything – or, more precisely, almost everything.
In art classes at schools and universities today, new and emerging software is rendering art appreciation and even actual artistic production accessible to a far greater number of interested students and aspiring artists than ever before.
In the classic approach, talented apprentices toil under the tutelage of a highly skilled master to perfect their skills and learn the fundamentals of their art. That approach works well for the talented few but not so well for those who lack dogged desire or raw native talent. It also imposes strict limits on the number of individuals permitted to benefit from the wisdom, skill, and experience of the master.
To a remarkable degree, technology in the service of art and art education is changing all that...
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