2nd weekend of class, Saturday, November 21

We are in our last weekend of class and are busy working on our web pages and have done class presentations. If I had a better understanding of how to work with tables and also layers I would be in better shape to understand Dreamweaver 8. I just finished my Dreamweaver (that is the first part)and am glad it is finished to this point.
The presentations have been very informative since I did not know anything on Wiki's or RSS feeds. I would like to experiment with both of these but as with anything else, it takes time. So, possibly over Christmas I can devote time to it. I wish we could have heard all presentations and then been able to choose either just one or even two of our choice to do as a final project. I believe this would have helped me more as far as finding time to experiment on my own.
The presentation my partner, Rebecca, and I are doing on Flickr turned out very well. She is great at working with PowerPoint. As we were at the library, I was typing away on the handout and she was busy creating the PowerPoint. Adding "Furgle, the Fraggle" was a silly/cute element to add to the project.
On the class presentations, so far, the first one done by Linda and Jill was the cutest. The idea of blogger "bees" was creative.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

This week has consisted of continued searching of WebQuests. In looking for WebQuests related to Photography, most are either on a famous photographer which is what I just did my final project on in the first class, creating a gallery showing for a museum, or a few which do not even seem to be the WebQuests like we saw in class. There were quite a few which just involved showing a powerpoint on how to make a sculpture or how to do a printmaking technique and then the students made the actual piece. I think art is still performance-based and has the majority of my curriculum which is to be hands-on experiences with clay, printmaking, painting, drawing, sculpture, etc. History and researching designs lends itself to working on the computer as well as computer-generated art. So, I have been thinking and thinking to see where I can fit a WebQuest into my upcoming curriculum so I can use this in my Photography class. I want it to be relevant to what I am teaching. I have my idea that I will go with but am not sure if it could be better.

I have been bookmarking many more sites and really do like the social bookmarking.

Just wait until you see the flickr presentation Rebecca and I are working on. We are meeting tomorrow afternoon. I hope it turns out as well as I think it is going to. The photo above is a glimpse of something to come.

The discussion questions have continued to be thought provoking and make me reflect on how often and to what degree I use email and blogging and then further uses of them and possibly more in-depth than what I am presently using.

Saturday, November 7th

I have been busy researching and bookmarking this week with my delicious account. This is a very good tool as I can bookmark something seen at school and not have to email myself the website for home use anymore. Now, I can work at home and school with the bookmarks made on www.delicious.com. Why didn't I think of something like this? I believe I have my webquest idea but need to start planning for it now. Rebecca and I have spoken regarding our Flickr presentation and will be meeting this week to work on our handout. I created a Flickr account for my Photography class to use and am hoping it will solve some of our "issues" we have in Photography of students not being able to put their photos on the school computer on their deadline day. In speaking with one of the assistant principals regarding the use of a Flickr account in Photography, she said it was a great idea as long as I don't do anything like document a field trip. Apparently, they had just had a discussion of this nature in a meeting. It is a violation of the Ferpa privacy act. Our book we are reading in class suggests the use of Flickr to post photos of field trips. So, it is always good to run ideas past administration!!! I did receive my grade from the first class and received an A so I am thrilled. Due to my age, I was a bit worried about me doing this program. Actually, it may help in some aspects as I am determined to get an A with me paying so much money for tuition. I told my college-age children they need to follow in my footsteps. I also asked them what kind of reward I get for making a 99. They just laughed!