In an attempt to snazzy up my first official blog post, I decided to include a cheerful little graphic. Good thinking, right? My first inclination was to head over to Google Image, plug in some basic search terms (...think books, students, school supplies - you get the idea!), snag the perfect image, and begin construction on this post. In the midst of my perusing, I came to this harsh realization...was I committing some sort of copyright infringement by including another person's artistry in my work? You bet. I'd say it's rather fitting given that I just read through the NETS Standards for Students and Teachers (See here and here).
I quickly made my way over to Flikr and found the above image. Looks to be a smorgasbord of paint chips, encompassing just about every color of the rainbow. I liked it for its abstract quality, but even more so for its quirky visual representation of these new skills, dispositions, and curiosities that are a necessity in both our physical and digital society. You see, just as those paint chips spill over with color, each displaying a different mock-up that naturally leads from one hue to the next, new literacies are a more sophisticated, person-centered, constructivist based set of skills that harness many of the same concepts we've attempted to teach in, perhaps, a more superficial manner. Richardson (2010), cites skills such as analysis, research, organization, and synthesis as just a sampling of the competencies our students need to be successful contributors to our modern society.
With such a variety of *FREE* digital platforms at our finger tips, these new literacies can be applied in the most authentic of means as students become readers, authors, and innovators. As a teacher, per the NETS Standards, it is my responsibility to harness student creativity and critical thinking, promote appropriate digital conduct, and espouse a digitally literate mindset (or, at the very least, a willingness to learn!) In terms of the NETS Standards for Students, these are NOT simply an add-on to the customary curriculum. Rather, I must embed opportunities for collaboration and exploration throughout all facets of instruction to purposefully incorporate the use of technology.
Here's some food for thought: How can we teach these requisite skills without getting completely caught up with "teaching to the tools?" Sure, there are a wealth of Web 2.0 applications readily available for use, but what do you think are the best ways to strategically integrate technology to bolster and enhance instruction?
Dear Andrea,
ReplyDeleteAs you are already using a good number of sites and understand how to navigate them, I suggest making extensive use of Flickr to collect in galleries photos that have a creative commons license for for free to use. In addition, if you are not already using Picasa or a similar tool to organize your own photos, you might try that.
Now that I have gotten more organized in my use of Flickr, I can more easily find photos to use in blog posts and on my website. I am trying to be more conscientious about using photos that I know the photographer has made available for free use. I like that Flickr had a code which when copied not only grabs the photo but also the necessary attribution. Thus, it is just a matter of copy and paste, and the photo and attribution are within the blot post or on the website.
I also just signed up for Project 365, which is helping me keep up with my interest in taking photos. I have been entering a photo a day, and did have a blast taking shots during our recent snow blizzard. The photos are organized by month, so when I look on the daily photos for February, some time in July, I will be reminded of our seasonal bliss.
I am working hard to keep my own photos organized. I take lots of them and then download them, but cannot always find the ones I want, though I use folders to organize most. I also use Dropbox as a backup for photos, but the account fills up fast as photos get stored there and hog space. Viola, Flickr, but I am still using the free version, which means I had to set up two accounts (two emails) to store photos.
My next goal is to sit down for a day and organize my photos better with Picasa. Just wondering if you use Picasa or Flickr or other photo sharing or organizing tools, given organization is one of our premier personal characteristics. If you have strategies for organizing photos for easy access to what you need "when," let me know. Maybe, another blog post on this topic is in order.
As always, thanks for your thorough posts.
J. Arzt
Hi Judy! I've used Picasa in the past, and I do back-up my photos on Dropbox, but space is always at a premium. I hesitate to admit this, but photo organization is one area that I could use some help! The reality is that I rarely take pictures to begin with, so I have very little to organize. The situation might be different if I had photo clutter :)
DeleteI do see the benefit in taking my own pictures (certainly to document important moments in my own life!) and to have free reign to share those pictures in my blog as I see fit. Flickr is definitely a powerful resource that I will begin to make use of. I think the annotating feature, organizational schematics, and ease of sharing make it a worthwhile tool to explore.