Revisiting the Semester (15/3)

Over the course of the semester, I feel that I've added a whole list of possibilities for projects and lesson plans that I had never thought of before. Prior to this class, I thought I'd had a pretty good background in new media and technology, but there were many techniques, processes, and applications that were brand new to me. Even in digital drawing and painting, for example, I learned to love the Art Set app that Jane introduced us to and have used it many times since.

One of my personal learning objectives was to learn about digital fabrication, creative coding, and Makey Makey. Through talking about digital fab labs, exploring scratch, learning about circuitry, and trying Makey Makey for the first time, I feel like I gained a good background in these processes and gained an understanding of the possibilities in maker spaces. I also met my learning objectives of discovering more lesson plan ideas involving technology and becoming more comfortable in integrating new media into my classroom. With the semester ending, I'm much less intimidated and would be much more comfortable and prepared to experiment with technology with my students.

I see a lot of potential for weaving technology throughout the classroom curriculum alongside traditional materials. In many of the processes we explored, we talked about transitions between digital and traditional and the back-and-forth transactions that can occur between the two. I also think there are a lot of possibilities to use technology to add on to what students already know about traditional materials. For example, students can be introduced to circuitry with squishy circuits or fabric to build off of things they already enjoy. Stop-motion can be made with legos to engage students in their interests outside of school with the lego pieces. I think going back and forth throughout the year between digital and traditional is the best way to integrate it into the curriculum so that students see technology as just another tool or process they can use in their art making.

Taking A Selfie:
I met my personal learning objectives and built upon these by learning more about even the processes and tools I was already familiar with. I think I showed my process thoughtfully and explained my outcomes with detailed blog posts and verbal explanations. I used the readings and our class discussions to include vocabulary in my blog posts. I found multiple possibilities through our blog assignments of reflecting on different lesson ideas and possible ways of using materials, tools and processes. Finally, I persevered through my work and eliminated carelessness by taking my time on all of the projects, assignments, and blog posts and pushing myself to experiment with the technology in new ways.