As a member of Maryland Art Educators Association, I attended an art educators’ conference in Maryland this week. The conference brought together teachers from around the state. It provided workshops, lectures, and exhibits to equip teachers with fresh ideas, inspiration and innovation to take back to their classrooms. Besides assisting with a workshop presentation, I also attended an art and technology workshop.
There were close to fifty workshops offered throughout the day, and the tempera-painting workshop that I co-presented was well attended by more than twenty-five teachers. The workshop brought together people with common interests and goals. We not only presented our lesson ideas, but they then brain stormed and built on the ideas that others had used in their classrooms. The environment was ideal for social interaction and sharing of ideas.
I then attended a workshop titled “Integrating Technology in the Art Classroom”. The first question was about web 2.0 tools and defining what the tools are. As I’ve learned from Full Sail, these new web tools are different because they allow for interaction in multi directions. Not only is information directed out to viewers as was the case in earlier web tools, but information is now coming back in a multi directions between viewers. Viewers can respond and interact with each other and have a dialogue that brings together scores of opinions and ideas.
The tool that was highlighted was Ning. We opened an Art Education 2.0 Ning site and the amount of educators present on the page was dramatically larger than the well-attended workshop that I had just left. There were groups on the page that talked about AP Studio Art, Street Art, Elementary art, with over one hundred members in just those categories.
This Ning site brings together teachers with common interests, and it provides a place for teachers to talk about education and art. The advantage of using a Ning site is they are free and easy to create. Any person that has a topic or area that they want to explore could start a Ning site. The site can be set to public or private, so members could be regulated or open. With regard to the Art Education 2.0 site the forum is open allowing more collaboration and sharing at just the touch of a computer key. From any location a teacher could access the site and have fellow educators as a resource. The site has access to blogs, chats, groups, forums, videos, photos, and individual members that all have to do with art and education. Setting up a Ning site or being a part of a Ning site is an easy way to communicate and be informed in today’s technological world of social networking.
Reference:
Art Education Ning site retrieved from:
http://arted20.ning.com/
If I didn't make it clear the face to face peer conversations from the art conventions were wonderfully valuable. I am not saying that using NIng and other social networking sites is better or worse than the personal networking. There is a place for both. With limited meetings and access to peers from across the country, social networking makes coming together effortless.
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