art ed + web 2.0 + [e]merging media blog

How could a blog be useful to you as a graduate student?

I think blogs can be useful to be used to organize in-class discussions; students get to know each other better by visiting and reading blogs from other students. Students can discover, in a non-threatening way, similarities and differences. We all can have the same writing space to vice our opinions.
How could a teacher use a blog?

First, teachers can use blogs to replace the standard class Web page. Instructors post class times and rules, assignment notifications, suggested readings, and exercises. They can link to Internet items that relate to their course and write short essays directed specifically toward students, not only annotations of interesting links.
How could you have students use blogs?
I could experiment by using blogs to organize class seminars and to provide summaries of readings, have group blogs, that is, individual blogs authored by a group of people, etc… also I could ask students to write their own blogs as part of their course grade, students read a chunk of a book and post two paragraphs of their thoughts on the reading.
How could a museum use blogs?

By providing some sort of interactivity related to the works shown, for instance, somebody could comment on the works display, on the painters shown, etc…

I've said this previously (but on my blog not the class blog). I think that blogging for class is excellent. It differs from using Blackboard in that viewers are choosing to see your site rather than being confronted by tons of posts and overwhelmed with feelings of having to measure up. I can work at my own obsessive pace and my classmates can work at their own speeds and we can meet in the middle by leaving comments for each other and asking questions to push each other further. Sometimes I tend to post on Blackboard and then think of something else I want to say. So I have to make another post and it starts to look like I think it's my own personal Blackboard rather than a space I share with classmates. I talk a lot and type a lot and it can become a problem in many siturations. But, with the blog, I can post all day long and never feel like I'm stepping on anyone's toes because no one is forced to respond or acknowledge my comments or rants. The pressure is off of the classmates and they can visit the site when they feel like they have time.

It seems that blogs are a great place to post questions to get students thinking more in deapth about what they're doing and why they're reading what they're reading. If it is up to us to make the practical connections between the theory we're reading and our actual practice, then the teacher can post prompts to help guide us to seeing what those connections are.

I could see high school teachers using blogs to help students make connections from the third pedagogical site (stuff they do outside of school) and the first (stuff they do at school). If students blog about visual culture in particular, they can start to see how pervasive some of the ideas presented in class are. Since there is not yet a quality open source hypertext software, blogging would provide an opportunity for students to start to see patterns in their course material and their daily lives. Blogging is also a way to get students to practice practical skills like typing and writing. There could be a down side in that students may feel that writing on the computer does not require grammatical correctness but if the teacher were careful to be explicit about expectations then students could compose in a word processing program that would help catch grammer and spelling mistakes and then paste into the blog.

Keeping a blog about their process of working in high school could be invaluable for students when they get to college. Many students seem to be unaware of their working process or how their imagery has evolved over time. With a blog about their work in art class, students could start college with a sophisticated sense of who they are as artists, how they relate to other artists and where they stand in relation to time and history. With the proper prompts and guidance, students could devlop ideas about art and art making that will serve them throughout their entire careers.

Here's a blog post about what some teachers are already using blogs to accomplish in their classrooms.

An interesting blog post about the risks involved with blogging (both for students and for teachers).

Another blog I read sometimes, called Creating Passionate Users, posted a pdf document listing the seven virtues of good blogging:
1. Be Grateful
2. Be Humble
3. Be Patient
4. Be Generous
5. Show Respect
6. Be Motivating
7. Be Brave
If any of us are considering using blogs, whether in the classroom or for our own purposes outside of teaching, these are ideas that we need to address in our writing and thinking (and maybe also in our living).

A Few Blog Uses...

Museums could easily use blogs as an evaluation tool by encouraging folks to log on and comment on a particular presentation or show. A blog would allow them to see posts of others and perhaps add to or disagree with the advice of the posters. This might reduce emails where you are making a blind comment without benefit of the knowledge/thoughts of others.

Of course, this would work for students too. I could see this working for, lets say, a month -long assignment where students must visit galleries and exhibits around town. Students could share thoughts on display, themes, artworks, etc…without having to a lot time in class for discussions. Because comments are in written form they stay accessible to the entire class on the blog for future reference. An in-class discussion might elicit great contributions, but ones that may be forgotten if not written down.

Another way I think a blog would be useful (I’d love to see this happen) for students would be in an upper level studio class. Perhaps AP Art would be perfect, as students must often work over the summer. A blog would allow students in different schools/classes around Richmond to hold a virtual critique every week or two. Uploading an image of a work in progress would allow students to comment on technique, compostion etc…and post links to other aartist sites, exhibits and other events relevant to the development of that image or student. Might provide a very rich environment for growth, a small studio critique community. Just a thought. Wish I were in the position to do something like that.

"Many students seem to be unaware of their working process or how their imagery has evolved over time. With a blog about their work in art class, students could start college with a sophisticated sense of who they are as artists, how they relate to other artists and where they stand in relation to time and history. With the proper prompts and guidance, students could devlop ideas about art and art making that will serve them throughout their entire careers."....

I posted my earlier thought before I read this. Katie rocks as ususal. If my earlier suggestion/assignment were realized and local artists, professors, other teachers etc...were asked or allowed to weigh in an comment on the blog, imagine the sophisticated and layered development that could occur for high school juniors and seniors. I met a sophomore at Hanover High the other day whose life is literally steeped in art. He is already consciously working on his portfolio to get into art school. A blog might provide him with a means to track his progress, get feedback on work in progress, receive advise from practicing artists & other students.....hmmm, mush to think about. This is something that student teachers could get going at one or two schools.....how bout' it Katie???

I read the links Katie provided about responsible blogging and its dangers. I think the aspect of “going public” is a perfect reason to teach not only responsible blogging, but responsible interaction with others face-to-face as well (particularly in the studio). Not to climb on a soapbox or anything, but in my dealings with children I seem to see a marked decrease in the amount of time spent physically interacting and being present with other children. Yes blogging, Facebook , MySpace etc…can be social networking platforms, but what does an increase in the use of these do to actual “real time” encounters with people? Anyway, this has me thinking about going back into the classroom and how I would use technology to enhance structured learning activities to 1) open doors for students, 2) empower them outside the artroom as well as inside 3) foster a sense of community and shared responsibility… Perhaps teaching appropriate blogging skills and using Wikis as collaborative knowledge building would be best taught in tandem with group or partner projects in the art classroom? This might show the crossover from electronic interaction to personal interaction and vice versa.

Speaking of social networking, here is a funny look at Facebook.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSnXE2791yg

I think it would be so cool to have students do a podcast tour of local galleries and make connections to what they are studying in art class!

To get blogs going for upper classmen at the school I student teach at what would I have to do? Get permission from the principal...but whatelse? I'd like to see it happen with other schools like Jan suggested....what a cool way for students to get some feedback about their work. Ooh, it could even work between practicum students and upperclassmen at the HS level eh?

It's getting so complicated...all that we're learning about visual culture, podcasts, technology, service learning....there's so much to incorporate it is totally understandable why teachers shy away from things they see as "fads" in education. Will we all be branded as idealists when we get to student teaching? Maybe there's just Elizabeth and Sasha and I that have to do that with the MAE but still...I worry that I will be disillusioned by colleagues' attitudes towards what I am excited about in art education. How can we find a balance between what we ideally want to include in our curriculum and what is actually feasible. How do I make those choices?