Visual&Image+Creation+Technologies


 * Here is a second draft implementing the suggestions you have made--Mike **
 * [[file:Visual image tools.doc]]﻿ **

Imagine an art education setting where students move beyond modeling the behavior of art instructors into discourse with art students of varying levels of ability and knowledge and who have creative perspectives drawn from their own culture. The visual and image creation technologies housed in today’s Web 2.0 tools and other online technologies provide opportunities for teachers to shift their roles from teacher as lecturer to teacher as learning coach. Student roles change through socially interactive Web 2.0 tools. Students become more responsible for their own learning. They collaborate with others exchanging information and share responsibility or creating projects. Using free, open source tools opens the classroom to a vast global potential where teachers and students can take advantage of the static information and living information that is constantly changing and evolving as students exchange, evaluate and apply what they learn. The challenge for teachers is to tie the use of free visual and image creation technologies such as image editing sites, online gallery hosting, file sharing, collaborative whiteboards, curation tools and mindmapping tools in with their expected teaching outcomes. This chapter will explore the various types of tools available and how teachers might be able to incorporate them into their lesson plans. It will discuss issues teachers might face while using these tools and solutions to the problems they may cross integrating them into the classroom. Teachers must look beyond the tendency to become bogged down in the functional aspects of various technology and focus instead on what they want students to learn and how technology can help the student achieve that outcome (Roland, p. 19). One way to accomplish that goal is to understand how the various technologies fit within Bloom’s Taxonomy. Visual and image creation technologies can be used to promote all three Bloom domains - cognitive, affective and psychomotor - but for purposes of brevity, we will focus on the cognitive domain. Bloom lists six categories of cognitive domain that increase in complexity. The categories, from simplest to most complex, are: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. Before evaluating how the various visual and image creation technologies fit within the various cognitive domain categories it is important to understand what types of technology are available and their basic functions. Dozen of image editing sites exist where users can work alone or collaborate with others to create original artwork, graphics, maps and other forms of visual imagery. The technology can be simple avatars created from a menu or an existing image to collaborating on drawing elaborate graphics or charts. At Zwinky.com, users can download software that converts their photos into avatars. DoppelMe.com requires no program downloads and users select their attributes. Neither of these sites requires much creativity by users. Fortunately, the range of technologies exists over a continuum that ranges from simple to complex. Users at Cacoo.com can sign up in less than 30 seconds for a free account that gives them access to five templates for Web design, flow charts, office diagrams, hierarchical charts and network diagrams. Clicking on any one of these templates opens up another page with a variety of tools where one can make their own creative mark on the project. The site also features collaborative folders where work can be stored and manipulated by others. For fans of 3D animation, Google Sketchup can be downloaded. Work can then be uploaded to their gallery or saved and shared with others. Animators can also download free, open source software at Pencil.com and create a range of animations from simple stick figures walking to high-quality animated cartoons. Another form of image editing tools online are photo editing. Downloads of trial versions of powerful photo editing tools like Adobe Photoshop are readily available. However, users may forgo those tools opting instead for sites like Reshade.com and Pixlr.com where images can be uploaded and edited right using the Web site’s tools. Some sites offer free photo sharing tools with the capability of creating digital scrapbooks, like Scrapblog.com, or slideshow creators like PhotoShow.com. At Picasa.com, users can download editing software and upload the finished product to their own personal album hosted by Picasa. Mind maps and whiteboards are tools especially suited for educators. Many Web sites offer free mindmapping tools that can be created without downloading any programs. For example, Theory Maps.com has tools that allows users to create intricate cause and effect diagrams and enter information into the links that explain the relationship between variables. A host of other mind mapping tools, such as MindMeister, Mind42 and Text2Mind, afford users the opportunity to create individual or collaborative diagrams. Some Florida State University professors use Cmap, a free concept map creation tool that allows users to collaborate, edit and create new concept maps. Whiteboards are another tool used frequently in some FSU courses. Whiteboards are exactly what they sound like, blank slates where students can draw or create images, maps, graphics and other creative endeavors. Many of these sites, such as Dabbleboard or Scriblink are free and collaboration capable. Knowledge, Bloom’s first category of cognitive learning, is the ability to recall information. Photo editing technologies can be used to achieve knowledge learning outcomes. For example, students individually edit photos to a specified criteria and and record their editing techniques. Divide students into small groups and ask them to share the knowledge they gained from editing and ask the group to perform a more complicated editing task on a different photo. Finally, each group shares its photos and techniques with the class as a whole. Mind maps, avatar creators and whiteboards are also tools that can achieve knowledge-based outcomes by asking students to draw representations of concepts, sets of concepts or describing their understanding of a specific topic. Comprehension is the ability to interpolate or translate meaning. Mind maps are an excellent tool for students to depict their interpretation of a problem. Another technology instructors might use are digital scrapbooks. For example students would be asked to explain a relationship between concepts using a series of photos put together using a slideshow or scrapbooking program. Application requires students to use the knowledge and comprehension they have learned in a specified setting or different context. Image creation tools such as flow chart creation tools, mind maps, whiteboards and electronic sketch pads can each be used to develop competencies in application. Students can use the tools to draw how a concept or piece of knowledge might be used. They can create flow charts describing how a concepts might be used in the real world setting. Analysis is an ability to break down complex problems or concepts into smaller components so they can understood. Analysis is a high-level cognitive skill. Theory mapping technology can be used to help students break complex problems down into specific variables and show their relationships. Once the relationships are established, they can better understand each component or variable and how it relates to the whole and to other variables. Synthesis is an ability to design, build or revise a process using various elements of training. Synthesis is a high-level cognitive skill. Instructors could develop synthesis cognitive skills working with visual and image creation tools in a collaborative environment. Using whiteboards, drawing tools, mind maps and theory maps, teachers can task groups to design individual components of a process or product and then have the groups share their parts and then create a whole from the various components each group has designed. Two other ideas that can achieve synthesis outcomes are using the diagramming tools to design flowcharts that describe how a process or product works; and use mind maps to create a more efficient process or demonstrate new understandings of a concept. Evaluation is the final cognitive category. Instructors can use image sharing sites within their curriculum as a way of developing this high-level cognitive skill. Finished image products can be posted to these image hosting sites, which also have the ability for students to make comments. Once the individual or group project has been posted, the other students can then evaluate the product based on a set of predetermined criteria. They would have the ability to ask questions and probe the product’s creator for more information so they might develop a more thorough evaluation of the final product. Their evaluations might also include how well the student met the established criteria for the assignment. Many barriers exist that prevent teachers and students from using available web-based technologies. Access, skill, knowledge, attitudes, socio-economic differences are all issues that must be considered when developing curriculum that uses web-based technology as its vehicle to achieve learning outcomes. Access is a greater concern in the elementary and secondary levels of learning. Not all schools are funded as well as others and public schools certainly face funding difficulties as technology rapidly changes and a consistent revenue stream is needed to keep abreast of changes in software and hardware. Asking students to work from home is an option, but that option butts up against another issue - socio-economic differences. Many students may not have access to the hardware, software or a sufficient Internet connection to perform the tasks assigned. Given those differences, it would be unfair to require homework that required the use of technology. Given this restriction, schools would need to develop computer labs and have classes stagger their technology based curriculum at different times of the day and different times of the school year to allow equal access. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Skills and knowledge are two related barriers that effect both teachers and instructors. If instructors lack skills or knowledge about software and programs they will be less likely to take advantage of the opportunities these technologies present. A “2006 Pew Internet & American Life Project survey indicates that 87% of all American youth between the ages of 12 and 17 use the Internet daily” (Roland, p. 18), which provides us with direct evidence that we should be using the Internet as a vehicle to meet learning outcomes. Administrators will need to encourage teacher development in this area and teachers will need to augment their training to add software program skills and knowledge. Developers of teacher programs should be cognizant of the changing landscape and build technology into their teacher training programs. If teachers have access to computer labs, but lack skills and knowledge, they can still build technology into their curriculum through graduated steps by learning one piece at a time. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Attitude is another key consideration for school administrators when adopting technology in the class curriculum. Administrators and teachers might lack the desire to implement technology into their curriculum, but they cannot ignore that this is a big part of young people’s lives today and society as a whole. If educators ignore such a trend, they will not fully be preparing students for the world they will face after school. (Premier Technology Council, p. 4)
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Web 2.0 and Learning: Visual and Image Creation Technologies **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Introduction **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Bloom’s Taxonomy and Levels of Learning **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">An Overview of Visual and Image Creation Technologies **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Integrating Visual and Image Creation Technology into Curriculum **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Overcoming Visual and Image Creation Technology Issues **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Summary **

Book Chapter Outline // Note: Do online galleries and file sharing fall under "creation" technologies or are they better suited for the "Sharing Technologies" or "Publishing technologies" chapters? Should you focus just on image manipulation technologies? - Rebecca //
 * 1) Introduction
 * 2) Background (features of each category; how they can be used in the learning environment)
 * 3) image editing sites
 * 4) online gallery hosting
 * 5) file sharing
 * 6) collaborative whiteboards
 * 7) curation tools
 * 8) mindmapping
 * 9) Visual creation tools
 * 10) Issues
 * 11) Computers (not everyone has access and/or same knowledge)
 * 12) Software (not everyone has same experience) Are there accessibility issues for people who disabled javascript or flash (maybe because of low bandwidth connection or iOS users), or ppl with low vision who use low res or screen magnification?
 * 13) Where to find tools, what to use
 * 14) What works best (trying out the tools)
 * 15) Solutions What will you discuss in this section?
 * 16) Summary
 * 17) Appendix (glossary of terms)
 * 18) References

Using 3D Virtual Learning in the Classroom (Second Life) - Author discusses how he uses Second Life to develop a virtual pedagogy. She offers insights into how it is used in her classroom, the problems she has faced and what she sees as the future of virtual learning. Web-based student galleries offer an enriching art experience for student artists. Showing your work and receiving recognition and critique is a vital learning component that can be taken out of the hands of the teacher and placed upon the student and other artists around the world. Excellent government created research piece that discusses the future of Web 2.0 technology and its influence on moving instruction from teacher focused to collaborative, student focused learning environment. Article offers advice on how to prepare art teachers to use Web 2.0 tools in the classroom. Discussion of the changing technology and how it affects art education. The author describes the issues teachers might encounter and points out the important aspects they must keep in mind going forward. The author relates Web 2.0 technology to the taxonomy of learning, teaching and assessing and other pedagogies. The author views Web 2.0 as a mediator of content.
 * Resources**
 * Peer-reviewed articles**

Juxio - [] Tux Paint - [] Lists of tools available - [] Lists of various sites - [] Lists of photo sharing and manipulation tools - [] Glogster and how to use it - [] The ultimate list of Web 2.0 tools with brief descriptions and listed alphabetically - [] Free Graphics programs - [] Free Image Galleries - [] Free image viewers - [] Free Open Source Software - []
 * WEBSITES**
 * Visual Creation**
 * Curation and Collaborative Bookmarks**
 * Gallery hosting/Image editing**
 * PhotoSharing**
 * Poster creation**
 * Web 2.0 Tools**
 * Wikipedia sites**


 * Web 2.0 and Learning: Visual and Image Creation Technologies**

This looks good! I wouldnt have thought to include galleries in this chapter. A couple of further questions I had on this topic: how are the different tools you mention better suited to some environments, subject matter, styles of learning over others? What are the projected advancements for this category of tools over the next few years as technology improves, broadband access increases, and Web 3.0 "arrives"? Connection to augmented reality apps maybe? I'm looking forward to reading your draft in a couple of weeks :) Louise