I am really trying to absorb the idea of multi-faceted mobile learning. Wireless mobile devices offer so many avenues for student learning and the possibilities are very exciting. However, I am not quite ready to wrap my head around the idea of elementary students using cell phones at school. I can see how wireless mobile devices could be a great resource for photography, discussion and visual researching – but more likely at a secondary level.
As an artist, I often begin any creative piece by making sketches, experimenting with media, bouncing ideas around with my artist friends and searching the web for advice and inspiration. Wireless mobile devices can offer this type of freedom to students in the classroom. The concern is how to monitor appropriate use and foster opportunities for authentic learning. I agree with Brooks-Young’s statement “We need to begin by establishing ground rules for the use of cell phones in and out of the classroom.” It seems that our role as teachers is constantly expanding and now it will be necessary to include teaching digital etiquette to lay the groundwork for effective classroom use of WMD’s.
When reading about the Mobile Virtual Learning Environments described by Rosen, I couldn’t help but think of how many ways art teachers are already including many of his suggested features in our curriculums. Art teachers are inherently flexible, offer student-centered lessons, and use many modes/methods of teaching. In this sense, when incorporating WMD’s and social networking, we are really just adding more facets to the variety of instructional practices that we already utilize. One of the features Rosen discusses is collaboration. He states that collaboration “enhances learning by capitalizing on the iGener’s aptitude for multitasking through a variety of communication modalities.”
My sister recently shared a website with me of a group that came to speak to her multi-media graphic design class. The group is called Hack.Art.Lab and they are a collaborative group of artists, engineers, educators and other professionals who work together to come up with creative solutions. The concept is very intriguing. When you come up with a creative idea but do not know how to carry out a certain aspect of the project, you enlist the assistance of another expert in the group. This idea has many possibilities in education. I can imagine a virtual “club” that would involve students bouncing ideas off of each other and working together on creative projects. For more information about H.A.L. follow the links below:
hack.art.lab --
“A collaborative team of artists, educators, technologists and engineers, Hack.Art.Lab (H.A.L) provides an environment for learning and exploration through nonconvention. By connecting professional and nonprofessional artists, technologists and youth, we explore learning models, then create projects offering new perspectives in art, technology, and society. We strive to develop activities that encourage our natural curiosity and playfulness through creative engagement with science and technology.”
Wow - this hackartlab site is a great example of integration between subject areas and really demonstrates the fact that disciplinary boundaries can and should be broken. I would love to show this to some of my science and engineering friends. I thin that too often we concentrate on the differences of our subject matter instead of the similarities - and this project just goes to show how many potential connections there are out there between the way artists and scientists think. Very cool! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I liked your acknowledgement of the inherent flexibility we as art teachers possess. Though I am admittedly biased, I think we have a HUGE amount of things we can share/teach other disciplines about how meeting the needs of the 21st century student. Because art classrooms require teachers who can instantaneously weave process, differentiation, and expression into motivating and engaging problems/activities for students to solve I believe we are truly an exemplar for other subject areas, especially as we add more an more technology to our already impressive repertoire!