ishbel morag

Hi I’m reacting to Kayla’s response to Ming’s post. I worked in a Catholic primary school for After School care, and the school had decided to put Smart Boards in all the classrooms. Some of the teachers were unsure of how to use these, and asked one of the 1st class students to give them a hand. This child was a ‘wizz’ at computers, and he was called on many occasions to give help. What times we live in! Actually, my brother was a ‘wizz’ at spelling and word origins and use to correct his teachers, when he was at school. That was many moons ago!

Phelps and Maddison in their article talk about technology enabling “the establishment of communities of practice and cooperative learning with communication not only between students and teachers, but between students from different schools, countries or cultures, and with practicing artists from around the globe.” This is quite exciting and if it gets the children writing and thinking and exploring all well and good. Though lots of practising artists are probably not going to respond too much, as from what I have experienced they are usually working none stop.

This is a reaction to Jabiz found through Kayla’s blog. I hear this ‘death by PowerPoint’ slogan a lot (Jabiz) and I wince, because I think PowerPoint and these sorts of technologies are a god-send for the visual artist. Teachers can easily show images without them being too small – holding up a book or actually struggling to find the right images. Previously slides were taken and wow if they were clear they were excellent.

Now students can find images they like for themselves, upload their own pictures of works and remix. PowerPoint is a tool, but a very useful one for teachers and students a like.