#3

#3: Taught Studio Photography students iphoto slideshows, photoshop, lifepics and Advanced Placement students iphoto and Adobe Photoshop and an adult photo class an intro to several features in Photoshop as well as iPhoto and iBook. Four students registered in BC Skills Competition for first time in graphic Arts and pre-press production. The beginner in technology won Bronze in the regional competition. All AP students also created brochures for the post-secondary program trade-ex (hundreds published) as well as three students created an agenda cover design for the school (almost a thousand will be published). Two students in Fine Arts Assistant 11 created posters for the artist-in-residence using photoshop. Looking forward to accrediataton presentations and district scholarship presentations where we'll see students using the technology skills they have acquired. Had many successes with the integration of technology with the fine arts. Some stumbling blocks were that the time during class to teach these programs definitely took away from other activities. Also, the computers are in one room and most of the students in the art classes were in another, hard to be in two places at the same time and some off-task behaviors ensue with both the photoshop/art students and the art students. I found the AP students much more focussed on acquiring new skills than the FAA students. Art students were somewhat all over the map re: saving data and locating files. Found iphoto great for one user but somewhat problematic for several users. A lot of extra time was spent managing files and downloading pictures when using the digital cameras as well as communicating via e-mail in order for students to print images and/or upload them to their ipods. Dates on different cameras were inconsistent in the iphoto library. Being consistent, logical and sequential is something that I would definitely spend more time on at the beginning with students. Found this to be a real challenge for arty types. The limited access to technology was problematic with only two computers most of the instruction was one-to-one. There were memory issues, back-up issues and printing issues that were for the most part solved during the process of creating the projects. Tom and Gary were both great in assisting at various times in the process and the learning curve incorporated software, hardware, peripherials and operating systems. I purchased a back-up drive that will be used with the new laptop in the future that along with time machine will solve some of the backing up issues we've had. The new version of photoshop has at last been installed in the new laptop and now the students will have an opportunity to access the program with another, better computer. With the page crash of my website and the new issue of limits to webmail accounts I was somewhat frustrated with the time that is being used in coping with district initiatives and unreliable servers. I'm hopeful with a new webpage construction program that I can solve the issues with abbynet HPK that I was unaware existed. Teaching three to five different classes during one block does not lend itself to the integration of technology, felt like I was juggling one more thing on an already over loaded plate. Would like to find the time to organize, consolidate skills and reflect on the process of being involved in the technology learning network and using technology with students but too much to deal with first: TLITE presentations, field trips, district art shows, AP portfolios, district scholarships, Artist-in-Residence,... look forward to seeing everyone's presentations in May.