Blog Example
October 10th, 2011Hi, I thought this older blog I used to use would be helpful to those wondering what might be the differences or possibilities with using a blog. This was designed for one student in one of my first terms teaching the class, who told me at the end of the second week that she was “legally blind”. I was completely lost as to how to help her with a course that relied in visual information, but I quickly adjusted not only the material and the assignments, but also my idea of what “viewing art” can be. So, most of the material on here is me reading all the books and articles.
The mp3’s in the posts has since been disabled and I didn’t think it necessary to fix for the purposes of your viewing. It’s pretty much just adding it in like a picture. What I was excited to discover were the widgets “boxnet”, the videos, and the widget at the top which is already in Blogger’s editing to add if you want. The videos are there also through Blogger’s editing. Best way to see inside the editing process and the choices you’d have would be to set up an account.
Last I checked (a year ago when I set up this blog), WordPress didn’t have the videos or slideshow options, but I believe there’s enough online to find a free app that has an “embed” code like Boxnet has.
Anyway…sorry to give you more to read. Here ya go!
http://writingarthistory.blogspot.com/
Beverly and others, how have you used visuals in your other classes (online or on campus)?
As a writing instructor, I tend more toward the written word for communication. However, as time goes on, I am relying more and more upon visuals to help me get my messages across. I was just frustrated a moment ago that I couldn’t put an image of an invisible man in my comment on Kyle’s blog post, actually!
Thoughts?
Comment by Shannon - October 11th, 2011 @ 10:03 amIt’s kind of a given for my courses since they’re about art, and also because I love using pictures (maybe too much sometimes!).
The readings cover specific art works so I try to supplement those. In one course, Writing Art History, the book sadly only has black and white, so I try to work in the color versions in their discussions. I also will post different works by an artist mentioned in the books so students can get a “feel” for what kind of work they do in general, such as Andy Warhol.
Since I am a visual learner, I use techniques that work for me like associating an image with particular assignments or material. This term I learned that I could post a thumb-nail image in with the description of the discussion so it shows up on the list of discussions. The thumbnails are the same image they find on the discussion. It works like an icon or like color-coding in some cases. I also have been re-designing my “notes” (for students) each with an image of a vintage typewriter, different colors for different categories (if that makes sense).
I use images just about everywhere I can. All are from the same source, which I already have permission to use and credits are factored into the downloading process. It makes it easy to keep track and send Mandy images and corresponding credits on one doc. It’s called ARTstor. I have access through alumni privileges. Don’t know if our library has anything like that, but I would imagine they do.
Even if I use an image in my email signature to students, or just to illustrate an announcement, it is always a work of fine art by an artist which exposes students to artworks since I don’t have time in these courses to teach art history too. Sometimes they happen to see something that catches their eye and will ask about it and end up using it for one of their papers.
It also makes the reading easier to have some eye candy.
Comment by Beverly Nelson - October 11th, 2011 @ 11:35 amI use images in all my writing classes, and students are required to use images in their papers. These might be photos, graphs, charts, graphics, drop caps, sidebars, etc, to make their work look like real-world writing. It’s about audience – people today will not read what looks like a long boring grey block of text unless they have to.
And as Beverly says, visual learning is a key factor, even more today perhaps than in the past. So, the combination of image and text is crucial. This week in Science Writing (on campus) students are blogging (in Discussion Board) about pictures – does the picture make the story? Is a picture worth 1000 words? How can images distort or mislead? For Beverly’s art class, pictures would be essential to analyze and make points. In Science Writing, pictures are also essential to illustrate the concepts discussed.
We need to work with our students on ways to be effective and ethical searchers of, readers of, and users of images. I have just started some conversations with library instructional faculty on how we might find or make a tutorial to help students increase their visual literacy.
Try this link
(sorry I can’t remember the a_href… format. Can somebody remind me?)
Ecampus is a perfect location for using even more visual imagery/visual rhetoric – for creating engagement and identity in a learning environment. This is one of the challenges and delights!
Comment by jamesosa - October 12th, 2011 @ 7:53 amCLICKABLE WORDS HERE
Comment by Shannon - October 12th, 2011 @ 3:57 pmIt’s a sign that I need more coffee that I typed the code and forgot that it would create a clickable link. Whoops! 🙂
You can find the HTML here: http://bignosebird.com/tags/ahref.shtml
Comment by Shannon - October 12th, 2011 @ 4:02 pmThanks, Shannon. I see that I never went back to get the link. Here it is to Boston University’s site:
click
I hope this works. The site provides useful information on copyright issues as well.
ps: good thing the spam reCaptcha device allows more choices: It just gave me some non Roman alphabet characters!
Comment by sara jameson - October 13th, 2011 @ 1:28 pm