EDT in Real Life

EDT 610 has been an adventure for me. I have an undergraduate degree in Advertising and Graphic Design. When I viewed the syllabus for this course I wondered if there was a way to test out of it. As an undergrad student at the University of Alabama, I feel like I mastered newsletters, PowerPoint presentations, and webpage design. I was skeptical that there would be new things for me to learn. I was very wrong.

In just one month, I learned so much in EDT 610.

1.) I saw how I could use technology as a way to enrich my art classes.
- I could let my students research artists that I plan to cover in my unit and allow them to share what they learned through a PowerPoint.
- Since today’s students are so tied into the web, allowing them to present research in the form of a website might inspire them more than just writing a paper.
- I could allow my students to work in groups to collaborate on a newsletter about an artist or art movement. They could collect the newsletter in their reflective journals to use as inspiration for future art projects.

2.) This was my first time to create rubrics.
- As a student, I like knowing how my assignments will be graded broken down. It helps be make sure that I have met all of the requirements for the assignment. I can see which parts of the assignment are the most important based on the number of points that section is worth. This helps me manage my time and stops me from spending too much time making it “look” neat and direct most of my attention to the content. EDT 610, required me to make rubrics for my “student” assignments.

3.) The rubrics not only helps keep students on task but it also helps the instructor measure if the assignment is relevant to the unit objectives.

How will I apply what I learned in EDT 610?
Being asked to create work from a student’s point of view, I was able to experience the assignment for myself. By completely the task I would be asking my students to do, I was able to see if I took anything away from the assignment. Did I learn something new? Did I enjoy doing the research? Was I proud of the task I completed? I feel that if I can answer YES to those questions then the assignment is likely to be a more successful learning activity.

My ART ideas before EDT610:
I taught art in Talladega County with Emergency Certification for one year. While I was teaching, I was really focused on completing art projects. I felt an urgency to have “finished” art work on the walls and ready to hang on the fridge at home. In EHS 600, I realized that I wanted to spend more time developing their understanding of the art movement, methods, and artists we covered in class. EDT 610, has helped me being developing ideas about how I can get my students excited about FACTS about art.

Summary:

My first impression of the importance of EDT 610 was unfair. It helped me see how I can use technology in the classroom to build on my content and allow students to express their creativity through many other media.