Week Three

Chapter Thirteen Notes

• There are many reasons to incorporate instructional technology in an art classroom. For one, technology allows for a greater number and variety of modes of expression for the budding artist.
• In addition, knowledge of creative technologies is more and more important in many professional areas.
• Teaching children to use technology to solve problems in creative ways hones good critical thinking skills.
• In music, traditional musical literacy (ability to read sheet music and musical notation) is being replaced by other abilities (sound analysis, etc.)
• Music students are expected to demonstrate competencies in playing electronic instruments, producing music electronically, manipulating musical software, demonstrating fluency with multimedia and digital media, compiling electronic portfolios, and managing coursework online or via offline software programs.
• The analysis of today's popular music goes beyond traditional musical production; technological factors and production techniques must be well understood for sufficient analysis of contemporary forms of music.
  
• The music teacher faces a number of additional responsibilities on top of teaching and maintaining a gradebook. Music teachers must be responsible for maintaining a number of instruments (traditional and contemporary) and other expensive technology. The maintenance of these items is taxing and expensive.
  
• Software exists to help students produce music either through aural or visual/symbolic means. Some software relies on a student's ear, where others rely on a student's knowledge of the substructure and theoretical/symbolic understanding of musical composition.
• Notation software helps students to rearrange, transpose, or otherwise change a piece of music into something original.
  
• Musical technologies and software allow for differentiated instruction; students can often work at their own pace and re-learn as necessary.
• Internet research, multimedia (audio or video) presentations, and interactive websites all contribute to the music student's understanding of and fluency with musical technologies and the development of music over the last few centuries.
• There are many opportunities to incorporate the study of physics, math, and other subject areas in musical education.
• Unfortunately, funding for art education is at an all-time low, so many schools are either dropping art education altogether or limiting its available resources for art in drastic ways.
  
• As art becomes increasingly more tied to technology, more and more funding is necessary to provide for the purchase and maintenance of electronics and other multimedia equipment.
  
• One issue prevalent in art instruction in a technology context is the problem of plagiarism: when is it ok to take images from the internet? Is it ever ok? To what extent does "educational purpose" absolve a student from being responsible for borrowing copywrited material?
  
• As the dangers of an unpatrolled internet become more and more serious, art teachers and administrators alike have had to make tough decisions regarding censorship. Is nudity/pornography ok in an educational context? Where can the line be drawn?
• The National Standards for art education are quite numerous and rigorous; if these standards are to be upheld then increased funding and support needs to be provided to schools for art classes.
  
• The internet and other multimedia resources are excellent tools for showing examples of artworks, both historical and contemporary.
• Slideshow technologies are great for teaching art history and giving examples of different types of media, etc.
• Teachers can create websites to guide class discussions and present information to students.
• In the digital age, students can produce and manipulate images, video, and audio to create works of art.
  
• Graphic design and 3-D modeling is made possible by software programs available to students in art classes. These programs set the stage for vocational training and will prepare students for careers in graphic design as well as engineering/architecture.
  
• Students can illustrate and create brochures and other publications using professional publishing software. These experiences can be very valuable for the college-bound student planning a career in publishing.
  
• The internet provides numerous resources for viewing art in near-real settings (3-D, virtual field trips, etc.). These can be very effective (and cost-effective!) ways of exposing students to masterful works of art.
  
• Basic movie-making software allows students to create substantial professional-like projects using film clips, audio clips, and graphics.
• Not only do recent technologies provide students with a great deal of experience with and opportunities to interact with art, but they also allow students an easy way to share their own creations. Blogs, electronic books, and other presentation software broaden students' audiences and promote sharing of ideas.

Chapter Fourteen Notes

• Given the high levels of inactivity in present day children, the opportunity to motivate students to exercise is of utmost importance when considering new technologies for use in physical education and health classes.
• Several recent technologies actually allow students to exercise while playing video games or participating in a simulated computerized sport (e.g., downhill skier, Dance Dance Revolution, Wii).
  
• In recent years, there has been greater focus on students completing academic content standards, and as a result, physical education and health education have been given lower priority. When some students get exercise only at school, the small amount of time and resources given to physical and health education is unacceptable.
• Health and physical education are excellent contexts under which students may be able to practice responsible consumption of information. Medical and exercise-related information abounds on the internet, and not all of it is factual or accurate; students must learn how to discern which resources give valid information.
• Technology can help students of physical education and health to access information, track progress, and practice healthy exercise and eating habits. It can help to improve motor skills and improve students' beliefs about healthy eating and bodies.
• Many tools are used in physical education classes to measure students' health, including blood pressure and heart rate monitors, pedometers, body composition analyzers, as well as other electronic devices. Such tools can be used to monitor student health and track progress in an exercise program.
• Technologies can serve as motivational tools to help students learn to love active lifestyles. Videos, blogs, and information about sports and dancing can increase student interest in exercise.
• Risk-assessment programs may effectively "scare" students into improving their lifestyles; once students know how their current lifestyle may impact their future health, they may be more likely to change their eating and exercise habits.
• There is still a need for educational tools to help kids to distinguish good health information from bad information; even to a well-trained eye, some websites can be deceivingly convincing.
  
• Online projects and webquests may engage students who are otherwise uninterested in health and physical education. These experiences may help those students to connect with the material and ideally increase their chances of practicing healthy habits.
  
• Many technologies can integrate physical and health education with science, math, and even social studies (e.g., the sociology of exercise).
• Almost ironically, more and more schools are offering online coursework for physical education and health education. While these classes cannot ensure that students are exercising enough, they can expose students to information they may otherwise have missed.
• Online courses can be set up to track student progress toward a goal, whether that be a fitness goal (e.g., running a mile in less than 8 minutes, bench pressing 80 pounds, etc.) or a dietary goal (decrease fat consumption by 30%). Goal setting and progress monitoring is a valuable skill for students to practice in the setting of physical education and health, especially because these skills will undoubtedly be useful throughout students' lives.