Reflection for week 2

A BLOG! What an interesting tool! Admittedly, I was not overly excited about having to create a blog and then have to keep submitting posts, but actually it is fun. I realized that to create and post to a blog required a fairly sizable time commitment. However, the amount of time depended on how detailed the blog became. Being a visual person, I really took the time to “play” with the look and formatting of my blog to get it to a point that I felt good about its aesthetic quality(ies). I even added a photo, a list of favorite art education websites, and RSS feeds to each CI 5351 students’ blog. I thought “Blogger” made it fairly easy for someone who had never experienced a blog, yet along blogging, to figure out how to create and maintain one. I googled “blog layouts” and found an array of website that have cool features that can be downloaded to assist with the design of a blog. One such website was “My Spacefetti” (http://www.spacefetti.com/). I was overwhelmed with all the page layouts, “glitter graphics,” and “generators.” I kept thinking how amazing it was that people actually create this kind of stuff for their careers and how fun, yet challenging, that would be. Additionally, I realized that blogs and blogging can be great tools for teachers to use in their classrooms. Technology has become an integral part of how society communicates/interacts. I can definitely see blogs and blogging as a great way to expose students to different ways of connecting with other students studying similar subjects. They can create forums to contemplate and debate subjects, and also engage in deep, reflective thought. I believe that they might not feel as intimidated conversing with other students, versus teachers, about their questions or thoughts.

Inspiration (concept mapping) was introduced during class period 2, and for the brief time I worked with it, it seemed like a practical and manageable tool. I look forward to working with it further.