Blog #2

For next week, please spend time surfing the web in search of blogs being used in interesting or innovative ways in education/ art education. Please cite 3 of them in your blog post and tell us why you think their use is particularly valuable. Consider everything from the physical set up of the blog (its architecture, so to speak) to content to audience focus. What is its relationship to the participatory culture nature of the learning community and what does blogging accomplish, educationally, in each of the three sites, that cannot be done in another teaching manner?

I found links to several art education-based blogs at Incredible Art Blogs and Podcasts. However, I noticed most of the blog are personal endeavors made by art educators. I did not find any blogs that functioned exactly like our class blog- as central locations for passing on information and materials as required for a particular class. Rather, many of these blogs serve to house the musings of professional art educators and related organizations. Often these blogs offer tips and lesson ideas for other art teachers.

From all of the art education blogs I found, I chose three that serve very different functions.

The first blog I chose is KidzArt Official Blog. This blog is maintained by KidzArt! "The leader in creative art education worldwide." KidzArt! states their motivation for blogging at the bottom of each blog page: "We needed a place on the web to discuss ideas, promote expansion, and provide a place for educators and students alike to share information and help one another achieve their goals in the most creative fashion possible."

KidzArt Official Blog is designed to aide and promote art education. It speaks to educators to try and make art lessons more manageable. Also, it offers a variety of fun art lessons that could be executed in a variety of education settings. It describes art made from packing peanuts, for classes with less monetary resources for art projects, to offering personal enrichment camps and art kits, for students with a little more money to invest.

Additionally, the blog tracks the global trends of art education. Posts like "The Art of Creativity – How art lights the creative spirit and a 'lifetime filled with a desire to innovate.'" reinforce KidzArt's suggestions that art education is essential to personal betterment. Therefore, inspiring readers to do some of the suggested art projects with the children in their lives.

The blog's layout itself is fairly inspiring. It includes custom at at the heading of the page. This injection for creativity stands out beyond the a more standard blog template. It also is reminiscent of children's art and therefore reminds the reader of the wonderful possibilities of youth artwork. The site reinforces this further as the reader scrolls down and sees several children holding their art pieces along the left column.

The blog is also easy to navigate. It's links are on the left side of the page, reading more like a traditional web page than the typical right-docked blog. This setup should ease the tension of parents and teachers who are not familiar with the blogging world.

As to be expectation, the KidzArt! company information is the first set of links on the page. Right below that, however, are helpful links to navigate the blog and find what one is looking for. Overall, KidzArt Official Blog is fairly effective in promoting and aiding in the execution of art education programs by visiting teachers and parents.



The second blog is The Virtual Classroom. Unlike KidzArt! this blog is maintained by a single individual, a middle school art teacher. Again, it is intended for use by fellow art educators.

The purpose of this web blog is to showcase the lessons and artwork used with my middle school students. The information provided is intended for those interested in the K-12 teaching and specifically the middle school arts.

This blogger is committed to helping other art teachers find fun and effective art lesson plans. It is not a page created for a specific class. The creator offers sample projects, websites, and even podcasts that other teachers may use in their classrooms. She also goes into depth on how to record podcasts so that other teachers may share their podcasts as well. This teacher seems very committed to encouraging a web-based community to further art education and educators. She also openly welcomes feedback on her posts to "help me stay excited about updating with your feedback."

The blog's appearance also suggests the blogger's enthusiasm for art education. Even it's template is aesthetically inspirational. It reminds the viewer of a staple tool in youth art education, colored pencils. It also reveals an exuberance for art education by the webmaster that inspires visitors.

Furthermore, the Virtual Classroom has a very thorough links bars. It offers several ways to find a the same archived post; through date posted, post name, key words (tags), and category. It ever links to an online gallery of student work.

Admittedly, this blog may be too overwhelming for a stranger who stumbles upon it. However, I believe it is completely within the capable realm of anyone who would be interested in podcasting in the first place. To those art educators, the Virtual Classroom would be an invaluable tool for researching, planning, and executing art lessons.



The third blog is B.R.I.G.H.T Academy ART CLASS. This blog is presumably maintained by teacher(s) at B.R.I.G.H.T. Academy, though it is not clearly stated. This blog also does not have an explicit mission or intended audience. It seems like a the result of a teacher who thought it would be 'cool' to post his/her student's artwork on the web. And, I believe, it is a commendable pursuit.

The blog itself serves mainly to post student artwork, as well as of students making art, and to offer some art project lesson plans. The lessons (include several "How to Draw..." and origami-based projects) appear to be designed for incorporation into a school without a dedicated art classroom. The blogger(s) are determined to sneak art into a school setting, even though the school may not openly accommodate it.

The B.R.I.G.H.T. Academy ART CLASS blog also offers many art education-related links. The links include interesting contemporary artists, "A-R-T-ICLES," interactive art sites, helpful site for teachers, and more. The links seem to be to pique the interest of students and educators alike.

The design of the B.R.I.G.H.T. Academy site is typical blog. It appears to be, in the most basic sense, the one of the default Blogger templates, mixed with some widgets and an uploaded graphic of the school. While the blog is less than stunning, it is functional. Surely the students and their parents who log onto the site can navigate it. A more complicated layout may deter parents from logging on and emailing the URL to the students' extended family. The blog is successful for what it is, or what I assume it is trying to do.