GIMP or GNU Image Manipulation Program, is a graphics editor that is used to create, resize, alter, remove and convert: created graphics, logos, photos, color and image formats.  The GIMP software is free and is a good replacement for Adobe Photoshop.

Gimp would be a great tool to use in the any classroom, especially a visual arts classroom.  Students could create graphics or an illustration, scan it into the software and alter the graphic or illustration using GIMP.  This is a great way to mix ‘free hand art’ and computer generated art.

http://www.gimp.org

http://kingdomboundbooks.com/gimp_u/0007raw_blue_flower01.png

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2128/2397985023_62e19e8c16.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.flickr.com/photos/topsy/2397985023/&usg=__hTH9RAyc8i9D45pS2nEKKV9C0D4=&h=333&w=500&sz=118&hl=en&start=25&um=1&tbnid=ccjIMfSd2ZaV8M:&tbnh=87&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcreative%2Bcommons%2Bsketchup%26start%3D20%26ndsp%3D20%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN

http://sketchup.google.com

The TYY is an electronic device for deaf communications.  It is used by the hard of hearing, deaf community and by people with speech difficulties.  The TYY is a device that displays typed text.  The text is transmitted live by a telephone line.  The device is as small as a laptop computer.  It has a small screen, that is long, but not wide.  It is also connected to a small printer for making transcripts of the conversation.  Today the TYY device is mainly used by the deaf to make phone calls to the hearing.  Before the explosion of text messaging and Internet video chats, the TYY was the main communication device used by deaf people to speak to other deaf people and the hearing.  The TYY device can be used in schools that have a large deaf and hearing population.  Schools would need this type of telephone to receive calls from deaf parents and children.  the TYY could also be used by the school to contact deaf individuals.

Michel Angelos’s The Last Judgement

The main point of this podcast was to tell the listener about Michel Angelos’s The Last Judgement.  Antonia Bath provides a positive critic of the art work.  The Last Judgement was worked on for 8 to 9 years.  It depicts Jesus, angels, saints, demons, every generation of man, Michel Angelo himself and much more.  This work of art shows all human emotions.  These emotions can be seen in the poses and contortions of the human body.  It is a wonderful example of realism.  I personally did not know that the work of art was worked on for 8 to 9 year.

For this assignment I used a combination of MS paint and MS office picture manager to edit the pictures and save them as jpg.

 I tried to use MS word but the program kept freezing due to memory related problems.  Not only that, but I had repeated problems due to the .docx file extension.  Last year (as part of a Findlay computer class…), I downloaded Office 2007.  Office 2007 changed the commonly used office file extension names to names that are not  commonly used or widely accepted.  Flickr and WordPress do not seem to accept .docx files. 

The two technologies that I believe will benefit myself, as an Art teacher and my students, are Google Chrome and Projectors.  I believe Google Chrome will be very helpful in helping me find examples of art work and pictures of artists, to show my students.  By viewing pictures the students may better understand what I am trying to teach them.  Art sometimes has very abstract concepts that are better explained by using pictures.  Another technology that I believe will assist myself and my students is a projector.  A projector that will project works of art found on Google Chrome.  Projectors, used currently, can be connected to your computer, instead of the old way, when you used clear sheets with the information copied onto it.  The new projectors save time and money.

Three prominent men in educational technology, Bill Gates, Larry Page and Steve Jobs.  Bill Gates has been very important to educational technology, he created/founded Microsoft and later produced Windows and Word, which many students use on a daily bases, to type papers for school and much more.  Larry Page is a founder of the search engine Google.  Google is one of the most used search engines on the Internet.  Many students use Google to find information and pictures for school projects and papers.  Steve Jobs the CEO of Apple has also been important to educational technology, his creation of Macintosh computers has helped keep the Gates computer empire in check, (lower prices, other options) Apple computers are also used by many video and audio centered students.

http://alvintrusty.wordpress.com/2008/09/09/who-is-important-here/