Discussion & Debate
FOSS and the general use of technology in the classroom has generated lots of ideas and debate, especially as we look to future with ever shrinking computers, super powered handheld devices and cell phones that will be able to view an ever increasing source of media and content. Please join us as we put on the table all our enthusiasms and concerns.
The Power of GNOME
GNOME eLecture:
Submitted by Greg Boyle, Sarah Miller and Mike Murro
The aim of the GNOME project is to provide a user-friendly, desktop environment that can be used by anyone. Secondly, the technology is free of charge and internationally accessible, so it is a multi-lingual apparatus.
GNOME is unique in that, although there is a foundation that decides ultimately what projects will be a part in further developments of the GNOME technology, its proprietors are some of the actual users themselves. I use the term "proprietor" to imply a sense of executive decision making, and I find the term to be applicable because interaction with the GNOME project has been enhanced by websites and message boards for its users. The public that utilizes the GNOME desktop environment can channel their ideas and contributions towards the betterment of the GNOME goals (above, a user-friendly status and international appeal) and correspond directly with those conducting such administrative tasks. I find this to be a noteworthy element of our discussion because there is relevance in the corresponding of the GNOME mission to the field of art education. Those in our educational field, who may be so inclined to improve the GNOME technology for classroom/teaching purposes, may have a direct impact on the further development of GNOME itself.
To further examine the potential marriage of GNOME technology to our field of art education, or the field of education in general, we have several steps in furthering our research of GNOME as a too to assist in teaching/learning.
1. A Brief Survey- we will be conducting a brief survey among teachers, and a random sampling of websites connected with learning institutions, to examine who is using the GNOME project and if it has helped improve their teaching experience.
2. The differences between the GNOME desktop environment and other widely used desktop environments such as KDE, and Interactive Desktop. How significant are the differences?
3. In what specific ways is GNOME beneficial to an art educator? Details may stem from our survey, but if there is a lack of examples in practice, we will provide some theories as to how it can benefit us as future art teachers.
4. Desktop Environments have given users a faster internet experience with compatible WIDGETS, where users can easily access information they regularly need to attain from the internet. We will research to see how customized this feature can be in the GNOME desktop environment, and furthermore, what types of WIDGETS we can come up with that would benefit an art educator.
Students can create outlines and mind maps for organizing ideas and information for art history research projects and essays;
Mind maps may be a helpful way of relating different areas of art history to one another to give students an idea of how different styles, mediums, and artworks from different eras and cultures are inter-related;
Teachers can use mind maps to design lesson plans. Choice of medium, style, connections to examples in art history, etc, can be mapped out visually in a way that may be easier to plan and organize;
Students can also use mind maps to plan presentations or more long-term projects that must be broken down into steps;
Mind maps may help to reveal where there are gaps in students’ knowledge or understanding of certain concepts or subjects.
by Greg Boyle
A three question survey was sent out to a number of art teachers, however, when the response was low, the survey was sent out to a broader scope of educators. The intent was to survey both young teachers and veteran teachers, to give a broad view as to who may use the GNOME desktop environment in the classroom, and to gauge the familiarity with the technology.
The questions were as follows:
1. Do you use the GNOME desktop environment in the classroom or at home to assist you in your teaching?
2. If the answer was no, what desktop environment do you utilize?
3. If you answered yes, how has GNOME been beneficial to you as an educator?
Of ten educators surveyed via email, only half returned their responses. The half that responded does represent a broad population of careers in the educational field.
Michelle, a late 20's Career Counselor at Delaware valley Community College, responded that she had never heard of the GNOME desktop environment. To the second question, she responded, "The icons on my desktop are for Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, Internet Explorer, Novell GroupWise (my email) and the Banner System. Banner is a system widely used by colleges to track student records, grades and registrations. I also have a 'shortcut' icon to the school's library so that I can use 'ERIC' and 'Ebsco' which I use to do research for presentations. Lastly, there is a photo of Rainn Wilson from the Office, which completes my workspace."
Michael, a mid-thirties percussion teacher who runs a music store in West Chester, PA, responded that he too had never heard of the GNOME desktop environment. To the second question, he responded, "I use the standard settings that my computer came equipped with which works quite well for me."
Jonathan, a late twenties elementary teacher in the Great Valley School District, had heard of the GNOME software but does not use it. He elaborated that he uses a Windows XP based environment.
Ken Jacobs, a former professor at Temple University who taught Art History and Architectural Theory Classes, responded that he was familiar with the GNOME software but does not use it himself. His reasons stated because it "is for Linux or UNIX systems." Although he has used Windows PCs, he is currently switching over to a MAC computer.
The GNOME desktop and other widely used Desktop Environments
What's the difference
by Micheal Murro
As we've already established, GNOME is a more user-friendly, teacher-friendly operating system that is dedicated to giving users and developers the ultimate level of control over their desktops, their software, and their data. What makes it different from your other desktop managers, you ask? Well, for example, the Gnome Foundation is focused on building a complete desktop environment, including an open-source user interface, messaging backbone, component infrastructure and file system, which is an environment the group hopes to offer as a credible alternative to Microsoft Windows and Office, thus gearing it more towards users in an educational or communications field, and perhaps monopolizing themselves in due time if the hype catches on.
Other desktops are also in the running however, most importantly the KDE desktop, which, like GNOME, is popular among a large percentage of Linux developers. Whether the trend can cross over to PC and Mac diehards, we can only wait and see.
After researching through lurking on several message boards and online discussion groups, it is also the popular opinion that GNOME users have resolved more bug issues throughout their operating systems then KDE, Mezzo, or CDE, all thoroughly used desktops. Users are also stated saying that GNOME offers more powerful and easy to use tools, more so than those actually documented within advertising for its rival operating systems.
Also, GNOME should benefit from a major bounce in both publicity and functionality when OpenOffice, the open-source edition of Sun's StarOffice, becomes the core of GNOME's office suite. The current GNOME Office is a rather loosely knit collection of independently developed productivity applications, while OpenOffice benefits from years of professional development. This is what could give GNOME its much-needed push into the mainstream among educators.
In conclusion, it is imperative that we accept the GNOME desktop as what I would like to refer to as the OS of the future today, due to its advanced GUI and OS interface tools offered by a full-fledged desktop environment, tools which are necessary if you ever wish to install any remotely new programs on your computer, by the way. Soon enough, teachers, administrators, and students alike will need GNOME in order to survive, or go the way of the dinosaur & or should I say, obsolete desktop manager
Tools and Applications
by Sarah Miller
The desktop environment known as GNOME does not yet have an art education program, but it does have software that can be used in the art classroom. Some examples are Abiword, GNU paint (gpaint), and Inkscape.
Abiword is word processor software. It is comparable to Microsoft Word. The name Abiword is derived from the Spanish word, "abierto" which means open. Abiword can be used for any basic classroom use such as organizing school reports, writing lesson plans or papers, and creating newsletters, certificates, instructional sheets or rubrics for lessons.
GNU paint is an easy to use art program that is kept simple so beginners can easily navigate their way through it. GNU paint includes several elements. Features of GNU paint are:
1. Drawing tools--ovals, freehand, polygon, text, with fill or shallow for polygons and closed freehand.
2. Cut and paste by selecting irregular regions or polygons.
3. Print support using gnome-print
4. Modern, easy-to-use user interface with tool and color palettes
5. Editing multiple image at the same time without running multiple instance of the image editor
All image processing features present in xpaint GNU paint can used for experimenting with color and techniques for projects being worked on in the classroom. It could also be used as its own lesson to create net art possibly to be published in a classroom blog where students can comment on others' art work.
Inkscape is another open source art program. It is currently under construction, but programmers are hoping to have SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) filter effects, animation, and SVG fonts added to it. With its future animation applications, Inkscape would be an asset in an art environment. Projects could be developed around creating animations in the classroom.
Some features of Inkscape are:
1. Drawing: pencil tool (freehand drawing with simple paths), pen tool (creating Bezier curves and straight lines), calligraphy tool (freehand drawing using filled paths representing calligraphic strokes).
2. Shape tools: rectangles (may have rounded corners), ellipses (includes circles, arcs, segments), stars/polygons (can be rounded and/or randomized), spirals.
3. Text tool (multiline text, full on-canvas editing).
4. Embedded bitmaps (with a command to create and embed bitmaps of selected objects).
5. Clones ("live" linked copies of objects), including a tool to create patterns and arrangements of clones.
Another interesting aspect of Inkscape that could be used in the art classroom is its Inkboard Collaborative Editing. This makes it possible to connect to other Inkscape users over a network and edit a shared document, watch changes, and contribute one's own changes.
Article: Open Source Fun With Inkscape and SVG
Customizing Your GNOME Desktop Environment
Did somebody say, "Widget?" by Greg Boyle
As mentioned previously in our group's initial document on the GNOME technology, the desktop environment of GNOME heralds itself as "accessible" and "international" in nature. The GNOME software is multilingual, meaning it can be accessed in countless languages. The accessibility factor is in the theory behind its application, in that it is a user friendly desktop environment that be utilized by anyone, regardless of their skill level in front of the monitor. Furthermore, it's free!
This is a brief reiteration of the commonly known attributes of the GNOME desktop environment. It is in these factors that we discover potential benefits to the art educator.
Customization of the software has been celebrated by some and criticized by others. Message boards are accessible to all users who wish to contribute to modifications of this desktop technology. In fact, the GNOME Foundation lists in their very CHARTER document, "We value contributions of code and hackers resource much more than membership dues." Thus we see an indirect customizing of the GNOME desktop environment by the ideas and changes that can be posted upon the Foundation's message boards that are read and replied to by the GNOME programmers themselves. Therefore, users can potentially put into action modifications that they see beneficial to the operating efficiency of GNOME.
However, customization is possible by users themselves on their own, personal computers. GNOME is compatible and user friendly in its pre-installed packages. The functions perform from built in scripts, and are automated to the user who wishes to "install and go." Hence the accessibility aspect of GNOME is championed by consumers. Should a user try and execute a customized manipulation of the software, there are risks to those who may not have the necessary skill-set to customize the environment for their own use on their own computer. It has been cited on various message boards and websites as "time consuming and laborious."
But for the user fluent in java script, or several other computer languages that are cohesive with operating changes in the GNOME system, customization is an exciting possibility.
Which brings us to the "Widget."
Well, almost. Computer terminology can seem daunting to some, and for the sake of clarification to students who may be unfamiliar with the language. Our group has decided to enhance the big picture of our discussion with some simple definitions.
Oftentimes, definitions simplicity in computer terminology gets lost in the euphemisms or acronyms we so often see that describe the most basic of functions we use everyday. Take for example the term "desktop," which as we are aware, is sort of our "home base" when using a computer. Pictures and icons are scrambled throughout the desktop in the boundaries of our computer's monitor.
GNOME is a "desktop environment." The DE refers to the look and feel of what we are viewing upon the screen. Icons are arranged in different ways in different environments, backgrounds range from photos to themes, some of which are programmed to actually change throughout the day, such as sky patterns that dim as the clock approaches dusk. The abilities to drag and drop, the toolbars, the applications, and the icons we are all so accustomed to be part of the "desktop environment." Individually, each one of those features is known as a "widget!" They work together comprise a desktop environment, such as the GNOME environment we are discussing.
Widgets are the keys that allow users to access and interact with the operating system of our computer, and open and download the various aspects of our desktop environment. Pull down menus, selection boxes, on and off checkmarks, scroll bars, and windows are the doorways to our interaction with the computer. They help us gain information in quicker and more efficient and organized ways. They may be a tool that allows us to access the latest news, the current weather, a map, a dictionary, and countless other resources.
As we can see, the possibilities are virtually endless to customize the widgets in our desktop environment to suit our needs as art educators.
Again, for the average user, altering script and embedding widgets in "plug-ins"may be far to complex to effectively rewrite a program such as GNOME. Websites are available to those who wish to task such an undertaking. But first the user must be knowledgeable in the correct language to implicate the change, and secondly, he or she must then be aware if those changes are compatible with their operating system. But if someone in our relative schools/educational facilities was skilled in such operating procedures, then a forum could be opened up which would far exceed the few possibilities that are provided here in theory. Here then are a few samples of customized widgets to improve an art educator's desktop environment.
Art History Database- Inspired from the exploreart.org website on Himalayan Art, an icon titled as Art History database could lead us into a cyber-library of historical works of art. Teachers could resource such a device in their lesson planning, or the device itself could be a teaching tool in the classroom. Upon clicking the icon, a scroll bar would roll down with a keyword option. Students or teachers could enter a key word pertaining to the lesson they are currently studying. For instance, if they are studying the architecture of Gothic Churches, they may type "Gothic Churches" where a list of hyperlinks to works of art would come up in a new window. If, for instance, they were searching for "Reims Cathedral," they would choose which would bring them to a picture of the church. Then, much in the style of the aforementioned exploreart.org website, they could click on different aspects of the piece to gain more information. Clicking on various portions of the architecture could bring up definitions and explanations in new windows of features such as the cathedral's "Voussoirs," "Jambs," or "Rosette Windows." The immediate window upon opening the page would have historical information, which hyperlinks within the text. Again, in the history behind the architecture, "Reims Cathedral" may be referred to as a "High Gothic" example of the Gothic Movement. "High Gothic" could be hyperlinked to bring up a list of other Churches in the same time period, or stylistic period.
The same may be done with any work of art, such as a painting. Take for example Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel. An endless amount of links could be available to the student in such a grand masterpiece! One such example would be to click on the image of God touching Adam, thus accessing information on the "mid-sagittal brain" theory behind that portion of the work. Clicking on a hyperlinked "Michelangelo" could access for the students a list of other words of his, as well as biographical information about the artist.
Art Works Screen Saver- often times in advanced art classes in high schools, those students have been familiar with the art teacher longer than introductory students have. In such situations they are more likely to work on projects at their own pace, and from my observations in the field, often have free roam of the room (in a respectful fashion towards the teacher and maintaining a working environment.) In those observations I have seen students make quick use of computers in the rooms, asking for permission to write emails pertaining to school work, etc. The computer sits idle in the meantime, and it would be a great feature for a screen saver that works like a slide show of art work. The smallest utilization in the classroom environment may lend itself to showing students something new or exciting that they may not have been exposed to before. And with many desktops either simply going straight to black, or transitioning into a pretty designs flashing across the screen, this seemingly minor modification could result in true inspiration for a student noticing a beautiful Dali, Raphael, or O'Keefe painting encompassing the screen. Classroom discussion could be motivated, prompting them to further studies about the artwork at hand.
Daily Art News- As mentioned previously, widgets can commonly access the latest news or weather forecasts. Oftentimes in the art room, we are looking at works of art throughout history, and much of a student's art history background (if their school curriculum even provides them with such) is spent on works centuries old, from cave drawings through the renaissance, to the impressionist movement. By the time they have worked their way through these chapters of history, the vast array of works leave them little or no time to focus on current art work being made, or current developments in the art world. Customizing the widget that allows us to read the headlines everyday could help "modernize" the topic of art for students and teachers alike. If keywords could be programmed into the operating system that access the program that downloads the day's headlines, we could write in words such as "Art," "Museums," or "Photography." These keywords, scripted in the program, could search the net to provide us with immediate access to articles of the day, or newsworthy events of the day, that may pertain to the art world when we access the headlines on our computer. Again, this could be a great teaching tool to encourage discussion in the art room.
Virtual School
3D Learn Interactive Academy
Submitted by: Laura Maier
What if you could get up in the morning and "walk" inside a 3D school, assume a visual representation of yourself and then go "into" your classroom? What if you could create your own 3D objects, add books, papers, and even customize your own school desk? What if you could
create your own exciting 3D worlds to go with your studies? This is not a "what if" with us! This is the reality of 3DLearn so come join the fun and learn like never before! Established in 1997. First and only 3D school and campus that is run and operated by experienced, certified educators. Ethical standards of practice with an emphasis on helping all students succeed. "Real" Private School! It is not a home school or run by a home school family or organization. It is an accredited full-time private school with nationally recognized multi-sensory 3D curricula designed around the Constructivist learning model. The program uses certified teachers. It is, in fact, a full-time all inclusive private school for grades 7-12. Students receive an accredited high school diploma. This is a fun 3D world creation that is part of the learning process. This is a whole new way to look at home schooling in 3D virtual reality.
Moodle in Art Education
The University of the Arts offers a course called Aesthetics and Art Criticism. The course is centered around "aesthetic case puzzles." They are hypothetical and real life cases that address questions of aesthetics. Moodle could be used to teach aesthetics by posting case puzzles and asking for student responses as home work assignments. By working independently through Moodle before class students would have the opportunity to develop their own opinions on the topics and they would be ready for lively class discussion. It would be especially valuable for an AP art class where students would be required to work at this level. It could also work with younger students maybe on a less frequent basis.
http://www.onemoodle.org/classes/ A site you need a password for but interesting, since it is for
educators.
http://moodle.esu13.org/ This site was the first open to everyone and allowed me to log in as guest and look around it had what looked like the beginnings of an interesting cyber class on Internet Citizenry.
http://academies.culver.org/moodle/course/category.php?id=6 Although I couldn’t enter this site it had a very interesting contextual approach to teaching music and theory. And an easy layout.