Brooklyn Superhero Supply Store

Every artist, instructional technologist, designer and educator should pay a visit to the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Store. I had a chance to visit this store this summer and it is worth it to go and visit the "Capery" and "De-Villianizer" stations. There is also a secret lair where writing workshops for kids are held. Of course every superhero needs to purchase the containers of "ESP,"Telekinesis" and "Omnipotence." The thought crossed my mind that these would really come in handy in my doctoral work.


Coming soon...

The World's Largest Crayon

On my way back from the trip to New York City I stopped in Easton, Pennsylvania to see the Crayola Factory and the world's largest crayon. Weighing 1500 pounds, the blue crayon was created in 2003 and is 15 feet long and 16 inches in diameter. It was created from 123,000 leftover crayons donated by children from around the country. According to Crayola "you could color a straight line for nearly 10 miles or cover an area the size of a football field."

The Week with Maxine Greene

Pictured: Mara Linaberger, Maxine Greene, Camille Nischal

Just returned from the Lincoln Center Institute for the Arts in Education National Educator Workshop: Literature with Maxine Greene (legendary philosopher and visionary of all things pertaining to the arts, aesthetics and imagination). Took notes on all the sessions at her apartment: http://camillenischal.wikispaces.com/Maxine+Greene+Workshop

National Educational Computing Conference 2009

For NECC highlights see the latest blog posting on:

http://theaesthetictechnologist.blogspot.com/

Top Ten Best Things About Attending NECC 2009

1. Met and talked to Adam Frey, co-creator of Wikispaces
2. Participating in live blogging of sessions in back channels. Favorite site: CoverItLive
3. Networking with other professors, teachers, students, etc.
4. Attending Alan November presentation: Student as Contributor: The Digital Learning Farm
5. Attending Gary Stager presentation: Learning Adventures: Transforming Real and Virtual Learning Environments
6. Attending Malcolm Gladwell keynote (author of Blink)
7. Being able to create and participate in new Special Interest Group for Arts Educators (and technology)
8. Learning how educators are using collaborative note taking using things like Google Docs for "perfect" student notes.
9. Learning about how Arizona State created a professional development model for training professors in 21st century tools: https://sites.google.com/a/asu.edu/SocialNetworking_CTEL/Home
10. Ideas for teaching my art ed. methods courses more asynchronously and creatively.

Notes taken during NECC 2009 sessions are on a wiki:
http://camillenischal.wikispaces.com/NECC+2009


Other Things Noticed About NECC 2009:

• Teachers/technology coaches seem to be modeling the best practices in education more than higher ed. (in general). Although a lot of them were there, professors should be going to NECC to see what is happening in K - 12 environments.
• Lots of the major presenters were focused more on selling their products and self-promoting (or focusing on sponsors) through the larger presentations.
• There were no presentations on machinima and educational applications.
• There were no presentations about screencasting applications in K - 16 environments.
• Paper presentations could have been much more engaging. A little dry and lacked energy.
• Presenters that told personal stories were very engaging. Presentations with powerpoints with lots of bullets were not as engaging as those with more simplified and graphic slides.
• More live blogging and better internet connectivity would have made some sessions more effective
• Not a lot of poster sessions about authentic applications of art and technology in K - 16 environments.
• Professors need to be modeling constructivist approaches to engaging students with technology. This seems like a weak area overall in the field. Many professors lecture talking about constructivism but don't model it.
• Lack of authentic quality arts experiences embedded in technology ed. poster sessions and presentations.