Saturday 11 October 2014
Inspired by the students!
This week was my observation week at my placement. I spent most of the week sitting in classes watching how each lecturer taught, their different styles and learning more about the course and the students. But in some lectures I got to walk around the class and look over the shoulder of what each student was working on, I even gave advice and helped a few of them with Photoshop.
I was SO inspired by them. All week I was watching their creativity and it got me dying to dive into a project of my own. I spent the best part of Thursday night working on the image above, and it was so much fun.
The week just really reminded me of why I want to teach my subject, and made me even more excited for my placement in November.
Tuesday 7 October 2014
Technology in my placement; Remote Desktop and Flat Screens
This week I began my placement on the Creative Media course at Gower College Swansea.
This course is full of technology as you would expect, Macs, cameras, lights etc. But I have seen a lot of ways tech is being used to teach as well as being the things students are learning about.
Remote Desktop
This is a really awesome teaching tool if your teaching a subject like mine, showing 30 students how to use Photoshop is pretty impossible without some sort of screen. But this app lets you take control over the students Mac's, so whatever you do on your screen will be shown on theirs.
1. This makes it easier for the students to see what your doing
2. It stops the students from being distracted and watching cat videos on Youtube.
This program also allows you to keep an eye on what the students are doing on their Mac.
Flat screens vs Interactive Boards
What I found on the particular course is that they don't use interactive boards. They have a normal white board and flat Screen TVs in every classroom. The TV's are hooked up to the master Mac, so they can display whats happening on the lecturers screen, show websites, Youtube videos and power points I guess. I haven't used the flat screens yet so I don't really know the advantages / disadvantages, but I thought it was interesting.
Labels:
App,
assignment,
College,
learning,
PCET,
Remote Desktop,
Teaching
Sunday 5 October 2014
Micro teaching session seemed to be a success!
I have no images sadly of my mirco teaching session, but I think it went well! I was so nervous about it mainly because I don't know if any of my class enjoy or want to hear about issues in photography. I decided to talk about the power of an image, as it is something I think people really don't know, and I would like people to be more aware of how powerful images can be. The class seemed to react well to the topic; everyone got involved, asked question and gave me positive feedback at the end. The best part for me was obviously I really enjoyed it. I knew if I didn't enjoy it I was on the wrong course, I have done teaching before but it was quite a while ago and it felt like I was doing it for the first time all over again.
As promised I have included the extended version of the video I should during the session.
WARNING: Video contains images of war
Thank you everyone who supported, got involved and gave feedback!
As promised I have included the extended version of the video I should during the session.
WARNING: Video contains images of war
Thank you everyone who supported, got involved and gave feedback!
Wednesday 1 October 2014
Learning something new can always be challenging
Learning something new can always be challenging. No matter who you are, how old you are or what your good at. During IT lessons at uni I have noticed a few people are having or have had problems with technology, and some have found using technology quite a scary experience. I have grown up surrounded by technology. Having a dad who builds computers and could spend hours talking, discussing and explaining technology, I never really had much choice but to play with technology! I have never looked at a computer and been scared. But I definitely know how it feels.
As I have said I've grown up around technology so when I got into photography digital came natural to me. It was something I enjoyed and something I was good at. I never really came across film until I went to college, and even then we never really went into it too much. We might have spent one or two lessons in the dark room 'playing', but I never really knew what I was doing.
Fast forward to my first year at uni and I HAD to use a film camera. I was absolutely petrified. I can feel myself panicking and my palms getting sweaty just thinking about that first proper day in the dark room at uni. Everyone around me seemed to know what they were doing, and I didn't. I felt like an idiot. All these people seemed to know what they were doing and I was just looking at the scary equipment in front of me. Eventually I asked for help, but to be honest it was explained way too quickly because the class was just so big, and the lecturer had other things to move onto. I asked other students for help, but after a few times asking I felt like I was being a huge pain and annoying everyone. Every time I went into that dark room I started getting warm and my heart started beating faster. I had never been so intimidated by a piece of equipment like that before.
But it got easier. Hour lessons were not enough for me to learn, so I stayed behind, asked for tutorials and researched. I still got frustrated that I couldn't develop photographs like others in my class, and I couldn't do it as quick. But you know what, I got it. I eventually could walk into that dark room without panicking, and do my work. Now I have 3 film cameras, and I love them! Don't get me wrong I would rather be playing in Photoshop than the dark room, but at least I have the choice.
So what I am trying to say is, it really doesn't matter who you are, learning something new can always be challenging. But you need to pursue and practice, cause you will get it. I know how it feels to feel lost, so I am always happy to help anyone if I can. Your not an idiot just because you can't do something. You will do it eventually.
Explain Everything - Dark Room Printing
Today I used an app that I haven't heard of before called Explain Everything.I used it to explain how to print in a digital darkroom.
It's a really useful app cause you can create a little movie that anyone can watch. I think it could be a really good tool in education, especially in photography, because you can create little tutorials that your students can access at any time. I think it's a create idea,as a student, to be able to go back online and re watch how to do something that I might have forgotten by the time I've gotten home. You could follow the tutorial as well. If the video was on a specific Photoshop action, as a student at home or after class, I could open Photoshop and follow the video step by step, then pause when I'm finding something a bit tricky. Or I can go back if I missed something, or watch it again and again until I understood the tutorial.
What else is great about this app is that you can add web browsers, so anything from Youtube, or PDFs online. You can draw on it, add photos, record video and sound. It's a really interactive tool!
I am really impressed with this little app, big thumbs up! :D
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