Classmates' Websites

It has been so much fun seeing how everyone has progressed this semester! Speaking for myself, I was not sure if I would be able to make a website on my own and I am amazed at how much we accomplished in such a short period of time. Here are some of my favorites:

Andrew Jannetti: His text and pages are so colorful! I am extremely impressed with his coding skills (I do not know how to change the text color within a page more than once). I also enjoy the title of his pages; they are whimsical and fun!

Andrew's Website

Kelsey Brikis: I absolutely love that her page is an homage to Pittsburgh! On her images assignment page she found a gorgeous picture of her city that captures the beauty of the steel city.

Kelsey's Website

Melania Fernandez: Her entire site is color coordinated and I feel is ready to market her dance education skills! Her pictures show what a beautiful dancer and person she is. I also like that she has featured Sergio's business; I think this is a great way to generate mutual traffic to both their sites. She will be missed when she returns to Costa Rica!

Melania's Website

Congratulations to all on a successful semester and enjoy the holidays!

Blackboard: The Good and The Bad

I have been using Blackboard since my undergrad, when it was first launched (around 2002). I enjoy many of the features on blackboard, especially the communication tools as it is an easy way for students to contact one another and the instructor. The discussion board feature is also a great way for students who do not like to speak up in class still participate in class discussions.

A drawback of Blackboad is the class site will only be as good as the instructor can make it. If the instructor is not familar with the interface, does not understand technology well, or just does not want to take the time to use it, it severely limits the student's class experience. It may mean that students are unable to communicate effectively with one another, there is no technology element in the class, and students may wind up purchasing more books because the instructor does not use digital material. Students are left to take what they can from the classroom experience and will not have to think about the class on their own time.

I believe that Blackboard is an effective tool for the classroom and Universities should require all instructors to take a course on how to use it to its full potential. In my opinion, this would allow for more stuent participation, class communication, and free course material for students.

YouTube: A Tool For Teaching History

Recently I was having a conversation with a colleague of mine and we got to talking about how so many young students do not know who choreographers such as Bob Fosse or Alvin Ailey are. I have noticed that in the last 5-7 years of my teaching experience fewer and fewer students are exposed to any sort of historical context and know nothing about the choreographers who shaped today's dance world.

Luckily we live in the age of technology and YouTube has been a life saver in the classroom. When I teach theater dance to high school students I can pull up videos of Jack Cole, Bob Fosse, Twyla Tharp, Susan Stroman, and many more with the click of a mouse (or tap of my iPhone screen). The students have responded well to these video viewings; I accredit this to their obsession with Facebook, YouTube, OoVoo, and Skype.

YouTube is now an essential part of my curriculum development. It is a free, easy, and highly accessible way to keep students historically informed and use technology in the classroom.

Lights, Camera, Action! My first attempt at iMovie

This week I created my first ever iMovie. I will openly admit, I was nervous and afraid to try because I don't consider myself that technologically savvy. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how user friendly iMovie was and I was instantly put at ease. I actually found myself having a harder time choosing which photos and music to use than I did using the iMovie features.

Here is my top 10 favorite iMovie features:
10. Drag and Drop is your best friend for all media (pictures, text, sound, transitions)
9. Instant access to your iPhoto and iTunes libraries without having to open the programs.
8. Make a mistake? No problem, the undo command is your best friend.
7. I didn't need to read a 100 page article to learn how to use it. To learn what a button does, hover your mouse over it and it will display its job.
6. Crop: You choose the focal point of the picture.
5. When layering music, it automatically cuts it to fit the length of your movie.
4. AUTOSAVE, without creating a filename first.
3. Export your movie using multiple formats.
2. Ken Burns: this is genius! It can make a still picture feel like its moving.
1. Lots of customizable items!


I would recommend that all performing arts educators become acquainted with iMovie as I believe I know have a useful tool to supplement my work.

Getting to Know You

At the end of class last week, we met the members of our final group projects. I was hesitant at first since I had originally hoped I would be able to work with my dance education friends. However, I was pleasantly surprised by my teammates and am very excited to work with them. We discovered that we all use Mac Books and decided that our team name must be a tribute to Steve Jobs, hence Team Steve Jobs' Zombie Army. We come from various backgrounds in the arts and I believe that we will create a project that showcases them all. To learn more about my teammates check out their blogs listed under Steve Jobs's Zombie Army!

Investigating Browser

Prior to this class, I honestly had not though twice about what internet browser to use. Since I can remember I have always used the default browser on my computer (Internet Explorer when I was on PC, and now Safari). If a webpage loaded slow or an upload took a while, I blamed my internet connection; however, after playing around on different browsers I discovered that the browser creates the speed.

It was an ordinary event that inspired my browser search this week. I was uploading my weekly rehearsal video to youtube for my dancers to view and the upload kept freezing or was telling me that it would take 2 hours to upload. The video was 6 and a half minutes long, not an overly large file. I got extremely frustrated and groaned to the internet gods that technology hates me. Then I thought about my Tech Resources class. I did a quick search on the top 10 internet browsers and discovered Top Ten Reviews. I read through the reviews and consulted youtube for help on deciding which browser would give me speed and efficiency. I will admit, at this point I was still skeptical that changing browsers would make a difference.

I decided to download Google Chrome; I already had Firefox and Safari installed on my Mac. I had originally used Safari to try uploading the video, to no avail. I also tried Firefox, but was still not satisfied with the speed (it again froze up). Google Chrome was my life saver! Not only did the browser open quickly, it uploaded my video in 20 minutes, did not freeze up, solved my problems for the night. I am completely awed that changing browsers could make such a difference in internet speed.

I'm still exploring Google Chrome, and so far I am in love with it. To all the non-believers out there, trust me when I say your browser can make all the difference in the world.

Welcome to my Blog for Technology Resources!