How can visual literacy and the use of the Internet impact the teaching and learning process in the classroom? What are some visual-thinking strategies you would like to use in your classroom? What role do you want the Internet play in your classroom?
I could answer this, but Chris Anderson says it much better in this TED talk. If you want to read my blog, I’ll be honored! However, I will not be offended if you stop reading now and listen to what Mr. Anderson has to say.
Im sure there could be master’s level courses on this topic, if not entire master’s programs. There are an infinite number of great ways to use visuals and the internet to improve teaching and learning. Consider the relatively new presentation tool, Prezi.com. Prezi gives us something PowerPoint, Keynote and even Google Presentations never could, an infinite large canvas. This becomes very interesting in terms of how we can arrange information for visual learners. We can use the canvas, not only to include information we want, but also to give spatial arrangement to show relationships, like we would in a graphic organizer. And because prezi is online, we can collaborate with it. Simply clicking a button will allow collaborators from anywhere in the world work together as if they are side by side.
Collaboration brings be to my second point, the role of the internet in
today’s class room is to bring people together. I’ve said for a long time now, the world is getting smaller! Imagine trying to collaborate like the example above without the internet… We can understand now why tools like prezi, youtube and all of the Google products are so exciting for passionate educators. Before the modern internet, collaboration and innovation at this level was simply not possible.
Photo is creative commons:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/klearchos/3627086772/sizes/l/in/photostream/
