Today is the last day of the marking period. On Monday I will be greeting a whole new batch of students. It will be like the first day of school all over again. 

Before I move onto another semester, I want to reflect on something unexpected from this one. 

Last year, giving a test was unusual in my class because everything is so project-based. The whole pre-test/post-test thing was something I struggled with at first. I started by using Moodle to create the tests (this allowed me to access instant data and keep track of student scores) and tweaked them as I became more confident with the format. 

I learned a lot from the experience that I feel has made me a better teacher. I learned how to use technology to document learning and how to formulate questions that demonstrated both retention and application. I also learned from that process how much wording matters when you are creating questions for a test. I finally feel like now I have a test that covers the material taught and will show whether students retained and can apply information learned throughout their time with me in class. 

I am happy to report that students did grow. I am proud of the difference in scores from the start of the year to now. What I didn't expect was how much students would care about it, too. 

When I gave my pre-test, I kept the scores hidden from students because I didn't want them to freak out about the scores. When they finished up their finals, however, I did give students the option to get their pre-test score so they could compare. Now, if it was me, I am not sure I would have cared much about it. But that is not how my students reacted. 

Soon after I offered, there was a line at my desk with roughly half of the class wanting to know with one student simply saying, "I want to see how much I have grown." 

It is a moment of teaching gold that I hope to keep with me as we finish out the rest of the year. Kids care about how they do. They want to grow and learn and I sometimes forget how exciting it is that I get to be the one to help them do that. 

How do you handle pre and post testing results in your classroom? Do students show interest in finding out their progress? 

To celebrate the New Year, I had the chance to present at Oakland Schools this past weekend. It was a great Fine Arts conference, with an emphasis on Assessment and Technology. My afternoon presentation highlighted how teachers can use various technology tools to showcase student art, document learning, and manage workflow. 

After the conference was over and I read through the feedback forms from participants, one question seemed to recur - where do I start? 

When I started teaching Art I did not want anything to do with technology. I felt being tech savvy was using a projector and showing a PowerPoint. I purposely stayed away from Digital Media in college because I had no plan to teach it. It was not until my second year of teaching that I decided to try a digital project using Microsoft Paint. I had students create portraits out of letters. I felt the project was a success because students enjoyed it and the results were visually interesting. I let go of the fear I had of how more tech must mean less Art and was shown they can go hand in hand.

If you are on the fence with using tech in your class, I would suggest starting out small. Pick a short project that infuses concepts you need to cover and give your students a chance to shine. 

Two years later, I moved another notch towards creating an technology-rich classroom. I decided to use a website that offered teachers a place to house digital images of student work to share with families and friends. Artsonia is one of the best things I have done as a teacher for my students and my program. It not only gave a place to permanently store projects (which gave my students and me a place to go to for examples), but it also served as a visual representation of the learning taking place in my classroom. 

As we move to using student growth in teacher evaluations, this digital portfolio offers teachers a place to store and share student work as well as document growth. I also love how families can comment on student work and purchase items with their art on it that gives 20% of the funds back to the classroom. 

If you have a large class load and you are unsure of how to get started with this, consider starting with one project, grade level, or class and then slowly building. You will see a positive uptick in student and parent involvement as a result of this online tool.

Over the past few years I have added Video Production, Video Game Design, Collaborative Presentations, Skyping, and other Web 2.0 tools into my curriculum. The most recent addition is the use of a Learning Management System (Moodle) to organize and house class content for students. 

I know when I present on the environment I have created as a result of embracing and integrating technology, it can seem a little overwhelming. But this has been a process. I have built it over years of trial and error, adding a component here or there along the way. I know there are a lot of ways to get started, but I wanted to offer a few for those of you who are on the fence. 

What are some ways you started using more technology in student learning? Where did you start and where do you see yourself going in the future? I am interested in hearing how you developed a plan for integration and what made you get started.

So, if you would have asked me a year ago if I incorporate technology in my classroom, I would have smiled (probably smugly) and said "Duh!" I thought that because my students created projects using computers, I was incorporating technology in my classroom in a way that was clever and innovative. After spending a good chunk of time learning from others in my online PLN, I have a bit of a different view.

Well, about a week before school started last year I decided to do my pre and post testing for student growth using Moodle. It was a program our school used and I knew of another department who put their classes on there, so I thought I would check it out (mostly because it would grade the tests for me). I had given it a go a while before that, but was totally turned off due to the fact that it was kind of clumsy and really quite ugly.

When I was finally ready and started to really work with it, I was hooked.

I decided that if I could put my tests on Moodle, then maybe I should also consider having students turn their work in on Moodle, too. I had gotten multiple digital cameras from various grants and it was always a bear for me to have to take pics of student work for Artsonia. What if I had students take pictures of their work, upload it to Moodle? Not only did this work, but it also happens that Moodle will rename the files you download from your classes to be in alphabetical order matching up to the Artsonia roster perfectly! I also use this for students to write Artist Statements for their work and can use pair them along with test scores as evidence of growth in skill and understanding. And did I mention there are no more "no name" papers?

Then I started to think, if students are turning work in on Moodle, why not have students get their assignments from there, too? I like to think I am a pretty entertaining teacher - my knowledge and passion for art is something I am proud of, but I also realize that every now and again students will miss my class on a day when I am presenting, or that they may need another go at the information after the initial demo or presentation; some students might even finish way early and be ready to move on to the next thing. Using Camtasia and Screencast-o-matic, I started making videos of my presentations and demos for students to access over and over again if needed. Sometimes I even used them to intro to the class on my overhead and save my voice for more personalized instruction as I go from student to student around my classroom.

Now I understand that being innovative with technology is more than just having students create something with computers or consume something with it. It is about using it in a way that makes me more productive to be with students instead of in front of them all of the time. It is about merging my classroom into an environment of learning that allows me to make better use of my time and student's time so that we can be more productive.

I am definitely not totally there yet or have my Moodle class pages quite as pretty as I would like them, but I am still working on it. Here is a presentation given at MACUL 2012 by Cresta Wright that really helped me think of how to better organize my pages this year.

Do you use Moodle or another online class tool? How has it changed your classroom and what are some tips for making it work the best for both teachers and students?