New Media and New Literacies Journal

        I tried to find a Visual Arts based game-and that was tough! I finally found a website the gave you links to museums and their games, and I wound up on the Smithsonian's website where they have a game called: Pick Your Plate! A Global Guide to Nutrition.        I thought that this would be a good game to explore for several reasons. First, so many of our children are not aware of recommended portion sizes, nutritional values, and other valuable information regarding their food. Secondly, they would be learning about countries and cultures other than their own, which is a great tie into their social studies curriculum.      Once I began to play the game, I found some other educational benefits to it as well. The character "Plato" gives directions and information to the player. He reads what is on the screen, so that students are getting the words visually and in an auditory way. You have a limited budget for each me...

  I interviewed an 11 year old male, he is in sixth grade and attends public school. For privacy purposes I will call him Steve (not his real name). Before we even began the interview, apparently he was nervous! His mother said he was concerned about what the questions would be, but once I explained that it was on technology, he said, "Oh. I can answer those questions!" Overall, the answers that Steve gave were about what I expected. He said that he spends an hour or two (on average) on his phone during a typical day, and that most of that time is spent playing games rather than texting or talking on the phone. He has multiple gaming systems including a tablet, a Nintendo Switch, and a Wii. Steve said that "unless I'm grounded," he plays on at least one of these systems just about every day. He said that he watches TV or movies every day (his favorite ones are action, comedy, and drama). When I asked him what technology he used at school-this is where he surpris...

Final Project Research Topic     I have not completely narrowed down the idea I want to research for my final project, but I am leaning towards focusing on technology uses in the art classroom, how it could improve student's digital literacy skills, and what would the potential challenges be. This could include using video tutorials to teach skills, rather than hands on/live demonstrations as well as referencing/using video games as a basis for art lessons and projects. I am being self-reflective on the types of technologies that I use in the art room, how can I use them in new/more effective ways, and what other types of digital literacy tools can I use to improve my teaching as well as improve students' digital literacy skills. The following are the articles I found pertaining to this topic. Hopper, J. J. H. (2016). Digitizing the easel: Student perspectives on tutorial videos in the art classroom. Art Education, 69 (4), 23-28.      Hopper is an art educ...