EDUC 6305: Photoshop Express

Today's assignment built upon the content of yesterday's, focusing on the manipulation of photographs, post production. For this process, we were instructed create an account at and make use of Photoshop Express. After completing this process, I uploaded an image of my brothers and myself a from a little over ten years ago, and played with the graphic using tools available at the sight.

Before:

After:

It was a fun experience and it'll be interesting to see how my brothers react, but I did feel a little constrained by the limited editing options represented within this application. While there are several options for editing the format of a picture (such as cropping, tinting, filtering, warping, and marginal cloning), the choices available for adding to the picture are confined to a handful of pre-loaded images, which can only be manipulated to a small extent. Adding components involving elements such as new images or freehand drawing is not an option within the program (at least not one that I could find). -Though to be sure, the use of other programs, such as MS Paint, in conjunction, might allow for some additional creative avenues and maneuverability.

The largest benefit of this program is that it's free. It therefore lends itself well to classroom use because students and teachers have equal access, unrelated to financial costs. There are several practical, creative, and social, uses for such an application within the classroom. In addition to lending itself well toward projects involving graphic elements such as fliers, posters, illustrations, and illuminated texts (as mentioned in previous posts), or photo sharing, this application might also be used (to an extent) to edit graphic elements of educational activities. Also, like Picasa, Photshop Express allows users to warehouse pictures online (up to 2G, for free), which can later be used for additional purposes, without necessitating access to portable storage devices (like flash drives).


To access my Photoshop Gallery, click here.

TPACK
In using this, and like processes, for classroom instruction, teachers might more readily demonstrate technological competence in teaching within their content areas (TPCK). As in the previous assignment, this application and activity can easily be modified to provide an avenue for teachers to model technological skills and methods, and promote modern technological responsibility related to privacy and appropriateness aspects inherent to publicizing material online.

Teaching English requires the integration of current, historic, and developing linguistic and literary materials, events, topics, and movements into the class. The cited content theme of Graphic Representation (CK), while not immediately relevant to the English curriculum or content field, can be established and maintained in my lectures, presentations, and student activities (P), in order to pursue cross-curricular instructional avenues and engage multiple learning domains. Online organization and accessibility of my visual tools (T), and those of my students, can greatly assist me in creating and using instructional methods/materials.


Relation to standards
The process of developing online graphics and diagrams relates to several ISTE NETS standards, primarily #1 Facilitate and inspire student creativity and innovation by promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness; #2: Design and develop digital age learning experiences by develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in setting their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing their own progress; #3: Model Digital-Age Work and Learning by modeling and facilitating effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research and learning; and #4: Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility by promoting and modeling digital etiquette and responsible social interactions related to the use of technology and information.

Integration
As an English Teacher I will be required to teach English language and literature. The use and incorporation of graphic elements in my instruction will be essential to meeting the needs of my students. The quality of my classroom facilitation and inherent presentations may be improved by the systematic collection, development, archiving, and retrieving of electronic resources including graphic representations.