[14] Making up for Lost Time

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A big concern I recently stumbled upon was lost time in the classroom from absences. This whole concept began when I found an old article, from 2009, that asked teachers what technology and equipment they would buy if they had an unlimited budget. One of the teachers replied they would buy an ELMO camera. This is a specific brand name, but in general the camera this teacher is referring to is used during demonstrations- a technology every art room should have! This camera points at your desk area, and projects onto the TV or any screen. This allows students to remain in their seats, and get a closer view than they ordinarily would when they are all gathered around the teachers desk for a demonstration- another great device to add to my Art Technology Inventory (Interactivity #3).


Anyway, this lead to me thinking about using the camera to record demonstrations and post them online for absent students (or even for students to review). I thought this would be a great way to ensure no time is lost reviewing demonstrations during valuable class time. BUT- this could backfire and cause students to take attendance lightly. "Why go to class if I can just view Ms. Kelly's demonstrations online?"- is what I imagine my students would say. This camera proves to be a useful technology, but how can I ensure my students will show up to class?


There are many other uses for this camera if I ultimately decided not to use it on a blog. I could always send students personal emails with attachments, or I could use the recordings and have my students each take turns creating a blog post everyday for each demonstration. This would allow students to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of the covered materials for that day, while also using publishing and producing technologies. There are many thoughts and questions that still linger with the idea of a class blog, but I believe as I implement my ideas and test them out, the answers will become more clear to me.


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