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The question posed to her, as you may have guessed, is "Why is it important to teach kids about art? Why does it matter?"

Example 1. You are a teacher looking for content that can be used in the study of the Spanish conquest. You find a Web site that has excellent biographies of the cultural leaders, profiles of the different native cultures, and even some patterns for ceremonial masks that can be reproduced for a class activity. You e-mail several of your friends about your ideas to incorporate some of the site's materials into your curriculum plan. The important aspect of your communication, as opposed to information provided by a simple web search, is that you shared your ideas as a teaching professional as well as a link to the Web site. If, instead, you post your finds with your ideas for implementation to a Web log equipped with RSS generation capability, you provide a unique information source that can be accessed by thousands of teachers like you that are looking for ways to improve their learning environments. In essence, you have helped to establish an online community of practice specific to teachers of social studies. We all have unique experiences and solutions that can benefit others. There are no rules that say only professional textbook publishers should be allowed to create or suggest how to use curriculum materials. Example 2. You are teaching a class in science fiction and its parallels to developing technology. You teach this class each term and want to use timely examples. Like most instructors, the time you have available for searching out new technologies on the Web is limited. So, you subscribe to a free news feed from Sci-Fi Today that brings the latest news in science and science fiction to your desktop news reader. Example 3. You are the superintendent of a school district with 49 schools. Each school maintains a Web site but it is very time consuming to visit each Web site periodically to review each schools news and events. The schools begin to post their news to a Web log that is incorporated into each school's Web site, much like Bryant Elementary School in Seattle, Washington. The weblog tool also produces an RSS news feed. You install a news reader and subscribe to each news feed. Each day you can quickly review all the news and events at each school in one place without having to visit all 49 Web sites. Example 4. You are a researcher working on an archaeological dig on a Greek island. You have uncovered an artifact that puzzles you. You post your progress each day to a weblog. You include a picture of the puzzling artifact. The next day you are contacted by a German archaeologist that you have never met. He subscribes to your project news feed along with news feeds from other similar digs. He was on his way to a conference in Cairo and was browsing his news headlines on his PDA. He tells you the object is a physician's instrument. Now, with a potential context, you are better able to interpret some epigraphic fragments you have collected.

Probably at no time in history has access to, and proficiency with, media and information technologies been more important in the public mind, nor more critical to policy making and teaching in government, schools and universities.

Ideas for your Flowgram Talk about your photos Import from Facebook and Flickr then add your voice. Blogging Post to your blog in ways never before possible. Presentations Combine PowerPoint with online media and you. Education & Learning Easily & quickly create interactive training materials. Explain everything Interactive guided tours, how-to's and more.