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"An iPad app released Wednesday makes it easy to combine a drawing on the tablet with an audio memory - such as your child's description of his or her artwork. "

"In my classroom, each of my grade one and grade two students has their own blog. These blogs also serve as digital portfolios. Throughout the school year, the children post artifacts of their learning from all subject areas, including writing samples, podcasts of reading fluency,photos of artwork, explanations of mathematics concepts and videos that summarize their learning in science, health and social studies. (Note: The videos linked to in this blog post work best when played through Google Chrome.)"

"Earlier this year, at the Whitney Museum of American Art, in New York, visitors paraded through the fifth floor to see a retrospective dedicated to the abstract expressionist Frank Stella. Although many of the works on display were four or five decades old, in some ways the show felt tailor-made for the Instagram age: a riot of vibrant colors and textures, 20-foot-long reliefs, and sculptures as jagged and dynamic as 3-D graffiti. Visitors one busy Saturday afternoon stopped in front of artworks, lined up shots on their phones, snapped a few photos, and then moved on to the next piece. Some paused briefly to consider a particular painting; more stared down at their screens, furiously filtering. Few noticed an elderly gentleman sitting on a bench in one of the smaller rooms, watching the crowd engage with his work. The only visitor in the gallery not clutching a phone was Stella himself. Museum directors are grappling with how technology has changed the ways people engage with exhibits. But instead of fighting it, some institutions are using technology to convince the public that, far from becoming obsolete, museums are more vital than ever before. Here's what those efforts look like."

"A paper circuit is a low-voltage electrical circuit that is created on paper or cardboard using conductive copper tape, LEDs and a power source such as a coin-cell battery.  Creating paper circuits is a good way to teach the basics of electricity and how circuits function.   In addition to being educational, they can also be a fun makerspace project that helps to bring artwork and paper craft to life.  By adding sensors, buzzers and motors to your circuit, you can also add another dimension of interactivity.  These simple projects are great for all ages and all makerspaces."

"So, in order to model the importance of continually changing and adapting to our students' needs, we began with a dream of mine - building a Lego wall. Legos are a timeless classic for creativity, building, and fun. Kids of all ages enjoy this magnificent toy. For many, Legos come with a set of instructions and a product to build. Other times, kids have free reign on their creativity in order to build something new and different. In our school's Makerspace, Legos are a staple in our building station. Kids can create whatever they wish with Legos and even integrate those Legos with other materials for their project. With the inspiration of others online and on TV, we decided to put our Legos on the wall. Putting Legos on the wall not only is something new and different for our kids to experience, but it is also a space saver. Students can build on the wall, creating interesting artwork, simply creating anything new with Legos."

"This fall, my computer science class will follow the new AP Computer Science curriculum framework while also including culturally responsive instruction that makes use of students' interests, community settings, and cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Some of the students enjoy freestyle rap and dance, so they will learn how to simulate or enhance their performances using code. Other students study drawing and painting, so they will learn how to use code to create their artwork. This approach is a gateway to computer science, using coding to foster creative expression, and supporting cultural responsiveness that addresses underrepresented students' lack of exposure to computer science."

"The iPad is the professional artists dream. No more carrying around massive portfolios of work - you can just carry around all of your work, analogue (photos of your work) or digital (created on your iPad) all on your iPad. It fits in with Art education in that way too. Students can photograph, blog, eportfolio, document, review, collaborate and share their artwork using iPad and that's before you even start thinking about the plethora of Art apps for drawing, designing and creating. There are lots of apps that support the teaching of Art and many many apps that support learning too."

"Imagine students' artwork hanging in your school's hallway and beside each masterpiece is a QR code. When parents, students, and other teachers scan the code using a mobile device, they hear the student telling about themselves and the relevance of their art… Or what about a QR code in the back of a library book that allows you to hear a student's review of the book? Or a QR code sent home to parents that allows them to listen to their 1st grader reading or telling a story? Sounds difficult, doesn't it? Well, don't worry - it really isn't hard at all! I'll give you two options for recording the audio files and will show you a couple of ways to "embed" them into QR codes."

"Photos, logos, graphics and images are an important part of any multimedia creation that students produce. A few well placed, high quality images can transform class work from amateur to spectacularly professional. So, unless you plan on taking your own photographs or creating your own artwork, finding legitimate Creative Commons images is an essential digital skill. To help students (and teachers) navigate and understand the often confusing space that is digital copyright, here are five tools that we recommend using to to search, reference, attribute and download Creative Commons images."

"ve been playing with ways to make a switch or button on my paper circuit artwork appear more integrated and purposeful. The robot I originally played with had a momentary button that I designed over the battery into the belly of the robot. See it here. The button also worked as the mechanism that closed the circuit. This time I bought a button online that was spliced into the circuit and not necessarily near the battery. This meant the connection to the battery was fixed and pushing the button (with a satisfying click noise) completed the circuit. I've been playing with ideas in preparation for the fall since I finally received the Donors Choose grant for supplies to try this with my students."

Interesting blog post advocating for the use of analysing images in support of literacy skills.

"Who is allowed to "make"? Who is celebrated for hand-fashioning all sorts of devices, objects, artworks and comestibles - and perhaps picking up some critical thinking skills in the process? These questions have been percolating in the "maker community" for some time - and gained relevance when 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed was arrested last month after his homemade clock was mistaken for a bomb."

Express yourself - Be Funky!

Photo effects with one click, Turn your photos into artwork.

Google Art Project, a unique collaboration with some of the world's most acclaimed art museums to enable people to discover and view more than a thousand artworks online in extraordinary detail.

Photobie is: * A free software for photo editing, scrapbooking, animation, screen capture ... * A community of graphics enthusiasts, who are sharing their experties and artworks ... * A network of professionals providing software, graphics and web design services .

"One of the great things about the iPad in a classroom is that it enables students to pinch and zoom to see artworks in more detail than they would find in most text books. The following five apps allow students to do that and more."

"You can create a safe space for your students to engage in conversation about digital topics with though-provoking images and a variety of activities. Students of all ages can use the image/discussion cards I've created in a variety of ways. Asking students to group images and assign groups a label will force them to engage in discussion and analysis of the artwork in front of them. The questions on the back of the image cards can make great journal prompts, debate topics, and launches for research and inquiry projects."

"In this tutorial, you will learn how to make an Art Bot which is also known as a Scribblebot or Scribble Machine.  These contraptions use a vibrating or offset motor to move around in unpredictable ways. Making an Art Bot is a fun way to learn the basics of creating a simple circuit with a switch.  The best part of making these bots is that you can use repurposed and recycled materials. This project is also a great way to incorporate more Art into your STEM education program.  You can use markers, crayons, chalk and more to create one of a kind artwork."