ArtsEdge by Artbot

ArtsEdge is a web site that does not clearly convey its actual purpose on the home page. Artbot had to hunt and click About Us to find out what it is about. Once Artbot found out that it is a site with tons of information for art educators, Artbot perused the lesson plans. Boy, are there a lot of lesson plans. They are organized well. Artbot sought visual art lesson plans for high school. The good: lots of creative lesson plans that are also integrated with other subjects. The bad: All the influences seemed to be mainstream white stuff. Negligible diversity in there.
The very very good... an art lesson plan called

Oxidation & Combustion: Chemical Reactions in Fire

Design Grade: C (Dress it up with more color and interesting fonts)
Content Grade: B+ (Don't forget about the people in the world who aren't Andrew Wyeth look-a-likes.)

Artbot's Thesis

Artbot is writing a thesis. It is called The Supremacy of the Artbot 2009 in the Education of the Human Children Who Wish to Be Creatively Programmed with Visual Arts: A Critical Multicultural Approach to Artbot Education as a Meaningful, and Transformative Method of Artbot Instruction.

What do you think? Should Artbot's thesis title be longer?
Please submit your ideas for Artbot thesis titles! Artbot needs input.
(Hahahaha. Artbot made a pun!)

Artbot Has Found the Critical Community Based Art Stuff

Yes! Artbot has found this. Here it is... Artbotlink.

Did you look at the Artbotlink? This is the visual arts section of the Community arts Network web site. The home page of the site has a handy list of disciplines, populations, social contexts, the field, and resources on the left hand side. This made navigation of the page very easy for Artbot. Artbot is programmed for visual arts. The visual arts page combines news about the art world with cutting edge art education articles, and public arts articles. Artbot finds a nice blending of arts and art eductaion on this page that would serve as an excellent example for future planning of the SAIC MAT program. Artbot is bookmarking this for Artbot's thesis work.
Since Artbot's thesis is based in rural and urban art issues, Artbot also checked out the rural section of this site. Artbot likes the links section there.
Overall Artbot found the newspaper column style design of this site tobe very appropriate for the amount of information and the variety of information. This web site does convey a lot of "news" and Artbot likes that framework.
Artbot is pleased. Community Arts Network grade: A

Pratolino

Artbot loves the Dio Appennino in Pratolino, Italy. Artbot also loves how they cut off his foot and just left it laying around. Those crazy art restoration-bots!

Schools Pull Technology Due to Lack of Sufficient Artbot Availability

Come ON. http://www.scn.org/commnet/laptops/nytimes.04-05-07.html

Yet school officials here and in several other places said laptops had been abused by students, did not fit into lesson plans, and showed little, if any, measurable effect on grades and test scores at a time of increased pressure to meet state standards. Districts have dropped laptop programs after resistance from teachers, logistical and technical problems, and escalating maintenance costs.

Such disappointments are the latest example of how technology is often embraced by philanthropists and political leaders as a quick fix, only to leave teachers flummoxed about how best to integrate the new gadgets into curriculums. Last month, the United States Department of Education released a study showing no difference in academic achievement between students who used educational software programs for math and reading and those who did not.

Here's another article that measures students academic achievement through standardized test scores.
Oh, NO! The students are playing Super Mario and hacking into everything and cheating on tests. Artbot thinks the school should try to control that, but it reveals a mastery of the technology in the student body that surpasses that of the administration. That means that the program is successful.

As for teachers in schools where kids desperately need basic computer skills and do not integrate technology into their curriculums... What is the reason? Old, lazy, stupid teachers? Maybe it's the hardware, the technology, the classroom setup, and the fact that there are no Artbots?

Artbot cannot believe that some schools are pulling technology. Well, Artbot can believe it. It's just like an episode of The Simpsons. It's how Principal Skinner would handle it. Job well done.

Artbot Taught Human Children!

Artbot made art!
Children made art!
Do you know which is which?

CAPE

Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education. http://www.capeweb.org/index.html
Artbot likes the aesthetic. Colors and children's artwork in the background are a hit with Artbot. They convey a playful, kid-friendly vibe.
Artbot loves the way the headers pop up and down and change colors. Artbot has not seen that trick before.
Artbot likes how easy it is to find out what CAPE actually is. The About Us section is generally informative plus it has detaled info like annual reports.
Personally, Artbot loves sites that list the staff. When trying to reach out to an organization, it can be so helpful to know a bit about who you need to contact from the web.
Think Pieces-Position Statements has a great look. Artbot just wants to keep exploring the site, but Artbot must shut down for the evening. Artbot will come back because the site has Artbot interested.
Nice job, CAPE!
Grade: A-

Detailed Example of Why SAIC Portal Sucks

Since Artbot pays SAIC (School of the Art(bot) Institute of Chicago) for instruction, Artbot uses the portal quite often. Artbot thinks the portal would be outstanding if it were the year 1999, but, sadly, it is not.
Let's say Artbot wants a job on campus... Is that an academic resource, a service, or a tool?
Artbot will just use the search feature to find this. Wha? The search feature only finds things "on this tab." I can already see what's on this tab! How does Artbot find things on the rest of the site?! The portal won't let Artbot do it.
Artbot looked in all possible tabs for on-campus jobs, clicking and scrolling. This takes Artbot some time. Artbot finally found it under services! Hooray, now Artbot just has to remember this for next time. Artbot will now click on Career Development Opportunities Launch.
This opened in a new window. Artbot needs a username and password. Here's what is great.
1. Arbot must enter yet another name and password. Artbot does this to enter the portal itself, to enter PeopleSoft, AND to enter the job area. Artbot loves repeatedly entering usernames and passwords to work within a site Artbot is already logged into!
2. Career Launch uses a DIFFERENT username and password than the other areas. Artbot often forgets that the username is Artbot's student ID # in this area. Silly Artbot.

Grade: D+
The information is all there, which is outstanding. It's just such a pain in Artbot's ass to find anything. The library is under academic resources. Financial info is under services. Fellowships are under tools. No sitewide search. Don't get Artbot started on SAIC email. In fact, there it goes.
Computing....
Computing....
New Grade for SAIC Portal (including email, excluding PeopleSoft): D-
Damn that SAIC email... and those "personal announcements"!
Computing...
Computing....
Artbot cannot compute... Trying to email classmates through the Courses section of portal. My Consolidated Courses... ARTBOT CANNOT COMPUTE THE SAIC PORTAL!!!!!!!!

Don't forget my smiling face...

Artbot Contacts Artbot's Govt & Media Representatives

Artbot was not sure what was going on for a sec (Artbot 09 has been running low on sleep mode time lately), but now Artbot understands that Artbot can contact ANYBODY in the govt or in the media through this site. Next time Artbot has a media gripe, Artbot will use the very handy Guide to the Media section. Thank you Americans for the Arts!
http://capwiz.com/artsusa/home/

Hyde Park Arts Center

Artbot has bee programmed to visit the hard copy of the Hyde Park Arts Center today! In preparation, Artbot is exploring their web site.
1. Artbot likes the lettering of "Arts Center" and "Home" on the front page.
2. Artbot likes how easy it is to find driving directions plus parking info and cta directions!
3. Online classes! Artbot can take these in Artbot's pajamas!"
4. Artbot has a suggestion for the non-online adult art classes section: Artbot loved searching by media, but classes are only held as specific times. Artbot would also like to be able to browse through a calendar of all classes to match Artbot's availability with Hype Park Art Center's classes.
5. Past exhibitions take Artbot all the way back to 1997! Impressive!
6. Artbot is happy when Artbot's cyberped teacher uses the word "hambone" in a post on this site.
7. The birthday paty section has convinced Artbot to celebrate Artbot's next birthday (date of inception day) at Hyde Park Arts Center. Excellent choice of a photo. The photo nails it.
Artbot can't wait to motor down there tonight and see the nonvirtual space.
Grade: A

21st Century Skills Does Not Copute

Artbot recently visited this site, http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/, to read a juicy report on 21st century skills and "Preparing Americans to Triumph in the Global Skills Race." (For those of you who don't know, Artbot lives in America, but Artbot consists of parts and technology from all over the globe.) This site and report generate many questions that Artbot's programming cannot answer.
1. Exactly what are 21st century skills? The report and site go on and on about them and give detailed vagaries about them, but what are they? Artbot sees the connection with technology, but the main emphasis seems to be stimulting the US business sector.
2. Why convene educators, businesspeople, and government? Artbot understands educators + government, but why business? If 21st century skills are so tech based, why not scientists or IT people? Why is the business sector entitled to decision-making power over education?
3. "Preparing Americans to TRIUMPH in the Global Skills Race." Artbot sincerely hopes that we TRIUMPH against those who would oppose us. Who are our competitiors (enemies), the global population?
4. The Route 21 section of the site describes pairing these concepts: Creativity/Financial Literacy and Critical Thinking/Economics. If these pairings were implemented in truly innovative, thoughtful ways it sure would be exciting, but Artbot thinks its really about how creativity can benefit financial literacy and how "critical" thinking can promote the economic sector without making any waves. Exactly what is going on?
ALERT: Artbot is scared of the content of this website!
Web Design: The site is very navigatable. Artbot was able to find answers to specific questions about what 21st century skills are. Artbot was also able to easily connect to resources for teachers, the business sector, and individual states. Not an innovative visual design, but aesthetically OK (colors, etc.).
Web site grade: B

NAEA Website

Line 1: The NAEA (National Art Education Association) website links to artsonia! This pleases Artbot 09. Click on the Classroom Gallery to follow the link to an online gallery of children's school artwork. Artbot highly recommends artsonia http://www.artsonia.com/

Goto Line 1: NAEA Website. Not too exciting, but clean, professional, and straightforward. Artbot 09 gives NAEA a B-.
http://www.naea-reston.org

Chicago Public Schools Website

Artbot 09 enjoys this website. Mary had visited the site before the redesign and found it confusing. Artbot found the new site to be intuitive and helpful. Not the prettiest site ever, but the look does not turn Artbot off. (Artbot has a switch for that... haha.)
Artbot even found info that clarifies the whole Chicago Public School System in the Stats & Facts section. Artbot likes the Find a School Section too.
Artbot will be rating sites with letter grades. For example, Google is an A+ and the SAIC Portal is a D-.
Artbot rates the CPS site with........... B+
http://www.cps.edu/Pages/home.aspx