SchoolArts - November 2010

TECH4ARTED

Wallwisher: Collaborate and Interact

Theresa McGee

Everyone’s voice isn’t always heard in a class discussion or at a meeting with colleagues. Wallwisher is a great tool to increase collaboration and interaction. Wallwisher (www.wallwisher. com) is a free online tool that allows you to create a virtual and interactive sticky note wall. Although you must register to create a wall, no registration is required to add a sticky note, which makes it easy for anyone to add content. The notes can include text (up to 160 characters), images, audio, video, or links to websites. As the wall creator, you can rearrange or remove any posted notes, even those created by others. Here are a few ideas on how to use Wallwisher:

Create a Class Critique Allow students to simultaneously participate in an online class discussion. This is particularly useful for students who shy away from traditional class discussions. Share the wall’s Web address and have students comment on a work of art from home. See how a discussion worked using the art of Kazimir Malevich at www.wall- wisher.com/wall/Malevich3AV.

your preferences so that you are the only one with the ability to post on the wall. For example, the following resource wall contains Web links, video, and images for learning about Picasso: www.wallwisher.com/wall/ PabloPicasso

Collaborate with Colleagues Honoring this month’s theme, I collaborated with art teachers to post humorous things kids say in the artroom ( www.wallwisher.com/wall/ ArtRoomHumor). Need a good laugh? Look at what art teachers posted on the artroom humor wall. Test out Wallwisher for yourself and post your favorite thing a student said, did, or created in your artroom.

Matching Game

Start by creating sticky notes with images, then create additional sticky notes with a matching text definition. Since the notes can be dragged around, you can layer the sticky notes so that images match definitions. Divide students into teams using several computers, or work as a class using an interactive whiteboard. Another variation is to upload only images and ask students to sort by art style, medium, classification, and so on.

Create a Gallery Page

Use the Wallwisher wall to highlight artwork each month or gather artwork examples for future projects. If you have a school website, you can grab the embed code from your wall and place it directly on your website. Adding your own digital images will require you to upload images to an online space such as Picassa or Flickr.

Don’t put off trying out Wallwisher. You can participate in a conversation instantly with a funny quote from a student (www.wallwisher. com/wall/ArtRoomHumor). Watch a walk through on how to use Wallwisher here: screenr.com/4Vm.