Welcome to my Tech for Teachers Weekly Blog first official post! I have chosen to subscribe to the following two blogs per our assignment:

                AskaTechTeacher.com by Jacqui Murray

                freetech4teachers.com by Richard Byrne.

The content I am publishing has been inspired by my readings each week.

Reading Byrne’s blog this week gave an insight into how AI is changing the face of technology as we know it. I know the educational world has been set on edge discussing how AI may impact the work we do as teachers in addition to how students learn. Some of the reading I have done about AI on the ISTE website encourages educators to learn and embrace AI. Learning the ins and outs of this latest technology will also help us to discern when it is being used improperly. Byrne details a clever function in Canva where you can turn text into an AI-created image. If you are creating a document and cannot find an adequate image to convey the message, this latest technology has the potential to create that perfect image that exists in your mind. Canva is already a very popular tool for teachers giving you enormous creative possibilities in designing everything from posters for your classroom, to assignments for students, to parent-teacher communication, and so on. On the Canva website if you are scrolling through the ‘elements’ tab and can’t find a photo to your satisfaction, just press the ‘Apps’ tab and scroll down to the ‘Text to Image’ button. Once you click into this feature, you can write a description of what you are looking for and let AI do its work. Numerous choices will pop up and you can decide if any of them fit the bill. If you are unsatisfied, you can hit the button to try again, and it will generate new ideas. I suppose you can do this endlessly until you find the perfect picture!

I was excited to hear about this feature because I do use Canva for graphic design and having a creative mind, I sometimes picture what I am looking for when I create something only to be disappointed that I cannot find it anywhere after scouring the web. I feel like AI is a mind reader in this case. I’m not going to lie, it is also a bit disconcerting, but at least for this function, I can see that AI is like a helpful friend.

Another fun topic, this time on the Ask a Tech Teacher blog, Murray reminds readers how much young students enjoy changing their wallpaper on their devices and she gives teachers easy tips for allowing students to create their own images to be used as wallpaper. I can personally attest to the fact that elementary students do love to change their wallpaper! My daughter just finished 4^th grade and she constantly is changing her backgrounds and customizing it to her current interests. She then proceeds to chide me for having lame wallpaper/screen savers on my laptop and offers to help me out by changing it herself after questioning me on my likes and interests. These days most schools have a 1:1 program, so students have their own laptops or iPads, making this a fun early-in-the-school year activity for elementary-aged students.

Murray gives step-by-step instructions using a software called KidPix, which allows students to quickly and easily create their own personal wallpaper using photos, drawings, and other graphic features. She goes on to explain how to export the creation into the student’s picture folder. It can then be retrieved to ‘set as desktop background’ giving the student’s device a fun new look. I don’t know a young student that wouldn’t be thrilled with this project, plus it gives them valuable experience handling new software and clicking around learning basic computer skills. Now maybe I can give my daughter yet another avenue to explore her creativity and I’ll come away with some snazzy new wallpaper of my own!

Photo courtesy of askatechteacher.com

References

Byrne, R. (2023, July 3). How to Use Canva’s AI Image Generator. Retrieved from Free Technology for Teachers: https://www.freetech4teachers.com/2023/07/how-to-use-canvas-ai-image-generator.html

Murray, J. (2023, July 3). Make Your Own Wallpaper. Retrieved from Ask a Tech Teacher: https://askatechteacher.com/make-your-own-wallpaper-2-2/