Recreate Art Challenge

 Let's Make Art!

We're going to have some fun repeating what's known as the Getty Art Challenge and posting our results to Cluster (an image/video sharing tool -- the link to our class space is in Canvas, Week 5 Tools and on the home page).

I can't wait to see what you come up with! Learn more and gather inspiration here.

Well, that took off on LinkedIn!

Y’all. This is wild. Yesterday I had a moment — this thing had happened and as I processed it I decided to post about it on LinkedIn. I figured the usual suspects would like it, maybe someone would comment. I wondered if I should post about it at all, figured I could always delete later if I wanted to.

I did not anticipate this kind of activity, with hundreds of reactions, 50+ comments, shares in the double digits, and 18 new connections.  

Full post:

See the world with me, 2006 / 2026

I love to travel and I’m grateful to a job that includes travel in the form of attending conferences around the world. In fact, this is how I manage to see the world. 

I also love to take photographs (my undergraduate degree is in film).

For me, the camera has always been a way of focusing in on details, of making sure that I really take in the sights. I’m not trying to be in the photos (aside from the odd selfie), or taking photos of other people, but instead I’m trying to capture the essence of being there. Through the lens and with a frame I capture a moment of existence in another space. 

2006

At some point I started to share my travel photos online with others. In 2006, I went to Ukraine. I remember the great views of the Black Sea, the overnight train trip to Odessa (I had to! I had to see the Odessa steps), the grand buildings and gardens. 

Below are four photos from that trip — one of architecture and sky, a self-portrait from an exhibit with “the mirror that remembers you,” the steps (the photo does not do them justice in this case) and some street art.

I shared my photos online, on Flickr, and also posted them to a blog. People were following along with me, reading my travelogue, giving travel and sight-seeing tips, and (hopefully) enjoying the photos. Some cool stuff happened along the way. I shared my photos broadly, and often tagged the location on Flickr. People asked to include my photos in digital travel books. 

2026

Flash forward to 2026. Over the last 20 years, the tech has changed. I got an iPhone, then another, then another. I remember being ridiculed by someone around 2015 for still carrying a real camera with me. I had already stopped carrying the bigger camera most of the time because I become a mom, and my hands were busy trying to wrangle a kid while also taking photos. The phone really was easier, and took decent photos.

I also stopped posting so many photos online. I was no longer writing in that blog space, Facebook didn’t feel quite right for my endless stream of photos, I no longer had a paid Flickr account with a huge photo stream. I didn’t want to put it all out there on Instagram, either. My followers on there wouldn’t want to see all of that and … well, my privacy filters have changed over the years. As I considered followers/privacy together, it no longer felt worthwhile. And so I still take many photos — I have amazing ones from a trip to Iceland last spring, and yes, I saw the Northern Lights — but I share them in quieter ways. I made a photobook with some haiku that I wrote out of the Iceland photos and gave it to my husband for Christmas (the trip was for a milestone birthday).

Now my daughter is 17. We’re on a plane today, returning home from a trip to Poland (I attended a conference) and Berlin (the most logical place to fly from). Much to my surprise, she asked me to get out my old camera so she could take it on this trip. I handed over the FujiFilm Finepix HS20EXR (easier to handle than the Nikon D40 DSLR), got her a new SD card and she took photos! I opted to stick with the iPhone camera, in part because I have a sprained ankle and I’m walking around with a cane.

My photography role on this trip was meta-photographer. I took photos of the photographer, and I watched her share the things she was seeing and experiencing on Instagram with her friends. She even told me that she felt so much more engaged on the trip and so much less likely to be on her phone.

It felt like a full circle moment, but also as I saw her making careful decisions about framing I found myself yearning to do the same. I’ve missed taking (and sharing) the photos. 

In a few weeks, she and I will visit South Korea for the Festival of Learning (3 conferences packed into one). She said I should definitely bring my camera, and so I will. Maybe it’s even time to upgrade? 

And maybe i should be social with a few of my photos ... so if you see some random sights on my class Instagram account, know that I'm just sharing a bit of what I've seen out in the real world lately.

Tour de Blog #2

 

So, what’s been going on around the blogs? We’ve had a few challenge takers!

• Julia, BrownieBee, Prof Stein, Beyond the Scroll, and KGabbing completed the PLN Visual Challenge. And Hannah made a word cloud about PLNs.
• Maria and Blake did the Reddit Challenge.

MnLV has a great reflection on why we don’t take up challenges and instead only do what is required. Alex connects it all to design for self-directed learning. THN is asking some great questions about feasibility. 

Lydia is sharing her badges on her blog.

Jellyfish has an idea to gamify grad school with badges.

Amanda is making connections between Suffs and the concept of community (and literacy, too).

How many tabs are open in your browser? Come confess here at Web 2.0 Learning Lab. 

Go visit, get inspired, leave comments. And maybe next time you’ll see yourself featured on the tour!

Pinterst Days of the Week Challenge

 

Pinterest works a little differently from other social media platforms. It’s less about conversation and more about curating, organizing, and sharing ideas visually. That said, there are ways to interact, collaborate, and design for others—and we’ll explore all of that this week. 

Your goal is to learn Pinterest by using it: creating, curating, organizing, and engaging. You may use your existing account or create a new one. Save evidence of your work (screenshots or links), and if you’re comfortable, tag boards or pins with #eme6414.

If you complete all of the tasks, you'll earn a badge.

Make-It Monday

Create an original pin that links to something you’ve made. Think of this as publishing something into the Pinterest ecosystem.

• A blog post (new or existing)
• A resource or idea

Include:

• A visual
• A title
• A short description

Teach-It Tuesday

Create a board that could teach someone how to do something relevant in this course. You might focus on:

• A social media tool (Reddit, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.)
• How to design/teach using social media

Share tutorials, tips, how to resources, worked examples ... whatever seems relevant. Aim for at least 6 pins. Organize if it helps. This is your chance to use Pinterest as a content curation tool, not just isolated pinning.

Share your board here. We'll come back to the shared boards on Thursday.

Work-With-Someone Wednesday

Add a collaborative element.

Choose one:

• Create a shared board with a classmate, colleague, friend, family member.
• Invite someone to contribute to one of your boards
• Contribute pins to someone else’s board

Interact in some small way (comments, coordination, etc.)

Notice: What does “collaboration” look like on a platform that isn’t very conversational?

Engage-With-Others Thursday

Practice engagement more broadly on Pinterest. Go out into the wild and ...

• Comment on at least 3 pins
• Follow at least 2 boards or creators
• Browse and save intentionally (not just collecting randomly)

Check out what others in our class shared on Tuesday.

• Visit at least 2 classmates’ boards (supposing there are two shared) and engage there as well

What kinds of interaction are possible here? What feels limited?

Trust-It-or-Not Friday

Use Pinterest as a search and evaluation tool. Search for a topic (e.g., AI in education, study strategies, teaching ideas)

Save: 

• 5 pins you think are useful or credible
• 2 pins you’re unsure about

Reflect:

• What makes something seem trustworthy or useful?
• How easy (or hard) is that to determine on Pinterest?

Visioning Saturday

Create a vision board. Approach it as a designed collection, not just a collage.

Choose a theme such as:

• Your ideal classroom or learning environment
• Your future career path or professional identity
• A course you might design
• A vision for technology in education

Include:

• 10 or more pins
• A clear board description
• Thoughtful selection and coherence

Your vision board should reflect what you’ve learned this week about how Pinterest works. Think about purpose, audience, and organization.

Synthesis Sunday

No Pinterest posting required.

Write a short reflection on your blog with links and/or embedded pins

• How is Pinterest different from other platforms you use?
• When is it useful? When is it limited?
• Did it feel social at all?
• How might you use Pinterest in a learning, teaching, or professional context?

Getting hands-on!

For the Week 4 Challenge, we’ll do the LinkedIn Days of the Week Challenge.

This challenge is designed to help you intentionally develop your professional identity, expand your network, and actively participate in professional conversations online.

If you don’t want to use your personal LinkedIn profile, you may create a separate professional account or gradually update your current profile throughout the week.

At the end of the week, write a blog post “LinkedIn Wrap-up” with screenshots or LinkedIn links embedded in posts sharing about their week’s experience.

Power Monday - Professional Presence 

Your LinkedIn profile is often your first professional impression online.

Today, focus on strengthening your professional identity.

Tasks

Update at least:

• Your headline.
• Your “About” section
• 3 skills.
• Profile photo/banner (if you have one).

Optional:

• add projects 
• certifications 
• experiences 
• portfolio links 

TNT Day - Transforming Networking on Tuesday

Today is about intentionally building your professional learning network.

Tasks

• 
  

• Connect with at least 3 classmates of EME 6414 and, if possible, with more than 5 professionals related to your field. 
• 
  
• Optional: Send at least 2 personalized connection requests.

Possible fields:

• Instructional Design 

• Educational Technology 

• Higher Education 

• AI in Education 

• Online Learning 

• Learning Experience Design 

Suggested Connection Message

“Hi! I’m currently a student at Florida State University, and I’m expanding my professional learning network. I’d love to connect and learn from your work.”

Wednesday Talk Show

LinkedIn is not only a place to consume information, but it’s also a place to contribute to conversations.

Tasks

• Comment thoughtfully on at least 3 professional posts. 

• Add value to the discussion by: 

• asking questions 

• connecting ideas 

• sharing experiences 

• expanding the discussion 

Avoid:

• “Great post!” 

• emojis only 

• generic comments 

TBT - Throwback Thursday

The idea of this challenge is to revisit and share something meaningful from a study, project, research experience, or academic work they have already produced, or even a study/resource they recently discovered and would like to highlight publicly.

Today, you will share knowledge publicly through LinkedIn.

Tasks

Create and share one original LinkedIn post featuring: (Choose one or more).

• A past research project.
• A class assignment.
• A conference presentation. 
• An infographic. 
• A paper/article summary. 
• Key findings from a study. 
• A professional or academic reflection. 
• Educational insights or takeaways. 
• A resource you believe others should know about. 

The goal is not perfection. It is to practice translating academic or professional knowledge into accessible content for a broader audience.

You are encouraged to:

• Explain why the topic matters. 
• Highlight lessons learned.
• Connect the content to their professional interests. 
• Make the post engaging and easy to understand.

Forward Thinking Friday

Today is about exploring possibilities and reflecting on your professional growth.

Tasks

Create a short LinkedIn post sharing one of the following: (Choose one or more).

• An area you are currently exploring.
• A question you have been thinking about.
• A professional topic you want to learn more about.
• A skill you would like to develop.
• A trend or innovation that interests you.
• A direction you are curious about in your field.

Again: the goal is not perfection. It is to practice translating academic or professional knowledge into accessible content for a broader audience.