A life or death question for ART TEACHERS!!!
In a world of technology, computers, and robots, it seems that it would be a simple task for any classroom educator to incorporate computers and technology into his or her classroom. However, this task is not quite so simple for the teacher of art. So the question is: How can an art teacher effectively incorporate technology into the classroom beyond photoshop and powerpoint? Is it even necessary for an art classroom to have all of the technological advancements of the modern age? Artists have been doing alright for hundreds of years without all of the computers, so what is the big deal?
Tags: art
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Barbara on
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I do not remember where the example is but I have seen some great work with Flickr and Art prints. Teachers and students can use annotate pictures to explain different components of the picture and examples of various techniques etc. It is really a great way to make pictures interactive. I also could see using voicethreadd as a way to create interactive responses to student art.
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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on
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Is this what you are talking about? I bookmarked these cause I think they are cool, Notes has a lot of potential--i think the annotation of the art piece is the best!
Renaissance Art
Desktop
Another Desk
National Center for Science Education
London Bus Stop
Viking Presentation
Goodnight Mister Tom
Maybe done with this? http://fotonotes.net/
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Permalink Reply by Susan Bivona on
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Hi Benjamin - I have a question for you...are you an art teacher? I am and I use technology quite a lot, I use my Smartboard EVERYDAY, and I love it. As someone else mentioned -- virtual field trips. I have been uploading artwork to Artsonia for the past 6 years. I have kept up a class blog for over a year now. I do not necessarily use it to create art with my students - but I do use it and love it! So, are you an art teacher?
~Susan
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Permalink Reply by Benjamin Worrell on
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Susan,
I am an art education student at Colorado State University. I will be starting my student teaching next semester and I am really excited about it. Thank you very much for your response, it has given me a lot of ideas for my future classroom.
And thanks everyone for the quick responses, I will be hanging on to all of the information y'all have provided!
-Benjamin
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Permalink Reply by Brad Davis on -
Have you tried Sketchcast- you might need a mouse pen but it is a very cool tool-
Stixy is cool too if your kids do a lot of digital photos- it's a cool place to share and collaborate
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Permalink Reply by Rich White on -
I read this I had to respond... its one of the big reasons I poured so much of what I believe in the Edusim stuff ... kids are so full of wonderful though and expressions... somehow school doesn't always let them think creatively once they are outside of art class (which by the way was always one of my favorite classes).... in a way kids are all artists, looking for their particular medium that lets them shine...... it seems they were born to dream and imagine, in a small way I hope Edusim can be a creative outlet for them regardless of content area its being used.
Here is a pilot video I shot to demonstrate.
Teacher - kids - and their imaginations: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LN5JRl8_sU
An Edusim "Art World" where each kid would contribute his artistic piece to the island would be a fantastic exercise "Paint the world" ..... or electronic fingerpainting - would be awesome !!
Rich
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Permalink Reply by Scott Walker on -
Benjamin,
I'm an Arts & Humanities teacher which covers a very basic understanding of visual art. Here is what I am thinking. There are many great cutting edge tools for designing art. You probably already know about most of them, and it's not really my expertise. But what I am thinking is more along the lines of collaborative. You are right, artists have been getting by with the basics since they used cave walls. But something they could never have lived without was means to express their thoughts and ideas amongst a community. Let's face it, art never really did exist on any canvas or cave wall, it lived in minds and through people's communication. So why not use blogs, wikis, and the rest of this web 2.0 madness to build an artist community. Give them a way of expressing their ideas to more than just yourself and the rest of the class. Have them blog about what they create or observe, display in it virtual art galleries that they create, network with other schools, in your district, state, country or world. They rise to meet the expectations of their audience, and when they publish their ideas to a world-wide audience, they will strive harder. Image getting comments on one of your creations from around the world.
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Permalink Reply by Kevin Conrad on -
This reply is a little late considering that you posted so long ago. I couldn't agree more fully with what you just said- especially regarding the striving harder bit. Students live in their computers and social media tools are an important part of networking and everyday life. The world is only going to head further in this direction and it's best that we learn to implement these tools so that, as you say, they can reach a larger audience. I believe that web 2.0 tools fill that social gap that has existed in so many artist's lives. Now, I don't mean that artists live socially confined lives, but their work has all too often only reached a very small audience.
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Permalink Reply by Joan Maresh-Hansen on -
The only big deal as I see it is— by not preparing our youth for a future that is certain to be technological in the work force. We contribute to a new kind of illiteracy. We teach art. The computer is simply another tool to harness the powers of the imagination. It is a "tool of the times." being used for people like us to communicate across the world to share ideas that may alter our teaching practices for the good all involved. For me personally,the computer eliminated my writer's block , that's another reason I thought I should have them around as they altered my life and could quite possibly do the same for others.
My teaching experience spanned an incredible 34 years in first just art in traditional media, then it hit me that unless I begin to have my students understand how to use these new technological tools, they would be at a disadvantage in the work force. I wrote grant after grant to fund a Mac lab, I visited professional organizations ( animators, graphic designers, illustrators, etc) These people all used computers, for some technology was so new to them that they had the machines and did not know how to use them or the software. They like me were having trouble finding places to learn about this new expressive media. That was nearly twenty years ago, since then I fought to put computers in each of my three schools' art rooms. The students loved photoshop, not so for powerpoint...We had older repurposed machines that we scanned images from our sketchbooks, then the student's altered the "mother piece" so many different ways. My kids used to tease me that it was easy to clean the brushes with Painter software. They used manipulation softwares like printmaking—turning out self portraits in a 24-48 color series then would begin to cut and collage these images. The experimentation went on and on.My first year students got so involved in flip book animations-a four sequence assignment that they kept breaking the record with the last ones having 250 something pages to their sequences. In my second school, I had the pleasure of being recruited to start an electronic media program in an art magnet school. Oh my! You simply had to get out of the way,kids raced to class to continue working on projects ( multimedia, original book design, and marketing themselves for their senior art exhibitions) the students did amazing things, we collaborated on McGraw-Hill-Glencoe's Digital Studio Projects. In addition the students portfolios were featured in 18 feauture articles of School Arts Magazine. It was an amazing experience. After the social security loophole forced me into early retirement, I had to leave the magnet school. My last job in my first month I wrote a grant to repurpose equipment that was being upgraded and got 28 Mac computers loaded with art software, when the journalism class bought new computers. It was very cool as my students who had trouble with the English language in an 80%Hispanic school were able to write artist's statements and improve their English.
I agree that artists are doing incredible things without technology... however from my vantage point, the learning curve is phenomenal when students are allowed to construct knowledge and collaborate with peers to solve problems in the world, and the computer seems the best tools for connecting with others and it seems when people work together it is already getting to be a better world. It is probably pretty obvious that I am passionate about the effective implementation of technology. I believe we should keep kids at the heart of all we do. I saw the engaged learners in my lab, sometimes they worked on the computer other times off, the students made tremendous strides helping each other along the way.
I am committed to making the computer as familiar a tool as the pencil to educators and their students across the planet.
Attached is the front side of a post card from Brad's Senior Exhibition, he painted an oil of a classmate and then used photoshop to create the front of the post card to invite friends and family to his final show. He was new to the Mac lab and his peers taught him all he needed to know to get his work done. Also attached second year self portrait series, and an first year contour drawn using the mouse. When my web site is launched you must visit and see more examples of what students can do beyond photoshop and powerpoint. - Attachments:
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PC Brads-1 copy.jpg, 3.5 MB -
DSP A.Martinez, 2.1 MB -
1ErinT, 132 KB
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Permalink Reply by J Black on -
Just a thought, but we talk all the time about computers "leveling the playing field". This is the age of user-generated content and I think it applies not just to written communications, but visual art, too. Now anyone can publish artwork for the world to see and comment on. Why not have students blog on social issues but allow them to also create their own images/art work to convey their main ideas of each post. I think this has the potential to bring out the "artist" in many students in a rather powerful way. It's not conventional, but it is meaningful and the audience is real. In the end, art is about communication of ideas, and that's really what the computer is about...
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Permalink Reply by Stephanie Sandifer on
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Benjamin --
As an artist and an educator I can imagine a multitude of ways to incorporate technology into the regular art studio classroom. There are so many digital tools that students can use to explore visual expression by applying the basic principles and elements of design.
Beyond creation of artwork, I think one great application for web-based tools would be for students to apply critical thinking skills and analysis of artworks by creating their own virtual art exhibition. The Museum of Fine Arts Houston used to have a feature on their website where registered users (it's free) could select works of art from their collection to create their own individual "online gallery". You could have students use a wiki site like wikispaces to create their "catalogue" of art that they select based on what ever criteria you or they decide on. One page of the wiki could be where they give their "curator's statement" explaining why they selected the work that they did, why it is significant artwork, etc. Lots of great possibilities there. Imagine the fun you could have with a virtual "gallery walk" -- using the galleries created by the students or by simply creating your own "gallery walk" by pointing to specific museum/gallery websites (think along the lines of a "webquest").
Stephanie
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