M5 Advantages & Disadvantages of Integrating Technology into the Art Classroom

Advantages of Integrating Technology

Seeing how technology has always been a part of the evolving classroom, it only seem appropriate to address how modern technology helps art teachers and benefits students. The changing dynamic of media and communication on a global scale raise several issues when it comes to preparing students for tomorrows societal integration. Roblyer & Doering (2013) that the "arts teach relationships between the use of essential technical means and the achievement of desired ends" (p.356). It is clear that with the increasing availability of information and the ability to communicate at a faster pace student will need to understand how to create digital media in a relevant format with more dynamic content. The more recent development of the National Standards for Art Education has enlisted a comprehensive list of guidelines to assist teachers in understanding what basic knowledge students should have before graduating high school (Roblyer & Doering, 2013). Without access to technology for research, demonstrations, and collaboration, it is difficult to imagine how a student would succeed in a job market so driven by the digital age. This article provides some additional examples of advantages to technology including how it assists with different types of learners.

Disadvantages Of Integrating Technology

There are some drawbacks to so much technology bombarding young learners who may struggle to grasp new concepts or who get distracted easily. There is the funding gap between school systems and the dwindling support of art programs in the current economic climate (Roblyer & Doering, 2013). There are also the rise in ethical issues such as the pirating of music or the use of source materials without permission. Roblyer & Doering (2013) point out that "it is important to instruct [students] about issues of appropriation and repurposing of images and how this use intersects with plagiarism" (p.364). With so many advancements in software and changing trends it is also difficult for educators to stay updated on what programs will be the most beneficial for students. The article i have included here covers several related issues to the disadvantages of technology integration.

Specific Programs, Activities, Etc. Applicable to the Art Classroom

Art has it's traditional roots in the creative process of learning a skill where seeing, hearing, understanding, and creatively replicating are fundamental to success. It might seem that technology would take these instinctual activities and some how make them obsolete. I hope that the following examples will mimic if not parallel the creative process passed down through history.

Students will need to see and learn about historical and contemporary artists working in particular media in order to find inspiration for their own creativity. Computers allow faster access to digital files of recorded paintings, drawings, prints, and access to craft projects students can learn through online video tutorials.

Ask students to visit museums in their area. Galleries or public exhibitions are also great opportunities to find inspiration. Students could research these activities online and research a specific artist or piece of art before exploring their new destination. They could also visit museums though virtual tours.

One of the best things students can learn is how to design a logo and create business cards for a real or imaginary company. Student might need creative skills in marketing and understanding software programs that allow for quick manipulation of images or graphic concepts will give them skills desired by many companies (Roblyer and Doering 2013).

M4

Color Wheel Flip Chart

Color is one of the most important elements taught in the art classroom. You will often refer to the same color charts throughout a students advancement in grade level.  It can sometimes be difficult to explain all of the combinations of colors artists may use to gain certain effects without large color examples with corresponding terms. For that reason i have chosen the Promethean Planet flip chart explaining color. A flipchart of this type would best be displayed on larger screen. This type of Hardware/Software combination would come from an imaging technology such as a projector. Students could also use a clicker to answer questions about color groups through a "drill and practice" type instructional activity (Roblyer & Doering, 2013).

With the discussion of preparing students for learning in the 21st century technology has emphasized the role of imagery. "A picture is worth a thousand words" is an expression i have always recollect. As a visual learner i often found that studying imagery helped me for creative ideas. As Roblyer and Doering point out (p.26) "images are increasingly replacing text as communication media"(2013) This visual type of literacy will be based in elements and principles common in the art classroom. This Essential Condition for Technology Integration will further student/parent appreciation for the importance of Art Education in our Public School Systems.  Color, being one of the essential elements of design, will be reinforce through opportunities to study digital imagery with opportunities to discuss its contexts.

With these frameworks of color introduction and reinforcement the instructor can implement Technology use based on Problem Solving. With the opportunity to offer input into discussion while using projected visual aids students engage with technology in a way that helps them learn. This idea follows along with the idea that "it is critical to situate technology skills in content area curriculum in ways that support both the subject area content and the technology skills" (Roblyer & Doering, p.66, 2013)

Several software support tools are available to teachers though graphic tools may be the most beneficial to art instructors. With the ability to manipulate images and change color patterns students who are studying color would be able to see and change their creations almost instantaneously. Further hardware integration would allow for research and reference tools to aid students quick discovery of certain color combinations used in famous artist's works (Roblyer & Doering, 2013).

M3 Blogging Assignment

Search Engines

There are a couple of keys to using search engines effectively. Recognizing specific URL syntax and being able to save/organize website lists is very important. Outside the basic understanding of keyword searches it is important to know how to navigate the advanced search options. This will save you the time of having review hundreds of "hits" you might get as a result of simple keyword search (Roblyer & Doering, 2013).

Website Evaluation Video

This video from the teaching channel website highlights some ways to integrate the importance of website evaluation into the classroom. I thought it useful as a teacher reference more than as a video to show students.  I think it would be important to cover  the "potential problems", "safety" and red flag issue that may arise from poor navigation practices. Roblyer & Doering (2013) cover five main controversies including topics on 1.inappropriate materials, 2.safety & privacy, 3. fraud, 4. viruses & hacking, and 5. plagiarism (p.214-16). Student awareness beyond the list of basic source credibility standards may save teachers, parents and students from future headaches. I pulled this list from the spartan guides library website. 

Use CARRDSS to evaluate your sources
C	REDIBILITY : Who is the author? What are his or her credentials?

A	CCURACY: Can facts, statistics, or other information be verified through other sources? Based on your knowledge, does the information seem accurate?

R	ELIABILITY: Does the source present a particular view or bias?

R	ELEVANCE: Does this information directly support my hypothesis/thesis or help to answer my question?

D	ATE: When was this information created? When was it revised? Are these dates meaningful in terms of the subject matter?

S	OURCES BEHIND THE TEXT: Did the author use reliable, credible sources?

S	COPE: Does this source address my hypothesis/thesis/question in a comprehensive or peripheral way? Is it a scholarly or popular treatment?

Favorite Website #1

One of my favorite websites is TheArtStory.org. This educational site gives several ways for learners to access information about modern art history. The website utilizes social networking site (SNS) links and i was originally introduced to the art story though Facebook. In this way it fits into the idea of LMS or learning management system (Roblyer & Doering, 2013). I find the navigation options interesting in how topics can be searched by timeline, movement or artist. This resource would be a great for student research projects as they have links to current articles and teachers could use it to download images with copyright permission or develop web based lessons (Roblyer & Doering, 2013).

Favorite Website #2

Researching Wiki style website pages seemed to be more challenging than i originally thought. I found several sites but couldn't really relate any to a project i might be interested in teaching. Then i stumbled upon the Davis City Local Wiki page and thought it looked interesting. I was unable to find any similar pages for Birmingham. This would make a great project for kids in a local school district to have to come up with a story, photograph, travel tip, etc to add to the page as a semester progressed. Further project might be prompted from simple things that interested the student while interacting with the local wiki page. Things as simple as train tracks or street signs could lead to journalism style video projects. I think it could be a great continued development of collaboration skills as each student would be interacting to contribute to the overall content and appearance of the local wiki page (Roblyer & Doering, 2013).

works cited 

 Roblyer, M.D., and Aaron H. Doering. Integrating Educational Technology Into Teaching. 6th ed. Boston: Pearson. 2013. Print.

Using Critical Thinking to find Trustworthy Websites, retrieved 2.25.15 from https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/analyzing-websites-with-students

CARRDSS, system for validation of website resources, retrieved 2.25.15 from http://sdst.libguides.com/content.php?pid=184760&sid=1555556&search_terms=web+site+evaluation

Excerpt from the NBC television show, The Office, retrieved 2.25.15 from youtube

Module 2 Blogging Assignment

Commercial Hypermedia Product

In deciphering an applicable hypermedia product an art teacher might first decide on a particular artist, style, and/or historical movement in which their intended project can be related.  It may seem easy to pull images from the web as a reference to say a Van Gogh portrait or a still life painting by Cezanne but, without a strategy of explaining the complexity of both meaning and process a teacher may loose the interest of an unengaged student. This is where commercial hypermedia products can add an abundance of content to keep the student focused. Veronikas & Shaughnessy (2005, p180) noted from their research that "when learners engage in appropriate cognitive processing during learning, such as... mentally organizing the selected information into coherent pictorial and verbal models," a deeper understanding is possible (Roblyer & Doering, 2013).  I have discovered interactive CD-ROMs to be very effective in covering a wide range of historical and contemporary artist works and many public museums offer these on their websites. One such product entitled "Frames of Reference: Art, History, and the World, by J.Marquardt, S. Eskilson discusses view points from artists and critics while navigating the historical movements by theme. This could be combined with a tutorial video and in class demonstration to introduce a week long lesson plan or even a longer unit. Scheiter and Gerjets (2007) pointed out that Hypermedia can "provide affordances for active and constructive information processing" (p.301). It was also noted that these types of hypermedia platforms can provide captions for the hearing impaired (Roblyer & Doering, 2013).

Chosen Multimedia Authoring Tools

Upon further review of the options for multimedia authoring tools it seemed audio/video production & editing software would be the most effective for interactive art education. Roblyer & Doering (2013) stated that "as students gain more knowledge in the theory and aesthetics of music and art, they will use these resources more productively in the authoring process" (p.184), There would many applications where students could use phones or provided video cameras to collect the progress of created works to be combined in fast animation films. Examples of these videos could be taken from YouTube to be shown during a lesson. There are many video editing programs on the market that fall under the category of multimedia authoring tools but i have been most familiar with Microsoft Movie Maker. This program allows the user to "stitch" excerpts from several minutes of footage into one seamless film. Audio tracks could also be edited and dubbed over the final video. It might be fun to record the students describing their artwork and recording it over a time lapse video similar to the one shown below. It is likely students will "invest more effort" if they think that others will be able to enjoy what they have created (Roblyer & Doering, 2013)

References :

Roblyer, M.D., and Aaron H. Doering. Integrating Educational Technology Into Teaching. 6th ed. Boston: Pearson. 2013. Print.

Time-Lapse of Artist Shantell Martin Creating A New Art Installation About Financial Literacy  retrieved on February 12th, 2015 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yRelcGB7Tg

Integrating Technology into the Classroom: Big 3 Software Review

                                                                                             

Word Processing Software

Word processing software seems to be the most academically universal in terms of student and teacher usage both in and out of the classroom. Roblyer and Doering (2013) noted that too much emphasis on this software may lead to the degradation of handwriting skills. In the case of cursive writing, it is believed that use of word processing software has been influential in eliminating its’ inclusion in some public elementary curriculum (Supon, 2009). With these issues in mind educators should be aware of the balance placed on handwritten and electronic assignments. Despite the pitfalls the software may have positive effects on student preparation, corrections, and proofreading reviews (Robyler & Doering, 2013). It is clear that word processing software has become an essential tool for an educator’s efficiency in classroom management.

Spreadsheet Software   

Spreadsheets can play a big role in modern educator bookkeeping. They are a great way to keep track of attendance and grades as well as playing an important function in calculating budgets (Robyler & Doering, 2013). In my own experience if have found Spreadsheets to be a bit more intimidating than other software and I suspect the same might translate to some students. That aside, spreadsheets offer students the opportunity to see information in graphical formats which could be very helpful in promoting “logical thinking… and problem solving skills” (Robyler & Doering, 2013).    

Presentation Software 

I believe presentation software to be the most helpful for relating information to students in a lecture scenario. The Ted Talks lecture series offers an opportunity to witness the benefits of this type of software.  Art in particular uses imagery as a means to explain both an image and the contexts in which it was created. It should be considered that some believe the software to be less effective when it is used incorrectly (Robyler & Doering, 2013).  There are several sources, including Education World and The University of Central Florida, which highlight some key issues that should be addressed when planning a presentation using Power Point. Still, it is a great way for educators to consolidate, organize, and support significant information.

Presentation Software: Inclusion in an Art Curriculum

I can imagine multiple applications in a flipped classroom scenario where students would be provided links to demonstration videos for viewing outside of class. Museums like the Moma offer valuable tutorials with a wealth of information. Incorporating presentation software i would conduct a short review of the particular technique/medium and show historical example images of variable results. With instruction to review a few online demos i would ask student to be prepared with ideas and questions before the next class. This should give enough time for discussion before students started working on their project.

References:

Roblyer, M. D. & Doering, A., Integrating Education Technology into Teaching (6th ed.). Boston: Pearson.