How Do I Love Thee: Final Project

Twitter Feed:

Elevator Pitch:
Creativity in Education
by: laceyspieth



White Paper:

There are seven cognitive tools that can alter the teaching and learning inside your classroom to promote more creative students. But before I can sell you on integrating these tools, I assume you may wonder why promoting creativity in your classroom is a positive. Sure, in the artroom creativity is important, we all can agree on that, but creative thinking should extend into every classroom within our schools. Integrating creativity into the core curriculum will allow your students to create a deeper understand of the subject matter. Creative thinkers are the people who bring us new technologies, new inventions, new product designs, new theater and music. What can you do as an educator to promote our future creative thinkers? Integrate the seven key trans-disciplinary cognitive tools that advocate creative minds. The seven tools are: perceiving, patterning, abstracting, embodied thinking, modeling, playing & synthesizing. Below I will illustrate how I have integrated these tools into an art classroom, and hopefully my journey will help you understand how it can help you and your students.

The cognitive tool of perceiving allows students and educators to learn and teach information in new ways that can open doors for student understanding. Perception is how we view information and “see” things around us. Students are given information everyday and the information is usually delivered the same way. If a student doesn’t comprehend the information from the day before, do you think they will comprehend the new information delivered the same exact way? Probably not. Using perception as a tool for teaching, the educator should focus on paying close attention to detail and be aware of all five senses. Develop lessons in which the students need to acquire and use the skills of perceptive learning, such as creating representations. For example, when using writing prompts encourage students to use all five senses. Students should practice lessons such as these to better their creative thinking skills. The more opportunities students have to enhance their perceptive learning skills the stronger they will become.

Patterns are introduced to our students at a very young age. In the first grade, we discuss patterns in art class. It takes the students some time to realize the difference between the patterns they learn in their regular classroom to those we see in art. In their classroom they comprehend patterns as a linear element that repeats the same numbers, letters or symbols. In art class, we like to look at patterns in two different ways, one it can be repeated shapes and colors or it could the arrangement of the composition that creates the pattern. Exposing students to patterns, they will be able to view and label patterns in our environment. I never considered patterning as a way for students to create deeper understanding, such as organizing information rather than just focusing on memorization, before implementing these tools. If a student has the ability to reorganize information it should be an indicator that they comprehend the material.  In terms of art history, it would be beneficial for students to organize information into a timeline rather than memorize single dates for specific art pieces. It is not necessary that students know the actual date for the Starry Night, if they understand where it lies in the whole scheme of things. I think this would give students a broader perspective and greater understanding of what pieces were produced when. For high school students, Prezi.com would be a great tool to create these timelines. They could show actions that when presented would have animations, pictures, videos, etc instead of a linear timeline.

Source: http://prezi.com/f7oeqrsitzhg/art-history-time-line/

Abstracting is reducing. I know I always make analogies and references to the visual arts, but it is what I know. So here is another one, when studying, analyzing or creating art, abstraction refers to reducing the subject to simple forms. For example, Pablo Picasso painted figures using basic shapes, but the viewer can still understand that the painting is of a woman. or whatever his subject matter might be. Recently, I taught my middle school students the process of abstracting. Each student picked an object from the classroom and created a drawing of that object in the most photo-realistic way they could with their ability. The second drawing the student started the abstraction process by making the drawing non-photorealistic but still representative of the object, so that the viewer knew what the object was. The third drawing was total abstraction, without the other drawings next to it the viewer cannot determine what the object is.

Abstracting in education can be used to teach our students to think, rather than the more common practice of memorization. Many teachers have resulted in memorization as a method for successful teaching. I am living proof this does not work. In high school I was a decent student, I was on honor roll almost every semester, though some classes I really had to work for that B-. I can remember cramming information in my head to quickly memorize facts, dates, vocab or equations. If you were to give me those tests today, I would fail miserably. i see it today, I have spent time in the fourth grade math class and they do not remember simple things such as starting a subtraction problem from the right and move left. The fourth grade math teacher took a unique approach at multiplication a few weeks ago. Using manipulatives she had the students visually represent factors of a number. She shared with me that she thought if the students could physically see and hold the number it may click for a few of her students. being a visual learner myself, I loved this activity. Some students still struggled to grasp the concept of finding factors, but other students caught on right away. It just goes to show us, multiple learning styles do exist and we need to address them.
Embodied thinking is learning with our bodies. Normally when studying color theory we would not use our bodies in the notion of dance. Studying the artist Piet Mondrian offers a great learning experience. Inside the MOMA you can view one of this most interesting pieces, Broadway Boogie Woogie. The time period in which this piece was created offers a great way to teach cross curriculum with history, the year was 1942. Having the students reflect on the piece of why the artist may have created this piece in correlation to the time period is one type of embodied thinking using the notion of empathy. The students will be thinking as another person trying to figure out why they made the choices they did. After the reflective thinking students will actually learn the dance the piece was based on.

This artwork may be protected by copyright. 

It is posted on the site in accordance with fair use principles. 

         Learning the dance allows the students to kinetically be active in learning. The students will have a deeper connection to Piet Mondrian's work and most likely have a greater appreciation of the art. I also think the students will begin to think about different subject matters for their personal art other than landscapes, animals and portraiture. Many times students are hesitant to appreciate abstract art. They think that anyone could paint that and it's "stupid." Asking questions and putting yourself in the artist's shoes is a great way to begin to understand and appreciate art. Hopefully the questioning will continue when the students analyze other works of art. Using embodied thinking teaching methods takes a lesson of looking at a piece of art to a cultural learning experience. The lesson will have a lasting impact on them and they will remember the piece, Broadway Boogie Woogie by Piet Mondrian.
  Modeling in education is a very important aspect. Students naturally have a grasp on representing subjects on a two dimensional surface, but when planning to create three dimensional figures the students many time struggle. The ability to see the object in your mind as a physically thing you can touch and hold does not always make sense to children. The notion of building a three dimensional object is easier them, they can take parts and make a whole, the visualization of that whole prior to the construction is the tough part. One way we use modeling in the art room is by having preliminary sketches prior to construction/creation of a three dimensional project. This allows the students to imagine the finished product before the creating begins. I think this allows the students to put more thought into the project rather than just slapping paint down. Of course, this process is only needed for certain art mediums. As mentioned earlier with perceiving the more activities and lessons you create to reinforce these skills the stronger they will become.
Playing. That should not be a part of education should it? Why of course. Students and adults need play in their lives. As a creative learner and educator you must allow for some creative flow. My first semester of undergrad I sat in my ceramics class the very first day and the professor had a large amount of clay on the table. He told us we needed to become one with the clay. We were to get to know the clay and the clay needed to get to know us. I know it sounds a little “out there” but what happened next was very playful. We began playing with the clay. Manipulating the clay to make objects, walking barefoot on the table in the clay, writing in the clay, everything we did seems very similar to what elementary students would have done if they had the same opportunity. That is one of my clearest memories from this course. The opportunity to be free and explore the clay released all the worry about starting college and working with this new medium I had rarely worked with. Now, in my classroom I go about clay a little differently. I integrate creative dramatics into elementary lessons all the time. The elementary students at school where I am employed do not have any access to performing arts. I try to use creative dramatics in my classroom as mind captures to introduce new units or lessons. For example, every year with my second grade students we create an “under the sea” painting. Before we begin the creating process, I have the students go scuba diving with me. The kids love it and always tell amazing stories of what they “saw” under the sea.

Jordan, Age 7

Brennen, Age 8

The final installment of the seven tools is synthesizing. Synthesizing may be the most crucial part of all. We must be able to pull all this information together to create one curriculum that uses the seven tools to build off one another to promote our creative thinkers. This is not a notion that will happen over night. Don't be discouraged. Take it one step at a time and slowly integrate the seven trans-disciplinary cognitive tools in your classroom. You have seen how it can be used in my classroom, teaching art, how can it enhance your teaching, and better yet your students’ learning?

How Do I Love Thee: Play

Playful creations in art make me think of whimsical designs on sculptures and in paintings/drawings. Especially the Oaxacan animal carvings, which you can see examples of here: http://www.oaxacanwoodcarving.com/gallfamilr.html. They are animals carved from wood and adorned with abstract designs with bright bold colors. I love these sculptures so much! They are cheerful, happy and PLAYFUL!  I have had students create animals from carving floral foam in which we then paint in styles inspired by the Oaxacan sculptures. Art can be very playful.

My first semester of undergrad I sat in my ceramics class the very first day and the professor had a large amount of clay on the table. He told us we needed to become one with the clay. We were to get to know the clay and the clay needed to get to know us. I know it sounds a little “out there” but what happened next was very playful. We began playing with the clay. Manipulating the clay to make objects, walking barefoot on the table in the clay, writing in the clay, everything we did seems very similar to what elementary students would have done if they had the same opportunity. That is one of my clearest memories from this course. The opportunity to be free and explore the clay released all the worry about starting college and working with this new medium I had rarely worked with.

For my playful introduction I have created an activity using creative dramatics. I know I have mentioned using this before, but I love incorporating theater arts into my classroom. My projects have been based on the theme of color theory and to stick to this notion I have decided to focus on how we perceive colors. To begin I will group students into groups by color. (This is an elementary focused activity.) Each group member will receive a sheet to paper to tape to their shirt to visual categorize the students. The students will be addressed that we will be performing drama and they already know the rules about the improv: stay in character and on task. The students will be in their color culture located at different areas in the art room. The students will then take the personality of their color. They will discuss as a group how they should act by impersonating this color. For example, the yellow group would be very happy and energetic and the blue group would be slow and calm. After they had time to discuss I would instruct groups to interact with one another staying in character. After the drama we would discuss why the colors are perceived that way, and what it was like interacting with someone different from you. This could be a good social lesson talking about everyone being different and just because someone is different it doesn’t make them better or worse than you. 

How Do I Love Thee: Modeling & Dimensional Thinking

Modeling Color Theory: Tints & Shades

Source: http://www.artsconnected.org/toolkit/watch_value_tint.cfm

Using the website above the students will view an animation that demonstrates tinted and shaded colors. 

After the students view the video, have the student come to the Smartboard and complete the activites on the site. The students will look and point out the tinted and shaded colors in these works of arts. 

Modeling in art education is a very important aspect. Students usually have a grasp on representing subjects on a two dimensional surface, but when planning to create three dimensional figures students struggle. This is an important concept to grasp, especially for those continuing education in product design, construction and architecture. The ability to see the object in your mind as a physically thing you can touch and hold does not always make sense to children. The notion of building a three dimensional object is easier them, they can take parts and make a whole, the visualization of that whole prior to the construction is the tough part. . One way we use modeling in the art room is by having preliminary sketches prior to construction/creation of a project. This allows the students to imagine the finished product before the creating begins. I think this allows the students to put more thought into the project rather than just slapping paint down. Of course, this process is only needed for certain art mediums. Modeling is also present in using graphics or illustrations to "model" a technique or medium. Above you will see a website that I used with my 3rd grade students. First I showed the students the video that actually shows what happens to colors when white and black are added, making tints and shades so students have a visual. For reinforcement the students then come to the board to point out the tints and shaded seen in famous works of art. This allows the students to use the information learned in the model and apply it to analyzing colors in real works of art.

Anytime the students are able to come to the Smartboard, they pay more attention. They love it! I think this websites is full of great resources for art teachers and especially love the reinforcement activities after the demonstrations of the vocabulary. The students grasped the notion of tints and shades quite quickly, as a closer I had the students line up in three different lines, one tints, one shades and another pure hues.

CEP 800: Digital Graffiti Lesson Reflection

Lacey Spieth

CEP 800

Lesson Plan Reflection

Digital Graffiti- Illustrating a Social Issue 

Kaitlyn, 12th Grade: Bullying

Holley, 11th Grade: Marriage Equality

Ed, 11th Grade: Suicide Prevention

Description of Lesson:

The lesson I taught was a digital arts lesson in which students used photo manipulation in a free online photo editing software called Pixlr to create a scene that depicts graffiti on a wall. The twist was the students had to successfully illustrate a social issue of their choosing. The lesson began with a video as a mind capture of a graffiti artist’s stop motion production. I then taught the students a brief history of graffiti using a presentation I downloaded and tweaked from slideshare.net. The students then created their piece using a free online graffiti font generator and pixlr.

Implementation of Lesson:

I taught this lesson to an upper level high school digital arts course. The lesson went great! The student loved the lesson and the ability to choose their social issue to address. There are always a little technology hiccups when programs don’t run smoothly, but nothing that ruined their experience. Below I have posted some student examples. 

Lesson Reflection:
The learning objectives of this lesson were for the high school students to learn and understand the history of graffiti and it’s role in modern culture. The integration of social issues relates to a common reason for graffiti, and art, to be created. A good reason to create art, is to deliver a message to the public. Although, illegally delivering the message is not the best approach. In the lecture we discussed when and where to do graffiti or street art.
The information was delivered through a video, PowerPoint presentation and demonstration. Multiple learning styles were employed in order to reach all learners. The information was also posted on the classroom website in order for students to refer back to any of the information addressed. While completing the lesson the students are able to receive one on one guidance when needed.
The technology chosen allows for students to build on prior learning and construct a visual representation of the information learned. The students will use the technology as a tool to produce an art piece with deeper learning of graffiti and social aspects in art. Elements of cognitive constructivism are present in which the students construct their understanding into a visual representation rather than record their understanding. The learning was intended to fulfill a content standard already in the high school art curriculum.
The knowledge assumed for this lesson is basic computer skills. The teacher and students should already be familiar with navigating the internet and saving and opening files through the internet. Before teaching this lesson, the students should be taught how to use Pixlr.com or any other photo-editing software in which student ahve the ability to manipulate layers with a document. Basic art and design skills are assumed as well, this lesson was written for upper level high school art students.
The students were graded on a rubric for the final product they created. During the lesson and creating portion I observed students and had verbal explanations from each student on why they created what they did. Some students had a hard time choosing a topic, others were very passionate about a social issue and started right away. The students are responsible for producing their digital art and posting it to their online portfolios for grading.
This lesson is highly dependent on technology, without it  the lesson would not exist. The Pixlr program is the most essential piece, although without the other components it would not be a successful lesson. I suppose without the technology we could go out and spray paint the buildings in our local town, but I think that would be frowned upon.

How Do I Love Thee: Embodied Thinking

Piet Mondrian's Boogie Woogie

 Primary Colors 

This artwork may be protected by copyright. 

It is posted on the site in accordance with fair use principles. 

 When studying color theory it is typical to introduce artists' work that illustrate a color scheme or other vocabulary. Piet Mondrian was an abstract artist known for his use of primary colors and geometric shapes.The piece shown above is titled Broadway Boogie Woogie and was painted in 1942. To encourage embodied thinking show the video of the couple dancing the boogie woogie. after the video discuss the relationship of the dance and the painting. Why do you think the artist painted this peice? What was happening in the world during this time and would that encourage the artist to paint such a cheerful subject? Students should make connections to the war and may have thoughts on why the artist would concentrate on subjects such as dancing. 


. 

After discussing the culutral context of the art and text have the students partner up and try to do the boogie woogie. Use youtube how to videos to help teach the dance or get a dance instructor to come to your classroom.

Embodied thinking is learning with our bodies. Normally when studying color theory we would not use our bodies in the notion of dance. Studying he artist Piet Mondrian offers a great learning experience. As mentioned above Piet Mondrian is known for his geometric paintings. Inside the MOMA you can view one of this most interesting peices, Broadway Boogie Woogie. The time period in which this peices was created offers a great way to teach cross curriculum with history, being the year 1942. Having the students reflect on the piece of why the artist may have created this peice in correlation to the time period is one type of embodied thinking using the notion of empathy. The students will be thinking as another person trying to figure out why they made the chooses they did. After the reflective thinkng students will actually learn the dance the peice was based on.

Learning the dance allows the students to kinetically be active in learning. The students will have a deeper connection to Piet Mondrian's work and most likely have a greater appreciation of the art. I also think the students will begin to think about different subject matters for their personal art other than landscapes, animals and portraiture. Many times students are hesitant to appreciate abstract art. They think that anyone could paint that and it's "stupid." I think learner deeper meaning in an artist's work will grow their art appreciation and give deeper thought into abstract art. Asking questions and putting yourself in the artist's shoes is a great way to begin to understand and appreciate art. Hopefully the questioning will continue when the students analyze other works of art.

Using embodied thinking teaching methods takes a lesson of looking at a peice to art to a cultural learning experience. The lesson will have a lasting impact on them and they will remember the piece, Broadway Boogie Woogie by Piet Mondrian.

How Do I Love Thee: Abstracting

Abstracting Complementary Colors:

I choose the abstractions of complementary colors in two different mediums: digital photos and song/video. I choose the image as an activity in which students would create a Pop art inspired art piece using a digital photograph of a person or animal. This will allow the student to have a hands on approach to using complimentary colors. I choose the song on YouTube so students could see an entirely different perspective of complementary colors, giving the colors a character in which they compliment one another a way a couple (people) would. This would allow the students to make the real life connection to compliments in art.

Using abstraction as a cognitive tools allows for the learner to view a topic in a different perspective that may allow for understanding that was not there before. The learner can see the topic in a new light, so to speak. Abstracting is an art term as well, in art abstracting is reducing a subject to basic shapes, lines and colors. I think this correlates with using abstracting as a cognitive tool, because the purpose is to allow the learner to create a better understanding by reducing a subject matter to the fundamentals for deeper understanding.

The video and visual representations allows for a real world connection to complementary colors. Did you know that many professional sports teams use complementary colors as their team colors? When you look through a magazine many advertisements use a complimentary color scheme. This notion of color theory and color schemes is not useless information art teachers teach, but basics of design that are used throughout our popular culture. Abstracting this information will allow for students to create a deeper understanding of color theory and complementary colors.

How Do I Love Thee: Patterning

Patterning in Color Theory

Color theory is derived from an organization of color on a wheel. Using the color wheel artists can find relationships of colors to use within an art piece. The wheel is set up to allow artists to easily understand color theory and how colors relate to one another. Within the color wheel patterns can be found.

Example:

Tertiary Colors are colors created by mixing a primary and secondary color, such as yellow and orange create the tertiary color yellow-orange. The tertiary colors are always located between the two colors in which create it. This is relevant for all secondary colors as well. Green always lies between yellow and blue on the color wheel.

Color Wheel Re-Designed

The Color Fish

Creating the color wheel in a linear system may allow the students to see the color mixing easier and the relationships of the colors next to each other. For early elementary purposes I created the linear system to represent a fish, you could also do this with a snake or any other animal with a long body. 

CEP 800: Technology Lesson Plan

Lacey Spieth

CEP 800

Fall 2012

Lesson: Digital Graffiti: Illustrating a Social Issue
Course: Digital Arts
Grade Level: 9-12
______________________________________________________________

Michigan Content Standards and Benchmarks:ART.II.VA.HS.6 Create media productions that demonstrate knowledge, contexts, values and aesthetics.

Content: The high school students will learn the definition and history of graffiti. Students will be able to answer the following questions:
“What is graffiti?”
“What is the definition of “modern” graffiti?”
“When did street art begin being appreciated as “art” and shown in   galleries?
Students will also use prior knowledge of the online program, Pixlr.com to create a digital grafitti wall to illustrate a social issue, such as poverty or gay rights. The students will be introduced to a new program, GraffitiCreator.net to produce graffiti styled text to incorporate in their Pixlr document.

Pedagogy: The learners will participate in cognitive constructivism using prior knowledge in design and using Pixlr to construct their learning in a visual product.
Reaching different learners:
-Auditory: Lecture/Step by Step Instructions (Print out provided as well)
-Visual: Video, PowerPoint, and Demonstration on Smartboard
-Kinetic: Students will apply the knowledge learned in a digital arts project

Content Pedagogy:
Using a mind capture will get the students attention and grab their interest in the topic before beginning the lecture.

Mind Capture: Learners will watch a video from Vimeo in which an artist who used graffiti and stop motion animation. http://vimeo.com/13085676# (Big Bang Big Boom By: Blu)

The lecture will consist of a PowerPoint that will allow for visual and auditory learners alike to understand the teaching on the history of graffiti. The presentation was taken from Slideshare.net and edited in PowerPoint. the presentation contains a timeline that shows the progression of graffiti as well as its meaning. Below is the link to the presentation on Slideshare before teacher editing. http://www.slideshare.net/ksumatarted/history-of-graffiti-11726335?ref=http://artfulartsyamy.blogspot.com/2012/03/lesson-plan-creating-digital-graffiti.html
The lesson will conclude with a step by step demonstration that will guide the students through producing their own graffiti styled digital art, which will illustrate a social issue. The students will have a visual, auditory and print copy of the directions in order to fully understand the steps needed to use the Pixlr and GraffitiCreator application.

Technology:
-Vimeo.com: http://vimeo.com/13085676#
Video used for mind capture to gain students’ interest.
-Slideshare.net: http://www.slideshare.net/ksumatarted/history-of-graffiti-11726335?ref=http://artfulartsyamy.blogspot.com/2012/03/lesson-plan-creating-digital-graffiti.html
Presentation used to teach the history of Graffiti.
-Pixlr: http://pixlr.com/
Online image editor in which students will create their digital piece.
-GrafffitCreator: http://www.graffiticreator.net/
Online application to create graffiti inspired text which will be placed into their pixlr document.
-SmartBoard: Interactive whiteboard to show the above programs and demonstration.

This lesson is highly dependent on technology to teach this lesson without technology would alter the lesson into a completely different lesson. The pixlr program is the most essential piece, although without the other components it would not be as successful of a lesson.

Technology & Pedagogy:
The technology chosen allows for students to build on prior learning and construct a visual representation of the information learned. The students will use the technology as a tool to produce an art piece with deeper learning of graffiti and social aspects in art.

Technology & Content:
The technology chosen to teach the information will assist in student understanding by keeping the students attention and adding visual aspects to the lecture piece.

Assessment:
Students will be assessed by observation, participation and production of a final product. Their participation and interaction in the lecture portion will allow the instructor to assess their understanding on the subject. The students final product will be assessed using a rubric with critical pieces:  Creativity: Did the students use creativity when creating the piece?
Digital Craftsmanship: Did the student use good editing skills when producing the pixlr documents with multiple layers?
Completion: Did the student fully complete the project, does it illustrate a social issue? Does it have a style of graffiti inspired art?

Digital Storytelling: Drawing with Line

CEP 818 How do I love thee: Perceiving

In this class, I have chosen the topic of Color Theory for my How do I love thee project. For the perceiving portion of the project I will be observing the color wheel. Typically, when studying the color wheel I would show the color wheel to the class and point out the primary, secondary and tertiary colors to the students, followed by guided practice in creating their own color wheel.

To present the color wheel in order for the students to perceive it in another way, I would introduce color mixing in a similar manner, but instead of having students color in a diagram they would use a tactile method in learning color theory by mixing colors with food coloring in frosting. Students will be able to make a real-life connection of how color mixing skills could be of use in the future.

 The cognitive tool of perceiving allows students and educators to learn and teach things in multiple ways and new ways that open a door for deeper understanding. Perception is a major part of being creative in art. In my original observation of the color wheel I was more concerned with the students remembering the vocabulary and completing a color wheel of their own rather than looking for understanding of whether the students could use this information. The color wheel the brain of color theory and color is a crucial part of art. It is very important for students to understand color mixing and relationships between those colors.

Once I used the cognitive tool of perceiving I was able to see that the goal of the lesson should be on deeper understanding. Does the student fully understand color mixing or do they just see colors on a circle? In creating a lesson in which students use frosting and food coloring to create and mix the secondary and tertiary colors, the students will immediately become more interested and in return we have an amazing mind capture! The students will be able to see the colors swirl together and become a new color together better than if we were to mix with paint. The frosting works as a medium to hold the colors as individuals until blended. Another option could be using homemade play dough and food coloring. The students would get the same effect as seen with the frosting. 

Audio Production

How Do I Love Thee: Véjà Du

Can you identify this object?

CEP 818: A short biography

Hello,
My name is Lacey Spieth and I am a K-12 art teacher at Camden-Frontier Schools, in Camden, MI. If you are also from Michigan and are looking at your hand to locate Camden, it is at the bottom center of your palm, just before Ohio and Indiana :)  I was recently married and I am in the process of changing everything to my new last name, Ringman! I received my bachelor of arts from Siena Heights Unviersity in Adrian, MI in 2007 and have taught at C-F ever since. I am very excited for this school year, I am teaching a digital arts class for the first time! I am looking forward to a great semester in CEP818 :)

(Here, my husband and I jump the broom!)

CEP 822: Literature Review (Research in Action)

Web 2.0 in the Visual Arts Classroom

Lacey K. Spieth

Michigan State University

Introduction:

Topic: The importance of learning technology based art mediums is clear; the benefits of integrating Web 2.0 applications in a visual arts classroom are endless.  Technology is a crucial part of education in the 21^st century. Teachers are learning and implementing more and more technology into our classrooms every day. Visual art classes are covering digital photography, animation and graphic art, teaching students different technology based art mediums, but we need to step up to plate in implementing Web 2.0. applications. Art educators have a wide variety of tools available to them at the click of a mouse, the following literature reviews will attempt to demonstrate the benefits of implementing Web 2.0 applications into a visual arts classroom.

Overview: The overall trend in education, not only art education, is technology integration. Educators are teaching a generation of students who do not know a world without the internet. The students are raised on computers and navigating the World Wide Web.  Multiple courses, books and seminars for teachers are insisting technology integration is the way to go. Schools are changing to fit these needs, but are we fully utilizing Web 2.0? In a research article by Buffington (2008), Web 2.0 is defined by a web that allows for a simple and inexpensive way for people to input technology on the internet. The result is blogs, wikis, podcasts, websites, and social networking. The online applications listed can be exceptional educational tools when used appropriately in the classroom.

Rational: Many educational researchers have published works on integrating Web 2.0 into classrooms, but like most educational articles, they focus on core classes. Researching the benefits of Web 2.0 in a visual arts classroom specifically, will allow for more appropriate information for art educators. The articles reviewed further imply the need for technology integration, specifically Web 2.0 applications in art classrooms. The literature reviews will provide information on specific examples of Web 2.0 integration in art rooms as well as general information on the benefits of the technology.

Body:

Works Reviewed: The articles listed in the literature review are from educational journals and publications from educational researchers and art educators. Educators will be able to make an informed decision on whether Web 2.0 applications are beneficial in their classroom. The information presented in the literature will allow teachers to learn real-life situations, in which Web 2.0 is being implemented into an art classroom. The articles illustrate the need for technology integration in order to prepare our students for the digital work world.

Description of Important Works: Many articles support the use of Web 2.0 applications in the art classroom.  In the article by Gooch and  Saine (2011), they illustrate the integration of Web 2.0 technologies and the visual arts in all leveled classrooms. The article states the importance of the integration of the two into the curriculum is very important due to the change in literacy. The article suggests that students who have technology and visual arts integration will be more likely to thinking critically, as well as analyze and interpret information, in return creating more successful writers. Due to budget cuts, the author illustrates the importance for teachers to implement technology and arts into their classroom, and states that these will no longer be done as a special and separate activity, but should be incorporated into daily classrooms. The article continues with example Web 2.0 technologies that incorporate the arts at each grade level, such as blogs, podcasts, wikis, and online galleries.

Bluffington’s article (2008) begins with defining the term Web 2.0 and providing examples for the viewer in order to make the connection. The author continues to explain the vast change in the internet with Web 2.0 technologies, such social networking. The technologies introduced with Web 2.0 allow for a simple and inexpensive way for people to input technology on the internet, which the author states because of the ease of the tools content can be updated quicker and easier on the web. The author continues the article by describing in detail different technologies offered by Web 2.0 and how one might incorporate them into a classroom setting, including social bookmarking, blogs, MySpace, and podcasts.

Bluffington’s article (2010) provides the practices of the Web 2.0 application, podcasting, in the contemporary art world. The author portrays using podcasts and other Web 2.0 applications as a necessity in teaching 21st century artists. Illustrating the uses of Web 2.0 and podcasting by artist, the author states, in order to engage students with contemporary art, educators should use the tools of contemporary artists.  The article includes observations about the positives and negatives of podcasts in the visual arts field and the correlations to classroom uses. The author breaks down the process of creating a podcasts and addresses the different parts of the podcast including, format, tone, length, sound quality, and process. Bluffington ends the article with potential podcasts uses in the classroom, such as using existing podcasts for instruction and creating new podcasts for comprehension and presentation.

 Tillander’s article (2011) is a collection of studies by the author on creativity and its relation to art and technology, as well as the pedagogical practices employed through art education and technology. The article discusses the definition of creativity in association to new technologies, as new tools for one to use as an outlet for creativity. The article continues with the definitions and relationship between creativity and the visual arts emphasizing on creativity, as a problem solving method. As the article progresses, the author touches on technology and art, with a brief history and application of the two. The author further illustrates the point that children creating in an art classroom will assist them later in today’s technological culture. The author introduces 21st century artists as examples of combining traditional art methods with new media, such as Washington based artist Tim Tate. The article continues with information on why teachers should be implementing and embracing new technologies, and why they should be sharing them with up and coming educators before them come into the classroom. The author concludes the article with the pedagogical practices of art and technology.

Conclusion:

How your work is informed by the work of others: The articles reviewed support and reinforce the notion of integrating Web 2.0 applications into the visual arts classroom. The students and teachers will both benefit from the ease and convenience of the applications.  Web 2.0 tools such as social networking, blogs, wikis, and Twitter will allow for better communication and an opportunity for more collaboration.  These applications will also better prepare our students for college and the work force in this digital age. As an art educator, I am ready to fully implement Web 2.0 tools into my classroom to supplement prior and facilitate new learning. The benefits of the online Web 2.0 tools will create a better learning environment for all involved.

References:

Buffington, M.L. (2010). Podcasting Possibilities for Art Education. Art Education, 63(1), 11-16.

Buffington, M.L. (2008). What is Web 2.0 and How Can it further Art Education. Art Education, 61(3), 36-41.

Myers. E. (2009). Photography Education in a Web 2.0 Classroom. Knowledge Quest, 37(4), 36-39.

Gooch, K., & Saine, P. (2011). Integration of the Visual Arts and Web 2.0 Technologies in the Classroom. New England Reading Association Journal, 47(1), 92-100.

Guenter, C. (1998). Using Web 2.0 Tools in art education: your classroom to your state association. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://www.arteducators.org/.../Guenter_Using_Web_2.0_Tools_in_Art_Education. pps

Taranto, G.; Dalbou, M.; Gaotano, J. (2011). Academic Social Networking Brings Web 2.0    Technologies to the Middle Grades. Middle School Journal, 42(5), 12-19.  

Tillander, M.(2011), Creativity, Technology, Art and Pedagogical Practices. Art Education, 64(1), 40-46.