Technology and Elementary Art Education
What is elementary education mean to you?
Typically we think of hands on, messy, and a whole lot of preparation for forty-five minutes and at least five of those minutes dedicated to clean up. So how does technology play a role in the elementary art room? Think research, inspirational references on the spot, STEAM (the 'a' is art), collaboration, opportunities to develop new art digitally and many more opportunities for 21st century learners.I find as a 'specialist' teacher we are not often provided technology if at all to utilize in our teaching, yet we have similar requirements to be seen in our observations, and learners' engagement/success. Part of 21st century learners' success is advocated in the 21st century learners outcomes and visual arts (the previous links support this idea, including a National Art Education Association 21st century advocacy review). Understanding these ideas, and my will to engage and encourage not only creativity, but well-rounded learners in my visual arts classroom, I no longer want to rely on the 'old school' way of teaching. I would love to implement a mix of the traditional visual arts classroom, as well as one that flourishes with technology; which our students engage and utilize with in all aspects of their daily life.
Why is it important for technology to be incorporated in art education?
Watch this TED talk with Eric Carlson (2019) on this topic, while quoting philosophers and challenging our understanding of their previous beliefs. Also see what happens with his own experiences through implementation of technology within art and other subject areas.
How does technology enhance an elementary art room?
Wynita Harmon of The Art of Education University (2019) identifies ten ways technology enhances the art room, these include the following:
- Technology gives students a new way to create art.
- Technology offers many apps that allow for the transformation of traditional art.
- Technology allows for flipped learning.
- Technology can transform your teaching strategies.
- Technology increases opportunities for research.
- Technology provides way to easily track student progress.
- Technology makes learning fun.
- Technology offers a variety of opportunities to integrate formative assessments.
- Technology promotes collaboration.
- Technology promotes engagement.
See the link above for in-depth explanations as to how Wynita Harmon depicts these technology enhancements further in the art room. She also provides app references, and personal experience examples.
What does implementation look like?
It would look like fun... and it would look like students exploring/experimenting a new medium; a digital medium with endless possibilities from graphic arts, to animation, photography, etc. It would also look like 21st century learners utilizing the popular concepts of blended learning and another educational jargon craze, flipped classroom. Students can be energized through technology as Eric Carlson (2019) depicts in his TED talk about technology incorporated in art education.
I have seen technology enhance art curriculums myself, turning traditional art learning into 21st century learning experiences that become rigorous, cross-curricular, student led, collaborative and energizing for not only the students, but the teacher as well. I currently have a district role model, who is completely inspiring me with the things she does with technology in her classroom as an art educator. All the ways that technology enhances art that Wynita Harmon (2019) depicts within her list and more, are seen within my colleagues art curriculum. She incorporates iPads heavily into her groupings, for research, for references, inspiration and much more. She even branches to incorporating these learning technology experiences to parents at her annual art show, she incorporates QR codes with student works that leads family/friends to the students' artists statement, or artwork analysis, so parents get a deeper understanding of their child's artwork, and purpose. She uses things like FlipGrid, and even Chatterpix.
To start incorporating my own technology with the little that I have this year, I am holding my students accountable for developing a digital portfolio of their artwork. Therefore once they are finished with their artwork they sign it, and photograph it to be uploaded to their personal account and be stored. This same app, Artsonia, also has a fundraising platform, which allows the artworks to be shared with family and friends, but they can purchase student artwork on a variety of objects with a percentage to be raised for art room materials, or in my case... more technology.
I think the biggest thing that I have learned throughout this process is that incorporating technology into a subject area that typically can be overseen from needing technology, or any subject area, truthfully, is to start small; to not get overwhelmed. There, truly is endless possibilities with this digital age, and creativity is about exploration, innovation, imagination and more, the two can truly enhance each other.
How are you going to start small? What are your technology goals this year?
References
Carlson, E. (2019). Fab lab: Art and technology in education, TEDxBemidji. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INJxDVmzxVo
Harmon, W. (2019). 10 ways technology can enhance the art room. Retrieved on February 8, 2020, from https://theartofeducation.edu/2019/03/08/10-ways-technology-can-enhance-the-art-room
Hi Samantha,
ReplyDeleteYou bring up many great points. It can be very challenging as a teacher to hit all of the different expectations such as standards,specific number of assessments, benchmarks, state testing, as well as incorporate technology in our teaching. Technology has a tendency to be pushed to the back burner. Technology in fact can help with the other areas for teachers and students. You made a comment that technology makes tracking student progress easier. When I implement google forms for exit slips, I can see immediately misunderstandings and students even receive the feedback a lot sooner then if I were to collect and grade them. It is more in the preparation, but can help speed up processes in the end.
I love that you comment about photography being art. Personally my first thought of art is painting and creating things physically. Technology helps to incorporate more modern forms of art as well. I love that you students create digital portfolios of their work and that parents have the ability to purchase their work. It makes the whole process of being an artist come alive! Great job incorporating technology into your art classroom!
Thanks,
Nicole
Nicole,
DeleteThanks for the encouragement! My ideal is to start small, and continue adding more and more each semester, or school year. I definitely agree, that technology can make our lives easier as teachers; it truly is the initial preparation that gets us discouraged. In order to get my digital portfolios up and running for my students, I have to send out a schoolwide letter, and print off individual permission slips for each student. It is the initial upkeep that gets me thinking "why am I doing this?" but I know that so many parents are sharing student 'screen-names' with family and friends and are so appreciative to see their students artwork. It is like an Instagram for student artwork, I even shared in one of my first grade classes how a student's family member left some encouraging, positive words on her artwork. The whole class got so excited! (And I am pretty sure they all went home and demanded that their parents comment on their own artwork).
And thank you for your honesty about not recognizing photography as an art form is commendable, I am quickly finding out that our students do no understand this concept either. I think it is becoming a type of 'dying art' for the fact that it is so accessible to us now, it's on every device we own, phones, watches, computers, etc. do we truly consider this art? Or is it not photography? Do we need to differentiate?
Hi Samantha!
ReplyDeleteI was very interested to read that you have your students create a digital portfolio. What a great idea! Not only are they developing their technology skills, but they are also demonstrating their growth in a platform that can remain available and easily accessible to students, parents, and other educators. As a math teacher, it might be interesting to have my students create something that can showcase their understanding of a standard. They could then upload it to their digital portfolio and use it as a great study tool at the end of a unit or school year. I really enjoyed reading about how you were able to incorporate technology into a content that probably doesn't receive much funding for technology. Great job!
-Karen
Karen,
DeleteYou are completely right... little to no technology in the art room, let alone funding. I do community events and different things with certain branches that want to donate specifically to the art program in the local elementary schools, which requires speeches to 100's of people occasionally and volunteering.
I love how you felt inspired enough to take digital portfolios and creatively come up with a way to incorporate them into your own subject area! However, I think we would all feel accomplished if we were to incorporate any type of technology into our classrooms, especially those that we have not implemented before! We are all learning.
Thanks for feeling inspired with digital portfolios, and sharing your thoughts!