Some of my favorite technology/art collaborations....

These are a few links to amazing things people have come up with to create images usig technology - great inspiration for teachers and students alike

Facade Printer

A digitally run - large scale, think paint ball, sized plotter for the outdoors!

Disco Bike

Yeah baby! This bike is it! Thank goodness for computers in this age of bike riding/music making

The Graffitti Research Lab do some amazers things with technology and architecture, this is about as modern as it gets people.

more to come......

Printmaking and the Interactive Whiteboard

Today I gave a Year 12 lesson on creating digital colour separations for printmaking to some fellow teacher candidates as part of our method area requirements.

The computer, in particular Photoshop or Illustrator, is an amazing tool when it comes to designing and playing around with print separations for transfer to printmaking techniques such as Lino Printing or Silk Screen printing.

(Feel free to leave your email in the comments box if you want a copy of my lesson plan!)

During the lesson I was able to demonstrate with use of an interactive 'Smart Board'. This was fantastic, not only could i stand along side the students - changing the dynamic of teacher at front/student watching - but we could also see the information and images large size projected while we worked, creating a creative ambience, the power of the image is not to be underestimated!

IPAD and the Artist

Here was something of note in the weekend Age, (Life and Style section 17/09/2011) and article on The Artist and the ipad - David Hockney reinvents the drawing.

The article covers Hockney's use of the ipad as his always at hand sketchpad, Hockney says " The great thing about the ipad is it is like a sketchbook but you have the whole thing with you all the time with all the paints ready to use." (p14)

The article continues on to talk about the subject matter afforded by the convenience of the ipad and how this is unlike any subject matter thru history because it is a take anywhere medium. Hockney executing images from the moment he wakes up in bed to other off hand, spur of the moment sketches that are captured in full colour and with ease via the ipad.

Further to this the dissemination of the images are infinite and instant via email and online posting. A greater revolution than the digital print!

With all these interesting options surely there are opportunity and application for use of such technology within the class room....

ICT and VELS in relation to VISUAL ARTS!! :)

ICT provides

Accessibility to ease of digital manipulation (Adobe Photoshop, Painter etc..)

Access to a vast network of art and artists opperating online through blogs, digital communities, art wiki’s, online museums and digital resources

Wooster, NAVA, redbubble

Access to sharing platforms within the classroom, school and community

Digital technologies in use within Year 7 - 10 classrooms include : computers with creative programs like photoshop and movie makers, digital cameras for photographic work and documentation, the internet.

Not to mention the accessibility to online demonstrations of art facilities beyond classroom use

eg: Facade Printer

a rich and flexible learner-centered environment

Students are guided through the skills needed to use such technologies (if they do not already have them) and shown entry points for exploration where they can then be guided by their own interests, aesthetics and personal connections.

Students can be exposed to the most current develpments within visual arts or study the work of old masters unlike any other time – with a few clicks of a mouse students can visit online museums around the world.

http://www.googleartproject.com/

in which students can experiment and take risks when developing new understanding

Experimentation and risk taking is particularly pertinent in creative settings - and the Visual Arts domain is 'creative' by default. In terms of understanding, i feel that understanding is not always generated by the creative process, though new product may arise, it is the refelection on the creation that gives way to understanding. ICT allows students to easily retrace steps reflecting on the process after they have excecuted it. Such reflections are enabled by ‘history’ within digital image files, digital images which document process of an artwork, digital journals or blog rolls documenting researched artists (I think there should be more of this for the junior levels!)

FURHTERMORE…..

In programs such as Adobe Photoshop the VELS statement above is particularly evident, students after being shown the initial entry points into photographic manipulation, including cropping, copying, pasting, adjusting, filters, using layers and text etc... are granted an exciting playing field where images maybe manipulated and changed, created and experimented upon. Students can take creative risks in their image adjustments knowing that the 'step back' function is only a click away, or failing that they can revert to previously saved files when they want to navigate back to a previous idea. Such flexibility within image making negates the common 'fear' where students are scared to move forward with a picture or sometimes even try out making an image because they are scared that they "can't do it".

While this technology is fantastic when used not only with photographic images but also scans of the students drawings (for example so they can apply colour and play around with compositional elements), I would like to see this technology pushed to help students overcome what can be a significant barrier to arts enjoyment and education, the ability to draw. Why have digital drawing tablets not found their way into classrooms? Digital pads and stylus could see these developments arise in the future....

RJRAE commented on this entry by another Group 6 member

IWB issues at my placement school.

Last week i met the E-learning Coordinator at the school. I wanted to find out if i could use the interactive white boards for teaching. This is what i found out -

• The school has Smart Boards, Two Touch and Prometheus boards.


• The smart boards are no longer used for interactivity because the 10minutes it took to calibrate them at the beginning was too much time wasted in a lesson.


• The two touch are the most commonly used now in the school and mainly in Music classes.

SO - what does this all mean? I think mainly it points to a low intergration of IWB in edu settings, well this school anyhow, teachers are pressed for time and learning new software is just not an easy option.

Its just like Tony Jones pointed out in todays lesson, there are barriers to using IWB in ed and the idea that technology (such as IWB), will revolutionise teaching are some what a fallacy - using this technology takes effort and ingenuity to implement - with teachers in public schools stretched to the limit as it is where will the the energy for this to evolve come from!