For this weeks reporting, I did a hard search through the UMD's library catalogue to find a magazine article about E-learning with Art Education. The author Robert Quinn explains how E-learning is becoming more common in the school settings. Whether it be because the student chooses to take online classes or because of a natural disaster or illness that is going through the community, E-learning is more accepted now than ever, and the educators should really be more aware of how to teach in this setting. This really made me realize that me and my classmates may not be offered a job in a traditional classroom setting, especially with the rise of Minnesota's statewide K-12 online program that is now available to all Minnesotan students. This is a great article to start out reading if you are new to thinking about the online "classroom" and how it is different to conduct lesson plans through the internet rather than a traditional classroom. Quinn explains different options for art educators to use for online art making activities.
He starts with the obvious photo manipulation. There are many applications that one can use for this activity, such as Photoshop, but there is also free software available that does the same thing as photoshop like the shareware GIMP. There are many other programs that can be used as well; If you just google shareware like photoshop, or whatever program you want similar to, there will be lots of links that show up. I think that it's great that shareware is available because it cuts costs for not only the students but the school as well.
He then moves on to netArt, which is basically art that is shown on the web, rather than a gallery setting. He explains that this method is much more interactive, allowing students to upload their works, and having the students comment on each others pieces (almost like a traditional classroom critique).
Being even more interactive, he explains that digital collaboration is also a good option in making digital art with one or more classmates. He shows examples of this type of method too; he talks about Jeff Murphy and Heather Freeman (husband and wife) who actually met online and collaborated through the internet. They would send pictures and in-progress works back and forth, both giving each other feedback, ultimately after a few week they would arrive at a final piece. This method is basically combining the first two (using photo manipulation and netArt) to be able to collaborate with other students to make a final piece together. He goes on talking about the program WebCT (now called Blackboard Learning System), which is like Moodle, and how it's a great way for students to be able to post their in-progress works, and even take those works and work on top of it. I think that this is such a great tool, but it doesn't have to be limited to just online classes. I feel a lot of students would feel more comfortable doing an online version of a critique; Students wouldn't have to worry about thinking of something to say right on the spot, or worry about talking in front of everyone. It's a great tool just to get people talking about each other works, along with sharing different tools or techniques.
Quinn also talks about an interesting lesson plan that he uses for online classes. THe lesson plan is basically a "traveling picture", where one student draws something and then passes it to the next student, only online. Within the discussion board, he posted 5 images that were to each be manipulated 2 times using digital imaging software. All of the students were to post their 10 final pieces on the discussion board for collaboration, which was the first stage of the process. The second stage is for the student to take one of the images another student manipulated and create another image from that. This is repeated for stages three, four, and five. He didn't make a certain program required because he thought that would inhibit the students intuitive and experiential learning when they try something for the first time. There also was not a theme requirement, this was so the students' artistic responses wouldn't be hindered. There were student comments on the lesson plan about how they liked it, and there seemed to be more constructed criticism than positive feedback. The students thought there should have been more direction in the program itself along with the theme. I thought it was interesting that students liked having boundaries on their works. I thought that maybe students would want more open ended projects, so they can go in their own direction, but maybe it's just the little push that they are looking for.
So all in all, I thought this article was a very important article for the modern day art teacher looking for some advice on how to teach in the online setting.
Resources:
QUINN, ROBERT D. "E-Learning in Art Education: Collaborative Meaning Making Through Digital Art Production." Art Education 64.4 (2011): 18-24. Education Research Complete. EBSCO. Web. 18 Oct. 2011.
