Cyber media Literacy Art Education
On page 63 of Interactions/Intersections: Art Education in a Digital Visual Culture, it states "To function in a techno economy and rapidly changing society, students need to engage in critical media literacy activities in order to become more informed consumers of cyber aesthetics." That quote speaks volumes to me regarding how as educators we need to make sure we keep kids up to date. Our world is becoming more dependent on digitally produced things at an alarming rate. Digital methods are not always a comfortable thing for students to explore who feel hesitant to work on computers. The important thing to keep in mind as educators is that we need to introduce different ideas constantly. Digital works should be critiqued regularly to keep students in touch with how unedited visual content differs. To incorporate this concept into my classroom I will present photographs that have been retouched, and their original form. Students will be asked to take a photograph outside of class. Once they have their image on a flash drive they will bring it into class for a work day. During their work day students will upload their photo into Photoshop and change things about their image. Students will have freedom to change what they wish whether that is altering shapes, changing colors, adding components etc. For critique students will be asked to present their before picture, followed by their before. The class will have open discussion to analyze different ways digital media can be shaped and manipulated. This will also be good practice to explore cyberaesthetics.
Sweeny, Robert W. Interactions/Intersections: Art Education in a Digital Visual Culture. Reston, VA: National Art Education Association, 2010. 63-64. Print.
This would be a great exercise to do as an intro to media literacy. Something simple to get them to start thinking about how images are changed all the time.