ICT Training for Teachers

ICT in Secondary Art - Introduction

Module 1	Contents
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Introduction

Using Information Communication Technology in art and design is a new area of experience for both pupils and teachers. ICT provides children with access to a wide range of processes and tools that until recently were only available to professionals working in the design and film industries.
Many artists are using ICT to develop and create their work. Therefore to have the broadest experience pupils must also have access to ICT in relation to their artwork.
In art education the use of computers, scanners, digital cameras, printers and the Internet is challenging us to rethink the ways in which we develop pupil's creativity. ICT blurs the boundary between traditional art forms providing opportunities to express ideas in many different ways. In teaching art and design we need to consider how IT might be used alongside and or integrated with art practice and how to develop this new medium in a way that develops and extends visual understanding.

The context for introducing ICT into art teaching should be based around the aims and objectives of art teaching. Students need to be guided through a series of tasks that enable them to develop an understanding of computer tools and how to use them in relation to art media. In practice, ICT work in art will take place both in the art room and in the school's computer suite. The computer suite is an ideal location for students to gain experience of using a particular piece of software or to access the Internet. Further work can then be carried out using art department resources, where the students can interact with the computer as and when the work dictates. This is best achieved for students where ICT experiences are carefully planned and fully integrated into the art curriculum, and where opportunities for assessing pupils' information technology capability are included along with opportunities for assessing their achievements in art.

Teachers of art can make appropriate use of ICT to help them achieve their teaching and learning objectives, enabling them to use more effective teaching and learning methodologies, as well as achieving results which are otherwise not possible or prohibitively difficult.

Practical considerations include issues of managing learning, providing equal opportunities and access to resources, monitoring progression, allowing differentiation and monitoring the availability and use of ICT resources.

The TTA publication Identification of Training Needs Secondary Art outlines how ICT has the potential to make a significant contribution to art education and to pupils' visual literacy and understanding. For example:

• in the research and development of ideas, e.g. creating and/or selecting appropriate primary and secondary resources;
• as part of the creative process e.g. through manipulating primary and secondary resource materials on the screen and using the result to develop further work using traditional media;
• in creating a finished piece of work, e.g. in printed form, or as an electronic form only as a single image, a document, an animated sequence or a multimedia presentation;
• in contributing to an extension activity, where ICT has not been used to create the first finished piece of work, e.g. photographing and manipulating images of a sculpture or of works created in other art media;

 

and in particular through:

• extending the spectrum of available tools and techniques in art, craft and design;
• providing a medium that can be used to explore and experiment;
• providing ways of transferring images from one medium to another or controlling a sequence through animation or time-based work;
• enabling teachers and pupils to maintain a visual record of the process of development and the final outcome of their work;
• facilitating the rapid development of ideas and documenting the process;
• extending pupils' knowledge and experience of the work of artists, craftspeople and designers from different times and places through the use of CD-ROM and the Internet;
• enabling pupils to share their own and other pupils' artwork, and to receive and give their comments and reactions, through the use of communications technologies;
• providing opportunities for pupils to develop research, communication and investigative skills.

ICT resources (systems, software, hardware and courseware) available include:

• Software - software for art and design.
• CD-ROMs - download CD-ROMS for Art and Design from the Becta website.
• Digital Cameras - Digital Photography Review - latest in digital photography and imaging news
• Scanners - information on scanners from Scansoft.
• Graphics Tablets - replace your mouse with a pressure sensitive graphics tablet. Click here to view. Comes with free software Paintshop Pro 5, Art Dabbler and more. 40% discount on recommended retail price for education. Contact: Richard Waller Tel:01295 780 170

 

Teachers new to ICT will find the Primary and Secondary Core materials helpful. Click here for an explanation of the different ways of using these sections. We will give you further links to the Primary Core in later modules. Don't forget the glossary of ICT terms either!

Finally, don't forget the many useful pages of information available on the Internet. Start by looking at the Curriculum IT Support pages on the Virtual Teacher Centre. There are many further ideas and useful links on the main Art pages of the VTC.

 

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Activity

Task 1 Write, in an electronic form, a rationale for using ICT in your own school context. In this you should give a clear indication of how you see ICT enhancing teaching and learning within the art curriculum. In this you should include existing good practice and opportunities you consider possible.   Audit and list ICT resources available to support learning and teaching art in your school both in the art department and in the school. You might wish to use the types given above to classify resources, further subdividing these into software, hardware and courseware as appropriate. Click on this link for information to support your curriculum audit. http://curriculum.becta.org.uk/docserver.php?temid=224   Explore, and report on, other resources not immediately available in your school but which fit into the list above. Include information sources on CD-ROM and the Internet in your search.   Design a web page including your document and use electronic mail to send it to the tutor for publishing on the T@LENT intranet.

 

 

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