Learning and Leading - Feburary 2013

Grounded Technology Integration: Visual Arts

T he visual arts may bring to mind images of a painter in the studio, a sculptor working in stone, or a photographer capturing a dramatic landscape. While these modes of creative expression remain important to the study of visual arts, digital technologies—including graphic design software, image- and video-editing applications, and animation tools— provide students with new opportunities for visual-arts learning. Using these technologies alone, however, does not necessarily help students construct meaningful learning as they design, develop, and communicate their ideas visually. Instead, it is through meaningfully selecting, combining, and sequencing learning activities and complementing them with the savvy use of technological tools and resources that teachers can help students grow as artists.

Planning for Technology Integration

One way to help teachers integrate technologies meaningfully is to focus on instructional planning. When teachers plan according to their students’ curriculum-based learning needs, they typically organize their lessons, units, and projects around content-based learning activities. When considering how to integrate technologies effectively into instruction, we suggest that teachers begin by thinking about the learning processes and outcomes intended for the lesson, project, or unit before selecting appropriate content-based learning activities. Teachers then choose educational technologies according to how well their use supports learning in each of the activities.

To help teachers select from a full
range of learning activity types in each
content area, we have developed and
published comprehensive taxonomies
of learning activity types in each of
10 curriculum areas. The learning ac-
tivities in each of the taxonomies are
organized into subcategories to make
working with the taxonomies more
efficient.

Visual Arts Learning Activity Types

The 75 visual arts learning activity types that we have identified are organized into two main categories that describe the essential nature of students’ learning in the visual arts: explore and respond. We’ve put the 45 explore activity types into three subcategories: build awareness/conceptualize, apply, and create/design. We’ve also organized the 30 respond activity types into three subcategories: describe, analyze/interpret, and evaluate.

To view the entire visual arts learning activity types taxonomy, go to the Activity Types wiki at activitytypes. wmwikis.net.

What follows are sample visual arts activity types and accompanying technology recommendations from each of the subcategories in the explore and respond collections.

Explore Activity Types As students explore visual arts concepts, processes, and techniques, they need multiple entry points to study visual arts. The 12 build awareness/ conceptualize activity types help students construct their knowledge and awareness of visual arts concepts. The 18 apply activity types challenge students to apply and make connections using their knowledge of visual arts concepts and forms. The 15 create/ design activity types engage students in creating and designing original works. (See examples in the table “Explore Activity Types” on page 37.)

Respond Activity Types Though creating and designing are important aspects of visual arts, students also benefit from arts-based communication activities. While developing language applicable to the visual arts, students can learn to develop aesthetic awareness and form critical judgments of works of art, which are important aspects of higher-level thinking in the arts. There are 8 describe activity types, 17 analyze/ interpret activity types, and 5 evaluate activity types that assist with this communication-based learning. (See examples in the table “Respond Activity Types” on page 37.)