STAR-POST (Art) July 2019 STAR-Post (Art) July 2019
Seow Ai Wee Deputy Director (Art), STAR
Students of today are digital natives and we live in an increasingly technological environment. As educators, we are constantly asked to consider the affordances of technology to make teaching and learning more engaging and meaningful. In the case of the visual art, a quick review of literature on art teachers’ use of ICT revealed that there is some degree of resistance towards integrating ICT in art teaching due to art training that is steeped in materiality as well as personal values, attitudes, and beliefs in art education. Art teachers also expressed concern about technology being distracting and gimmicky, and that applications did not encourage creativity. The latter is a sentiment I share when recently witnessed my 9-year-old niece make and fire a virtual ceramics pot in under 2 minutes using an application on a mobile device!
Through this issue of STAR-Post, you will learn how some of our colleagues and friends are championing the use of ICT in new and unexpected ways in our Art classroom. Some are working on end-to-end integration of ICT into the Art curriculum to give greater coherence between traditional and digital approaches to artmaking while others are adopting student-centric pedagogy in ICT-based Art lessons that engage students in critical thinking and collaborative learning. There is certainly strong interests and good knowledge from within the fraternity in thoughtfully infusing ICT. Let’s continue to share and support each other, equip ourselves with both skills and pedagogy to design synergistic art learning experiences with technology that extend the possibilities for art expression.
Er Ka Hui Ben Khor, Tan Wei Zhong
Fahmy Bin Said, Nur Muhammad Kamal Natasha Tay Juan Carlos Castro, Ehsan Akbari, Lina Moreno, David Pariser, Bettina Forget, Martin Lalonde, Melissa-Ann Ledo
Roslyn Pang Studio Assistant, STAR
Sally Hong Jie Hui, Rozaimi Abdul Rahim
Realising the Creative Possibilities of the Humble
Rob Sketcherman
With furrowed brows, she tapped the Apple Pencil deftly across the screen, tweaking her drawing in Procreate, as the deadline approached. Group members looked over her shoulder and offered input.
“Maybe move the heading there,” one offered. After a layer adjustment, the file was airdropped to a waiting team member, who extended the canvas to collage the efforts from everyone together, before the final presentation.
iPad Artist, Urban Sketcher
In
grinned, knowing that just a day ago, the morning began with most teachers knowing nothing about Procreate, nor of using iPads for creative work. By the time they left on the second day of the workshop, they were not only familiar with Procreate’s interface, tools and brushes, but had also tried their hand at urban sketching in a nearby business park, and collaborated on a group project that was printed for presentation. Each step helped teachers understand how similar projects could be deployed in their own classrooms.
a day and age when smart devices are associated with users hunched over virtual worlds on their mobile screens, it is important for teachers to be able to guide the rapid adoption of all things digital, from mere consumption to infinite creation.
Through urban sketching on the iPad, I have found my own balance, and truly hope that the wider adoption of this practice, when applied more liberally by teachers of multiple disciplines, can lead to the development of qualities have seen grow in myself and others -- curiosity, empathy, appreciation, and one hopes, wonder, awe and the desire to record and share stories witnessed.
In March 2019, was fortunate enough to work with three groups of Art teachers at the Singapore Teachers’ Academy of aRts (STAR) over three different two-day workshop modules. From digital journaling, to the exploration of crossovers between traditional and digital mediums, and the creation of artwork for print at all kinds of scale, we explored apps, annotated, sketched, mind-mapped and designed items, ranging from info-packed spreads showcasing the innovative analysis of urban spaces, to theatre sets for school plays, with room for the adaptation of each project for all age groups. Everything was done using iPad Pros, Apple Pencils and a collection of creative apps, including my favorite powerhouse, Procreate.
I have long felt that the iPad is a powerful device, though underestimated and under-utilised by most. With remarkable battery life, easy portability and an extensive gallery of superb applications available, iPads paired with Apple Pencils, have become powerful, affordable productivity tools that, in many cases, could replace laptops. While am known for the urban sketches create on location, my iPad is not simply a digital studio, wonderful though it is for that purpose. My own journey has led me to use iPads as my daily workhorse, doing everything from the creation of large-scale, complex artwork, to writing articles like this, to planning projects, mapping out research, and even editing YouTube videos.
My iPad also allows me to effortlessly carry and dip into my growing digital library, or catch up with Game of Thrones, which is a bonus.
When tasked with creating a workshop for Art teachers, my goal was to give them enough time to become familiar with Procreate and the digital process, before diving into a group project that would allow them to begin making digital art, as well as to understand the possibilities of a mobile, digital toolkit for them as teachers, and also learn how it could be a creative tool in the classroom. It was important that the workshops were not simply heavy in theory, but also rich in hands-on experiences, hence the group projects, which I’m very happy to say, seemed to be a source of fun and camaraderie among the attendees.
On the final day, a group of participants took a final selfie while beaming proudly over an elaborately painted miniature stage, complete with a stunning backdrop, detailed characters, and matching posters and tickets to market
their chosen play. After one long, last look at what they had made together, they said goodbye, still chatting about layers and brushes. can only hope that they have all been able to bottle the experiences, enthusiasm and fun experienced, to share, recreate and roll out in classrooms all over the nation.
(Rob Sketcherman is based in Hong Kong. He conducted a series of digital painting workshops at STAR in early April 2019.)
Best of Both: Weaving the Analogue + Digital Platforms via iPad
Irisse Keh Hwee Peng
Key Learning Points from 2-Day Digital Drawing Camp, facilitated by iPad Artist and Urban Sketcher, Rob Sketcherman
At this second edition of the Digital Drawing Camp, Rob Sketcherman demonstrated that there is no need to be afraid when thinking out of the box on the digital platform – we are only bound by the number of times we clicked ‘undo’ or ‘redo’ as we worked on our projects. This determined the ground rule and provided us the autonomy to own our learning.
Beyond hearing and seeing first-hand Sketcherman’s artist portfolio and professional art-related projects, Sketcherman provided Art teachers with a fresh look towards optimising the digital platform. Besides introducing the tools in Procreate app, he also presented us with a buffet of digital apps that sought to improve our workflow and in turn support the teaching and learning of Art.
There are three core focuses as we used the iPad and Procreate app at this Drawing Camp – coming out of our comfort zones to think and plan digitally, relooking at mixed media in a different manner with the digital input and using digital platforms effectively in collaborative learning.
Lead Teacher (Art), Hua Yi Secondary School
Teh Ting Ting
Lead Teacher (Art), CHIJ Secondary (Toa Payoh)
1 Thinking Digitally
Artmaking can be interactive, playful and experimental. By giving students many entry points to artmaking, they focus on the learning process rather than the end product, allowing the time and space for them to build creative confidence.
Sketcherman aptly pointed out that the drawing process is an essential exercise that builds a growth mindset. As we had a feel of the Apple pencil and its intuitiveness, the iPad felt like our extended arms where we could explore mark-making at the switch of the digital brushes and colour palettes. The flexibility to play with textural qualities that are similar to real traditional media, work with multiple layers and the ability to rescale and undo made learning a lot more enjoyable and versatile, as we could alter our plans as we worked and refined our work as we improved on the digital platform.
2 Combining Analogue and Digital Content
A way to expand creativity in drawing and other digital creations is to integrate both analogue and digital content together. Analogue content that can be photographed for digital interface can range from existing physical textures from our environment, to simulated ones that can be created using a myriad of traditional art media.
This combination not only increases possibilities, but also buffers learning with an added comfort zone in the use of existing familiar materials.
3 Collaborative Learning
Everyone at the Drawing Networked Learning Community (NLC) learnt and grew together by sharing and learning with each other. We were brought through the whole process of how we could collaborate and create collaborative art pieces with given stimuli while using our own iPads.
Though many of us had no prior formal exposure to digital art, we exchanged our research and experimentations while connecting with one another, which turned initial challenges into an experience of joyous learning and sharing of our digital learning journeys.
Just like students communicating their creative processes in classes, we concluded the camp with the courage to embrace new technology that can add value to our classrooms.
Moving Forward – Supporting Student-Centricity in Art
The fundamental takeaway is the potential of foregrounding studentcentricity by infusing digital content in the art classrooms, and this understanding goes beyond just the iPad or the Procreate App. With the advancement of technology, it is inevitable that the digital platform can expand the possibilities of teaching and learning, from the way teachers navigate students’ learning, to encouraging self-directed learning with investigative processes and timely feedback, to facilitating collaborative learning with the ease of content sharing.
Ultimately, the possibilities that come with the affordances of the digital platform are infinite. Let’s work towards leveraging on technology to create a shift in our teaching and learning practices to provide our students the best possible positive learning experiences.
Reflections from Participants
The major takeaway is creating a digital drawing using the Procreate app on iPad. Students can explore with materials and textures to create a combination of digital and traditional art pieces, and this allows learning to be extended beyond the classrooms.
On top of that, Procreate will help boost children’s confidence in drawing with various strokes and effects that could help make their drawings beautiful. There is potential to explore mixed media further by combining digital and traditional collage together.
“With iPad and Procreate platforms, there is so much potential in collaborative learning, where every student’s work can be valued. already can see possibilities in my future facilitation of mural works with students!
In the classrooms, students not only can explore digital drawing in class, but also explore ways to execute them so that the artworks or designs can be converted to many different forms.”
~ Lisa Lok, Crest Secondary School
“Digital Art lets us fix our mistakes easily, thus encouraging us to work harder to create the art pieces. Though do not have iPads in school now, it would be great to explore this further as professional growth for Art teachers.”
~ Pauline Goh Lee Yen, Hougang Primary School
“ Digital drawing is a fun and interesting way to capture students’ attention. Though it was difficult for me initially, it became much easier after learning the tips. hope to try outdoor sketching with students and get them to observe the surroundings”
~ Gina Chai Jia Yan, Zhenghua Primary School
~ Khairrunisa Shamsuri and Farida Bee Bte Abdul Rahman, Seng Kang Primary School
ICT in Art Teaching
Jasmine Wong Nga Lin, Art Coordinator
Sharon
Peh Pei Ying, Art Teacher
Yu Neng Primary School
We believe Art education should enable every child to enjoy Art, communicate visually and make connections with society and culture. At Yu Neng Primary School, our Art programme is designed to engage students in experiencing, creating and appreciating Art of different forms and media.
We see technology impacting everyday lives at an exponential pace. The student profile has changed as technology is changing the way we live, think, work, learn, play and communicate. Leveraging the school’s Applied Learning Programme (ALP) in ICT, we harness the affordances of technology to spark our students’ curiosity and nurture their creativity in art. They use different digital tools and applications to explore and experiment new and alternative ways of creating art. With ICT in Art, students also acquire 21st Century competencies, especially new media literacy skills such as:
Using digital creation tools and application to create digital artefact (LO7 in Baseline ICT Standards)
Applying fundamental understanding of ethical/ legal issues surrounding the creation and sharing of digital creation (LO9 in Baseline ICT Standards)
We have infused the use of ICT into the level programmes, taking into consideration the learning outcomes of the syllabus and the affordances of the ICT tools. The table shown on the next page shows the programmes and the supporting ICT tools, and more details of the programmes follow.
Artist Inspired Artwork
Series: Arcimboldo Portrait
Artist Inspired Artwork Series: Self-Portrait
Sand Performance on Total Defence
Cut-out Animation on School Values
Tessellation
Sculpture
Digital Art Journaling (Museum based learning)
Artist Inspired Artwork Series: Self- Portrait
iPad, Paper (app)
iPad, Autodesk Sketchbook
Video Camera
iPad, Stop Motion Studio and iMovie Microsoft PowerPoint
3D pen
iPad, Notes
Autodesk Sketchbook was used to teach self-portraits inspired by Frida Kahlo and Georgette Chen.
The Primary 2 students took selfies using the iPad. A layer of canvas was positioned on top of their photos before they traced the outline of their faces followed by their facial features using the Apple pencil. They proceeded to paint their portraits using a painting tool in the app.
Students were more engaged and motivated to complete their self-portraits. They were excited to explore the different types of brushes, markers and colour tones. From there, students made decisions as to the type of drawing and painting tools to be used in their artefacts. Our students enjoyed using this app as it allowed them to make changes easily
2D Drawing and painting
2D Drawing and painting (with layering)
Video recording of sand performance
Creating shapes and patterns
Writing, drawing and annotating
Self-portraits by P2 students.
Cut-out Animation on School Values
Students learnt the basic skills of animation using user-friendly apps -Stop Motion Studio and iMovie. They took on the roles of prop designer, director, scriptwriter, cameraman and editor to create their cut-out animation clips. This helped to bring the GR IT school values to life. These experiences also helped in their understanding of occupations associated with the film industry. Our students enjoyed the programme as they were given the opportunity to make their very own animation.
Tessellation
Using the different tools in Microsoft PowerPoint, students learnt to create designs within a unit template to tessellate. The sample artwork shown below is an example of a final tessellation artwork. With these ICT Art lessons, students made connections by discovering how technology helped graphic designers make their work easier.
Digital Art Journaling
Digital Art journaling encouraged our student-artists to record their thoughts, memories and emotions through images, art and words with technology. When our students from Art Club went to Imaginarium @ 8Q for their museum-based learning on August 2018, they used the Notes app on their iPad to record their learning, thoughts and questions via photos and videos. This enabled students to make references to their learning process when they did their art reflection.
Conclusion
The use of ICT tools made learning Art exciting and enjoyable for the digital natives. To encourage students to be self-directed learners, they could use these apps for their own independent learning. They were able to imagine, observe closely, explore, engage, evaluate, make comparisons and reflect on their art work in their artmaking process. In their exploration of the different ICT tools to create their artefacts, students learnt to view challenges and problem-solving with a positive attitude.
Cut-out animation by P4 students.
Sample artwork on tessellation.
Photos of our Yu Neng students using iPads to document their learning at the museum.
(Images courtesy of Sharon Peh)
Where Arts Grow -Harnessing ICT Platforms for Art Development
Rationale
Our students grow up in a digital age that is characterised by fast-paced technological innovation. Technology, when used in the right manner by teachers, can enhance students’ learning, and provide them with positive learning experiences. Hence, at West Grove Primary School, our Art teachers strongly believe in harnessing technology to stimulate students’ interest in the creative process and to develop and hone their Art skills.
E-commerce
Since 2011, our school has been organising an annual on-site Art Exhibition & Auction to help raise funds for the less privileged. This event provides the public with a platform to appreciate our students’ artworks and also gives our students an opportunity to be an active agent of change to contribute to the less fortunate.
With the rise of e-commerce and online marketplaces, our team of Art teachers felt that we could leverage on this platform to bring greater awareness of our students’ artwork to the public. Initially, we leveraged on eBay as a bidding platform. However, to build our identity, we decided that it would be more appropriate to create our own website where we could manage the settings and make it a safer place to showcase our students’ artwork. Hence, we looked through some online shopping platforms for inspiration. Thereafter, we conceptualised our own layout and hired a website developer to create the website – Where Arts Grow ( http://www.whereartsgrow.com/. ) Having our own website has helped to reduce manpower and monetary resources whilst achieving the same objectives. From 2016, our school has been putting up students’ masterpieces on this platform for exhibition, as well as for online sales.
Er Ka Hui
Subject Head (Art)
West Grove Primary School
Screenshot of our school’s Online Auction Website
The students like to work in groups as they can share their thoughts and ideas.
Benefits
Since 2016, our annual art auction has been conducted online. Leveraging on technology has allowed for greater participation from all stakeholders, especially parents, as they can participate or visit the website at any time to view the artworks. It has also created an online art appreciation platform for community use, serving as an online gallery that is opened at all hours of the day. It has also inculcated a stronger awareness of the arts. In so doing, we hope that our students
will be motivated continually to create better artworks as they progress. This is also an opportunity for them to be an active agent of change to contribute to the less fortunate.
With this online platform, close to 40 students’ works have been auctioned and exhibited each year. This provided a wider reach compared to having an on-site exhibition where we could only display about 10 to 14 artworks.
Thus far, the online response has been very positive. The stakeholders have been very supportive and the school managed to raise a decent amount since this project kicked off. 100% of the gross proceeds have been donated to the Children’s Cancer Foundation.
review and assessments. This mobile application further allows students to build and document their work digitally as they go through their aesthetics journey in West Grove. This could be in the form of pictures, videos or artefacts. For the Primary 1 students, the teachers will upload their works for them in the E-portfolio, but for other levels, students are taught to document their works in E-portfolio after each termly project. The students need to learn how to take good photographs as they need to make sure that the images they take can be seen clearly in the E-portfolio.
Students writing their own reflections and artist statement in the E-portfolio.
An example of a student’s E-portfolio
Other Online Platforms
Currently we are using the E-portfolio, an online app, to document students’ work so that they can track their own learning journey. For teachers, the app enables us to retrieve students’ work easily for
Through the E-portfolio, students also have the opportunity to provide comments and feedback on their peers’ work. This allows students to develop their ability to critique using the ‘Elements of Art’ as a guide. They could also share suggestions on how to improve the artwork. The peer feedback function also provides opportunities for students to learn how to use the feedback given to further develop their drafts during the process of artmaking.
The online platform provided our students with the opportunities to take ownership of their learning. As teachers, the online platform also enabled us to design student-centric learning experiences, focusing on cultivating self-directed, lifelong learning among students and using formative assessment to enhance their learning. As Design Thinking is incorporated into the school’s Art curriculum, our team of Art teachers also ensured that the E-portfolio supports the design thinking lessons, where documents evidencing students’ learning can be easily uploaded and re-applied in order to track students’ learning effectively.
Conclusion
As we interact with the rise of a generation of digital natives, we as teachers need to actively and purposefully harness the use of technology to cultivate students’ interest in our subjects. Our teaching practices, pedagogy and resources must also evolve so we can constantly challenge our students to improve and learn better.
Technology in Art Education: Meaningful Applications in Ngee Ann Secondary School
Introduction
As the Centre of Excellence for ICT in the East Zone, Ngee Ann Secondary aims to play a leading role in ICT education. One of Ngee Ann Secondary’s key initiatives is the 1-1 computing programme where all students are given access to the iPad for their learning. Teachers are encouraged to explore and incorporate the use of such electronic devices to enhance teaching and learning. The NAS Art team seeks to leverage these technologies as well to provide a meaningful and integrated application of ICT in our Art education.
Our Art team’s key principle in the use of electronic devices in the classroom is that it should always be a tool that assists in the lesson, but never an end in itself. To effectively replace traditional pen and paper media, such electronic devices and apps must complement or enhance teaching and learning. Our students’ learning must always take priority in the classroom. Having established this underlying principle, we then looked at areas in which electronic devices can be applied meaningfully in our curriculum.
Stages of Use
From the perspectives of both our teachers and students, there are five stages of work where electronic devices can enhance the learning experience.
They are:
Research
Documentation Reference
Creation
Reflection
Carrying out original Research is an important process to enable students to gain a personal understanding of their subject matter. Adobe Color (formerly Adobe Kuler), is an online application that we use as a research tool to teach students about colour theory. It allows students to explore colour schemes by using five colour pickers to preview their selections. Understanding colour theory will enable students to use the application to spot and create popular colour schemes for the projects they are working on.
Documentation is a habit we hope to inculcate in our students. Our team encourages the use of Adobe Spark Page to archive photo research, art work and annotations. It also provides a publication platform which serves as a Digital Portfolio that can be constantly updated, published and shared with others as a webpage. The sharing process allows teachers to monitor students’ progress through their weekly updates and reflection logs. This app saves an incredible amount of time and creates many possibilities through its sharing function.
Student’s artwork using Adobe Spark.
Using Adobe Colour app.
Ben Khor, Lead Teacher (Art)
Tan Wei Zhong Art Teacher Ngee Ann Secondary School
In the Reference stage, teachers and students share and discuss visual or video sources from Pinterest and Instagram artists. These sources are good references for understanding techniques or art movements. These apps also allow students to “pin” or save useful resources for their learning or referencing later. This saves a great deal of consultation and demonstration time for both teachers and students.
Our teachers record their own videos with Imovie. These video demonstrations about drawing, painting and sculpture demonstrations are then uploaded onto YouTube. We attach and share video links on the lesson packages that give students access before and after the lessons. This flipped classroom approach encourages independent learning for students who are keen to or are able to work ahead of the lessons. Our teachers also customise the content within each video; this helps support students with different learning needs or profiles.
We are most familiar with the Creation stage. Young NAS artists use Pics Art for digital painting and photo manipulation. They are tasked to create a design layout using simple applications of the Principles of Design. The masking tool and simple layer function in the application allows students to manipulate images to create artwork based on principles such as repetitions, contrast, balance, movement, pattern, rhythm and unity. At the intermediate level, students are also introduced to art principles such as juxtaposition, substitution and layering to create posters. This simple app helps students scaffold their learning for advanced programmes in the Adobe Suite. All these examples reinforce the notion that technology is the complementary tool to our pedagogical practices.
Photos (Left and this page): Students’ artwork generated using Pics Art.
Allowing time for Reflection in every lesson is also key to our students’ learning experiences. While it is handy for students to write down their thoughts on worksheets, it can be more efficient to log in their weekly thoughts via the Student Learning Space (SLS). Reflection time is shortened when students are given structured questions or MCQ. The quality of reflection can be enhanced when they annotate their thoughts along with their own photos. Our teachers are also able to check in on their logs and effectively assess their learning.
Reflections from students in SLS
Conclusion
While there are many benefits of using ICT in Art education, it needs to be applied in a considered and meaningful manner. Class rules, guidelines and even monitoring apps should be put in place to prevent disruptive behaviour or misuse of electronic devices for non-learning related activities. By doing so, we can help to direct our students’ use of technology in positive and constructive ways.
Creating Awareness of Learning Using Time-lapse Video
Challenges in Learning How to Shade
ASally Hong Jie Hui
Rozaimi Abdul Rahim Art Teachers, Yusof Ishak Secondary School
t the beginning of the term, we revisited the basics of shading techniques with a class of Secondary 3 students. They were tasked to shade a circle into a 3-dimensional sphere, complete with light and shadows. Students struggled with blending out the harsh pencil lines, creating a smooth transition between the various tonal values. They needed to know where or how much to apply the darker shades in order to achieve a 3-dimensional spherical form.
Our Experience in Teaching and Observing How Students Learn
We worked with the students through those challenges in various ways. It was done through demonstrations, one on one guidance, and mostly through drill and practice. Students did improve with time and consistent practice, applying the shading techniques in the other drawing tasks that followed. However, there was no one formula that helped us, the teachers, nor the students to pinpoint or to understand exactly how they managed to get the shading techniques ‘right’.
How? What are the processes? What were their initial ‘mistakes’? Was it the way they positioned the angle of the pencil? Were they using the darker pencils too early into the shading?
We could make some guesses along the way based on what the students remembered about their processes during the task, but none of them were really sure. There were students who eventually ‘got it’, but what about those who did not seem to catch up? They probably needed a longer time to ‘get it’.
We realised that this could not be the solution. We could not expect students to just ‘get it’ with time and practice. It was quite difficult for the students to understand it theoretically and
Student’s task: Pencil shading of a sphere
most crucially, they were not able to ‘see’ what they were doing during the shading processes. They were also not able to sit beside the ‘better’ classmates to see how they work all the time. The outcomes were simply repeated ‘mistakes’ and countless practices till they ‘got it’. There had to be a better awareness of learning and realisation in order to improve.
Creating Awareness of Learning using Timelapse Video
In the process of teaching and learning, we encouraged students to learn through watching time-lapse videos of how others drew and shaded. We also filmed our artmaking processes when creating sample artworks for our lessons. Instead of watching how others do it, we decided to get students to film their own art processes using their mobile phones. If they could see what they did during the process of shading, and how they worked through the ‘mistakes’, they would then be able to realise how they got to the final outcome of their work.
This was also a great way for the students to not only self-critique their shading processes but also in turn critique their peers’ work. They helped to point out each other’s strengths and weaknesses and became more aware of what they did during the task. This was more meaningful and concrete, as opposed to before when ‘they just got it’, without knowing how.
They helped to point out each other’s strengths and weaknesses and became more aware of what they did during the task. This was more meaningful and concrete, as opposed to before when ‘they just got it’, without knowing how.
How Students Reacted
After the end of the filming, students reviewed their videos and realised that they had focused too much on correcting by frequent erasing, adding darker tones on too big an area of the sphere or not adding enough shading to create darker tones and so on. They commented that watching the video of their shading processes made them realise certain habits that they had never thought about before. They were able to actually see what their shading processes were like and what they could stop or start doing in order to improve their next drawing task. They were also able to see the processes of their classmates and commented on what they did to achieve the desired outcomes.
Using the time-lapse video -- Reflections from students
Above and right: Students set up a mobile phone tripod and film their drawing processes using their own mobile phones.
Our Observations and Afterthoughts
Through this experiment, we realised that using the time-lapse video was very useful as it helped students to pinpoint where they could have spent too much time, how they could have applied more layers at which part of the work in progress and whether they were too hasty or too slow during the process. Students took ownership of their learning as they were able to notice issues immediately, and could comment on their own work and the process of creating it. This has more impact on their learning as students could always revisit the videos to see how they could further improve their processes. They could also continue to film more of their artmaking processes as a way to keep track of their progress.
By watching the high-speed video of their own efforts, the students were more readily able to recognize patterns of behaviour they otherwise would have missed. They also became more insightful when assessing the reasons for the success or failure of their collaborative effort. This was definitely more concrete than simply, ‘I just get it’.
Google link to access following files: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1KzkRfWJU564wA3wrwuB_VZW2RZHqrK5O?usp=sharing
A. Photos of the filming set up and students at work
B. Time-lapse videos of students’ work
C. Completed drawings
D. Student reflections completed on google forms (screen shots)
Creating Artworks Using a Virtual Reality Painting Device
Our students are digital natives and they will be the main proponents and users of the digital economy. With the rapid growth of the online digital economy and the potential career prospects that come along with it, our students need to develop and sharpen key 21st Century competencies and skills to be producers of digital content. Otherwise, they may be unable to thrive in a global economy.
For our Art lessons, we explored the use of a virtual reality three dimensional (3D) painting device to enable our students to immerse and explore the use of 3D dimensional space to ‘sculpt’ their drawings. This approach is inherently more immersive and appeals to certain aspects of multiple intelligences (Gardner, 1983 1), particularly in areas of visualspatial and bodily-kinesthetic intelligences. Students’ interests are ignited through experiential learning experiences. This device was used as part of the learning process in artmaking by a selected group of Secondary 3 students from different streams. It provided opportunities for students to work collaboratively to express themselves creatively using an 1 Gardner proposed eight abilities of musical-rhythmic, visual-spatial, verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal and naturalistic that he held to meet the criteria of human intelligence into specific ‘modalities’ (Slavin, Robert (2009), Educational Psychology, p. 117, ISBN 0-205-59200-7)
emerging art form. The digital artefacts created using the device is an extension of the preparatory work being done for their coursework and supported the development of their final pieces.
Lesson Objective and Learning Outcome
The lesson objectives were to identify the suitability of using a VR painting device for the purpose of exploration and development of their observation drawings and studies. Subsequently, we wanted to discover if the use of a VR painting device could translate into a more engaging process of exploration and development for students. The learning outcome for the students was for them to utilise VR as supplementary studies in the process of exploration and development for their coursework.
Lesson Design
The lessons were designed for a duration of 4 to 6 weeks with 6 Art periods per week. All students in the class had already started on the process of ‘gathering and investigation’ on their selected stimuli. Some students were selected to utilise the VR painting device to proceed with the next phase of ‘exploration and development’ for their coursework. The rest of the students worked with regular processes for the same
Fahmy Bin Said, Subject Head (Art)
Nur Muhammad Kamal, AED (Art)
Yishun Secondary School
phase of coursework. Student utilising VR were to produce a collection of ‘drawings’ combining selected elements from their observation studies. The drawings would then form the basis for the students using VR to create a final layout for painting the final artwork.
Students’ Thoughts and Feedback
After each session, students provided feedback on their learning experience. Some noted that they found certain tasks tedious, such as having to think about the task and choosing the most appropriate tool to use. Also, students commented that drawing in VR feels like drawing in the air which made it harder to match the lines of different parts of the drawing together.
Reflections on the use of ICT as a learning tool
Overall, our students were excited to try creating artworks using the device and with more practice in using the device, students could definitely improve on their skills. Also, drawing in 3D developed students’ cognitive levels and they could better understand the form of an object and how it was to be developed as a visual item.
Although the process took longer to complete and realise, the end product allowed the students to study the completed work from a multitude of viewpoints. This enabled students to experiment with more options in their exploration and development phase. They were able to refine the aesthetics of their artwork using the principles of design.
Limitations included students not having sufficient visual research to complete the artwork and having to improvise on filling in the ‘visual information gap’. When compared to traditional media, artworks of such nature took longer to complete and students would need to develop resilience to see through the completion of the artwork.
At the moment, the cost of the equipment needed is a constraint. Moreover, students are the ones who decide on their choice of media. Some may not be inclined to work in the medium as they are only able to access the device in school and within school hours.
For the teachers, we were able to provide qualitative feedback on students’ artworks through video clips or screenshots of the art pieces. These observations and reflections helped to better inform the teachers as designers of ICT-infused learning experiences, particularly in areas of planning, implementation and refinement. It is a means for us to learn how Information and Communications Technology empowers the teacher to translate research findings of classroom teaching and pedagogical-content-knowledge into quality learning resources and experiences.
Integrating hand-drawn images and VR painting elements to create layout.
Student getting familiarised with the interface of the software.
Creating an existing landscape of the school in the style of Claude Monet.
Language of Mood -Digital resources and apps for a language and visual arts project
Natasha Tay
HOD (Aesthetics) Methodist Girls’ School
I
n Methodist Girls’ School, our lower Secondary 2’s design education is inextricably linked to technology in the art classroom. Students learn the know-how of “think like a designer” through interdisciplinary and co-creation approaches. Because of the velocity at which the tech industry is changing today, a design thinking mindset and fundamentals are key skills for the future workplace regardless of the kind of designer graphic, web, interactive, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI), they become.
“Design is not about interacting with a computer; it’s about interacting with the world.”, says Don Norman, director of The Design Lab at University of California, San Diego. Akkawi, Y. (2017).
Students researching the topic -- What is the Singapore Bicentennial?
Working in small groups in Term 1 this year, the students assumed the role of graphic designers to co-create mood boards celebrating the Singapore Bicentennial through an interdisciplinary language and visual arts project. By composing poems, images and objects, they reflected on the journey From Singapore to Singaporean and considered the significance of Singapore and its connected communities in new ways. The purpose was to raise the youths’ awareness of the communities that contributed to Singapore’s growth and identity, and to inspire them to appreciate the diversity of the community they are living in.
Such a curriculum helps students make meaningful connections across the subjects as they extend their breadth of human experiences and broaden their outlook. Not only do they learn how things work using their linguistic and designing skills, they further learn how they are closely interconnected.
This project’s digital toolkit shown below curates the use and combination of online resources and softwares on various interfaces. These integrative capabilities prepare students to be ready for IoT (Internet of Things) where devices work together. It enhances the design experience as they follow through design thinking steps in creating their mood boards across 4-5 weeks.
The curriculum was designed to enable maximum utilisation of resources and devices and to overcome the challenges of student accessibility to them. Compared to typical ICT lessons that are pegged to the use of IT labs, students were able to work on their mood boards and processes at any time from any location.
Drawing inspirations from Unsplash.com
color-hex.com
Through this experience, students were able to nurture the following competencies:
Problem-solving
Students researched and designed contrasting mood boards based on chosen topics, i.e. education and housing related to Singapore Bicentennial. This was done by ideating a range of possible solutions through empathy and defining the project’s needs.
Organisation and Collaboration
Techniques such as freethinking, sketch-noting, ideas and drafts on their visual journals helped them visualise and compose their text, images and objects as prototypes before the mood boards were finally created on Canva. They had to decide which parts of the mood boards were to be done by the different editing softwares and the sequence of work that followed. Working with their peers also required coordination in schedules and allocation of roles.
Communication
Arranging the text and illustrations was a way for students to communicate the meaning of the poems visually with their peers. After they were created, students sought feedback from peers through the feedback capture grid.
Jolie Tham, Class 2E
Po Ivvanna, Class 2S
Nicole Sim, Class 2E
Creativity
With these guided processes, curiosity and creativity in these young aspiring designers were encouraged. The visual outcomes were innovative and displayed boundless imaginings.
Ultimately, our design education harnessed the affordability of digital tools and allowed students to make sense of their subjects into something useful for a greater cause. They learnt more about Singapore through design and what it means to truly celebrate this journey of From Singapore to Singaporean.
Reference: Akkawi, Y. (2017, September 03). The Future of Design Education is... No Design Education. Retrieved from https://medium.com/@yazinakkawi/the-future-of-design-education-is-no-designeducation-d0d3448e3ab
Final images from Classes 2E, 2D and 2S
Christen Chee, Class 2S
Macy Tan, Class 2D
Juan Carlos Castro
Ehsan Akbari
Lina Moreno
David Pariser
Bettina Forget
Martin Lalonde
Melissa-Ann Ledo
Concordia University
The
missions of MonCoin: A curriculum for mobile media and civic engagement in the visual art classroom.
MEditor’s Note:
This article is reprinted with permission from Juan Carlos Castro, Ehsan Akbari, Lina Moreno, David Pariser, Bettina Forget, Martin Lalonde, and MelissaAnn Ledo, IMAG, vol.5, pages 77-90 (2017) .
Author Note:
Juan Carlos Castro, Ehsan Akbari, Lina Moreno, David Pariser, Bettina Forget, Martin Lalonde, and Melissa Ledo, Department of Art Education, Concordia University.
Acknowledgements. We gratefully acknowledge financial support of this research through a Canadian Social Science and Humanities Council Insight Grant, MonCoin: Investigating Mobile Learning Networks to Foster Educational Engagement with At-Risk Youth (Juan Carlos Castro, principal investigator; David Pariser, coinvestigator).
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Juan Carlos Castro, Department of Art Education, Concordia University, 1455 de Maisonneuve Blvd. West, EV 2.633, Montréal Québec H3G 1M8, Canada. Email: juancarlos.castro@concordia.ca
Juan Carlos Castro is Undergraduate Program Advisor and Associate Professor in the Department of Art Education at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. His research focuses on the dynamics and qualities of knowing, learning and teaching art through social and mobile media as understood through complexity thinking, network theory, and mobility studies. His current research examines how mobile media coupled with visual creative production networks knowledge in urban environments to create educational and civic engagement with teens and young adults.
Some of the strategies in this article are similar to those in STAR’s Art Inquiry Model and the authors also made use of ‘enabling constraints’, a concept which we know well. Learning from this article, how might we be inspired to re-think ways which mobile and social media could be used within the context of our Singapore schools? How could we tap upon technology to transform our teaching strategies, make learning fun and promote collaboration and engagement amongst our students?
onCoin, which means “MyCorner” in English, is a research project that investigates the practical, curricular, and theoretical implications of teaching and learning using mobile and social media in the visual arts classroom. In the last five years, Concordia Art Education researchers have collaborated with secondary school art educators and close to 300 secondary students in four different French and English language after-school and inschool programs. Our objective is to design, test, and develop a visual art curriculum using mobile media (e.g. smartphones and tablets) and social media (e.g. Instagram) to connect students to their schools, surroundings and each other.
Our data analysis has already yielded insights into the potentials and pitfalls of using mobile media in schools. In terms
of civic engagement we found that youth were initially more interested in learning how to make “good-looking” images, and once they were technically confident some used their images to look critically at their civic environments (Pariser, Castro, Lalonde, 2016). We also found that youth are invested in constructing their identity online through the multimodal documentation of the physical and temporal spaces of the everyday (Lalonde, Castro, Pariser, 2016). Further, the use of mobile media was initially hypothesized as a means for engaging at-risk youth outside of school, only to find that, when given the choice of where they could move and meet, participants expressly sought out opportunities to be together in school (Castro, Lalonde, Pariser, 2016). We have also shown how mobile media can be used to amplify peer-learning and educational engagement (Akbari, et al., 2016). In our final phase of data analysis we are investigating ways that art educators can use mobile and social media to shift students’ social relationships, and enhance teaching and learning in art classrooms through the use of mobile and social media.
The MonCoin curriculum is based on constraints that enable (Castro, 2007; Castro 2013) and video game type motivations (Gee, 2003) framed as missions. Our missions were designed to ask students to reexamine their everyday surroundings and create images that shared her or his particular way of seeing through images posted to our social network. The missions were structured in such a way that students began with investigating themselves (see Figures 1—4.), then expanded to consider their school environment (see Figures 5—7.), branched out to explore their neighborhoods (see Figures 8—11.), and finally posted their own missions and responded to their
peer’s missions (see Figures 12 & 13, and Akbari, et al., 2016). Underlying the core design is an impetus for movement through spaces and places. This feature takes advantage of the networked and mobile capabilities of internet-connected smartphones. The missions are flexible and adaptable. Whenever we collaborate with art teachers, we encourage them to adapt the missions to fit the needs of her or his students and the local context. The MonCoin missions presented here are an example of how mobile media can be used as a creative tool to explore one’s environs and to connect with others.
References
Akbari, E., Castro, J.C., Lalonde, M., Moreno, L. &Pariser, D. (2016). “This allowed us to see what others were thinking”: Curriculum for Peer-Initiated Learning in Art. Art Education. 69(5), 20-25.
Castro, J.C., Lalonde, M., &Pariser, D. (2016). Understanding the (im)mobilities of engaging at-risk youth through art and mobile media. Studies in Art Education. 57(3), 238-251.
Castro, J.C. (2013). Teaching Art in a Networked World. Trends, The Journal of The Texas Art Education Association, 87-92.
Castro, J. C. (2007). Enabling artistic inquiry. Canadian Art Teacher, 6(1), 6–16.
Gee, J. P. (2003). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. Computers in Entertainment (CIE), 1(1), 20–20.
Lalonde, M., Castro, J.C., Pariser, D. (2016) Identity tableaux: Multimodal contextual constructions of adolescent identity. Visual Art Research. 42(1), 38-55.
Pariser, D., Castro, J.C., Lalonde, M., (2016). Investigating at-risk youth visually examining their communities through mobilities, aesthetics and civic engagement. International Journal of Education Through Art. 12(2), 211-225.
Figure 1. An example of a large themed mission that includes the directions, hashtags to use, and ethical considerations. After Figure 2, only the mission itself is listed. Mission 1: Self. In the first mission we will explore the theme of identity. Show us something about who you are, but without revealing your identity or showing your face. Make sure you use the hashtags: #mission1_ self . We will post more micro missions to inspire you each day related to this mission if you are stuck. Remember: only post content (pictures and words) that you would be comfortable sharing with your teachers or parents.
2. Micro Mission 1a: My collection. Many of us collect things. Our collections are a reflection of who we are. Show us what you collect. Sharing a collection visually is all about showing many things in one image. Don’t forget to think about the compositional techniques discussed today when making your images: light, the rule of thirds, edges of the image, framing, getting close. This is the second micro mission. It is related to the #mission1_self. The micro missions are to help you explore the bigger mission. You do not have to respond to every micro mission, only those that inspire you. Remember: only post content (pictures and words) that you would be comfortable sharing with your teachers or parents. Do not post images that you have not made. Use the hashtags: #micromission_mycollection and #mission1_self
3. Micro Mission 1b: What make. Many of us make things. What we make reflects who we are. Show us what you make. Don’t forget to think about the compositional techniques discussed today when making your images: light, the rule of thirds, edges of the image, framing, getting close.
Figure
Figure
Figure 4. Micro Mission 1c: What see. How we see the world and what we look at help define who we are. This micro mission can be responded to in a number of different ways. One possibility is to visually communicate how you see the world—from what catches your eye to your philosophy of how the world works. ‘What See’ is very open-ended.
Figure 5. Mission 2: My School. The second mission involves visually communicating what your school means to you. We are posting all the micro missions at once to inspire you on your walk through school during class today.
6. Micro Mission 2a: Where I learn best. Where do you learn best in school? There are places in every school where we feel smart, know something, and are confident to apply what we know.
Figure 7. Micro Mission 2b: Change. Is there something you would change about your school? What would it be? Why would you want to change it? Only show things that realistically can be changed with your positive contributions.
Figure
what the neighbourhood around the school and where you live, means to you.
are these messages telling you?
Figure 8. Mission 3: My Neighborhood. The third mission involves visually communicating
Figure 9. Micro Mission 3a: Messages. In the urban environment there are messages everywhere. There are loud messages and quiet messages. What
10. Micro Mission 3b: Paths I take. What paths do you take through your neighbourhood?
Figure 11. Micro Mission 3c: Notice. Look carefully and closely at your surroundings. Do you notice anything that you would not have noticed if you weren’t looking carefully? For this micro_mission seek out and photograph the little things that you might encounter in your everyday surrounding that generally go unnoticed.
Figure
12. Mission 4a: Post your own mission. This is our favorite mission. For this one we want you to post a mission with a photo for your classmate’s and teacher to respond to. Good missions are specific yet open-ended that you can’t predict what people will post as a response. Good missions get at what connects us as humans, yet asks us on our unique experience to create a response. Please, ensure that your missions will not require the person who responds to harm themselves, others or property. Post only what you’d be comfortable posting on the board at school.
13. Mission 4b: Respond to a mission. Select and respond to one or more mission(s) posted by one of your classmates.
