Interactive Tools are Transforming how Students Learn

11/17/2011

How we learn in the art room is expanding as our digital tools grow. Take a look below at how students can now explore the concept of contour line drawing with the interactive whiteboard and the iPads.

Mirroring the iPad wirelessly with Apple TV not only makes teaching on the iPads easier, but it also shows my students everything in the Brushes App which makes teaching art projects in the Brushes App possible.. Brushes only selectively projects through VGA. The tools and layers do not show making it much harder to teach art making.

17 Comments

Ben link

11/17/2011 02:02:13 am

Alright, I'll bite.

I love what you're doing with the iPads and how easy it is to share student work on the big screen (great that it's so easy). But I'm not sure the title of the post jibes with what you've shared. Is the technology really changing how students learn, or is it just making effective teaching methods easier to implement?

Mrs. Fuglestad

11/17/2011 02:10:37 am

Both of these techniques are giving students a chance to explore contour line drawing in a way I haven't been able to teach them before. They may have learned contour line drawing before in other ways, but never this way.
Isn't that transformative?

Ben link

11/17/2011 02:40:07 am

Not be contrarian, but the tracing of contour lines over an image is akin to onion paper over a printed photograph yes?

I'm might be splitting hairs here, but I think your an intelligent, creative, and amazing teacher, and because of that I'd love for you to focus on the real transformation here; that you're letting your students touch, play, and interact with the learning rather than just "showing them" the lesson and lecturing with teacher examples.

What you're doing is FANTASTIC! It's actually a lot better than the "art lessons" I did with my students in the computer lab when we explored expressionism using the IWB (and it should be since I'm no art teacher), but the tools is transforming anything, YOU are with your instructional practice! When we can get more teachers to start recognizing that the important tools they have are the instructional strategies they implement, not the technological tools, we can really begin to bring other teachers along for the ride :)

Stacie

12/21/2018 07:00:50 am

As an art with over 800 students every week, a printed photograph of each student and onion skin paper isn’t practical for my budget. Using this art teacher’s method IF I had the technology in my art room is WAY more budget friendly.

Theresa McGee link

11/18/2011 07:59:51 am

So, I think you're both right.
Here is my example. . . in undergrad I had a computer graphics class with half computer science people and half art majors. Being one of the art majors, I knew nothing about programing (but I had a lot of creative ideas). The computer science people knew a lot about code but were severely lacking in the creativity department. So, our final outcome as a class was a complete mess. NOTHING interesting was produced due to our own handicaps. Learning collaboratively (pairing computer science majors with art majors) WOULD HAVE produced incredible results.

Translating understanding from one media (drawing) to the next (technology on iPads) and projecting for all to see helps create the connections that help our students succeed.
Once the tools are understood, creative ideas can actually be produced.

craigr

11/18/2011 12:05:07 pm

The discussion here reminds me of Marc Prensky's Technology Adoption Model. He claims teachers go through four steps in adopting a technological innovation in the classroom. Seems like the use of the iPad here to do contour drawing would fall under #3. It's #4 that I'm curious about.

1. Dabbling
2. Doing old things in old ways
3. Doing old things in new ways
4. Doing new things in new ways

Lois Girbino link

11/19/2011 05:12:21 am

All excellent points, but the ENGAGEMENT piece is so key & I think "doing old things in new ways" is a great hook for learning. I know onion skin tracings cover the same ground, but how much fun is that for our "digital natives"? I made a value scale video & students loved it so much more than a live demo! Then, they could look at it at home & they did---first time I heard a fourth grader excited about value scales...

Suzanne Tiedemann link

11/20/2011 01:43:12 am

I view this lesson as a new way to teach an artistic technique that is relevant and an important skill for students to learn. Contour line drawing has been around for a long time. I think calling it an “old thing” is what is throwing me a bit. In my opinion, it is still a very current and valuable lesson for students to learn. Practicing this skill on the iPad with styluses seems to be a very exciting way to engage our 21st century learners. Not only will they learn about contour drawing in a new and innovative way, but they will also learn how to use new digital tools at the same time. This lesson apparently includes photography as well as the option of learning how to paint digitally using layers. These are skills that are taught in high school Photoshop courses. This is an excellent way to introduce your students to a skill set that just may inspire them with future learning and quite possibly lead them to a career. I am looking forward to trying this with my students! Thank you as always for sharing your brilliant teaching methods!

craigr

11/20/2011 03:55:48 am

I didn't mean for 'old' to be seen as a 'bad' thing. I'm 'old' myself. :7) Actually, I'm a big fan of "combining the old with the new." I do think though in the scheme of how we see digital technology being used in art classrooms, it is for the most part being used to replicate or enhance traditional media processes. This is NOT a bad thing. As Prensky points out its part of the adoption process.

Suzanne Tiedemann link

11/20/2011 04:40:32 am

Oh no, I was not insinuating that you were saying that "old" is a bad thing. I apologize if my entry came across that way. Sometimes when discussing education, if people refer to old practices or techniques, a misconception could be that old means outdated. I was just clarifying that the technique of contour line drawing, though it is an old practice, is still a current and a valuable skill to learn. I think that the steps in Prensky's model seem very logical.

Ben link

11/20/2011 09:27:21 am

The engagement part is huge, every teacher worth their salt knows that.....but as Craig and Theresa pointed out, often there's a level or two beyond what you may be doing in the classroom (either with or without technology) that would most likely melt our brains if we got to them everyday :)

I think what's really great about the teaching and learning process is that you can move back and forth along the continuum of that Craig described as needed. As long as your reflective about your experiences, it will help push you forward.

Dan

12/4/2011 03:35:52 am

As an art teacher, I feel that Tricia is doing an amazing job integrating technology into her curriculum. Teaching her students to use the ipad for more meaningful activities than 'Angry Birds' is awesome! While it is completely fine to do things the old way (using tracing paper), instructing students to use new tools that they have in their arsenal is extremely important. We have a new generation of learners who are immersed in technology as part of their daily lives. Developing and instructing students how to use these new tools, as well as 'old' methods helps create students who are prepared to make meaningful use this technology. Nice work Tricia!

Kim

1/14/2012 08:50:04 am

I love this idea but am having trouble working with the layers. How did ou do it? Any good resources?

Tricia

1/14/2012 11:39:27 am

Kim,
Do you mean layering on the iPad?
In the Picts above we were importing our photos from the Dropbox app into the Brushes app. The we added a layer and drew over it. When they were ready to save the either hide their photo layer or deleted it so that we only saw the contour line drawing. We were able to do the same trick one at a time on the interactive board too without any special apps. We just use the annotate over mode.

Alumnus

2/11/2012 04:39:57 pm

I went to Dryden twelve years ago. I go to art school now and always remember the fun I had in art class in elementary school. I support the ideas of technology in art but can certainly say that this particular project is not doing those kids any favors. This kind of project does not give any opportunity for anyone to make creative or skillful pieces. Sorry to be harsh but it is hard to imagine this being the future of art class in public school.

Mrs. Fugelstad

2/11/2012 09:57:09 pm

Not every lesson has creativity as the goal. This lesson is a portrait study The problem is: How do you turn the image of yourself into a contour line drawing. Students had the opportunity to practice this using digital tools. We could have used transparencies and traced with markers over a printed photograph to practice the same skill.
The lesson also teaches students about using layers with digital tools which is important for creating art for future projects.
The art product was not creative, but was full of problem-solving as they considered how to translate the form into line. They practice observational drawing and work on craftsmanship.
Our art room is very hands on. We used this study to prepare for our next self-portrait painting project.

Angela link

7/30/2015 01:03:05 am

I envision using this App is a valuable exercise. It is an excellent precursor to a self portrait drawing or painting project and another way to engage students in finding contour lines when drawing themselves in the mirror. If I had access to this technology, I would use this exercise. Thank you for the inspiration!

Interactive Tools are Transforming how Students Learn

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