Technology as a tool in the Art classroom can make group projects more efficient. A class could use a photo sharing like Flickr or webshots so students can post digital photos taken at a special event or a field trip (Digital Diet). These sites could be used for pictures that they want to organize into a slide presentation with voice over, music or text. These types of sites could be used by a school organization or club to organize photos for events. Students can also use a photo sharing site so they can view images taken by other students in a photography class or photography unit. This is another great technology tool that we have at our disposal as long as we make sure to make arrangements for students who don’t have a computer or internet service at home. If we have a digital camera that they could check out then they can take pictures and use the computer at school to add to the collection on the site. With the freedom of using images online along with posting our photos we need to address copyright laws and privacy considerations when we use an online photo sharing site.
Copyright issues wouldn’t be a factor if the images are photos taken by the students, however, discussions about image sharing and being considerate of others would be important before starting such a unit. If the students take pictures of other students that they want to post to the site they need to make sure the image is respectful and the person or people know how they are using the picture and they give their consent. Picture sharing technology being used in a class project would bring up discussion on confidentiality and good citizenship in anything shared on the internet. These sites are limited to viewing by who you want but these will be seen by the class so in a mini-world kind of way this would give them practice in acting responsible in using media.
As Educators we can use copyrighted material to teach but class discussion about using found images is also important. Images can easily be found online and there are scholarly debates about whether these images should be copied, altered or used as is. If the image is not being used for making money is copying O.K.? – or – If they are altered, added to, or a part taken away, can they be reclaimed as a new image created by the person using it? These debates can easily accompany a photo-shop (or equivalent) lesson or any lesson where found images are used. We can construct a collage of pictures found in published magazines for a class project in our school but when we use images that were posted online and then post the finished collage on a class or school web page we then need to ask if we are infringing on copyright laws or anyones right to privacy. We also need to understand the school’s policy on privacy and image or information sharing. Many schools have a technology contract that is signed by the students and their parents. If they don’t want information about the students included in the school web site then the individual teachers need to also know this so they don’t publish information that the students and/or their parents already asked the school not to publish. Their probably aren’t too many instances where this is the case, but we do need to be aware of these possibilities and make plans to make sure we adhere to these types of requests.
As in anything new or innovative the implications of it’s use need to be considered. In careful planning the Art Educator can use technology tools to teach and model responsible behavior in image and information sharing on the internet. These tools can enrich lessons that encourage group work and cooperation, an important objective.
Resources:
Brooks-Young, S. (2010). Teaching with the tools kids really use: Learning with web and mobile technologies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Churches, A., Crocket, L., & Jukes, I. (2010). The digital diet: Today’s digital tools in small bytes. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
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