Monday, October 12, 2009
October Action Research Blog Entry
What is your official problem statement?
In working through an answer to what my official problem statement (same as purpose statement?) would be, I began to list out my concerns as recommended in You and Your Action Research Project (McNiff, Lomax & Whitehead, 2003).
I have created several websites which are for use in teaching or learning art. They are rather outdated and do not use ANY Web 2.0 applications at this point. There are PowerPoint presentations (which some computer browsers cannot access), Web Scavenger Hunts, a few online quizzes and vocabulary crossword puzzles -- all created several years ago.
In my experience, there are a number of art teachers who resist using technology at all in their classes. Their lesson plans and activities, while being very good, traditional art instruction are not really moving into the digital age. My own teaching websites follow this same traditional model.
Some of my concerns regarding it were:
a) that my lessons are not addressing the needs of art educators regarding what they feel they need to teach about art.
b)that students may not be getting the kind of art education that will be of benefit to them throughout their lives.
c)that I offer the fundamentals of what students need in art education in order to have useful core knowledge to apply in many, many useful ways and to make their lives more enriched and fulfilling.
What I finally came up with as a problem statement was this.
Problem Statement
The concept of a visual education or an art education has morphed in recent years as a result, at least in part, to the incredible advances made in technology. Art education is not just for artists or art critics or consumers of art. An understanding of the visual is a vital component part of understanding the communications all around us in this age, and in being able to participate more fully in those communications.
Many middle and high school art programs have not moved toward incorporating technology into the curricula, much less embracing it as part of the curricula.
The intent of this project is to use the lens of relevance and address what students of art need to learn for tomorrow in a teaching site for ceramics.
Additionally, I will make modifications to incorporate Web 2.0 technologies to enhance learning, attempting to do this in such a way that it is simple to use and encourages more teachers to incorporate more technology into their teaching.
How did your research end up shaping this?
The books and articles that I have been reading on instructional design, on incorporating technology into the art classroom, on Web 2.0 tools have opened my eyes to the very different viewpoint that the generation of children today have. They take instant communication, instant knowledge for granted.
The research that I have done up to this point has pressed home the point that more than having more and more data poured into them, students need to be able to find information, understand it, apply it and create with it. They need to understand that there is no one right answer to every question. Much of this and more, I had felt to be true, but this program and my research has validated it.
What outcomes are you expecting?
If I can make the changes to the ceramics teaching site in such a way that it remains easy to use and my explanations and tools are easy for teachers to understand and use in the classroom to good result, then I expect that more teachers will begin to use it and that there will be parts that other ceramics teachers will begin to contribute to through the use of wikis and other tools. This is very exciting to me.
How are your critical friends helping in this process?
So far, the help has been in encouragement, in listening, in helping me to understand something better by giving a viewpoint. I need to begin to work more with my critical friends as the little bit of input from them has been very valuable to me.
How is this month’s course helping shape your ARP?
Before this course, I had very little idea of the Web 2.0 tools out there. Now, I am very excited about them and would like to have more time to explore the many uses to which they can be put. For example, it had never occurred to me before to put a wiki on my site, but that would be perfect. The contribution of other ceramic artists would be very valuable. My weaknesses would be strengthened and it would be of even more value to those who contributed.
Additionally, the use by students of the social networking tools and personal learning environments opens the door to many possibilities in art that I have only just begun to explore.
Photograph property of the author, Kerry Marquis
References
McNiff, J., Lomax, P. & Whitehead, J. (2003). You and your action research project. New York: RoutledgeFalmer.
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