Why Web 2.0 and Art Education
In an article I'm working on now, I am trying to make the argument for why we (Art Ed) should embrace Web 2.0.
These are the reasons that I've come up with so far - any suggestions would be appreciated.
1. Art education has (historically) been about creation. Web 2.0 offers us unprecedented tools and abilities to create the Web.
2. Information literacy and the ability to work with digital technologies cuts across all subject areas. We need to address these issues, but from an art perspective.
3. Using the tools of Web 2.0 opens the doors to collaborative meaning-making with regard to understanding art works. For instance, students could use a wiki and create a class interpretatin of an art object.
4. The use of Web 2.0 offers the potential for feedback and ongoing dialogue between and among students, artists, teachers, parents, etc. Though this dialogue was certainly possible through email, if it takes place on a blog or in another format, it can be publicly available.
Comments
What comes to mind is that art educators are training the people that will be designing web 3.0 and beyond. We need to be using this technology in the classroom so that we can inspire students to think beyond what is currently available and possible. In regard to using Web 2.0 in the classroom, I think we should be letting our students teach us how they use the Internet in creative ways so that we can move forward. What we think are interesting ways to use the technology are already outdated by the time we can write about them in many cases. What the students are using the technology to accomplish, even if it seems shallow on the surface, is where we would do well to focus our attentions.
Posted by: katie | September 26, 2007 4:44 AM