This semester, in my technology for "soon-to-be teachers" class, I have several art majors who are working toward teacher certification in Colorado. I would like to know which technologies you think an art teacher can not do without?

Thank you for your ideas.

Tags: Art, technology

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Um?

Why would the discipline matter?

For that matter, how is the technology requirement for teachers different from the base skill requirement for humans in the first half of the 21st Century?

How you present it might vary ... like how blogs/'gators/wikis/networks contribute to learning. Or how to teach people how to evaluate information for credibility, balance, value, etc ...

I'm curious why you think "art teachers" need *different* technology than say ... "english majors."
If I taught Art there would be programs/sites/tools I'd use that a classroom teacher probably wouldn't use. May I suggest Artsonia an online student art gallery and Artsnacks a ning network for kids and teachers.
Yea there's a lot of "nice to have" stuff out there.

But the question is "Which technologies you think an art teacher can not do without?"

And I put all the specialized technology *second* to the huge load that mastery of the basic tool set requires. The reason being that once you've mastered the basic set, acquiring new tools becomes easy. Failing to master the basic set just means building sky scrapers on sand.

In a semester, or even a year, I think pre-service teachers would be better served by mastering the tools for learning and then mastering the tools for teaching before they started down the road to specific specialized applications.

Your mileage will, of course, vary.
I agree that for the most part technologies will be the same. Art teachers will benefit from integrating 2.0 technologies just like any other teacher. But this "basic tool set" might not look exactly the same. For example, I think that any 21st century art teacher will want to know how to use photoshop to help prepare their students for art based career options. While photoshop is a useful skill in other areas as well, it probably doesn't have the same weight for, say, a math teacher.

-and that's not to say that there isn't ways to integrate photoshop into a math curriculum (like doing tessellations for example), but it doesn't become part of that 'foundation' you mention.
If your argument is that a pre-service art teacher needs to know how to teach photoshop (rather than "use" photoshop), I think I can agree ... altho that seems like a stretch to me because it argues that the technology of "teaching photoshop" is a key required technology that all pre-service art teachers must have.

And while we're on that subject, I would argue that limiting instruction to specific tools -- Photoshop, Word, Dreamweaver -- is an extreme disservice. That's a different soap box, but from my perspective we should be teaching image manipulation, word processing, and web design, not promoting individual, proprietary tools. But we can argue that on a different thread.
Argument? Nah -theres probably more common ground than not. I hear you about teaching things like "image manipulation", etc- and the more ways we teach it the better. I do think that tools like photoshop are key, because they're industry standards for when they leave school and enter the workforce. On the other hand, the wider their scope in various programs, and their ability to work in a variety of formats, the better
One example I can think of off the top of my head, is that one of my colleagues uses photoshop in a unique way when she is teaching non-digital art. She has her students scan their projects into the computer, and use photoshop to adjust contrast, change value, and even swap colors. This gives the students the opportunity to explore different possibilites within their own work. Its a pretty creative use of a very powerful tool! So, to me, I'd say that photoshop is a pretty indispensible technology for most art teachers.

In addition, a student who is looking for a career in any art field, really should have a strong understanding of how photoshop works.

Beyond that- I'd recommend Flash for animation and motion graphics, Illustrator for vector graphics and logo design.

In terms of hardware- Macs (preferably), a scanner, and without a doubt, a Wacom tablet. Someone on this forum a while ago compared drawing with a mouse akin to drawing with a bar of soap. That's a concept that has really stuck with me.
oh, and I'd highly recommend they join our community for art teachers using 2.0 technology at http://arted20.ning.com
I guess I'll also add a shameless plug for The Carrot Revolution, which is my blog for art teachers who are using and abusing technology in their classrooms. Art Junction is another excellent blog for art teachers.
None of it! The art teachers should, in addition to what the other teacher know how to use, should be comfortable using and teaching use of the various graphic and multimedia authoring software. This generation of art teachers will be the ones to supply the artists who bring the next generation of games, multimedia, graphics, and audio files. Art teachers should also help prepare the designers and architects of the future and should be comfortable using the software that such folks use.
From the perspective of a colorado art program grad who has been teaching a while, I'd say any effective tech is useful to any art teacher/artistic teacher. I am currently a TOSA working quite comfortably with tech, but where some see my success as being good with technology, I see it as being creative and artistic. Funny really that you would post this question, because it is something I have felt for some time. I learn the "tech" side of integration quickly, but it's the out of the box thinking and analytical perspective that added so much to my teaching and now to my teacher training and ability to see possibilities with just about any tech tool. And I thought I would be a painter! Ha! I would say that ALL non-art teachers need a background in ART. For my teaching, it was just the balance that has helped to keep my mind open and my students worth the challenges.
I appreciate your reply. I agree... finding ways and seeing possibilities for using different tools is key.

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