Nora, hope this helps and good luck on your thesis. If you need more info
contact me directly.
Jane
1) a) How long have you been teaching art? _5 years, 3 years full time
b) How long have you been teaching computer art? 3
years___________________
2) a) What kind of background do you have in this area? Background in
commercial graphic design but self-taught and a few college classes on the
computer. Mostly self-taught
b) What kind of computer classes do you teach? (Discuss programs
used.) What was your first response to teaching these classes?
I teach three levels of classes now that are taught jointly with the
business department. I am the ART Part of the course. The classes are titled
Multimedia PC (I, II and Advanced). In I, I use Adobe Photoshop, in II I use
Photoshop, Illustrator and PageMaker and the Advanced course uses whatever
programs are appropriate for the job at hand. I was all for teaching the
classes. They came at a time that the program enabled me to go full-time. It
has really become my program (the art curriculum) and I am enjoying building
it up. It also ties in what I did professionally before teaching so I have a
good background for the work we do.
3) a) What kind of technologies do you use with the computer? (for
example- computer, digital camera, CD-ROMS) We have a classroom
with 24 PC's, we use digital cameras, scanners, both color and black and
white printers. I do have some reference CD-ROMS for the students to use for
photo images. We just got a new CD burner in also.
b) How do you make sense of technologies in the art classroom?
Unfortunately I am not teaching this class in an art classroom; I am in a
computer lab and I make do with what I have.
4) Did the technology inspire the art curriculum or does the art
curriculum inspire the technology? The technology and art go hand in
hand. I make sure the students learn to use the technology as they apply it
to learning about the elements and principles of art and design.
5) What are some problems you faced while teaching a computer art
lesson? Students want to go on-line and play.
6) What are some wonderful surprises that developed while doing a
computer art lesson? I have had students become very excited about
art and graphic design who never thought they had 'talent'. The computer has
freed those who do not feel confident in their traditional art skills to
create some incredible work.
7) Please give an example of a lesson that you felt was successful using
computer art. Did you incorporate any artists into your lessons?
In my PC II class I did a lesson on creating a design based on a unit of
four squares. This was done in Illustrator so the four squares could be
manipulated in a lot of ways. The unit had to be repeated a minimum of five
times though most students repeated it many more than that. I used many
artists in the lesson including Mondrian, Stella, Wright, LeWitt, Skoglund
and Vaserily. The end project had to work in color as well as black and
white and both versions were printed.
