Is Technology in the Art Room Always a Good Thing?

These days, it’s totally normal for me to say things like, “Get out your phones and work on your blog posts,” to my high school art students. However, this type of instruction wouldn’t have been possible even five years ago.

Now, technology permeates our culture, including the culture in our schools. Many schools even give each student their own computer or iPad, while others operate on a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy. There, students are actually encouraged to bring smart phones and other devices from home to supplement available classroom resources.

With the availability of technology comes the expectation that we use it to improve learning in our classrooms.

This change has, of course, impacted our art rooms. Increased access to technology affects almost everything we do, from the way we deliver instruction to the way students access materials to the art making processes we teach.

• We can easily record videos to deliver instruction to our students which they can access it over and over again.
• We can teach students to use their devices to access literally millions of artworks.
• We can expose our students to new forms of tech-based art like animation and digital sketching.

So technology obviously has enormous benefits, but does it also come with a cost?

Is replacing face-to-face interaction with a screen always beneficial? Studies have shown that screen time can inhibit children’s ability to read human emotions. We know that students are spending ever increasing amounts of time plugged in, and research shows that the amount of television kids watch lowers their readiness for school. If students are negatively impacted by the amount of technology they are currently exposed to, should we add even more screen time in our classrooms? Do the benefits outweigh the risks?

These thoughts run through my head as I sit down to read the posts my students have made on their personal blogs. When I really think about it, I have a love/hate relationship with the sites I have my students create. I love that they serve as a digital portfolio of all the work they produce while in high school, and I love how convenient they are to grade and keep track of. If I’m being honest, I also love how important it sounds when I say all my kids create and maintain personal blogs. I am, after all, expected to use technology.

What I’m less sure about is the relative value to what the blogs replace – face-to-face conversations. If I sat down and had a conversation with each student, would I gain deeper insight into their learning by being able to respond in real time to what they say? To see their facial expressions and to hear their tone of voice as they reflect?  I also wonder about the wisdom of asking kids, who have been immersed in screen time all day, to take in more.

Making decisions about how much to use technology in our programs is something we have to base on a variety of factors, but the one thing we have to continue to ask ourselves is if the benefits are always worth the costs.

How do you use technology in your classroom?

Do you always love it or do you sometimes worry about its value?