Abstract :
Art educators, like those in other areas of the
curriculum, are under pressure from various directions
to use digital technology in the classroom.
Whilst some of this pressure is politically motivated
I believe there are also what could be described as
more legitimate educational reasons for using
computers; what is lacking at this stage is a coherent
body of knowledge amongst art educators as
to what happens when we do use them. This article
focuses on a development project which took
place last year in a secondary school involving a Year
10 class in the use of multimedia software. The
project was collaborative in nature and was carried
out by Miles Jefcoate, an art teacher at Beacon
Community College in East Sussex, a group of Year
10 students at Beacon and myself as a member of
the teaching team on the Art and Design PGCE
course at the University of Brighton. Supported by
research funding from the University, the school
was provided with multimedia software which was
installed into its computer network. The design and
delivery of the students’ project was undertaken by
Miles whilst I evaluated the impact of the digital
technology on the learning taking place, with an
emphasis on how Miles and the students experienced
and evaluated their activities.
