Advantages and Disadvantages: Technology Integration in the Arts

Advantages and Disadvantages:

Technology Integration

in the Arts

Advantages of Integrating Technology

There are countless advantages for integrating technology into the arts.  Many of which include being able to incorporate devices and technologies that many students already use or are interested in and implementing them in a manner that furthers their interests and creates new interests in the arts.  In addition as described in this article from LD Online, http://www.ldonline.org/article/30245/ , using art and technology can greatly benefit students with learning disabilities and cognitive struggles such as autism.  Through the use of the arts and technology these students not only are able to express themselves in a way that they are unable to verbally, but they are able to grasp concepts and make connections between academic subjects as well.  The arts are a vital part of education through which students learn fundamental aspects about life and themselves through expression.  Students also are able to stay more engaged and interested through the use of technology over sole use of analog methods.  Lastly students who engage in some manner of arts education tend to perform better in their academic courses overall.  Therefore continuing to find ways to keep the arts current and on par with the ever growing technological world we have become accustomed to is vital.   “Thus, immersion in media arts represents a path to greater participation in the life of our society” (Roblyer, 2016, p.355)  This aspect is also apparent in schools that provide students to option to participate in the design of school graphics, logos and materials.  “Many schools look to their own graphics arts programs for the creation of brochures and newsletters as part of student learning activities” (Roblyer, 2016, p.370).

Technology integration also provides an opportunity for students to now visit and learn from places such as museums when visiting them is not possible.  “Many museums around the world have sites that allow a virtual tour through the museum” (Roblyer, 2016, p.370).  Though nothing compares actually seeing a work in person, students are able to get a different perspective of the works and better sense of scale than simply viewing the works as flat images on a projector.  Add to this the ever growing world of virtual reality and in the very near future student will be able to feel as though they are actually walking through a museum halfway around the world.  

Disadvantages of Integrating Technology

“Some teachers are not adequately prepared to produce digital art, much less to teach their students to do so” (Roblyer, 2016, p.365).  Just as it is important to continue to teach and update the arts through the use of technology, this can only be accomplished with teachers who are adequately prepared to not only teach with technology but also troubleshoot, experiment and adapt it to their needs/curriculum.  

Funding is another major issue for integrating technology in the arts.  “As a result of lean economic times and the ever-increasing emphasis on accountability in mathematics and reading as reflected in standardized testing related to the No Child Left Behind Act, funding for art education is at an all-time low (Ellerson, 2016)” (Roblyer, 2016, p. 365).   This poses major issues for teachers who either rely on technology in their classroom or are just starting to integrate it.  The use of technology in the arts can be quite expensive, inks alone for quality printers can deplete an annual budget in no time.  Keeping computers up to date usually requires replacing them around every three years and unexpected costs such as replacing broken equipment is bound to happen.  Though necessary, the implementation of technology into the arts can prove to be a daunting task at time to say the least.  Yet it’s overall benefits greatly outway what seems to have become this idea of irrelevance, which lead to defunding such a vital aspect of our education and our lives.  

In addition WikiBooks.org https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Technology_Integration_In_K12_Education/Technology_in_Fine_Arts_Classrooms provides some further information on topics I’ve covered as well as continuing the information of technology integration.     

Specific Activities, Programs, Etc.

The following is a list of programs and activities for integrating technology into art for the classroom.

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe InDesign

Website Portfolios for Students

Virtual Tours

Newsletter Design

Sharing students work and research for feedback, collaboration and inspiration

Art Education 2.0

Class Instagram

Class Website

Roblyer, M.D. (2016). Integrating educational technology into teaching

(7th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.