Hi and welcome all to my blog. My name is Martin Robert Reed I am currently training to be an art teacher. I decided to have a career change at the age of forty-six and enrolled on a Ba fine arts degree at Coleg Sir Gar Carmarthen. Having been in the construction industry for over twenty years it was a big change. It happened as simple as this, I did my last construction job on a Friday enrolled on the course on a Sunday and was in full time education on the Monday. I finished my degree in 2015 at present I have enrolled on a PGCE Teacher Training program in Swansea. There have been many challenges along the way but here I am blogging about ‘technology in contemporary art teaching practice’ who would of thought that a couple of eons ago,

So here I go: The world we live in today is fast paced. Technology and the information age has shrunk the world into what seems like a solitary neighbourhood. I recently had a video link with a customer in Santa Monica California USA, I could hear her children in the background of their kitchen talking and clinking cutlery together it seemed as if they were in my own home, I kept looking around to see where the noise was coming from. This confirms to me that technology is firmly imbedded into our culture and our everyday lives and it is unlikely that it will do a U-turn anytime soon.

Reflective writing and its benefits.



The Beauty of Mobile Devices in Art Education

Some of the most effective technological devices that I have used in education are mobile devices. They increasingly offer a more flexible and personal approach to learning and support students at all levels(Allen,R)

Two examples I can share of my experience with mobile technology. On one occasion with Level 4 students I brought up a Lucian Freud portrait drawing on the classrooms computer monitor and asked the students to individually walk over to the screen and have a good look at the image, in an endeavour to help the student visually understand the drawing objective I was alluding for them to do. Not one student went over to look at the screen. The next question that I asked of them was to find out the date van Gough's was born and I asked them to use their own mobile phones to find the answer, the class erupted with enthusiasm every student engaged with this request and found the answer within seconds. This became a student led activity and when asked to engage with the use of a mobile device all go t involved.

My other example is the use of an I-Pad. Which I have found to be an invaluable tool when conducting one-to-one tutorials. Each student has their own personal agenda and concepts, this makes it vital to be flexible as a teacher and cater for individual needs and responses. Art student have their own unique ways of looking at the world and each student has their own perspectives about what art is. Art is subjective, this means that their aesthetic outcomes will all be completely different.

The I-Pad is firstly mobile and easy to carry around, its functions are easy to use and simple to navigate, it is excellent as regards speed of connection, consistency, battery life and longevity of use. Search engines as google give you the history of art at your fingertips, allowing for personal instruction and guidance according to the students needs at that given time. It also allows the student to become familiar with methods of searching for and learning about all sorts of artist and current trends in art practice. The I-Pad can be used effectively as a visual guide and an aesthetic tool to help the student progressively understanding art practice and deepen their knowledge and understanding of art practice and material processes. There are many online tutorials about processes and material developments that can be watched to suit each individual. It can also be used as a sketchpad itself with its built-in drawing and painting software facilities. 

Overall mobile devices are what is working for me in education and I strongly believe that mobile devices are in there infancy and are going to continue to impact on our lives to a greater degree as we move out of a post-modern society into one that I believe is more fluid and mobile. We are now living in very `Fluid Times`.

  Allen,R (2011) Can mobile devices transform education?

http://fbisdhosted.com/iachieve/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Mobile-Devices-Transforming-Education.pdf

Barriers to the Effective use of Technology in Education.

One of the greatest barriers to the use of technology in education is `attitude` a resistance to change. When teachers focus on the negatives of technology and what is required of them personally, to make the changes when implementing technology in the classroom, this can create a resistant attitude to change. When summing up the value and benefits of technology introduces into a learning a `is it worth it` mentality can also detract from encouraging the teacher to make the change. It is easier to adopt an attitude that what has worked for so long is what I will stick with attitude. Time and effort to learn new technologies from the teacher point of view can also slow down the process of introducing technology into learning environments(S,Khat)(Hew & Brush, 2007)  

Many other barriers that effect the introduction of technology in education are; internet connectivity and its consistency, resources and enough computers for everyone, technical support, teaching software applications is time consuming, upgrades, technologies becoming outdated and replaced to frequently.

The criteria that is required for the learning environment are demanding technology would have to be tailored to the appropriate age and level of the student, is the type of media appropriate, is information accurate and current, can the technology be easily integrated into the classroom, is the technology relevant to classroom activities and is it easy to use?

There are as we have seen many barriers to the use of technology in the classroom. However possibly the biggest barrier is `attitude` a resistance to change, if by just changing our mind-set about technology in education adopting a more positive outlook of its potential who knows what benefits we might find for it use. We also have to consider that our children are computer literate and technology is deeply integrated into our society and culture, there is not going to be a U-turn any time soon, technology will without a doubt play an increasingly larger and more effective role in education. Maybe a fact that is better accepted now. 


khat,S(   ) Technology,! Why it is slow to be integrated into a classroom. 

http://tspoetter.weebly.com/uploads/9/5/8/7/9587563/khat_technology.pdf