Hi, I’m Heather. I graduated from University of Hartford in 2011 with a BFA in printmaking and illustration. I love art and creating. When I’m not studying, student teaching or at City College I paint tiny paintings for my Instagram. (Follow me! @tinytempleshoppe! I’m also shameless about it!:) ) I’m a huge New York Rangers fan! If you wanna talk Hockey, I’m your gal!
Over the past couple of years I have been extremely interested in the rise of visually based social media such as Instagram and tumblr. I have noticed that it has made its way into fine arts classrooms. I have become curious about the way students utilize these platforms in their creating of art work in a classroom as well.
I am still in the very beginning stages of forming my question and understanding how to apply what I’m learning to my advantage and to answer my question.
I have been planning to ask students from numerous high schools how they utilize social media platforms such as those mentioned above in creating their work. I will also try to conduct surveys with art teachers asking how often they allow or ask students to use social media to help get creative ideas flowing. I also would like to know if teachers feel that having there sites is useful to students learning or if they think it is more distracting than anything. As of now, I have found a few articles that I feel will be very helpful in my research:
Teaching Art in the Age of Social Media
And
Social Media for Teaching and Learning
I think my research will contribute to the art education field. By opening up the eyes of teachers who might not use these social media platforms in there classroom, I’m hoping to be able to potentially help them advance the creativity of students as well as the spectrum of artists they learn about.
I’m looking forward to sharing my findings with everyone!
