Virginia Commonwealth University VCU Scholars Compass Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 2009 A Service-Learning Approach to an Arts-based Technology Course to Increase Pre-service Teacher Receptivity to Teaching Technology Elizabeth Essex Virginia Commonwealth University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarscompass.edu/etd Part of the Art Education Commons © The Author Downloaded from https://scholarscompass.edu/etd/1690 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at VCU Scholars Compass. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of VCU Scholars Compass. For more information, please contact libcompass@vcu. Department of Art Education School of the Arts Virginia Commonwealth University This is to certify that the thesis prepared by Elizabeth Ann Essex entitled “A Service- Learning Approach to an Arts-based Technology Course to Increase Pre-Service Teacher Receptivity to Teaching Technology” has been approved by her committee as satisfactory completion of the thesis requirement for the degree of Master of Art Education.
Taylor, Chair and Associate Professor, Department of Art Education Dr. Cho, Assistant Professor, Department of Art Education Dr. Taylor, Chair and Associate Professor, Department of Art Education Dr. Toscan, Vice Provost of International Affairs and Dean of the School of the Arts Dr.
Douglas Boudinot, Dean of the School of Graduate Studies April 28, 2009 © Elizabeth Ann Essex May 2009 All Rights Reserved A SERVICE-LEARNING APPROACH TO AN ARTS-BASED TECHNOLOGY COURSE TO INCREASE PRE-SERVICE TEACHER RECEPTIVITY TO TEACHING TECHNOLOGY A Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Art Education at Virginia Commonwealth University. by ELIZABETH ANN ESSEX B., Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 2004 M., Virginia Commonwealth University, 2009 Dr. Taylor Chair and Associate Professor of the Department of Art Education Dr. Cho Assistant Professor of the Department of Art Education Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, Virginia May, 2009 Acknowledgements I would like to give credit to all the people who supported me on my journey to graduation and finishing this thesis.
In particular, I cannot thank Dr. Min Cho and Dr. Pamela Taylor enough for their support and patience. Thanks to my parents for all their financial support and everything else they do for me.
Thank you to my friends for keeping me sane and on track in addition to reading, editing, and giving feedback, especially Katie Helms, Sasha Gonchoroff, Jason Van Gumster, Soo Clark, and Jan Johnson. I could not have finished this without all of your help. Finally, I would like to thank Dr. Nancy Lampert for her support when I started teaching ARTE 250.
Thank you all. ii Table of Contents Page Acknowledgements. ii List of Tables. vii List of Figures.
ix Chapter 1 Barriers to Teaching Digital Art Lessons for Pre-Service Teachers .1 What is Service-Learning? .1 An Example of Arts-Based Service-Learning in Technology.4 Statement of Problem .6 Teachers as Experts Pedagogy .8 Limits to the Problem .9 Purpose of the Study.11 Art Education and Curriculum Development.11 Computer Technology in Art Education .13 The Computer As An Artistic Tool.13 Digital Art: The Making Process.14 Artistic Play and Exploring New Software Programs.16 Teacher as Expert .19 iii Service-Learning in Teacher Education Rationales .19 Self-Efficacy Gains in Service-Learning .20 Service-Learning Principles .21 Service-Learning Theories .22 Changing Roles: From Teacher-Experts to Teacher-Partners.23 Digital Art and Service-Learning: An Example Art Teacher Education Program .25 3 Rationale for “Community” Unit Plan.31 Unit Part 1: Identity and Community .33 Unit Part 2: Community: Stories of Ritual and Tradition .47 Unit Part 3: Community and Service-learning .62 4 First Person Narrative .84 Day 1: Classroom Community .81 Unit Part 1: Identity and Community .82 Unit Part 2: Community: Stories of Ritual and Tradition .84 Unit Part 3: Community and Service Learning .94 iv Future Research.103 v List of Tables Page Table 1: Curriculum Outline: Topics and Key Concepts .29 vi List of Figures Page Figure 1: Identity Mindmap Template.101 Figure 2: My Identity Mindmap .102 vii Abstract A SERVICE-LEARNING APPROACH TO AN ARTS-BASED TECHNOLOGY COURSE TO INCREASE PRE-SERVICE TEACHER RECEPTIVITY TO TEACHING TECHNOLOGY By Elizabeth Ann Essex, B. A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Art Education at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2009 Major Director: Dr. Pamela Taylor Chair and Associate Professor, Department of Art Education The following question and sub-question guide this thesis project: 1) How does a service- learning approach in an arts-based technology course increase pre-service teacher receptivity to teaching technology? 2.) What are some barriers to teaching technology for pre-service teachers? A positive service-learning experience provides good learning models which have the potential to address the barriers to teaching technology for pre- service teachers by influencing their self-efficacy.
Included in this thesis is a unit plan which responds to these research questions. viii There are many barriers to teaching technology for teachers including lack of funds, availability and quality of computer hardware and software, teaching models for using computer technology in instruction, time to learn to use computer technology, and teacher attitude (Rogers, 2000). A service-learning approach in an arts-based technology course could increase pre-service teacher receptivity to teaching technology by addressing these needs, the most important of which is providing pre-service teachers with a model for using computer technology in their instruction. Computer hardware and software availability is a problem which the teacher educator can address through writing a grant for funds, computer hardware and software, introducing the pre-service teachers to free and open source software, and negotiating with the partner school's administration and classroom teachers.
Equally important is discussing this process with the pre-service teachers so they may learn from that experience. A positive experience teaching using computer technology has the potential to change pre-service teacher attitude about the ability of a teacher to influence students and their personal ability as a teacher (Wade, 1995; Root & Furco, 2001). Through service-learning, K-12 students and pre-service teachers have the opportunity to teach each other about digital art. It is through these unit plans that a mutual relationship is formed, which enables learning to occur on both ends.
Throughout the unit plan, pre- service teachers are given time to reflect on their learning experiences and discuss what they are learning by working with the students. When teaching digital art to pre-service teachers, while it is important to give goals, guidelines and some basic instruction to lay the ground work for future discoveries, pre-service teachers and students alike need the ix opportunity to find the solutions to their own technical and artistic problems. The curricular ideas and unit plans contained within this thesis may serve as idea- generators for teacher educators interested in enriching their computer technology curriculum for pre-service teachers by incorporating service-learning into their practice. The big ideas were chosen to emphasize the idea of a learning community.
Students and pre-service teachers develop a relationship over the course of teaching in which both learn from each other through the pre-service teachers' lessons and how the lessons are interpreted by the students. In effect, these unit plans are a beginning for future projects which integrate service-learning and the digital arts. x CHAPTER 1 Barriers to Teaching Digital Art Lessons for Pre-Service Teachers This study is based upon my experience teaching an undergraduate course for pre- service art teachers titled Computer Technology in Art Education in the Department of Art Education at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. In this 3 credit-hour class, hereafter called ARTE 250, students are introduced to the computer technology used in fine arts and graphics production, visual arts research, and art classroom administration.
Computer technology is any technology available on the computer. This course is designed to help students develop the ability to create and teach digital art lessons. Digital art is art created using computer technology of any kind, especially those created using computer graphics software. The curriculum for this course has historically included in-class instruction on a variety of computer graphics software: Adobe® Photoshop®, Adobe® Illustrator®, Adobe® InDesign®, Adobe® Dreamweaver®, iMovie™, and Microsoft Office™.
The problems I encountered while teaching ARTE 250 led me to research service-learning pedagogy as a potential solution. What is service-learning? Service-learning is a mutually beneficial partnership wherein students from an educational institution engage in an academic curricula by serving a community. Service- learning pedagogy has been gaining academic recognition as a form of experiential, 1 liberatory learning that connects service to the community and school curricula (Cho, 2006a; Cho, 2006b; Taylor, 2004). Dewey believed that genuine education was a social process involving the teacher, the students and their community (as cited in Mooney, 2000, p.
“[T]rue education comes through the stimulation of the child's powers by the demands of the social situations in which he finds himself” (as cited in Mooney, 2000, p. In service- learning, students' academic knowledge is put to use in the community, requiring social involvement. “Dewey set out a six-step process of inquiry which involved: 1) encountering a problem, 2) formulating a problem or question to be resolved, 3) gathering information which suggests solutions, 4) making hypotheses, 5) testing hypotheses, and 6) making warranted assertions” (as cited in Cone and Harris, 1990, p. Similarly, service-learning pedagogy can be divided into 6 stages: preparation/planning/design, action, reflection, demonstration, recognition/celebration (Cho, Follman, and Doromal, 2006).
The Cone and Harris (1990) lens model for service- learning includes the following elements: the learners, the definition of the task (cognitively and pragmatically), experiences, critical reflection (academic, informal, oral, and written), mediated learning, and then learners with newly integrated concepts. Service-learning can be a powerful form of experiential learning. 2 An Example of Arts-Based Service-Learning in Technology Hutzel (2007) used service-learning pedagogy in a computer technology class for pre-service art educators. Hutzel's university class partnered with local youths involved in an after-school program to create collages in Adobe® Photoshop®.
The pre-service art teachers met the curricular goal of learning the software program sufficiently in addition to gaining confidence as teachers. One pre-service teacher admitted feeling additional pressure to be knowledgeable about the software. “I felt that I learned Photoshop much better because I felt like LaShawn was in some way depending on me to know my stuff,” (Hutzel, 2007, p.) The pre-service teachers transitioned from a teacher-as-expert disposition to teacher-as-partner disposition. Most of the students immediately realized the contributions the youths made to their learning and appreciated the youths' knowledge and fearlessness,” (p.
One undergraduate participant stated in an on-line discussion that her 9-year-old youth partner was teaching her and another undergraduate. She realized that “He is going to be more of a benefit to Naomi and I, than we will be to him, on the computer” (p.) Several students expressed an increased comfort in working on the computer because of the service-learning approach. Service-learning experiences have the potential to help pre-service teachers become more confident both as teachers and as computer technology users, thus increasing their receptivity to teaching digital art lessons in their own future teaching careers. This thesis project addresses pre-service art educators' resistance to teaching digital art lessons.
Digital art lessons are an important component of any art curriculum but are often overlooked. Implementing a service-learning pedagogy into an arts-based 3 technology course for pre-service teachers would help them gain teaching experience using computer technology. This kind of experience could mean gains in confidence teaching as a learning partner as well as teaching using computer technology. Background Proficiency in computer technology is becoming increasingly important for businesses and therefore, for students and educators of all kinds.
In the United States, having computer-related skills translates into high incomes for high school graduates (Sandholtz, Ringstaff, & Dwyer, 1997). Art educators can better prepare their students for life in the digital age by incorporating computer technology skills into their lessons. Many of McLuhan's (1964) predictions of an information-based society have come true. Today, after more than a century of electric technology, we have extended our central nervous system itself in a global embrace, abolishing both space and time as far as our planet is concerned.