Can Digital Literacy Actually be Taught in an Art Classroom?

What's the deal with blogging?

When I think of blogging, I think of chefs who post beautiful pictures of amazing food alongside great recipes with some “tips and tricks” scattered in. I think of stay-at-home moms (and dads) who post pictures of their families with “life hacks” and fun vacation ideas. What I don’t think of, is students in classrooms creating advanced writing pieces as part of a class. But, is that what I should be thinking? One thing is for sure, I never thought I would be typing a blog post and yet here I am, doing just that, while analyzing the importance of digital writing and how it can benefit students in my art classes.

I’ve missed a lot! It has been a while since I wrote a paper and in that time, a lot has changed. Students and teachers use technology constantly and we all have instant access to the internet. This ability to connect to others in a mere second has changed the way we interact with the world. While I frequently ponder the implications of social media platforms on our society, I've naively ignored what those changes mean to writing. Admittedly as an art teacher, I do not think about writing nearly as often as I should. Don’t misunderstand, any writing that requires students to draw conclusions and defend opinions is crucial to art education. Sadly, I tend to drill techniques and processes and that unfortunately leads to writing being left out. 

After reading Argument in the Real World, I am more aware of how important it is to teach appropriate digital literacy to students. In their book, Hicks and Turner (2017) remind readers that “arguments can reach far beyond an intended audience” (p. 11). Our students know, probably better than us, how quickly something online can spread. Galvin and Greenhow’s study published in TechTrends concluded that, when used appropriately, social media can provide authentic learning for students (2020). For this reason, it is crucial that we adequately prepare our students to be positive members of this online community. Although I have not been diligent about incorporating digital literacy into my curriculum up to this point, I hope to improve this moving forward. Below I will outline some ideas on how I plan to do just that.

Next year, I will have an advanced art class. One important goal that I have for this group of students is to participate in regular class critiques. I’ve been thinking these critiques would be similar to the ones I participated in all throughout college. A group of students, led by the teacher, with everyone looking at each other's work and talking about every detail of the pieces, how those elements are received and what overall impressions students have of one another's artwork. After reading various texts about digital writing and how to teach students to write for an online audience, I think our class critiques could take on a more relevant format. My art students could create online portfolios for themselves and write regular posts discussing their work and commenting on the work of others.

In Chapter 2 of the book “Argument in The Real World,” Hicks and Turner introduce us to Betsy Reid. Betsy is a high school English teacher who uses logos as a way to engage students in some of the important components that go into creating digital content (2017). The lesson she used with her students was not only a great introduction to creating digital content, but also something that aligns directly with the design concepts that are part of my middle school art curriculum. By incorporating a similar lesson into my instruction next year, I believe I can begin to set the stage for students to create well crafted digital content. The American Institute of Graphic Arts Design Teaching Resource section has a Currency Redesign lesson that could be used to introduce students to digital writing in a way similar to the logo lesson used by Betsy Reid. Below you can see examples of that lesson (Gardos, 2019).

One final idea I have to address digital literacy involves collaboration. In the National Council of Teachers of English's article “Definition of Literacy in a Digital Age,” they discuss how curriculum and instruction need to change in order to keep up with the evolution of digital communities (2019). One such change could be for teachers to work together with colleagues to create meaningful and authentic experiences for students. I have wanted to collaborate with the gifted ELA teacher at my school for some time. I believe we can create engaging lessons that will inspire and motivate students to become better digital writers. Last year, my 7th and 8th graders created GIFs. The lesson was fun and engaging because it was relevant to the students and different from our usual assignments. Thinking back, the lesson could have gone further. Keeping digital literacy in mind, perhaps the gifted teacher and I can create collaborative GIFs, infographics, or posters advocating for a specific issue. These digital works could be used to inform blog posts that generate student conversations around a specific topic.

According to Galvin and Greenhow, “successful implementation in writing instruction was granting students agency - or the freedom and power - to choose and embrace their own authentic learning experiences" (2020). I believe that teaching students the power of their voice and their place in the growing online world can be empowering. Teaching digital literacy shouldn’t fall solely on the shoulders of ELA teachers.  Writing is important to any content just as it is important in life. Admittedly teaching writing is out of my comfort zone; however, designing and delivering a message using visual representation and design principles is definitely something more in my wheelhouse. Diving into digital literacy texts has led me to consider a variety of activities that can be introduced into an art curriculum and how those activities can benefit overall art instruction as well as guide students to become better content creators.

References

Galvin, S., & Greenhow, C (2020). Writing on social media: A review of research in the high school classroom. TechTrends: Linking Research and Practice to Improve Learning, (64)1, 57-69. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11528-019-00428-9

Gardos, A. (2019). GDSN 164: Digital illustration design: currency re-design. American Institute of Graphic Arts, Design Teaching Resource. https://teachingresource.aiga.org/project/gdsn-164-digital-illustration-design-currency-re-design/

Hicks, T., & Turner, K.H. (2017). Argument in the real world: Teaching adolescents to read and write digital texts. Heinemann.

National Council of Teachers of English. (2019, November 7). Definition of literacy in a digital age. https://ncte.org/statement/nctes-definition-literacy-digital-age/