Creativity in the digital world: Art teachers’ perspectives

Abstract

The objective of this article is to draw attention to the use of smart devices in the arts. Due to the increased use of smart devices in schools and the importance of creative thinking, the aim was to shed light on the purpose of smart devices in the arts, focusing on visual art education. This article is based on a master’s thesis by Sigríður Ólafsdóttir entitled Creativity in the digital world: Art teacher’s perspectives, compiled in the Faculty of Education at the University of Iceland. The goal was also to explore technological possibilities in visual art education and opportunities for creativity. The study used a qualitative research method and conducted semi-structured interviews with four visual art teachers and one multimedia teacher working in elementary schools in Reykjavík. All the teachers were accomplished visual art teachers with over ten years of teaching experience. Data was gathered through conversations and interviews with all five teachers. All the interviews took place in the teachers’ schools in April 2017 and lasted from 30 to 60 minutes each. When analysing data, the focus was on interpretive analysis; that is, the researcher tries to understand how meaning is created by listening to interviews and reading transcripts to make a theme for the findings. All the teachers were giving fictitious names. The purpose was to answer the following research question: Can smart devices affect the creative thinking of children and young people? What is the purpose of smart devices in the visual arts and how do teachers use these devices in teaching? In this article we look at teachers’ attitudes towards smart devices in the visual arts and how they were applied in teaching.The results revealed that smart devices are used as specific tools in visual art education and they assist students in information retrieval, conceptual work and material acquisition. The use of smart devices does not replace traditional methods in the visual arts, however, since their main purpose is to support students’ work processes and tasks. Furthermore, the findings revealed that World Wide Web smart devices can serve as a learning platform to students in art education. Despite the limited use of smart devices in the visual arts and different professional viewpoints of teachers towards the use of this technology, the results indicate that information technology and interactive media can enhance the creative thinking of students. Students’ creative aptitude and their knowledge of technology plays an important role. In the visual arts, opportunities can be created for teachers to change their teaching practices by actively using smart devices in new projects that would otherwise be unthinkable. Thus, technology can support traditional methods.