Technology is constantly changing. There always seems to be a new device, a new app or a new way of creating every year. How can we keep up with the rapid growth and flux of new and emerging media? Although we can learn about it in school, it seems that often once we learn something fully, it becomes obsolete. We are therefore, constantly learning, alongside our students and even often from them. This does not make the educator obsolete, but rather redefines our role in the classroom. We become a mediator, a facilitator and a collaborator.
Learning happens everywhere, and doesn't stop when a student leaves school. Humans learn throughout their lives from each other and their experiences, and having the strong foundation of confidence in your ability to harness that knowledge into new forms of seeing the world can provide you with the tools and skills to live a more successful, productive and happy life. This foundation starts with the teacher, and these life skills are taught in the classroom. It is our job as art educators to open up these opportunities for our students. Using new technology is one way to help them cultivate their skills as both artist and scientist. It combines creativity with the newest forms of tools at our disposal - tools that they will not only see in their art room, but also use throughout their lives.
Although I am a strong advocate for newer technology, I think that having the knowledge of what has gone before is really important when implementing it. If we only learn to write by typing on a computer, if it breaks, are we unable to communicate? We need to crawl before we walk and walk before we run. This creates a deeper appreciation of our tools and a fundamental knowledge of the way things work. When I was in college, I went from using film and a dark room, to film and a scanner with Photoshop, and shortly after graduating, technology changed again and I had to buy a digital SLR camera. Film still lingered, and does to this day, but mostly in a nostalgic or hobby sort of way. It has a certain aesthetic that is slowly but surely dying, as the people who are learning today were born at the time that digital was emerging as the primary way of doing things. However, I do think it is important for students to learn about film and USE it, to see it on its most basic level, so that they can truly wrap their minds around how the new technology was built. To not be able to instantly see what photos they are taking, and to gauge lighting, and focus and depth of field and shutter speed based on their knowledge, rather than what the camera tells them is "correct." To experience the mistakes that inevitably will happen; to encourage them to take risks as they move up to new technology and have it "easy." To give them the confidence to know that they can do this, because they could do it the hard way.
When cameras were invented, I think people assumed that painting and painters, such as those who would paint portraits, would become obsolete, since we were able to capture "truth" in likeness. However, even though painting has become less of a "necessity" in life, it has never gone away. It remains as fine of an art form as ever, and garners a great deal of respect from those who do appreciate art. It simply has been redefined, just as the role of the art teacher has become redefined, and the tools we use have been redefined. Art, education and technology will be constantly in flux far into the future.
