Introduction/Research Question

          When looking at how to incorporate 21^st century technology into a typical, middle-school-aged art classroom, it is easy to start dreaming quite largely about having a full digital photography studio, or purchasing an iPad or digital camera for every student. While these ideas are somewhat grand but not completely out of reach – the Cleveland Institute of Art in Cleveland, Ohio actually supplies an iPad to every freshman for their tenure (Kulkin, 2013)– there are more innovative ways to use digital media in an art classroom these days. For instance, one could have students create an online, digital portfolio of their from complete from creating the works of art, to documenting their artwork with cameras and video cameras, through creating a portfolio either on a blog or a website. This would be an incredible tool and resource for a high school classroom but would involve a lot of money to facilitate all of the technology and, truly, a lot of commitment from the instructor and students to complete not only quality works of art but also to spend time documenting, designing and archiving the works of art. All of this to say, there are many places technology can, and will, be used in the art classroom, however not all are reasonable and accessible to the middle-school classroom.

Middle School students are, by nature, unsure of who they are and where they are going in life. They often have not even begun to think about the future, do not think past what is happening that weekend, and are completely sensitive to their opinions of those around them. As well, middle school students (6^th-8^th grade for the purposes of this research) are in a period of change as they are in the first couple years of puberty, which means they are changing physically, emotionally and mentally. On occasion a student comes into middle school as one type of student and leaves as another; perhaps they began middle school as a driven, high achieving student and graduate 8^th grade as a C average student who spends more time with friends than doing homework. More specifically, a student may enter middle school as a really talented artist and leave middle school looking to stop taking art because their friends – who are not naturally talented – have decided it is “not cool” to take art. Due to the many different changes that occur during middle school, the art room needs to change and grow with students to keep them engaged. This is one reason why changing and developing curriculum to include the use of iPads is an important concept to take a look at. Utilizing new, 21^st century technology as a way to teach art could be the difference in art class enrollment in the next 10-15 years.

In addition to the changes middle school students go through and experience, the art room is a place where nearly every student in the school is taught including those who are gifted in art, and those students who have special needs. Due to the wide variety of students who are serviced by art curriculum, there needs to be a wide variety of materials and processes available to access every type of student. This is not to say that all students need to like every art project, but rather to say there need to be options available for every student to find a way to succeed in art. For instance, students who have been diagnosed with Aspergers or Autism sometimes have trouble with different textures and getting messy. These students sometimes refuse to work on an art project because it means touching materials that make them uncomfortable or getting messy when they prefer to be clean. Having access to creating art on an iPad could eliminate such issues and provide this type of student with a way to successfully create art without experiencing the limitations that their diagnosis brings with it.