This website was designed to empower art teachers. The included curriculum will help art teachers foster digital visual literacy and technological knowledge in their students. The skills taught in these lessons are not only essential practices utilized by contemporary artists, they are vitally important for all people living in the 21st century. The curriculum was created as part of a research project for the completion of a Master of Arts in Art Education degree through the University of Florida.
Spalter and van Dam (2008) define digital visual literacy as the ability to: "1) critically evaluate digital visual materials, 2) make decisions on the basis of digital visual representations of ideas, and 3) use computers to create effective digital visual communications" (p. 94).
Spalter, A. M. & van Dam, A. (2008). Digital visual literacy. Theory Into Practice, 47(2), 93-101.
There is a scope and sequence and 7 lesson plans posted on this site. The lesson plans feature an overview complete with state standards, slideshows with student instructions and visuals, video tutorials, handouts, and student examples.
I designed this curriculum to help fellow art teachers feel less intimidated by digital visual literacy education because I once was very intimidated by it! I have been an art teacher for middle-high school students for nine years and I want to share what I've learned with other art teachers. Like so many others, I had to use personal time to learn scary new technologies and determine what kind of lessons would best serve my students in the 21st century. My goal with this site was to create a straight-forward, accessible art curriculum that would help art teachers--regardless of their skill or experience level--foster digital visual literacy and contemporary artist practices in their students.