In this interview episode Margo Cunningham and Amelia Henderson sit down to discuss the research on STEAM education, the history of classroom tech, tech adoption in the arts classroom, and the promotion of classroom tech in response to COVID-19.
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Alyssa: Hello AMT Lab listeners. Welcome to an interview episode brought to you by The Arts Management and Technology Lab. My name is Alyssa and I am the Podcast Producer.
In this episode contributors, Margo Cunningham, and Amelia Henderson sit down to discuss the research on STEAM education, the history of classroom tech, tech adoption in the arts classroom, and the promotion of classroom tech in response to COVID-19.
Please note that we are recording this episode as an April 11th, 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic. We are practicing social distancing by recording over Zoom. Therefore, you may hear differences in the audio quality, particularly as we switch from speaker to speaker. We hope you enjoy this episode brought to you by AMT lab.
Amelia: Hi, I'm Amelia Henderson
Margo: and I'm Margo Cunningham. Thank you so much for joining us today. During this current time of remote living, the changing education landscape, and in turn the arts education landscape, seems turbulent with only one constant technology. Today, we are going to be discussing the holistic necessity of STEAM learning and tech implementations. Why, who, and how, in the time of COVID-19.
Amelia: So, to get into it a little bit. STEAM actually originated from STEM, which stands for science, technology, engineering, and math, which was born from the U.S. government deciding that they wanted the U.S. to be able to compete internationally in these fields as kind of the job landscape changed, more of these jobs were available.
They felt that the U.S. was lagging behind other countries in how well we were educating our students, in the STEM fields. But more recently, there has been an emergence of STEAM, which adds the arts into that. So that would be science, technology engineering, arts, math. And, there are a number of arguments for it. Things like it is more representative of the real world. You know, we don't just get siloed into work. Work often comes in a lot of different forms in our jobs. We're not just really only doing engineering or only doing math or anything like that. So, it promotes more, more cross-discipline learning. your work often requires you to think broadly and to kind of take in new perspectives. You're working with other people. You're working with other departments at your company. All those kinds of things.
Margo: Yeah. And even when it comes to, I'd say working in your individual department, it always helps to understand more what other people around you are doing, and help build more of that collaboration, even if you don't interact with some of these other subjects.
Amelia: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you, you do a lot better work when you know what other people are doing as well and can springboard off of that. It also does things like increase accessibility. So, you often find that people who don't feel that they're represented in STEM groups, feel more representative when you include the arts into that.
So, groups, especially like women, are a lot more interested, in some, in STEM subjects when you include the arts in there. You know you find a lot of them have more interest in that. I know that personally, as a little, as a little wee girl, I was a lot more interested in like painting and stuff than I was in computer science and that sort of thing. But, the merging of those two is a great way to get more people on board. And also, there are a lot of pedagogical practices that, the STEAM subjects, can get, learn from the arts. Things like project-based learning where rather than just being lectured at students are actually working on something hands on, on a project. They're learning while they're doing that. They often tend to have a lot better retention of what they're working on when it's, when it's more project based than just lecture.
Margo: I feel like implementing the arts also allows you to kind of customize the learning experience. It's good to kind of give people different options. I always think about the, if you test every animal based on their ability to climb a tree, you know, a fish will never succeed.
Both: [Laughter]
Amelia: Yeah.
Margo: Steam does a great job of doing that, it's really cool.
Amelia: Yeah, it totally does. It also does things like promote creativity, right? Like if you're working on a problem that you encounter as an engineer, you often are having to think creatively. You're solving a problem that no one's ever solved before. So, building those creative skills and feeling confident in your own creativity, can go a really long way. And kind of along those lines, arts tend to serve students really well in helping them learn soft skills, right? Like, collaboration, problem solving, critical thinking, adaptability, communication. You know, these are all things that employers say that they're looking for when they're hiring people, but that might not come from a purely technical background, you know?
Margo: Right.
Amelia: So, integrating arts into that you get a lot more of those of those skills. And that can be really really useful. But there are also, you know, there is some issues with implementing STEAM methodology. Teachers often feel that they don't have the training necessary to implement STEAM practices in their own classroom. You know, they feel like while it's a really great idea, they don't actually know how to do it. They don't have the tools to do it and even just holding a seminar for a couple of hours may not be enough for them to build all new lesson plans and kind of adapt to the changing landscape and oftentimes the changing requirements of the education department in our government.
So, there are, also issues where a lot of things talk about STEAM in regards to what the STEM subjects can learn from the arts. but not why the arts are important on their own. You know, I think we obviously come from an arts background. We believe in the value of the arts.
Margo: The arts are important! Write it down!
Amelia: [Laughter] I'm guessing if you're listening to this podcast, you also believe that the arts are important. But some people kind of view STEAM as just a way to get the good things out of the arts without actually really encouraging arts education itself. So, I think that, that is an issue. And also, kind of on the flip side though, how can we be just holistically integrative? You know, not just what can the STEM subjects get from the arts, but also what can the arts get from STEM subjects? You know, what can we learn from integrating technology into our arts education spaces?
Margo: Yes, as much as the arts can be incredibly useful for driving the success of these other subjects, tech can be incredibly useful for the arts. I don't know the age range of who's listening to the podcasts, but, Amelia, I remember tech classes back in the day with the really large round Apple computers that lit up with different bright colors on the back and typewriting. And, that felt like so separate from what the traditional arts education classroom looked like. And despite the fact that, you know, creative problem solving and presentation have thrived within other subjects. It hasn't always been, so much, the other way around. Arts education has been almost reluctant to kind of take in different aspects of subjects and that's inclusive of technology. it's even been said that the science sector has been more open and welcoming to art, than reverse.
So, the sharing in the route of education, isn't entirely balanced. Over time as our culture has become increasingly immersed with technology, the need for arts integration along those platforms has increased as well. Understandably so, but however, at the divide between the need, the need for those arts jobs, arts to become a bigger part of the tech world, and what's happening within the arts classroom has persisted. That divide remains. There has been a fear of technology de-valuing some of the classic nature of certain art forms. And, for a very long time, multimedia or tech focused artists, kind of, floated without a home within the art space. Despite the somewhat slow movement towards the acceptance of tech into arts education, there are so many schools and programs now that are tech focused for the arts, such as UCLA’s design and media arts program.
Graphic design is a booming industry, especially within the context of the ever-growing number of online platforms to share our works and less. We forget the importance of tech in marketing. These traditional art forms in themselves. No respectable gallery these days is without a website, you know, auction house is without an online bidding war. And, you know, I think we can just further blend arts and technology. Why not?
Amelia: Yeah. I mean, I know that as I, you know, have been working in the arts. You can't avoid tech, right? You know, like I came from a performing arts background and I learned programs to program your lights and your sound and all of that. And, everyone's using social media, right? Like, everywhere.
Margo: Yes. [Laughter]
Amelia: We’re seeing it so much.
Margo: Yeah, it's completely, I mean, they're really, really connected when you look on the outside, you think, “Oh my goodness, like arts and technology are so completely linked” and yet there's still some hesitancy when it comes to arts education and tech. And they really do make a brilliant pair. And with the rapid growth of the virtual, implementing STEAM and other online applications really isn't as challenging as it appears. And it can be really really fun. So, a lot of the times it comes down to really figuring out the best way to bring new programs and new practices to light, and I think there are some ways in which we can help them do that. Right, Amelia?
Amelia: Of course, we can. So in the kind of STEAM realm of things, some of the tech integration that you're seeing are things like makerspaces, which I am a big fan of. Those are places on school campuses that include things like 3-D printing, robotics labs, advanced software design programs, laser cutters, all of that sort of thing. So that, students have that ability to go in and create stuff using technology. I know here at Carnegie Mellon, we have the ideate lab, which has a bunch of these things, but these are possible not just in higher education. They're possible in any, in any school setting, and they also, you know, lead to things like students working together more.
Oftentimes you find if a student really, really loves using a laser cutter for instance, right. Then other students know that they can go ask that student something, and that's building collaboration, that's building those leadership practices, which is really important. And it's really, you know, more about changing the form of how they're getting this education, not the function of it. So, they're still getting that great education. They’re just doing it in a different way. You also see things like robotics programs, [Inaudible] Lego education company has a lot of really wonderful things for teachers to adopt into a classroom. They tend to be not super expensive either, and they come with a lot of projects and things so that students can work through building the robots themselves, programming the robots themselves, all of this sort of fun stuff. And they have been for years. I know that my older sister did Lego Mindstorms, which is one of the I think more nineties Lego robotics projects.
Both: [Laughter]
Amelia: But I remember her doing that, and she now works as a computer programmer. So, all of these are options that are out there, and there are even schools integrating things like Minecraft. There's a school here in Pennsylvania that has a Minecraft lab for students to work in so that they're working in something that they feel comfortable and familiar with, but you're using it in more integrative ways. So I know in that school, students use it to rebuild settings and characters from books that they're studying, and then you're taking other principles and you're getting that kind of integrative cross discipline work in lots of different ways.
Margo: That’s incredible.
Amelia: but yeah, it's really awesome. And I think that the more that we see that the more people will be able to feel comfortable in these spaces. But Margo didn’t you have some fun things to talk about, apps?
Margo: Oh, my goodness. Yes. Well, people, if you are looking for tools on how to adapt tech into your arts classroom, it's a very exciting time for you to look online. There are many applications and even sources for finding more applications, abundant at the moment. Some general ones that I found that I thought were really interesting and there are some general classroom ones I'm going to talk about. And then art specific when it comes to in and out of the classroom.
But applications like Flipgrid and Nearpod are really good for just creating the online course itself and tracking student progress. They allow you to upload videos, create, and share within that space. In terms of arts in the classroom there are three really good applications for tracking portfolios. So as your students go along, they can do visual documentation of their work, and share that on a different your platform if they choose to. But regardless, really keep it all in one collective space. We know that marketing yourself as an artist, is a really important reality of what it is to find the intersection of tech and arts in the real world. So. Applications like that are Create Bubbles, Seesaw and Artsonia, I love these names. I wonder who comes up with them.
Amelia: They're so fun and creative.
Margo: I know, It's almost like the art people had a hand in it [Light Laughter]. In terms of arts outside or inside the classroom. There are a lot of different platforms that can help you create purely virtually, things like Aviary, Paper 53, Doodle Art, Kickstart, Procreate and Green Screen are all platforms that you can go on. And create your masterpieces entirely online, instant sharing. It's very simple.
And then we have to remember the assessment side of some of our coursework. So, in terms of applications that help, teachers assess their students from afar, things like Plickers, Quizzes, Formative, even Google Forms, and my favorite is Kahoot. As a 23 year old getting her master's, there's no joy like when we do a Kahoot quiz in class. I-
Amelia: Oh, I know, I think we love it. Every time, we have one professor who loves using them and I think we love when she uses them too.
Margo: The music, I can hear it in my head. I can dance a little. It makes [Laughter]. It makes quizzes very, very fun.
And then one very interesting thing that I found was, a lot of teachers thinking of ways to engage with their students in tech platforms that they're already using, for one example, someone recommended using the app TikTok, which if you don't know what it is, it's completely swept the younger generation and sharing of short repeat videos. But they found that, you know, even posting a little something on a platform like that really helps to engage, The students where they're already gathering, which can be really cool. So, in terms of finding more applications, if you really want to deep dive on this with me, I would recommend the Arts Ed Collaborative, Afterschool Alliance, Chicago Arts Partnership and Education, and Guitars in the Classroom.
There's a few that have really interesting things I do you want to touch on, Arts Ed Washington, has free online curriculum available for students grades K through five and the Educational Theater Association actually has, specific to teaching in theater which we know is challenging at the moment, provides a list of tools for creating online learning within that space.
I, for one, remember what it was like to be in a big choir, and I'd like to know how they're doing over zoom.
Amelia: Oh, I'd love to see more Eric Whitacre virtual choirs.
Margo: Yes.
Both: [Inaudible and Laughter]
Margo: very important. And of course, you can always check out the National Art Education Association and the National Endowment for the Arts. These are just a few resources, but, most of all, why there has been such an explosion is due to COVID-19. COVID-19 has forced all of our teachers to confront, online learning, whether they had implementation practices going or not. And it's been a really interesting thing to kind of watch unfold because I was reading this, Art of Education University article The COVID Chronicles and 10 Takeaways from E-learning. And there were a lot of kind of funny ones, you know, sitting is exhausting, boundaries are important. But the two things that really stood out to me was that, you know, moving online, we really see that our students are incredibly creative and they are very eager to find solutions using technology to be engaged in the classroom to, you know, be engaged with their peers to be collaborative, even virtually.
And, another really key takeaway was that teachers love to share. So a very fun thing that's been happening is that there's been a large coming together of educators as a whole, but also arts educators in particular there has been a flood of Google Drive documents, Facebook groups, There's been a lot of different organizations hosting weekly webinars on what are you struggling with as an arts educator? What platforms are you using? How have you found that they've worked depending on your discipline and depending on the age group that you serve? So that's been something that's been really, moving for us. When we first started looking into these applications of STEAM and tech, we did not anticipate the COVID-19 closures, but it's been really cool to see. There has been a really collective community forming online, using all of these tech platforms that we'd already been looking into. And it's exciting to see them come to fruition. And we have to say that if you were hesitant to implement technology, now that you've had to, we think it's a great time to add in more programs to consider how to customize tech for you, because a lot of these different applications should be the right fit for you as a teacher and the right fit for you as students. And there are so many options and we're really excited for what that's going to look like moving forward.
Amelia: Yeah. And I mean, my hope is that even as we come out of this and as we all go back to what we consider normal that these tech adoptions stay, right. I think a lot of us are learning that some things can work through technology and we're all being forced to use tools that we never did before but are now really good at. I think I had used zoom once before we started having to do online classes and that's the only way that I have class now. So, you know, we're all, we're all adopting new things, that I hope, that I hope stay.
Margo: Yeah, and I think they will.
52.2% of arts teachers when surveyed said that they were interested in bringing tech into the arts classroom. And that's a really big statistic. That's exciting. Previous to this only 21.9% of them really felt comfortable with technology and bringing that forward to be a part of their class. And, you know, I agree, I think now that we've kind of had to integrate it, we should hold onto what works and continue to learn how to customize that for us. And it's exciting that I think a lot of people are, have been able to experiment in ways that they probably otherwise wouldn't have a silver lining to the online educational experience, I think.
Amelia: Yeah so, we’ll all way walk away from this with a lot more tools and resources then I think we had before, which is good.
Margo: Absolutely. Yes. More resources is always a good thing.
Okay. Well, whether you are an arts educator or not, we know it can be difficult to find your footing amidst the COVID-19 closures. But we wanted to leave you hopeful. We believe that the marriage of arts and technology can make learning through this time all the more possible, and we encourage you to use any one of the tools mentioned today to showcase that. Remember to thank your teachers. They're trying their very best and to stay safe out there.
Alyssa: Thanks for listening to the Arts Management and Technology Lab podcast series. You can read more on the intersection between the arts and technology at www.amt-lab.org Or, you can listen to more interviews and discussions in our podcast series on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play or Stitcher. Thank you for joining us.
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