October 11, 1999
I am increasingly interested in communicating with my students through the internet. The internet offers numerous possibilities for becoming a major source of course support through the distribution of instructional materials. Recently, I have become more knowledgeable about the use and creation of interactive educational web sites through personal research and by participating in workshops both at Millsaps College and with the ACS at Southwestern University. This new and ongoing interest that I have with using multimedia has prompted me to study ways of incorporating it into my courses, in particular, courses taught in studio art. My proposal for a Technology Fellowship involves creating web based interactive material to support course activities in studio art.
My plans for developing this project involve the use of Macromedia software. These programs include Director, Flash, Dreamweaver and Fireworks. I have had experience with each of these programs, but would like to use this fellowship to expand my knowledge of their use. Millsaps College has many of these programs and they are readily available to me. The software that is not on campus I have access to at home. As for internet support, Millsaps will provide space within the Art Department web pages to develop and exhibit this course material.
The results of this project will be associated more specifically with my painting and sculpture courses. I would like to develop interactive media for these courses to be used in the Fall of 2000. My interest in developing these resources is due to the challenges present in teaching both the technical aspects of assignments while at the same time giving students an art historical perspective from which to work. Due to the limitations of actual class meeting times, I find it difficult to teach both historical and technical information in a thorough and balanced manner. Most often, one of these components of a project suffers because of time constraints. Using the internet as a teaching device would provide students with the material and information needed to obtain a more complete learning experience.
Even though my proposed fellowship activities would focus on serving my painting and sculpture courses, I can foresee other courses in various disciplines using this information in their classes. For instance, a lesson dealing with color theory and practices could very well extend beyond my classes to other studio courses such as printmaking, drawing, design and photography. Moreover, courses outside of the art department such as physics and psychology could incorporate this information in their classes.
Creating on-line interactive support documents for my classes would allow me to communicate with my students outside of class times. The information they receive would have more value because I would have more control over it rather than telling students to merely go and research this information on their own. This method of presenting information over the internet would allow students the opportunity to absorb material at their own pace and in accordance to their individual schedules. With this system in place, my teaching methods would be greatly enhanced by providing students with a more direct, consistent and higher quality learning experience outside of class meetings.
Every Millsaps course undergoes a thorough evaluation of its instructor and course material. These student evaluations are completed near the end of the semester and are completely confidential. In order to receive specific feedback on the web component of my course, I will work with the academic dean of the college to devise an evaluation system that is consistent with College evaluation practices and procedures. I will also seek evaluation from my department chair, my divisional dean and the dean of Millsaps. Moreover, I will consult art professors at other ACS institutions, such as Steve Cole and Robert Tucker at Birmingham-Southern College, in an effort to realize the impact that this project could have on students and programs outside of Millsaps College. Taking a systematic approach to evaluate the effectiveness of my web based material will give me a more thorough idea of how it is successful as well as how it may be improved for future use in my classes and in courses at other institutions. This evaluation process would also help me to adjust the information to better serve courses other than studio art, allowing it to become a more effective multi-disciplinary resource.
I am intensely excited about developing material to support my studio courses with the use of new digital technologies. The impact this web-based interactive information would have on my courses would be substantial. Furthermore, my excitement and interest in this project is multiplied with the thought of how far reaching this information can become. Not only will I be able to reach students in my department, I could also provide valuable information to other institutions around the country (and the world!). My knowledge and understanding of the tools necessary to create this proposed project is quite good and continues to improve. Receiving an ACS Teaching with Technology Fellowship would greatly assist me in realizing this important educational resource. If you would like to see examples of interactive web material that I have been creating, visit my web site at http://www.mouseme.com. Also, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me at any time.
Thank You.
Collin Asmus
Associate Professor of Art