ED-MEDIA 1999 Proceedings Book - Association for the ...

and how to innovate will be paramount and due weight will be given to the theoretical, philosophical and
contextual elements. Considerable use will be made of video to show practitioners at work and discussing their
particular approach to drawing.
The project got underway in June 1998 and the initial period has been spent in blocking out the areas of drawing
we wish to address and researching our pedagogical approach. The second phase of the project was to write
detailed descriptions of the planned modules focusing on the aims and objectives of the module and how the
content was to be presented and made interactive. From the module descriptions we are now moving on to
storyboarding and developing using Authoware.
There is a considerable body of evidence that in order for learning to take place effectively on the computer, the
user has to be involved in tasks where decisions have to be made. 3 The learning should be active and consequently
there is a continual pressure to find ways of engaging the student. While assessment within the field of drawing is
difficult, we are convinced that the student will gain by reviewing what has been learned and by receiving sensitive
feedback on progress, so we are exploring ways in which this can be possible.
In a project of this nature it is vital to expose ideas to the widest audience before committing them to development
and we have been disseminating information about the project to art colleges and other institutions with an interest
in drawing. To date, staff from more than seventy institutions in the UK and the USA have expressed an interest
and we are allowing them access to our deliberations. We are eager for as wide a participation as possible and
interested faculty can sign up to the list from our website at http://tltp.linst.ac.uk/.
The finished package will be distributed on a number of interlinked platform-independent CD-ROMs and we are
also investigating the suitability of DVD since that medium allows the packaging of the product on one disk with a
more than adequate space for high quality graphics. The finished product will be available to UKHE at the
beginning of 2001 though beta versions will be widely distributed for testing well before that date. As the project
progresses, prototype modules will be trialled in the classroom situation, both in the consortium partners and also
in a number of other interested institutions. From the evaluation of these prototypes, which will be carried out by
the University of Glasgow, we will make changes to incorporate what we learn from student and staff use. The
results of these evaluations will be widely disseminated. The project intends that the package will be made
available outside of the United Kingdom though its primary audience is first year degree students in that country.
Since the project is probably the largest investment ever in learning technology in art it poses a considerable
challenge. Its aims are ambitious and wide ranging and while it in no way seeks to supplant the traditional
relationship between staff and student, it intends to make a significant contribution to the richness of the learning
environment in the area of drawing. It will do this by producing products which will emphasis the development of
observation, skill and accuracy and the understanding of form and space. Though the package will encourage the
use of the computer for drawing, the focus of the materials will remain on traditional drawing tools. However it
will certainly promote the new approaches to drawing which are made possible through technology, and will aim
to improve the ability to utilise software applications for three-dimensional modeling and to enhance the teaching
of formal drawing systems such as projection and perspective. When completed it will be a valuable resource for
use in the classroom and for the independent student.
The proposed presentation will demonstrate examples of the development to date deal with project management
issues and invite discussion and participation from interested faculty.
3
Davies M., and Crowther D., 'The Benefits of using multimedia in higher education: myths and realities', Active Learning 3
(December 1995) 4-5 Oxford