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Sculpture walks: mobile technology and the aesthetic experience
Author
Tan, Audrey Mei Ling
Supervisor
Lincoln, Paul Benedict
Abstract
This paper looks at how the use of mobile technology can aid in the aesthetic experiences of sculptures for students. Educators believe that ICT, and by extension mobile technology, can empower teachers and learners, transforming teaching and learning processes from a highly teacher-dominated to that of student-centredness. As a result, more schools in Singapore are making use of technology to engage students and maximise learning. Based on external scans, there are currently existing solutions of interactive learning trails used by other schools and enrichment groups in Singapore. However, although the feedback from these trails for student engagement was positive, the cost to engage vendors to run these trails was very high. A team of teachers from Beatty Secondary School therefore sat down to design a mobile art trail application or ‘app’ for short to tap on 21st century attributes and various theoretical frameworks. Students using the mobile art app navigated the various trail sites on their own in order to gather information as well as experiment with the mobile Art app on the iPad to fulfil tasks. Using the learning package and mobile application, a qualitative study was conducted and interviews were held for both students and teachers who went through the sculpture walk. The results were then triangulated with the researcher’s own observation to form conclusions. It was discovered that the choice of activity can help to determine if students notice sculptures better and/or gain a greater aesthetic experience of the sculpture. Also, it appears that technology does facilitate learning through funnelling the experiences through the mobile app, but it can also impede the aesthetic experiences of the student. These findings impact curriculum planning and the role of the art teacher as a blended approach of out-of-classroom, mobile technology and face-to-face learning appear to better cater to the learning needs of students viewing sculpture than just using the mobile app on its own.
Date Issued
2015
Call Number
LB1028.3 Tan
Date Submitted
2015