Today’s society is immersed in technological innovations. Whether you see that as a positive or negative thing, it is fair to say the possibilities of using technology as an educational resource are endless. In my Digital Learning course, we are learning several new ways to incorporate technology into art education. The past couple of weeks have involved computer coding as a creative expression. I’ve learned you can use intentional, as well as unintentional coding as a way of creative expression.
We’ve looked towards examples such as Mitchel Resnick, the creator of a website named Scratch. Scratch gives children an opportunity to play with simple coding as a creative resource. It is a community of all ages where kids can make their own games, animations, mother’s day cards, and even stories. The users can look towards tutorials or at the exact coding of others’ creations to learn how they made that certain game or animation. The codes are arranged by “blocks” that say exactly what you want your character to do. For example, if you wanted your character to move to a different spot, you would choose the block that said “move ___ steps”. Each of the students in my course have a Scratch account and we are learning different ways to express ideas by animations and stories. I am an amateur at both Scratch, and technology in general, but I can honestly say Scratch is a great way to start learning to code. What I think is great about this particular website, is the ability to express yourself and learn from the community.
Another lesson that involves coding is an activity my professor calls Copy, Paste, Hack, which allows you to alter an image without knowing the exact outcome. The method is so simple once you get it down, but the code looks like complete gibberish compared to Scratch codes. The way you start is by changing a .jpg image to .txt and opening it in some sort of text editing application. Once you open it in the application, you can see the code, aka gibberish. From there, you can start changing the code by deleting, adding, or replacing information. After you convert it back to a .jpg, you will have an image that may or may not look completely different depending on how much code you altered. This kind of creative coding is meant to be random and unpredictable. It is a great way to let go of expectations or get inspiration for other projects. I had a blast using this method and will definitely be exploring more with it.
Previously, I tried to avoid technology at all costs. It isn’t something I naturally clicked with and I decided maybe it wasn’t important to me. Before college, I genuinely thought using technology in the arts was cheating. After some time spent at Texas State University, I quickly realized how technology is actually a very useful and innovative tool. I have been in this digital learning course for a little over a month and my view has shifted even more. So far, I’ve been shown that there are several ways to use technology as art making machines, and it’s not so scary. The past few activities we've done has given me a sense of confidence in the digital world, and I can only imagine what it will do for children's confidence in their own work. I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to learn more about creating art with technology, but I feel even more fortunate to see what will be created by the future generations as we continue to learn as a community.