Arts education teaches the basic vocabulary of digital media.
The Texas Cultural Trust and the University of Texas at Austin College of Fine Arts are working together with partners in education and industry to develop and expand project-based arts curricula that establish the link between traditional arts education and digital media. Digital literacy is the ability to convey a compelling message graphically, dynamically and concisely through digital technologies, including, but not limited to website creation, blogs, you-tube videos, social media, PowerPoint, print presentations and more. Digital literacy addresses the content of message, not just technical ability. The curricula addresses drop-out prevention through relevance and workforce readiness.
The new paradigm of communication is no longer dominated by the written word. Our challenge is to teach our children to communicate in this new medium that includes music, color, spatial relationships, movement, and drama. Digital communication touches everyone from corporations to individuals. It is the future of communication and commerce. The arts are to digital communication what grammar and spelling are to the written word. The children of Texas need to be prepared to excel in a creative world, using technology as a primary tool.
For more information on the Arts and Digital Literacy Curriculum please see the Art and Media Powerpoint or go to www.txartmedia.org.
Course Structure and Sequence
The Art and Digital Literacy Curriculum is broken into six-week modules spanning one school year. The first semester module sequence includes:
- Visual Culture, the Elements of Art & Identity
- Collaboration & Principles of Design
- Taking the Journey—Process, Idea & Imagination
- Incubation, Translation & Communication
- Cultivation & Visual Inventors
- Community, Growth & Social Relevance
Texas Policy Support
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for Fine Arts
- Perception
- Creative expression/performance
- Historical/cultural
- Response/evaluation
TEKS for Technology Applications
- Information acquisition
- Solving problems
- Communication
Texas College & Career Readiness Standards
- Intellectual curiosity
- Reasoning
- Problem solving
- Academic behavior
- Work habits
- Academic integrity
- Reading, writing
- Research, use of data
- Technology
Partners
Resources for Learning, LLC
University of Texas at Austin College of Fine Arts
Center for Educator Development in Fine Arts (CEDFA)
Texas Art Educator Association
Rodney Gibbs, game developer, Ricochet Labs
Brent Hasty, PhD, Consultant to Big Thought, Lecturer University of Texas, College of Education
Bill Stotesbery, KLRU-TV
Christian Raymond, Austin Film Society
Advisors
Tom Waggoner, Texas Education Agency
Dr. Gary Gibbs, Texas Commission on the Arts
Suki Steinhauser, Communities in Schools of Central Texas
Resources for Learning
Resources for Learning is a Texas-based organization that specializes in the development, implementation, and evaluation of standards-based educational reforms.
