Lit Review Final 3

ENGAGING STUDENTS THROUGH VISUAL CULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY
Lars Johnson
University of Northern Iowa
ARTED 6300 Research Methods in Art Education
Professor Samantha Goss
March 16, 2022
Introduction
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Discussions about how to increase student engagement in the classroom have
always been, and will always be, a relevant topic in education, as educators and
researchers continually debate what methodology is the most effective for increasing
student engagement. As Paul Duncum aptly states that change in education is
incremental, so it makes sense that schools of thought eb and flow with what is deemed
best practice (Duncum, 2002).
In the years leading up to the start of the new millennium, there was a split
between schools of thought in art education; there was Discipline-Based Art Education
in the 1980’s Based Art Education (DBAE) and in the late 1990s and early 2000s there
was Visual Culture Arts Education (VCAE). The latter has had a continued and
significant impact upon art education, despite the ever-changing pedagogical
landscape.
As a practicing art educator, and consumer of all things visual and pop culture,
who readily interjects these ideas and topics into my classroom, I have witnessed first
hand how students engage with not only popular culture but with technology. Through
witnessing this, I have seen an increase in student engagement. The purpose of this
literature review will center around the split from DBAE as well as the evolution and
definitions of visual and material culture. It will examine and pair these topics of visual
culture with the rise of the internet, as well as increased use of cutting-edge and
complex technology and various associated sub-genres. Ultimately, it will tie together
visual culture, specifically popular culture, and various media, as well as fandom and
technology, increasing student motivation and engagement with content in the art
classroom.
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Defining Discipline Based Art Education
In the field of art education, there are a number of remnants related to Discipline
Based Art Education (DBAE), but as time has progressed, some of these processes
have been forgotten. During the 1980s, art teachers moved towards the use of two
different types of frameworks within their classrooms. Of the two they had to choose
from, there was Discover Art and the SWRL Elementary Art Program (Rubin, 1997). Art
teachers utilized DBAE employed a strategy known as “aesthetic scanning” to analyze
the work in question. First, they would focus on the history of the artist, culture, or
artwork that they were studying. After analyzing, the art making portion of the lesson
then took over, where students would often complete an art making activity related to
the topic. Many of the artists and artifacts used in this type of teaching were centered in
the work of the “old masters”.
Evolution from DBAE to VCAE
As time progressed, criticism for DBAE began to rise. Many art educators felt as
though DBAE was turning art classrooms into another academic study, like core
curriculums. This was because it was losing sight of the art making process by
dedicating so much time to analysis. By the mid 1990s art education moved away from
the study and critique of the master works and “high-culture” world residing within the
walls of museums (Fitzsimmons, and Mackenzie, 2010). These artifacts are often ill-
positioned to be accessible to the general public and are therefore not really a part of
everyday culture.
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As a response, theorists turned their focus on advertisement, marketing,
consumerism, and other proponents of visual culture art education. This shift was
intended to have students engage with what they saw in their daily lives, things that
were accessible in large quantities. Educators defined this shift as Visual Culture Art
Education. Their thought in doing so was that consumers of visual culture could further
expand and understand their shared reality more richly. As the prevalence of the
internet and consumer media increased in our society, so too did children's exposure to
a diverse range of media content (Fitzsimmons & Mackenzie, 2010) In their
article, Beyond Visual Culture: Seven Statements of Support for Material Culture
Studies in Art Education, Bolin and Blandy (2003) sought to understand more about the
influx of visual culture research saying, “We believe that the emerging interest in visual
culture studies within the field of art education is a first response to the challenges
associated with living and learning in these times” (Bolin & Blandy, 2003, p. 256). But
what exactly is Visual Culture? As Duncum noted, there is no specific institutional
framework attributed to visual culture, (Duncum, 2001), so defining it is often difficult to
do
Defining Visual Culture
Visual culture relates to visual artifacts, or the things readily accessible and
made/used by people, and how those artifacts perceived value or interest relate to daily
life. According to Duncum, the rise of Visual Culture is due in part to the fact that the
world at large has become saturated with the visual (Bolid & Blandy, 2003).
Researchers of art education have focused more so on the various specific examples of
visual culture such as such as how Sturken and Cartwright (2001), referenced by
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Duncum, define visual culture, “Those aspects of culture that are manifest in visual -
paintings, prints, photographs, film, television, video, advertisements, news images, and
science images” (Sturken & Cartwright, 2001, p.4). Other art educators who have
explored this type of content have explored more specific concepts such as Children’s
TV, Media Violence, Erotic media pictures, TV wrestling, racial stereotype in cartoons,
Manga, Disney films, and violence in teen films (Duncum, 2003).
According to Paul Duncum, visual culture studies can be distilled into these
categories, "two-dimension images, overtly symbolic, deliberately communicative,
Conditions of seeing, and conflictual views of society” (Duncum, 2003, p.22). Not only
did theorists seek to understand what visual culture was, but how it related to multiple
contexts, such as politics, gender, or age and power relations among others (Bolin &
Blandy, 2003). Visual culture did not only reside within the two-dimensional sphere,
though, many things that were deemed part of visual culture were tangible, three-
dimensional, things that could be held, overserved, worn or otherwise consumed. In this
way, visual culture was split into two entities, one devoted to visuals, the other to
material.
The world that they see, often through a screen, can produce a wide range of
sensory responses beyond just visual (Duncum, 2012). Popular culture is now best
described as multisensory. Duncum writes that screens engage many different senses
from their users. Duncum argues that popular culture helps to appeal to the whole
“sensorium”, or all the ways we understand the world at large. One such avenue of
interest to visual culture studies was advertisements. Often, advertisements for products
often entice the viewer with the promise of smell, taste, and touch in addition to the
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visual sense (Duncum, 2012). These types of enticements directly connect to the idea
of societal constructs that are related to these products. Consumers of these
advertisements can imagine what it would be to own the product, how it would feel, how
they would look using it, etc. Duncum draws an analogy to a commercial for a new car.
Not only is it sleek and beautiful to behold, but the sound the car makes, the imagined
feeling of the material of the seats and the push of the buttons, these all entice the
viewer. These things are all engrained in our society. Although this is just one example,
it can be expected that all other advertisements seek to connect to the viewers personal
experience.
Consumers of visual culture have been inundated with these visual influences.
Traditionally television or print advertisements have been the biggest influencers.
However, in the last twenty years the exponential explosion of other streams of media,
has created more places for viewers to be exposed to advertisement and other
elements of visual culture. For example, take YouTube; a massive platform where
millions of videos are created, uploaded, or viewed daily. These videos all have
advertisements attached at the beginning of the videos. In addition to YouTube, social
media provides another avenue for visual culture engagement. Snap chat, Instagram,
TikTok, in-between content made by users, these platforms all integrate clever
advertisements to further engage with their products. Moreover, blogs, graphic novels,
podcasts, videos, and live streams inject multiple forms of media into a student's daily
experience, as well as providing a distinct form of literacy and community (Fitzsimmons
& Mackenzie, 2010).

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Defining Material Culture
Although visual culture has attracted more attention in education, Bolin and
Blandy (2003) argue that classifying the art world, and the world at large, as only visual
does a disservice to all the multi-sensory experiences we can now experience. While
visual culture refers to the things in our society that we see or consume, material culture
is slightly different. Furthermore, Bolin and Blandy argue that “material culture rather
than visual culture is a more explicit and precise descriptor of the multifarious human-
mediated objects, expressions and forms present throughout our world." (Bolin &
Blandy, 2003, p.258)
To simplify, just as previously done with visual culture, material culture can be
distilled into the following categories: three-dimensional artifacts, utilitarian,
inadvertently communicative, materiality of artifacts, functional view of society,
(Duncum, 2003). In other words, material culture could be any artifact, from the most
ordinary to the most significant and its study would be of the physical characteristics of
those artifacts. Art education studies on material culture are far ranging, as the
classifications stated by Duncum indicated. These have included studies on anything
from barbie dolls, to Elvis, from Halloween costumes to pumpkins, decorations and
architecture, scientific artifacts, even quilts, soap operas, and performance art to name
a few (Bolin & Blandy, 2003).
Engagement through Popular Culture
It appears that popular culture, or "pop-culture" is more relevant than traditional
visual culture (i.e. advertisements, consumerism, etc) in the new media age, as
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indicated by its prevalence in schools One would be forgiven to think Popular Culture
and Visual Culture to be synonymous. While they are indeed similar, popular culture
veers from the advertisement lane of “visual vulture” in favor of more consumable media
and content. Particularly, content that is consumed on a screen, animated videos,
movies, television, video games, etc. One such example of the use and effectiveness of
popular culture integrations comes from former High School English teacher William
Visco, now a Ph.D. candidate. In his article, he notes how he experienced something
akin to a pedagogical awakening when confronted by students who claimed that his
curriculum was boring (Visco, 2019). They were studying Beowulf, and his students
were disengaged. He understood and comprehended why they would think of a piece of
literature dating back to the 8th century. They’re kids after all. He decided to pair his
teachings with the recent Marvel movie Captain America: The First Avenger. In his
opinion, this introduction yielded great dividends since it leveraged popular culture to
connect with students and made the ideas and concepts more equitable. Visco writes,
Pop culture often provides a commonality among members of different social
groups, which might be based on gender, race, or socioeconomic status. For
students, pop culture is what they often talk about in the hallways as they
cultivate their identities and form relationships (Visco, 2019, p.85).
This further provides undeniable evidence of the roles that popular culture plays in
engagement techniques; they connect directly to students' lives.
Transitioning from the English classroom to the art classroom, engagement with
art material in the classroom through influential blockbuster films and television series
can increase student engagement as well. According to Schirduan, Case & Faryniarz,
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(2002), as cited by Judith Briggs in their article Star Wars, Model Making, and Cultural
Critique, A Case for Film Study in Art Classrooms, (2009), in which they state “Current
brain research supports the idea that films with multi-modal cross-disciplinary
connections make sense to students and prompt learning” (Briggs, 2009, p.40).
Perhaps no fan community is more passionate than the Star Wars fan community. This
is a multi-generational fandom that has spanned fifty years, and ten films, not to
mention the recently released Star Wars live action and animated series. Briggs argues
that fans' experiences consuming this material allow them to weave connections into
their own life experiences. This type of dedication has been passed on from generation
to generation. Through their work, Briggs incorporated a study of Star Wars into her
seventh-grade art classroom, integrating interdisciplinary dialogue, technology, thematic
study, and cultural critique. Their study examined how changing technologies impacted
Star Wars characters' visual representation. They also studied how visual color coding
was used to convey intentions of characters, i.e. good versus evil; Luke and Leia
wearing light colors, while Darth Vader wore black, and Han Solo wore mixed tones,
signifying his dual character influences. These connections to popular culture and the
unpacking of their significances led to a project where students created their own
unique characters, influenced by their understanding of the Star Wars tropes and
ideals.
By connecting to the world of visual culture that students engage with on a daily
basis and refining it through the lens of culturally relevant pop-culture, art education
pedagogy has the ability to allow students to see themselves in the content we teach.
According to Berkowitz and Packer (2001), comic books can be a means to teach a
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myriad of topics, from line drawing technique, history, aesthetics, empowerment (i.e.,
student as superhero) or creative writing. In their proposed lesson plan on comic book
integration, Berkowitz and Packer use a few prompts to help students engage with the
content. One is “What makes someone a hero? Not just strength and super-powers-
super villains have these too!” (Berkowitz & Packer, 2001, p. 17). This type of prompting
is a great way for students to unpack, and think deeper about their content, while still
connecting with the popular culture landscape. It can even extend further into realms of
equity, justice, and diversity. As David Darts, author of Visual Culture Jam: Art,
Pedagogy, and Creative Resistance, (2004), argues, visual culture is essential for art
educators who wish to craft a more culturally relevant curriculum and as a way for
students to engage with the content and world around them, more meaningfully.
Take for example, Marvel Comics characters Miles Morales and Kamala Khan,
both of whom have invited a wider audience of readers and consumers (Flegel, &
Leggatt, 2021). Both Morales and Khan are multi-ethnic superheroes, ones that counter
years of white male dominated characters and ethnic stereotypes for any character
classified as “the other”. It is precisely their otherness that brings a new sense of visual
representation to the historically marginalized Muslim, Latinx and African American
communities. Flegel and Leggatt further elaborate saying that both characters'
popularity emphasizes… “a common humanity that deliberately transcends race and
idealizes immigrant communities fitting into the larger fabric of the American tapestry
without challenging it” (Flegel & Leggatt, 2021, p. 57).
This ideal can even pair with art education’s new favorite ‘it man’, Kehinde
Wiley. Wiley is widely used now in art rooms, popular for his brightly colored paintings
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that depict young black men in a revised image of traditional “high-art” power. In
Melanie Buffington’s article, Power Play: Rethinking Roles in the Art Classroom
(2014), she observes a lesson from a pre-service art teacher, on Kehinde Wiley. As
she notes “The students were excited, engaged, and enthusiastically learning about
Kehinde Wiley's work and the notion of power.” (Buffington, 2014, p. 6). Not only does
Wiley’s work relate to the restoration of power for marginalized groups, but it also
showcases figures dressed in clothing that directly relates to ideals of visual and
material culture. By recognizing people and images that look like themselves, and parts
of their visual world around them, students not only engage deeper with the material,
but are seen and valued. In addition to their observations, it can be added that through
structured visual culture motifs, students become more engaged with their content area.
David Darts articulates the shift from passivity to engaged consumption,
By encouraging students to interpret, evaluate, and 'rewrite' the shared
symbols and meanings of their everyday visual experiences, visual culture
educators can begin to move young people beyond modes of passive
spectatorship and towards more active and expressive forms of communication
with and in the world around them. (Darts, 2004, p. 325)
The ‘world around them’ is a wide and vast area for art educators to cultivate inspiration
from. However, it is critical to recognize and draw upon wide varieties of popular culture
material.
Student Engagement with Fandom and Fan Communities
Through opening a curriculum that connects and values student interest and life
experience, we as educators can hope to find more ways to engage our students.
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Mackenzie and Fitzsimmons (2010) argue that generation X, Y and Z all have new ways
to read and understand the world. What better way is there to engage with their
enhanced means of understanding than analyzing the increased development,
accessibility, and use in daily life of the internet by adolescents? The internet has
caused students to be exposed to more and more visual images daily. It is estimated
that 90% of American youth access the internet daily, and 45% of them use the internet
constantly (Anderson & Jiang, 2018). The internet has allowed people and students
from all across the world access to other groups of like-minded people at the click of a
button.
Prior to the internet, conversations about fan favorite characters, storylines, or
related material were limited to in person conversations or conventions. However, now
fans of anime, comic books, television, literature, and film can all share their thoughts,
ideas, and theories through the high bandwidth internet. Adolescents and young adults
have become increasingly influenced by popular culture, especially regarding popular
television, movies, comics, anime, and graphic novels (Manifold, 2009). Manifold
examines “when, why and how adolescents are drawn to create art based on narratives
of popular culture” (Manifold, 2009, p. 258). This directly relates to the ideas of VCAE,
and how consumers of visual culture interpret and interact with their worlds. More
contemporary, visual culture has focused on internet fandom, and fan communities,
both the digital (characters and fanfiction) and the tangible (cos-play). Manifold looks at
a specific realm of popular culture, one often deemed as “fandom” or fan communities,
to understand how and why fans of such content, and to understand why they are
drawn to make art about these archetypes. They understand that adolescents have a
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“powerful recognition of self” when looking at such content. In her study she finds that of
the participating 69 fan artists and 32 cosplayers, 32% remember being interested in
drawing of, or dressing up as, characters from popular culture. And 66% of the same
study participants cited that they became interested in these topics during their teenage
years. Manifold's findings indicated that while youth may not be able to articulate why
their engagement increased, they were nonetheless emboldened by the content.
Further supporting these findings, Fitzsimons and Mackenzie, state:
Genuine learning only occurs when children are genuinely engaged in the
process. The elements of popular culture at this point of time facilitate genuine
engagement as the authority for engagement and learning is invested in the
child. (Mackenzie & Fitzsimmons, 2010, p.6)
While fanart and fan communities have traditionally been dismissed as unworthy of
inclusion in art curriculums. In fact, as Manifold (2009) states, 18% of respondents from
her study felt as though art teachers had a negative view of their interest in fan-art,
dismissing it as “as derivative, juvenile, immature, or naive art forms.” (Manifold, 2009,
p. 266). Despite the dismissal of these subjects as juvenile, pop culture images,
characters, and fandom continue to dominate our visual world, creating unprecedented
opportunities to capture attention.
Popular culture is not limited to fan communities online or at conventions; major
companies such as fast-food chain McDonald's and video game developer Epic Games
have also successfully incorporated popular culture into their products to increase
engagement (Luna, 2020). In McDonald's collaboration with Travis Scott and his brand
Cactus Jack, the rapper created a unique meal for the company. This type of marketing
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is successful due to the wide reach that these celebrities have, often amplifying or
surpassing the reach (via social media) than the brand itself. Interestingly, Scott was
also a huge part of Epic Games’ successful video game Fortnite’s viral marketing
campaign. Fortnite hosted a Travis Scott concert inside of their game, a move which
turned in 27.7 million unique players worldwide (Cirisano, 2020).
Framework for Teaching With Technology
Students are more adept at using technology now than at any other time in
human history. Technology has allowed students to have greater coordination and
communication with their peers, while fostering more independence (Mills, & Green, B.
(2013). In their study, Mills and Green acknowledged students' existing knowledge of
screen media and expanded upon that knowledge to teach new media. They found that
using technology, students experienced higher levels of engagement, contrary to what
the observers would have expected. They noted that students “volunteered assistance
throughout all stages, supplemented the work of the teachers, used their initiative to
offer solutions and assisted one another.” (Mills & Green, p. 112). In addition, Liu, Min,
and Yu-Ping Hsiao (2002) noted in their study on multimedia designers and project-
based learning, that students were often excited to be in the class and excited for a
chance to get to learn a new program.
As previously mentioned, technology in classrooms, and in particular art
classrooms, has increased exponentially in the 21st Century (Bryant, 2010). Despite the
boon of technology in the classroom, crafting an engaging curriculum can be difficult to
do for younger learners, such as middle school students (Liu, Min, Yu-Ping, et al, 2002).
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In addition, technology itself cannot be the only way to engage students, for as Bryant
points out, students' motivation with technology due to its novelty wears off eventually.
Instead, it is critical to pair technology with the study of popular culture and inclusion
within the art curriculum. Bryant studies the use of creative problem solving within her
assignment on stop motion films, using tech such as Photobooth, iPhoto, and iMovie.
Bryant applied five different creative problem-solving strategies to her curriculum:
1. Open ended assignments,
2. Mind Mapping, Brainstorming and Storyboarding,
3. Inclusion of symbolism or metaphor,
4. Peer Conversations,
5. Critique.
Using this framework, she found evidence of a higher level of engagement with the
content. As they state:
During the unit, I observed few pauses in work due to confusion or stalling, and
no one spun in his or her chair for entertainment. They were too busy working.
Students were engaged throughout the classroom and even throughout the
school building–on task with movie making. (Bryant, 2010, p.48)
Since the writing of Bryant’s article, technology has continued to grow and more studies
have continued to be conducted on its impact on education.
Student Engagement with Technology
In the same way that iMovie and other entry level computer applications have
made their mark in K-12 schools, Adobe Photoshop has also made their mark within art
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classrooms, as well as within the professional art and design community (Knochel,
2016). The term “photoshopping” on its own has many connotations for even the most
casual consumer. As Knochel writes, photoshop itself is two things; it is an acant
material, like what would be considered a material in a normal art classroom (pencils,
paper, paint brushes etc.). The second is a tool for creating and producing. The nature
of Photoshop also lends itself to being something that works independently to promote
autonomy between the user and the program. What this means is that Photoshop is
both a tool and can also perform many functions independently. There are processes
and systems that work behind the scenes to complete many of the functions and
products in photoshop. Smart filters and algorithmic processes do things
simultaneously, which takes the strain off the designer. In doing so, Photoshop is not
only an acant tool, but a curriculum and partner all in one. Knochel writes that he gains
a better understanding of photoshop by seeing the program work alongside him in a
pedagogical sense. To better articulate what Knochel, since Photoshop was created by
someone, it cannot be value neutral, and the collaborative nature between the product,
Photoshop, and use of tools, as well as the human perspective are all important parts of
a pedagogical approach to creating in a digital environment.
Students are naturally curious and excited by Photoshop's nature, due to its
simplistic cut, paste, and collage appeal. Knochel states that this analogy to collage
aligns with postmodernist frameworks that emphasize interpretation, appropriation, and
pastiche. In addition, Knochel points out, Photoshop’s trompe l’oeil effect can leave
students in a state of disbelief with the illusion created by the program’s manipulation of
image. Students are even adept at spotting “fails” instances where photoshop has not
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been used as seamlessly to trick the viewer into believing. Knochel noted a response
from a student, where they could identify an image’s photoshopped quality, because
they could spot the augmented pixels in the image. This engagement technique of
wanting to “solve” the magic trick, is often where engagement with the program lies.
There blogs, and websites, and memes that are used to highlight these failures. The
pursuit of not “failing” then becomes a motivator for students to engage more fully with
their craft. Pairing this with the internet's ability to find tutorials, examples, and step-by-
step instructions, Photoshop can, as Knochel claims, teach without you, the teacher.
Use of Tutorials to Increase Engagement
YouTube, Khan Academy are a few of the more well-known places to find
academic tutorials. Many educators have started leaning on video tutorials, that are
either found resources (made by others) or self-created by the teacher. It stands to
reason that in the post-pandemic world students are even more adept at learning from
tutorials and self-guided instruction. This falls under the realm of “flipped classrooms”
which allows students to learn the material outside of class and provides more time for
discussion and problem solving in class (Gil & Williams, 2017). It is important to
understand how students learn from their interactions with tutorials daily. Gil and
Williams found through analyzing the work of Meij and Meij (2015), that both print and
video tutorials helped students make “substantial” progress on their work. When these
videos are used within a learning management system (such as Schoology, Google
Classroom, and Canvas), teachers can use tutorials as they see fit.
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Video tutorials really had their beginnings in early self-paced online learning
environments, but they have since evolved exponentially into a wide variety of contexts.
In her middle school art classroom, Jessica Hopper notes that sometimes students miss
instruction, sometimes it's too fast for detail-oriented students, or too slow for students
who comprehend fast, or for a myriad of other reasons students are unable to retain
information. They found that using tutorials of their ceramics instruction loaded onto
YouTube helped to digitize their easel. Hopper argued further, citing Prensky (2010), “It
would be foolish to ignore the medium of video as a powerful learning tool for today’s
youth. It is, in fact, mostly how they learn on their own...” ( Hopper, 2016, p. 24).
Hopper’s students were quick to support their engagement with the videos, many saying
they preferred to watch the tutorials because they could focus on the content more
diligently. While others preferred to play back or rewind the videos and practice further,
sometimes even on their own time. In addition to in the classroom, tutorials and guides
have long been popularized by the video game industry. Many players both novice and
experienced, watch tutorials in order to learn new skills, or strategies, or in order to
solve complex problems. One example that relates to these ideas of visual culture and
that is readily available and popular to our students’ demographic, is Minecraft.
Minecraft, 3D Modeling and Game-Based Learning
What exactly is Minecraft? Well if you don’t have young children, or you don’t
happen to work in education, let me fill you in. Minecraft is an open-world sandbox
game, created by Mojang Studios. Not only is Minecraft already mass-consumed, over
17.5 million copies have been sold, but it is widely peer supported, tutorials and
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recordings of game play are readily found on YouTube and other social media platforms
(Overby & Jones, 2015). Minecraft, since its launch in 2011, has been widely used and
consumed by all ages of users. Even more recently, Microsoft, who owns Minecraft, has
made a minecraft.edu version, specifically for use in classrooms. Minecraft connects to
the framework of VCAE by connecting to things that students already use, consume,
and partake with in their daily lives. In addition, Minecraft also connects to material
culture; toys, merchandise, video parodies, are consumable things that have branched
off of Minecraft’s success. Students in my school can readily be seen wearing Minecraft
merchandise, and they even find ways to access “lite” versions of Minecraft on the web,
when they cannot access it on their laptops. While sometimes it becomes a distraction,
or a means to avoid work time, you’d be hard pressed to argue that they are not
engaged.
In fact, Overby and Jones argue that the use of Minecraft can support education
using virtual learning environments. After all, with the abundance of video games, and
video game culture, it makes sense that they influence how students learn. This allows
students of all experience levels to be able to learn at their own level through peer
teaching. This is what is referred to as Game-Based learning, and is directly related to
how students learn on their own, through practice and problem solving. Students were
able to improve their understanding and use of Minecraft by working together and
learning from each other. As they began to increase in their understanding, so did the
complexity of their structures and creations. In their study, they note a particular
student, Eli, who articulated his engagement and willingness to create, and evaluate his
work. Elis says, in reference to his game play,

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I never stay put for very long. I will build something, then head in one direction
until I find another biome to start building. Once I have built all of the creations I
can think of, I travel back the same way I came to see my builds from a different
point of view. (Overby & Jones, 2015, p. 23)
Not only does a game like Minecraft increase engagement, but it also sets the stage
conceptually for more complex programs and processes. There are many similarities
between Minecraft and 3D modeling.
They are both augmented 3D planes that are constructed using polygonal
shapes, and one of them operates in three-dimensional space (Overby & Jones, 2015).
As coined by Overby and Jones, the term "virtual Legos" is an appropriate and efficient
description of how technology can be used to engage a wide range of students,
regardless of their level of interest or ability. Because both Minecraft and Blender
operate in similar conceptual ways, build a structure using blocks and progress to
making more complex structures as your skill and experience grow. Because of the
decreased cost of technology necessary for printing and the availability of open-source
software (such as Blender), 3D modeling has followed a similar trajectory to the use of
computers in the classroom (Menano, Fidalgo, Santos, et al., 2019). Software and 3D
printing machinery have become increasingly popular over the past few years, both in
the mechanical industry, many large companies use 3D printing to create products, but
also in the visual art world, many artists are now creating work utilizing 3D printing
methods. These programs and processes can allow for authentic and invaluable
learning opportunities for students in a art classroom, and ways to increase student
creativity and engagement. According to Johnson, Adams, Becker, Estrada, &

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Freeman, (2015), authors of the NMC Horizon Report, they see numerous reasons for
the inclusion of 3D modeling and printing:
“One of the most significant aspects of 3D printing for education is that it enables
more authentic exploration of objects and concepts that may not be readily
available to schools. For math, it can help students visualize graphs and
mathematical models. In geography, 3D printing can help students better
understand geological formations at scale; and in history, replicas of ancient
artifacts can enable more hands-on learning.” (Johnson, Adams, et al, 2015, p.
40–41)
As 3D modeling and printing become even more accessible, it will be important for
educators who are interested in this field to learn and study the various means and
ways to integrate into their curriculum. As cited earlier, tutorials and online skill sharing
platforms could be a powerful way for both educators and students to further hone their
abilities in this regard.
Conclusion
Even though change is incremental, art education has come a long way since
Discipline-Based Art Education. There is so much research written on Visual Culture,
Popular Culture, Technology, and Student Engagement that it can be overwhelming.
Through linking theory with specific examples of the scope popular culture and
technology begins to narrow. Adding these broad topics to the art classroom will
enhance student engagement, autonomy, and agency, resulting in independent learning
for students. It is the framework for both students and technology to thrive. As a society,
21
we have progressed further along the path of rapid technological advancement,
oversaturation of visual culture. We are consuming more and more information and
entertainment through media such as the internet, YouTube, and social media. This is
as well as television and streaming services, and even Reddit streams and comic
books. We are also consuming a growing number of applications and programs
designed to further streamline our consumption of this emerging digital age. These tools
are allowing our students to further integrate and build their own culture through these
more contemporary mediums. Just as many of the “Millennials” can be credited with
claiming the idea of digital natives, it is in fact the newest “Gen-Z” generation of
students that have surpassed us in our familiarity and integration with these ideas.
As Menano, Fidalgo, Et al, (2019) aptly state;
It is crucial that the educational system adapt, transform, and modernize to
better prepare future generations. The current development of technology
requires that educators collaborate using art and technology to develop common
interests and projects. (p 233)
In summary, students are going to engage with these topics and resources, even if
educators try to persuade them not to until we are blue in the face, so we might as well
get on board and start implementing these educational tools to best serve our students
artistic success.
References
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entertainment and school performance and engagement: Evidence from a

22
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potential--and a captive, merch-mad audience--could make video games the
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u=uni_rodit&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=b79838a4
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Classroom. Art Education (Reston), 69(4), 23–28.
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ENGAGING STUDENTS THROUGH VISUAL CULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY

University of Northern Iowa

ARTED 6300 Research Methods in Art Education

Professor Samantha Goss

March 16, 2022

Discussions about how to increase student engagement in the classroom have

student engagement. As Paul Duncum aptly states that change in education is

best practice (Duncum, 2002).

significant impact upon art education, despite the ever-changing pedagogical

Defining Discipline Based Art Education

teachers utilized DBAE employed a strategy known as “aesthetic scanning” to analyze

the work of the “old masters”.

Evolution from DBAE to VCAE

As a response, theorists turned their focus on advertisement, marketing,

a diverse range of media content (Fitzsimmons & Mackenzie, 2010) In their

article, Beyond Visual Culture: Seven Statements of Support for Material Culture

what exactly is Visual Culture? As Duncum noted, there is no specific institutional

framework attributed to visual culture, (Duncum, 2001), so defining it is often difficult to

Defining Visual Culture

Manga, Disney films, and violence in teen films (Duncum, 2003).

categories, "two-dimension images, overtly symbolic, deliberately communicative,

of societal constructs that are related to these products. Consumers of these

Traditionally television or print advertisements have been the biggest influencers.

elements of visual culture. For example, take YouTube; a massive platform where

advertisements attached at the beginning of the videos. In addition to YouTube, social

experience, as well as providing a distinct form of literacy and community (Fitzsimmons

& Mackenzie, 2010).

Defining Material Culture

Blandy, 2003, p.258)

distilled into the following categories: three-dimensional artifacts, utilitarian,

inadvertently communicative, materiality of artifacts, functional view of society,

classifications stated by Duncum indicated. These have included studies on anything

a few (Bolin & Blandy, 2003).

Engagement through Popular Culture

It appears that popular culture, or "pop-culture" is more relevant than traditional

and content. Particularly, content that is consumed on a screen, animated videos,

Pop culture often provides a commonality among members of different social

groups, which might be based on gender, race, or socioeconomic status. For

cultivate their identities and form relationships (Visco, 2019, p.85).

engagement techniques; they connect directly to students' lives.

seventh-grade art classroom, integrating interdisciplinary dialogue, technology, thematic

representation to the historically marginalized Muslim, Latinx and African American

popularity emphasizes… “a common humanity that deliberately transcends race and

without challenging it” (Flegel & Leggatt, 2021, p. 57).

Melanie Buffington’s article, Power Play: Rethinking Roles in the Art Classroom

(2014), she observes a lesson from a pre-service art teacher, on Kehinde Wiley. As

she notes “The students were excited, engaged, and enthusiastically learning about

David Darts articulates the shift from passivity to engaged consumption,

By encouraging students to interpret, evaluate, and 'rewrite' the shared

symbols and meanings of their everyday visual experiences, visual culture

educators can begin to move young people beyond modes of passive

spectatorship and towards more active and expressive forms of communication

with and in the world around them. (Darts, 2004, p. 325)

Student Engagement with Fandom and Fan Communities

enhanced means of understanding than analyzing the increased development,

Prior to the internet, conversations about fan favorite characters, storylines, or

related material were limited to in person conversations or conventions. However, now

have become increasingly influenced by popular culture, especially regarding popular

their engagement increased, they were nonetheless emboldened by the content.

Further supporting these findings, Fitzsimons and Mackenzie, state:

engagement as the authority for engagement and learning is invested in the

child. (Mackenzie & Fitzsimmons, 2010, p.6)