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Technology for Purposeful Engagement: Finding the "Tech" in "Teaching"

Many schools in the U.S. today mirror our society attempting to integrate technology
into everything we do; but to what end? With so many students having convenient access to
personal technology (i.e. smart phones, social media, smart watches, tablets/laptops, etc.), I
began to wonder if classroom technology could compete for their attention during teaching
and learning. I focused my research around this idea, working with Middleton Middle School's
6th grade art class in the spring of 2015 specifically, their use of Adobe Photoshop Elements
11. For my action research project, I explored the ways that I could help students increase
their knowledge and skills by learning how to use new software in the classroom, gathering
qualitative and observable data along the way. One concern that I had with a program such
as Photoshop was the amount of downtime students might have when waiting to have their
questions answered. I asked the question, can I effectively use technology to promote
student engagement and independent learning? I measured this data throughout the unit by
taking observational notes on student behavior and compiling grade data from the completed
projects.
My interest in technology's effectiveness began during my placement at Syringa Middle
School in Caldwell during the winter of 2014. I often used technology to give presentations to
classes using Microsoft PowerPoint and Prezi slideshows, but I had never before seen a
classroom that integrated as much technology into daily lesson plans as Ben Yowell's 8 th
Grade Common Core Math. Ben ran his entire curriculum plan off of a SmartBoard in the front
of the classroom, sometimes he even directly controlled the on-screen content through the
use of an iPad. It was especially noticeable during each day's bell ringer warm-ups that

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students worked on immediately after entering the classroom and being seated. He also
made use of it to mark daily attendance.
About a week into December of 2014, Ben and I introduced both standard-level (those
learning 8th grade common core math) and advanced (those learning 9 th grade common core
math) students to TI-84 graphing calculators through a two-day calculator training. For many,
this seemed to be an entirely new experience and I could tell that it piqued the interest of all
students because they were all visibly on task. Students who normally struggled with
engagement excelled via this hands-on experience with technology. I was surprised by their
seeming enthrallment with the calculators, considering how much technology most students
already used in their everyday lives in the form of cell phones, video games, computers,
tablets, and televisions (*Technology).
Through the College of Idaho, and a full year of student teaching, I was able to
collaborate in both a middle school math and a middle school art setting. The technology I
saw being implemented during my math placement with Ben Yowell inspired me to explore
the uses of technology in other subject areas, specifically art the subject area of my second
semester. I had often heard people say how different math and art were in terms of teaching
fields, and while that may be true, I hoped to find a commonality through technology and its
uses in the classroom for engaging students with a purpose.
When I began my placement at Middleton Middle School (MMS) in the spring of 2015
working with art classes of 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students I had very little experience with
Adobe Photoshop. The most experience I had had with Adobe software was a short
introduction to Illustrator and Photoshop in a visual communications course taken through
the College of Idaho. Adobe tutorials describe the difference between Photoshop and

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Illustrator by saying that Photoshops bitmap images will always be made of the same
number of building blocks, no matter what size you blow them up to (*Adobe) whereas
Illustrators .png images, quote. What this means is that Illustrator is a program specifically
designed for creating high-quality typefaces and vector images that retain their quality even
after resizing (CITE?!?!?!?!). Photoshop is used for creating and altering pre-rendered
images within defined parameters. I focused my research on teaching the students to alter
images of their choice by creating chimeras using Photoshop (defined in later in paper; see
figure below).
While at MMS, I was fortunate enough to have access to a computer lab with 41
computers, 38 of which had Photoshop. My cooperating teacher, Mona Oxford Lyman, had
explained to me that the software had at first been funded through the school's budget.
However, when there were not enough software licenses to accommodate all students,
parents emailed Mona after hearing that their children had to share computers, depriving
them of the full learning experience. Mona forwarded the email to her administration, and
the rest of the Photoshop licenses were added shortly thereafter through parent funding. With
any sort of advancing technology, cost and availability become major obstacles, making it
impossible for some schools to even consider having costly software, like Adobe Photoshop,
as a unit or part of their curriculum. While educational discounts are available from developers
like Adobe, schools are often not able to afford to have a set for a class of 20+ students
unless a grant has been written or software has been donated.
Even if the software is available, accessibility can still be an issue, as I experienced.
The state-mandated SBAC test, a.k.a. ISAT 2.0, was supposed to take place from April 1 st 23rd. During my data collection in the spring, I had put in a request, in advance, to reserve the
computer lab with Photoshop software for my 6 th graders on Wednesday, April 29th; after they

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would have had two days of brainstorming for their chimeras and going through Photoshop
tutorials and videos as a class. I was contacted by our school's librarian, who facilitates the
computer lab sign-ups, and was told that we would not have access to the lab until May 6 th
due to 392 students who still needed to test. My two 6 th grade classes were given until May
14th to be in the lab, although it was occupied partially during the 13 th and 14th because of
district meetings. While these circumstances were disappointing, the situation couldn't be
helped, and lessons were moved around to coordinate our class time as needed.
At MMS, the 6th, 7th, and 8th graders all spend about two weeks apiece in the
Photoshop lab for a unit. There is also a Photoshop enrichment class for 6 th graders that takes
place Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. I decided not to collect data during these times
because the sessions only lasted approximately 30 minutes. Due to the time required to turn
on computers, log in, and load up Photoshop, students only received a short amount of
instructional and work time in addition to only meeting a few times a week.
The Photoshop lab was set up with 6 rows of computers all facing the front of the class,
where the teachers desk was. Additionally, there were five extra computers against the side
wall, only two of which had Photoshop capabilities. The main project that the 6 th grade art
students worked on during my Photoshop lab was to create a chimera, a common nickname
given to a realistic-looking imaginary creature made by any amount of combining or splicing
two or more animals together (*TUTS). Often used as an early introduction to Photoshop
programs, the chimera unit allows students to try basic skills and techniques they learn.
For the second group of 6th graders, who began their art electives in early March 2015,
I wanted to see if and how I could help decrease the amount of down-time the students had
while waiting for questions to be answered. I developed a printable guide, which I called

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Photoshop Quicknotes, for students in grades 6 and up to use as a reference to answer
some of the most commonly asked questions. These questions usually involved difficulties
selecting or editing objects or layers, and the packet connected the vocabulary they were
learning to the visual iconography in Photoshop. I printed these on a bright yellow paper
provided by the MMS curriculum office to help prevent the students from losing or forgetting
them; this resource was also intended as a way for students to help remember what they had
learned in the lab for years to come.
The Quicknotes effectively revealed a few inefficiencies. First, I noticed that only the
students who had previously created and used personal notes made use of the Quicknotes,
often being the only ones to even bring their Quicknotes to the lab in order to fill them out with
the visual connections. Second, as we met in a lab that was separate from our main
classroom and the 6th grade building, where most 6th graders' lockers were located, many
students often didnt bring anything with them to class, sometimes not even a pencil. At times,
this was also because students were going to or coming from a physical education class. The
lack of supplies on the students' part was more obvious during the days second class of 6 th
graders, right before lunch. In any case, I agreed to let the students leave their guides with
me at the end of each class and pick them up at the beginning of the next day, so long as
their names and period numbers were on the Quicknotes. Lastly, the blank area at the end of
the Quicknotes, originally explained to the students as intended for writing extra notes or
writing questions that they still had, remained blank for all but 5 students across all classes.
One surprising situation that I encountered was a student who picked up skills from my class
demonstrations and assistance from those students nearby, but who did not have a high
reading ability (e.g. he could not easily differentiate between the words file and filter), and
was therefore unable to use the Quicknotes effectively. As a solution for this, I will in the future

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have multiple modes of tutorials available for different levels of students and different learning
styles, such as audio and visual.
If I were to implement Photoshop Quicknotes again, which I intend to given the
opportunity, I would make a few changes in the way they were handled. First, I would want to
make sure that there would be some place in or near the Photoshop computer lab for
students to store their guides and not lose them. I would also want to make sure there was
more incentive for all students to complete, use, and keep the guide. I might achieve this by
providing a summative assessment reviewing what students had learned by the end of the
year. Ideally, I would like to have an environment where the students desks and computers
could be placed in a circle, allowing the instructor to view all students monitors and progress
from the center of said circle, rather than only being able to view a few rows at a time, even
from the back of the room. This type of setup would also allow for students to see each
other's work more easily, and would give them a chance to have a gallery-walk-style critique;
being able to walk from monitor to monitor, ask questions, and give suggestions.
When approaching digital programs for teaching, especially in art, there are options
available for students and teachers, including alternative programs outside of Adobe that have
a reduced price sometimes theyre even free. The most well know of these are usually
published by other large, multimedia software companies such as Microsoft and Autodesk
(*Guardian). There are, however, advantages to committing to Adobe Photoshop. Adobe
offers an Associate Certificate (ACA) for schools and institutions wanting to provide an
advantage for entry-level learners, offering a curriculum to prepare students for using Adobe
products such as Photoshop and Illustrator in a professional capacity (*Certiport).
In summation, I believe that technology has a purpose in the classroom beyond

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maintaining students' attention. When students are able to learn and use a new program or
software, it helps increase their performance, confidence, and success in using technology.
After researching the potential of digital art programs in the classroom, I will continue to
advocate for its use in curriculum in schools. I plan to become Adobe certified and eventually
apply for grants or funds to equip schools with this software.

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Works Cited
"ACA FAQ." . N.p., n.d. Web. 1 June 2015.
http://www.certiport.com/Portal/Common/DocumentLibrary/ACA_FAQ.pdf.
Gibbs, Samuel. The 25 Best Alternatives to Photoshop. Guardian News and Media, 19 Feb.
2015. Web. 1 May 2015. <http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/feb/19/25alternatives-to-photoshop-image-editing>.
Guzman, Alvaro. The Making of Chimera. Envato, n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2010.
<http://design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/the-making-of-chimera--psd-6857>.
Taylor, Angie, narr. Bitmap vs. Vector. Adobe Press, 2013. Web. 3 May 2015.
<https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/how-to/illustrator-bitmap-vs-vector.html>.
Bradsher, Monica. Technology in Secondary Education. Beyond Basic Education Secondary
Education in the Developing World. Chapter 5 pg. 67-88

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Appendix

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NAME:__________________

PERIOD:______

PHOTOSHOP QUICKNOTES
These notes will help you remember the things you learned in Photoshop. While we
used Photoshop Elements 11 in class, these tips will apply for almost any Photoshop version.
To complete this guide, draw pictures of icons wherever you see an underlined word. These
words are: RECTANGULAR, LASSO, MOVE, VISIBILITY, LOCK, and DELETE. There is an
area in the back of the guide for you to write additional questions and notes.

STAYING ORGANIZED
To start, set up a folder you can save your files and reference images in
(P-DRIVE: ART: PHOTOSHOP).
Remember not to save anywhere else or you could lose your work! Your computer might
automatically want to save images in DOWNLOADS. You will lose everything when you log
off.)
When you save a file in Photoshop, it will save as a PSD (Photoshop document). This
allows you and others to continue editing in Photoshop. If you want to upload something to
the web or share it with someone who does not have Photoshop, go to SAVE AS and
save the document as a JPEG in the drop-down menu where you see PSD. Set the quality to

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6 so it is easier to upload and download.
*It is also a good idea to name or rename your files, images, and layers as you create
or save them (rather than IMG006743.jpg or Layer 136).
EXPERT/LAYERS/HISTORY
When opening up Photoshop, it is important to make sure you can access all of your options
quickly. To do this, select EXPERT from the top-middle of the Photoshop Workspace. Then,
select LAYERS from the bottom-right corner. Finally, select WINDOWS from the options at
the top of the screen and click on HISTORY.
PLACING, SIZING AND ROTATING IMAGES
To open a saved image into Photoshop, open it just as you would any other document
in Photoshop, by going to FILE, OPEN. Your image will open in a new tab, and you can go
back and forth between tabs near the top of the screen. *If your image is not in JPEG format,
it may not open, although images saved as PNG or GIF can sometimes be opened in
Photoshop.
Once you have opened your image, you can select the area you would like to transfer
onto your main project tab. This is usually done by using the
RECTANGULAR or LASSO
tools from the toolbar on the left. Drag to select the area, select EDIT, COPY (or CUT) from
the top toolbar, open your main project, and select EDIT, PASTE. Select the
MOVE
tool from the left toolbar to drag, size and rotate your image. Clicking on the center of the

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image and dragging will let you move the picture around, and clicking on the corners or edges
of the image will let you resize it, making it smaller or larger. *Hint: if you want your image to
have the same height and width proportions (not stretched), drag it from the corners. To
ROTATE your image, move your mouse pointer just outside of one of the images corners until
you see a curved line, then drag in any direction.

LAYERS, LAYER ORDER and OPACITY

LAYERS are a HUGE part of Photoshop. A layer acts like a transparent sheet of paper
that contains one part of your project. Objects in a layer near the top will appear to cover
objects in the layers below it. It is a good idea to make a new layer with each object. You can
change the Layer order by dragging layers to the level you want, allowing certain objects to
cover other objects. When working on a layer, it is sometimes helpful to see the objects in the
layers below it. To do this, drag the OPACITY meter at the top-right of your screen, above
your layers.
LAYER VISIBILITY AND LOCKING
Next to each layer, you will see an eye icon. This is the
VISIBILITY
function. You can make a layer disappear by pressing this, then reappear when you wish to
see it again. If you want objects in a layer to stay in one place without being moved or edited,
select the layer, then select the
LOCK
icon above your layers.

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DUPLICATING, ADDING, AND DELETING LAYERS
As a general rule, you should never have just one layer in Photoshop. Anytime you
open an image, it is placed on a locked layer that cannot be unlocked. You can make a copy
of your Background layer by right-clicking on it and selecting Duplicate Layer. The new
layer will be unlocked and ready to edit. You can then turn off the visibility of one of your
layers while keeping a backup just in case. Whenever you want to add a new layer, simply
click the folded page icon at the top of your layers. If you want to
DELETE
a layer, click on the trash can icon or right-click and select delete.