Since Apple released the first iPad in 2010, these have been widely adopted in diverse educational settings. However, here has been little relevant empirical research in art and design education.
A collaboration between Networked Learning Technologies in Art and Design (a research lab based in Cyprus University of Technology) and University College Falmouth is investigating the use of iPads in art and design education with emphasis on studio-based disciplines. The project involves students from Cyprus University of Technology (Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts) and University College Falmouth.
During the first stage of the project, students have been given an iPad to use both inside and outside the university, and encouraged to come up with their own uses. For this stage qualitative data will be gathered at the end of the academic semester and analysed textually and thematically. Participating students contribute to a Facebook group, which complements their observations, discoveries and educational applications of their iPad use. The second stage of the research will deal with academic staff and their use of the iPad, and the third stage will be action research based on outcomes from the previous two stages. Various qualitative research methods will be used to analyse the data including keeping a research journal, document collection and analysis, participant observation recordings, questionnaire surveys, structured and unstructured interviews and case studies.
The team members from Cyprus University of Technology, Department of Multimedia and Graphic Arts are: Dr. Nicos Souleles (co-ordinator of Networked Learning Technologies in Art and Design) and Stefania Savva (research assistant). The team members from University College Falmouth are: Hilary Watters and Angela Annesley (Senior Educational Development Lecturers) and Ben Bull (Head of Technology Enhanced Learning).
The project's website is http://elearningartdesign.org/ipads/
Dr. Nicos Souleles
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