Mr. Simpson - Maya Li Preti
Teacher: Mr. Simpson
Subject Area: Art, Media Arts
Technology Used: Adobe Creative Cloud
Description of Project:
For my placement I was asked to test the newest version of Adobe Creative Cloud that our school had recently purchased and identify how it could be used to enhance Mackenzie’s visual arts courses.
Adobe Creative Cloud has many different programs which could be of interest, however Mr. Simpson had me mainly look into the latest updates of Photoshop, Lightroom, Illustrator and InDesign. For each program I was to find how they could be used in various art courses as well as their key features and any major changes between them and the previous versions the school had. To do this I experimented with the different programs, trying them out for myself, as well as researched the new features and key tutorials using Adobe’s resources. I found that other than the increasing functionality and improving layout the updates did not have too many changes from their predecessors. I also determined that Photoshop, Lightroom, and Illustrator would be the most beneficial to use in the Media Arts and Digital Media courses.
In addition to this Mr. Simpson had me specifically look into how the different applications could be used in his Media Arts class as a part of different assignments that he wanted to create. The first idea was simply to improve the course’s typical photo manipulation assignment wherein students take pictures of themselves and then edit them in Photoshop. I looked at how the introduction of Lightroom could be used to enhance this process by using a much more specialized program meant for photographers. The second idea was an assignment where students would expand on the first by taking photos of themselves and then, using a combination of the programs, create portraits in the style of pop art, which the students were studying. I was to find tutorials that explained how to turn photos into images that resembled the works of famous pop artists using Photoshop and Illustrator. I tried out the many tutorials that I came across to make sure that they were the right level of difficulty for students and that they yielded the best results. After trying dozens of tutorials I was able to assemble a list of the ones that would be the best for the students to use.
The end result of the research and experimenting was a list of resources that I gave to Mr. Simpson. We then went through them together so that I could give instructions and explanations on their uses.
Subject Area: Art, Media Arts
Technology Used: Adobe Creative Cloud
Description of Project:
For my placement I was asked to test the newest version of Adobe Creative Cloud that our school had recently purchased and identify how it could be used to enhance Mackenzie’s visual arts courses.
Adobe Creative Cloud has many different programs which could be of interest, however Mr. Simpson had me mainly look into the latest updates of Photoshop, Lightroom, Illustrator and InDesign. For each program I was to find how they could be used in various art courses as well as their key features and any major changes between them and the previous versions the school had. To do this I experimented with the different programs, trying them out for myself, as well as researched the new features and key tutorials using Adobe’s resources. I found that other than the increasing functionality and improving layout the updates did not have too many changes from their predecessors. I also determined that Photoshop, Lightroom, and Illustrator would be the most beneficial to use in the Media Arts and Digital Media courses.
In addition to this Mr. Simpson had me specifically look into how the different applications could be used in his Media Arts class as a part of different assignments that he wanted to create. The first idea was simply to improve the course’s typical photo manipulation assignment wherein students take pictures of themselves and then edit them in Photoshop. I looked at how the introduction of Lightroom could be used to enhance this process by using a much more specialized program meant for photographers. The second idea was an assignment where students would expand on the first by taking photos of themselves and then, using a combination of the programs, create portraits in the style of pop art, which the students were studying. I was to find tutorials that explained how to turn photos into images that resembled the works of famous pop artists using Photoshop and Illustrator. I tried out the many tutorials that I came across to make sure that they were the right level of difficulty for students and that they yielded the best results. After trying dozens of tutorials I was able to assemble a list of the ones that would be the best for the students to use.
The end result of the research and experimenting was a list of resources that I gave to Mr. Simpson. We then went through them together so that I could give instructions and explanations on their uses.
Possible Uses in Other Classes/Subject Areas:
Now that the new Creative Cloud has been installed in some of the school’s computers it can be used in many different subjects. The other art courses are the most obvious case, where Photoshop, Lightroom and Illustrator can be used to add digital elements to visual arts and improve the quality of film. Lightroom would be useful in photography courses as students could try a tool used by many professional photographers. The updated versions of the programs would be good additions to tech course (such as comm tech) which already use Photoshop, as they can provide more opportunities for creativity. Courses which do not necessarily involve elements of design and technology could benefit from these programs as well. If given time with the programs students could add more creative elements to their assignments, such as making custom power point slides for science, infographics for history, or book cover designs for English. Incorporating the use of these programs in assignments can make them more interesting and fun and help students develop their creativity.
