record

Thesis Info

LABS ID
00057
Thesis Title
Hypertext-based Art Education: Implications for Liberatory Learning in High School
Author
Pamela G. Taylor
2nd Author
3rd Author
Degree
Ph.D. Art Education
Year
1999
Number of Pages
295
University
The Pennsylvania State University
Thesis Supervisor
Dr. Brent G. Wilson
Supervisor e-mail
Other Supervisor(s)
Dr. Marjorie Wilson, Dr. Jeanne Brady, Dr. Patricia Amburgy, Dr. Jamie Myers
Language(s) of Thesis
English
Department / Discipline
Art Education
Languages Familiar to Author
English
URL where full thesis can be found
Keywords
hypertext, art education, liberatory, critical theory
Abstract: 200-500 words
In response to the concern that traditional schooling rarely encourages high school students’ independent and critical thinking, this study involved one high school art teacher’s attempts to replace her traditional banking form of education (Freire, 1994) with a more liberatory and progressive approach to Discipline Based Art Education. Beginning with an art class’ hypertextual encounter with one of pop singer Madonna’s music videos, this study chronicled 170 high school art students who, over the course of two years, based their art class work and experiences in computer hypertextual webs. Computer hypertext provided the students with the ability to create spaces containing written text, research, images, film, journal entries, dialogues, etc. These spaces were then linked electronically through specific passages, words, images or portions of images to illustrate an intertextual exploration of their art study. The spaces could be changed and manipulated continuously by both reader and writer providing a place for the students and the teacher to contribute and direct the learning and knowing that was going on the classroom. The conclusions drawn from this study indicated that high school art students who base and extend their study in computer hypertextual webs can be liberated to learn in ways that would not have been possible without these experiences. The hypertextual experiences empowered the students to take a more critical and intertextual approach to expanding and connecting their study of art with their own lives. The argument was made that a hypertext-based art education facilitates Freire's (1987) call for a co-intentional educational practice that enables students and teachers to work together by critically viewing, understanding, and recreating the knowledge that is approached in the classroom. The students who experienced hypertext in this research began to see themselves in the art that they studied as well as in the art that they created. In the process, they began to share the ownership of their art class and their education experience. As a result of this shared ownership, the grading process changed from reflecting how much the students learned from the teacher to how much the teacher/researcher learned from the students.