Week 4 - Photoshop - Multimedia

Photoshop is a digital image editing software that allows users to edit, manipulate, retouch and enhance images. Photoshop has increasingly been embraced in society and utilized in schools to promote students’ creativity. Students’ own creativity is expressed when they make their own choices about colour, composition and visual elements which is student-centred and self-directed learning, aligning with constructivist pedagogy.

Photoshop allows students to have complete freedom and creative expression. Bricker and Bell (2013) discuss the ability of creative expression to promote cognitive development, problem-solving skills and self-expression in younger learners which is achieved through exploring photoshops many features. Drawing and painting tools allow students to use different brushes of thickness and shape. Filters, effects and image manipulation allow imported images to be transformed. This hands-on learning experience allows students to actively engage with the creative process of designing, editing and manipulating images, aligning with constructivist pedagogy.

The NSW K-6 syllabus for Creative Arts emphasizes digital competencies (NESA, 2015). Photoshop allows students to learn about image formats, resolution, colour correction and other technical aspects of digital images. Photoshop can be used in any context. The freedom and creativity of the program allow teachers to adapt the technology to any subject area. For example, historical time periods can be explored in Photoshop with activities to enhance creative learning by students being asked to edit images according to the time period explored. Here photoshop provides authentic and contextualized learning. The curriculum content is here explored in a creative way. Kress and Van Leeuwen (2001) explore how multimodal learning is the way of the future and successful learning addresses this. Photoshop combines text and images to allow for literacy and communication skills to be deepened.

Limitations of Photoshop include the need for technological expertise and access to appropriate software. Photoshop is a program that must be taught and explained thoroughly before being used, especially for younger students. I personally struggled when learning to use Photoshop in this tutorial and watched multiple tutorials and explanation videos of each individual tool. This encourages critical thinking and problem-solving in students, aligning with constructivist pedagogy. Students are to plan, design and edit in the most efficient and effective ways for the desired outcome. Photoshop also raises the discussion of improper image use and digital safety (Ewing-Traylor, 2017) which relates to copyright and stealing digital property.

References:

Bricker, L. A., & Bell, P. D. (2013). Young children's creativity: Images of creativity. Journal of Childhood Studies, 38(1), 29-43.

Ewing-Taylor, J. (2017). Incorporating Photoshop into the primary school art curriculum. Australian Art Education, 38(2), 198-214.

Kress, G., & Van Leeuwen, T. (2001). Multimodal discourse: The modes and media of contemporary communication. Arnold.

NSW Education Standards Authority. (2015). Creative Arts K–6 NSW education standards. Nsw.edu.au. https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/k-10/learning-areas/creative-arts/creative-arts-k-6-syllabus