computer literacy and the art program

National Art Education Association

Computer Literacy and the Art ProgramAuthor(s): Guy HubbardSource: Art Education, Vol. 38, No. 2 (Mar., 1985), pp. 15-18Published by: National Art Education AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3192838 .

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Computer Literacy And The Art Program0

In this article . . . Hubbard reports the

progress of inexperienced

computer students, in summer classes,

in the making of computer graphics.

"The initial excitement of working on a

computer, hopefully, will have been

dissipated during the preliminary play

experiences . . . and students will

acknowledge a need for the discipline of careful planning."

Guy Hubbard

hT his article proposes one way elementary and secondary art teachers may begin using the potential of computers in

their art programs and thus participate in a major new thrust in education. Schools everywhere are purchasing microcomputers, and many more machines are expected to be ordered during the next few years. Twenty states have already introduced computer literacy requirements for gradua- tion from school (Barbour, 1984), and others can be expected to follow. To meet these requirements and satisfy local demands for more than minimal literacy, schools are developing courses and programs in computing at most

levels throughout the K-12 curriculum. The uses of computers in schools can

be divided into two categories. One is teaching students to program - often referred to as "computer literacy" (Electronic Learning, 1984) - the other is use of specially prepared programs (software) to complement instruction in conventional curricular areas. The focus of this article will be restricted to programming. In the view of this writer, "programming" is not synonymous with "literacy", although the experiences and understanding to be derived from programming are necessary before a person can be con- sidered literate.

Programmed software and electronic hardware (i.e. digitizing tablet, light pen, mouse, paddles, joystick, etc.) that can be used to create computer graphics are plentiful as a consequence of development of the computer game and home market industries; they enable users to make graphics with lit- tle or no experience in computing. A good reason for focusing attention on programming is that only through becoming directly involved with the electronic medium of the computer at its most fundamental level are chil- dren, youth, and teachers likely to comprehend it fully.

The flood of Computer Assisted In- struction (CAI) software to serve subject matter instruction has not included art to any marked degree. This is partly because publishers see traditional academic subjects as more likely to show a return on investment. Superficially at least, academic subjects seem more suited to CAI capabilities than subjects like art, due to the subjective character of its content. Eventually, however, art educators should expect the entry of CAI software into Art in elementary and secondary classrooms to provide technical information, teach art his- tory, and spread eventually to art production.

Computer Literacy and Art Teaching One of the purposes of computer literacy courses is to enable learners to understand how computers work and

how to solve problems with them. Luckily, the graphics capabilities found in most popular brands of microcomputers are well suited to achieving these goals. For students who are not comfortable manipulating verbal and mathematical concepts, through lack of ability, immaturity, or personal inclination, graphic images offer the pos- sibility of achieving most computer programming goals. More specifically, graphic images are concrete rather than abstract; a design on the monitor screen represents nothing more than itself. Instead of thinking of fundamental computing skills as the pro- vince of mathematics, science, or business teachers, art teachers should consider themselves among the core staff of computer instructors, particularly in secondary schools.

Microcomputer Graphics Microcomputers commonly found in schools include machines made by Ap- ple, Radio Shack, and Commodore; all of these have basic programming language built into them when they are manufactured. In order to get started in graphics, the beginning student only needs to know how to light up the small, lighted blocks on the screen called picture elements (pixels). The easiest level to begin work is on the low resolution screen where large pixels fill a screen rapidly and where a variety of colors is available.

After the first flurry of excitement th:at comes with appearance of the first one or two images, the prospect of having to code every pixel on a screen composed of 1500 or more is discouraging. Once students realize that most of what they will learn is designed to reduce this tediousness, this discouragement dis- appears and they are anxious to learn. While their skills may be minimal, they are able to explore the medium and solve design problems. The primary goal at this stage should merely be to play with introductory commands to make pleasing designs.

The value of a preliminary play period cannot be overemphasized,

Art Education March 1985

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Frame One "Sky" by Bec Photo credit: Paul Engle

Frame Two "Sky" by Becky Golden Photo credit: Paul Engle

regardless of the age of the learner. If nothing else, it improves keyboarding- skills and the learning of common system commands and line statements to the point that reference to manuals becomes less frequent (Brown, 1982; DeWitt, 1984; Hearn and Baker, 1983; Waite, 1979; etc.). During this preliminary period, students will become aware that computer graphics do not appear instantaneously. Al- though computers read programs and display them very rapidly, the process takes an observable time; the first statements in a program appear before later ones. The dimension of time is familiar in motion pictures but has not been part of most visual arts practiced in schools. Yet, time is a natural quali- ty in computer graphics and as students become more familiar with manipulating time, they become correspondingly creative about using it.

For an image to satisfy its designer, parts of a program must appear in a preferred sequence. This is particularly important because images that appear later in a program replace part or all of images that appear earlier in the same part of the screen. An appealing op- portunity with the design of computer graphics, however, is that alternative sequences for certain parts of a program can be prepared and stored on diskettes or cassette tapes, at various stages of completion, until needed. As soon as students understand the effects of sequencing, they should learn that motifs to be used repeatedly need only be written into a program once, as a subroutine, and thereafter called upon as needed. Students also need to learn that programming of subroutine motifs is more manageable when they are clustered at the end of a program. This introduces students to the idea of struc- ture, which lies at the heart of all good programming. Motifs can also be repeated within a loop routine that repeats an operation a number of times. In graphics, this can be applied to repeating patterns. Thus the rela- tively static images seen in typical beginners' programs require a different solution than a program where one or more images are to be positioned in various locations on the screen to create a pictorial composition or pattern.

Designing Graphics Programs After a period of familiarization play on the computer, the process of designing computer graphics is best begun by having students work on sheets of blank paper. Freely sketched ideas lead

Art Education March 1985

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to the production of ideas and images that represent what is most likely to be the students' best thinking because it encourages them to work with more familiar media. One outcome of making a finished sketch is that students recognize the task to be more than mechanical coding. The design then needs to be translated to a grid composed of rectangles that correspond with pixels on a monitor screen. A carefully developed color design on this grid is an important step toward the goal of writing an effective program.

Following the completion of a working drawing on a grid, the student has to decide on the sequence in which the display should appear as the program unfolds on the screen. In many computer designs, background areas need to be programmed first, with other smaller shapes appearing later. In this way, smaller images can be superimposed on an established foundation. Some designs are arranged in such a way, however, that a graphic looks bet- ter when each of the colors in the design is displayed in turn, regardless of its location on the screen. The final decision about how best to display the image becomes a matter of judgment and trial, as in all aesthetic decisions.

Whatever the decision, it is always wise to describe the sequence on paper as exactly as possible prior to entering program code into the computer. In ef- fect, this descriptive statement is the plan for a solution to the programming problem, that is, an algorithm. The next step is to write the actual code for the program on paper.

Adolescents will often resist these preliminary design and coding steps, on paper, because of the magnetic ap- peal of the computer itself. Yet working on paper first establishes good work habits and, more importantly for the beginner, provides protection against accidentally losing hours of work as a consequence of errors in coding. The initial excitement of working on a computer, hopefully, will have been dissipated during the preliminary play experiences described above and students will acknowledge a need for the discipline of careful planning.

Grapliics By Art Teachers The following analyses of two low resolution graphics illustrate the use of graphics described above. The graphics were selected from programs designed by art teachers enrolled in their first computer experience during a 1984 summer workshop.

Frame One shows a simple landscape programmed as a static low resolution graphic. Frame Two shows an accumu- lation of cloud forms in various locations. In the original graphic, they appear at predetermined intervals by means of code that controls the speed of display. Each cloud is composed of the same subroutine of programming code with color changes used for each set of clouds. Frame Three shows addi- tional clouds and two bolts of lightning superimposed on the clouds. Rain drops from a shower are also visible. The lightning is a subroutine in the original graphic and is repeated in several locations. Moreover, in the original graphic, the rain shower appears after the lightning ends. The re- mainder of the graphic shows the shower of rain ending followed by the gradual dissipation of the clouds. The disappearance of the clouds is, in fact, the replacement of the cloud subroutine with an identical cloud shape, but this time in the color of the sky.

This program makes good use of simple subroutines to create a pleasing, animated graphic image where repeti- tion in the form of varied colored clouds are placed in sequence to build up a dense formation. A climax is marked by the display of lightning followed by the rain. The removal of the clouds and the return of the sun- shine concludes a program where not only varied shapes and colors are used but where the dimension of time has become an integral part of the work.

In this graphic, Frame One shows a repeating pattern programmed from a single subroutine. A single loop repeats the motif and advances it across the

screen by its own width plus one space to separate one repeat from the next one. Another loop is written around the first one (the two together are called a nested loop) to advance the band of horizontal repeats to fill all the available space on the screen. Frame Two shows an alternative arrangement of repeats where the student has begun to depart from the simple all-over repeating pattern shown in Frame One. The possible variations of color and positioning from this point on become so. numerous that students frequently produce large numbers of designs. One of the delights of electronic image making is that colors and forms can be altered in an instant to show new ideas. The only remaining decision is to deter- mine which arrangement (or arrange- ments) is most pleasing among the trials and to give reasons for the ade- quacy of the choice.

As students create graphics of the kind described above, and as they move ahead to more complex programming and begin to work on the high resolution screen, they will also be developing their competence with a higher level computer language. They will have done this, moreover, by solving visual design problems rather than problems involving letters and numbers. While this content is not characteristic of instruction in computer programming, it is as valid as

Art Education March 1985 17



more conventional methods typically employed in the teaching of programming. Furthermore, given the present level of understanding about how best to achieve computer literacy among students, not to mention the lack of consensus about what is meant by computer literacy, art teachers should be participating energetically in this work.

A Look To the Future The approach to graphics described in this article includes a number of important concepts that are used to control computer programs of all kinds. At the same time, computer graphics offers rich opportunities for learning content that is eminently the domain of the art educator. As such, it deserves the sup- port of everyone in the profession because it introduces students to aesthetic decision-making enhanced by the dimension of time.

While many art educators may be convinced of the rightness of this point of view, the task of persuading the school establishment in computing to permit art teachers to become equal partners in computer based education is not likely to be easy. Yet the benefits to be derived from full participation in this new sphere of education will be worth whatever expenditure of time, energy, and new learning, is needed. Only in such a way can we hope to reach more of the school population than we do at present and show art to be truly at the heart of the curriculum. U

Guy Hubbard is Coordinator and Pro- fessor of Art Education at Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.

References

Barbour, A. (1984). Computing in America's Classrooms, Electronic Learn- ing, 4, (2), 39-43.

Brown, E. (1982). Creative Programming For Young Minds, Volume VII, Charleston, IL: Creative Programming.

DeWitt, W.H. (1984). Art and Graphics on the Apple II/IIe, New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.

Electronic Learning. (1984). 3, (7), 41, 43. Abbreviated definitions and opinions are presented on these two pages that illustrate the division among authorities in computer education over the meaning of "computer literacy".

Hearn, D. and Baker, M.P. (1983). Microcomputer Graphics: Techniques and Applications, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Waite, M. (1979). Computer Graphics Primer, Indianapolis, IN: Howard W. Sams & Co.

r-rame une --mug Dy rre Photo credit: Paul Engle

Frame iwo --Iug uy rrt Photo credit: Paul Engle

Art Education March 1985 18



computer literacy and the art program

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