"Learning by Design: Integrating Technology into the Curriculum through Student Multimedia Design Projects", a report written by Ted M. Kahn, Ph.D. and Linda K. Taber Ullah, M. Ed., illustrates the philosophical framework which Pennsylvania arts educators adopted in preparing this educational arts website.
Computers, telecommunications and multimedia can be powerful tools for enriching student learning. They are also an essential part of preparing students for a world characterized by knowledge, work, global communications and continuous learning and change. But in order for technology to be effective in today's education system, it needs to be intelligently integrated into a rich, meaning-centered curriculum.
This meaning-centered curriculum can sometimes be developed through the use of theme-based projects. In this website the arts educators have used "monsters" as a springboard for individual lesson plans and thematic units. In these units, great attention has been placed on the students creating their own multimedia products; we have operated with the strong belief that ‘learning is in the making’ for all students.
In the article entitled, "Multimedia Encourages New Learning Styles", Dr. David Thornburg points out that our task in education is to "engage, not entertain, the learner". He further delineates:
As new media are used by students both as their source of raw information and as the tools through which they express their mastery, the role of educator changes. Instead of teachers providing "content" to students, they now are freed up to help students find "context" and meaning in their studies. T. S. Eliot's poem "The Rock" addresses these issues when he asks:
Where is the life we've lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we've lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we've lost in information?
Modern technological tools let us work with information in ways that honor the unique learning modalities of each student. The educator's role in this new era is to help run Eliot's lines backward -- to help our students find the knowledge in the information, to help them find the wisdom in this knowledge and most importantly to help them find the life in living.
As you visit this site, you will see that standards in the arts are rigorous and attainable through the use of contemporary technologies. It is also stipulated that the arts standards can be met at proficiency levels with the use of traditional technologies when more contemporary ones are not available to a student. Additionally, the needs of students with IEPs are addressed with the intention of providing the means for them to reach proficiency.