Ninth International Conference on The Image

Abstract

Deep engagement and meaning making (Sullivan, 1993) when studying images and artworks was a premise for this research study. Designed as an outwardly facing digital platform and with associated face-to-face activities, the study connected an art prize collection and some of the artists selected for acquisition with students. The researcher believed that authentic learner experiences, with artworks and the artist practitioner, provided students with opportunities to engage in meaningful interactions with artists and their works in an online MOODLE context. For secondary students studying Visual Arts, images are always dominated by experience through mediated reproductions. This convention should be moderated with the real and the original, while offering opportunity for interactive discussions with artist practitioners. The employment of online technology as a vehicle to achieve this is one way of shifting to a new paradigm of teaching and learning in the Visual Arts. Offering immersive encounters, redefining students as critical audience by engaging, questioning, integrating and confirming the meaning of images, artworks and objects. Evidence suggests that blending art, technology, collaborative online experiences and authentic face-to-face engagement can lead to meaningful interactions.