Deborah L. Smith-Shank

Speculative Fiction's Contribution to Contemporary Understanding: The Handmaid Art Tale

The belief that art should not be a handmaiden to social studies has continued in art education discourse since the 1920s. What role does the handmaiden play in this cultural narrative? Who is the handmaiden? We explore the handmaiden metaphor in art education and in popular texts. She is both needed and despised for her metaphorical acts of curriculum integration and for forming partnerships and collaborations. We focus on student discourse about the film The Handmaids Tale in our team-teaching two different courses offered at two geographically distant universities connected via the Internet. The film generated critical dialogue among students regarding the “Handmaid” within the context of art education. Informed by the symbolism and speculative fiction of Margaret Atwoods book The Handmaids Tale, upon which the film is based, we revise the narrative of art education towards a feminist position of interdisciplinary content-based and multivocal art creation and critiques.

Reflections on semiotics, visual culture, and pedagogy

Abstract Art education is reluctantly but steadily shifting from a modernist disciplinebased field towards a more interdisciplinary and semiotic approach to visual culture studies. This interdisciplinary approach to our field connects directly with Peirces ideas on pragmatism, plays of musement, and especially his notion of the importance of a community of inquiry. This paper will consider the ideas of Charles Sanders Peirce and his followers as they relate to contemporary art education. Semiotics, with its emphasis on codes, signs, and their interactions, is especially appropriate for rethinking the learning and teaching processes in art, as well as parameters which may constrain learning in the art education field.

Old Wive's Tales: Questing To Understand Visual Memories.

Recalling memorable images of life events, reflecting, and then selecting action based upon that reflection is a fundamental human act that has not been explored adequately. This is the report of a qualitative study of visual imaging by women over the age of 70. This project was designed to inform theory and practice in art education and mental health counseling and to gain insight into memories of visual culture(s), especially the mental images that are significant enough to remain vivid over the span of 70 years. Findings indicate that older womens tales anticipate feminist issues and do not conform to traditional male models of understanding.

Utilizing Multimedia Applications to Enhance Instruction of Performance Assessment for Pre-Service Teachers

Although performance assessment has rapidly captured the attention of educators and is widely accepted as an important component of pre-service teacher preparation, problems remain with incorporating performance assessment into typical university measurement courses. This article examines these problems and suggests that multimedia applications be utilized to resolve some of them and to enhance the instruction of performance assessment in teacher preparation measurement courses. Multimedia applications employed in measurement courses allow pre-service teachers to observe and analyze performances in art, physical eduction, vocational education, and other authentic tasks appropriate for direct assessment.