Post-Digital Images as Boundary Objects in STEAM Subject Art

Abstract

In Austria, a shortage of qualified STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) teachers is affecting creative subjects such as art and design and is increasingly leading to the use of teachers from other disciplines as well as those in the midst of career changes. Concurrently, digital and image-based media are shaping the everyday lives of students and teachers alike, and the continuous emergence of new digital image cultures is progressively blurring the lines between analogue and digital worlds. Against this backdrop, questions arise regarding the potential these digital images offer for art education and how they can be used for teaching and learning processes.

This research project presents an examination of students and art teachers' post-digital image practices in the context of visual literacy as well as differences in the professional knowledge levels of qualified subject, out-of-field, and career-changing teachers. The aim is to investigate how post-digital images can support collaborative teaching and learning processes while relativising existing knowledge asymmetries in the classroom. As part of an exploratory mixed-methods cross-sectional study, secondary school students (N = 360) and art teachers (N = 45) at schools in Tyrol (Austria) were surveyed.

This project seeks to make the use of post-digital images visible and to develop starting points for well-founded, everyday, and collaborative art education. Due to the everyday relevance of post-digital images, another goal that underscores this work is to determine to what extent integrating these images in teaching is beneficial for alternatively qualified teachers.