Applications of Pinterest for Learning and Teaching

Case Studies from Art History & Visual Culture at CSU

Dr Sam BowkerSchool of Communications and Creative

IndustriesCSUed conference in Albury, 19 November

2014

Thank you Linda Ward for encouraging the development of this presentation following

EEL502: Design for Blended Learning

What is Pinterest?

Pinterest is a well-known social image-sharing website, similar to Scoopit, Tumblr, or Instagram.

This is my public Pinterest portfolio:http://www.pinterest.com/drsambowker/

Since 2012, Pinterest has provided flexible formal and informal resources for all my Art History

subjects at CSU

(ART113, 210, 214, 215, 315, 316, 318, 402 and 240)

Affordances of Pinterest

• Free and Familiar• Asynchronous Access, ideal for DE

• Very simple layout, compatible with all browsers

• Enables Visual Resources to be accumulated without inviting copyright issues for CSU

• Creative Collaboration Encouraged

• Follows CSU’s EET Principles (V3, 2014, page 12)

Adapted by Steve Wheeler: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/80431543317945764/

Overview of Applications

1: Introducing Visual Sources2: Contemporary Visual Research3: Curating Visual Portfolios4: Supporting Assessment Items

5: Bridging Teaching and Research6: Exemplars for Tertiary Education

7: Challenges 8: A Flipped Classroom Activity

1: Introducing Visual Sources

Galleries of Images are better than Lists of Words

• They engage students quickly, they save their research time,

and they present a variety of options to facilitate

subsequent research.

• Pinterest surveys obscure and well-known image collections,

consistently linked to their original source.

• Images and EET Resources can be uploaded to Interact2 using

the “Pinterest Widget” feature, which improves visual appeal.

• Collaborative content curation enables transformative

participation (O’Sullivan in Wheeler, 2013).

2: Contemporary Visual Research

Reverse Image Search and associated

investigations.

Flipped Classroom Exercises

1. What is this thing?2. Who made it?3. Where is it?

2: Contemporary Visual Research

Reverse Image Search and associated investigations.An ornamental niche from the Darazah Sharif, near

Ranipur, Pakistan.

Photo by Waseem Ahmed, 7 July 2009.

Original Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/commoner/3701077181/

Expanded Context Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/commoner/3711048160/in/photostream/

3: Curating Visual Portfolios

• Pinterest Boards can be curated by Lecturers and Students

• ART215 Topic Galleries: Australian Postmodernism

• Assignment for ART315: Photographic Theory Portfolio

• A CSU Student’s Summary of ART316: Italian Renaissance Art

• ART113 European Art: Case Studies for the Comparison Paper

• ART214: The Review Board (for the Take-Home Exam, Essays, etc.)

• Captions enable peer-review comments, like a Wiki.

“We Learn by Doing” (Piaget 1950)

4: Supporting Assessment Items

Pinterest currently provides convenient Exam Revision and Essay Assistance for

ART214: Aspects of Designand

ART113: European Art from 1850 – 1920

(Prior to 2012, students were provided only with lists of artist’s names and

artwork titles)

5: Bridging Teaching and Research

I use Pinterest to file and share resources for

future Art History subjects.

I use ‘secret boards’ for research towards my

own peer-reviewed publications.

ART240: Introduction to Islamic Art & Design

Nikee Rider (2014) by Hassan Hajjaj from the exhibition 'Kesh Angels' at Taymour Grahne Gallery, New York

6 - Exemplars of Pinterest for Higher Education

• Online commentators in 2012 focused on Marketing with Pinterest. In 2014, Teaching and Learning with Pinterest is still an emerging field for early adopters.

• DrawDrawDraw – contemporary art, especially drawing

• Rosemary Eskew – textile researcher• National Association of Visual Arts - NAVA resources

• Alternatively, it can be used more like Scoopit.

7 - Challenges • Pinterest is accessed using Facebook logins, so CSU’s guidelines for Social Media will apply.

• Potential for ‘Information Overload’

• Captions can be unreliable (The Wikipedia Problem).

• Might be addictive. (But isn’t that Life Long Learning?)

8 - A Flipped Classroom Activity

• Using Pinterest, identify the defining characteristics of art from the Fatimid and Safavid dynasties.

• Select three items from each dynasty as exemplars. Add these to our shared Board.

• What features distinguish these two art movements from each other?

• NB: Pinterest delivers very different results to Google or Google Image Search.

Please ask questions, or email me on sbowker@csu.edu.au

References• Aaron W. Jaco, 5 Reasons Why Universities Should Consider Pinterest. Higher Ed Live. February 29, 2012 (Accessed 7 October 2014)

• Aaron W. Jaco, Best Practices for Pinterest in Higher Education. Higher Ed Live. March 1st, 2012. (Accessed 7 October 2014)

• Charles Sturt University Educational Technology Framework (Version 3) July 2014 (Accessed 7 October 2014)

• Overview of Education Technologies at CSU: (Accessed 7 October 2014) http://www.csu.edu.au/division/landt/resources/resources

• Shannon Kelly, To Pin or Not To Pin: The Debate Over Pinterest Use in Higher Ed, for “social @ edu”. 10 February 2013 (Accessed 7 October 2014)

• Steve Wheeler, Learning Theories for the Digital Age, ELESIG webinar on 9 May, 2013 hosted by Nottingham University (Accessed 7 October 2014)

• Ken Friedman, Presenting your Research, Centre for Design Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology, 2014. (Accessed 7 October 2014)