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| Reviewed: |
Jun 29, 2011 by Teacher Education |
| Overview: |
The Incredible Art Department is the oldest art education site on the Internet. Since its inception in 1994, it has developed into a comprehensive web site with literally thousands of art-related resources, connections, and links. View artists from around the world, visit international galleries, see student art work, blogs, art videos, activites, lessons, and more. This site is a designated MERLOT Compass site meaning that it offers value-added resources to make the work of faculty more efficient and successful. Key categories for the site include: Lessons, Art Stuff, Toolbox, Jobs, News, Great Sites, Community, Art Rooms, Supplies. There are subheadings under each of these--all with more information, images, and links. The site is sponsored so there are ads on every page.
The Incredible Art Department provides tools, resources, and advice for just about everyone with an interest in art education. The site serves as a gateway to a wide variety of art curriculum resources, from curriculum design to lesson plans and assessment. The information is useable for beginning and advanced teachers, for parents and home schoolers, and for self-directed art students as well. |
| Learning Goals: |
The Incredible Art Department (IAD) was developed for art teachers, art students, parents, homeschoolers and artists. IAD includes links to information on art jobs, art careers, art schools, art education, lesson plans, standards, visual art news, and art resources.
The site was designed to help anyone set up an art curriculum for any age level, plan for instructional activities and develop meaningful assessments. |
| Target Student Population: |
Pre-K through university art teachers, pre-service art teachers, parents, home schoolers and those providing private group or individualized art lessons. |
| Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills: |
None other than an interest in art in its many forms and a desire to help others increase their knowledge and skill of art. |
| Type of Material: |
Collection and reference |
| Recommended Uses: |
There is so much on this site that it depending on the need of the user, it could be used in a variety of ways. Recommend uses include: research leads to current and past art education topics, art curriculum development, searches for art education teaching positions in all 50 states, and investigations on particular art education by students. The site is offered as a general art education resource and will be useful to a wide variety of interest and needs related to art and art education. |
| Technical Requirements: |
Internet connection. |
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| Strengths: |
As a collection of links, it is vast and it covers a huge range of topics. One of the strengths of the site is its search feature powered by Google. Typing in keyword can literally bring up pages of links to information. The ability to search specific states for K-12 art education jobs in one place is remarkable. The art education lessons can be searched by grade level, medium, subject, art period, artist, or integration. The Community section provides direct links to several art education groups.
From a curriculum standpoint, users can seek out information and guidance for developing a full curriculum, a single lesson, or finding more effective ways to assess student progress in any phase of art skill or understanding. |
| Concerns: |
The site has a long history on the internet. As such, it has the look and feel of a much older web site (mainly text and most of it single spaced, some in small fonts) and the information available is uneven in currency. It is currently going through some revisions and updates. The creator expects to have some new things in place at the end of 2011. |
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Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool |
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| Strengths: |
The resources and material that can be discovered at this site can readily be integrated into teaching, job hunting, curriculum development, and community building for art educators. The file sharing area has hundreds of items available--everything from lesson ideas, thoughts starters, sketchbook uses, rubrics, grade forms, art charts, lesson templates, art room rules, sample tests, behavior contracts, parent letters, advocacy, special needs and more. The breadth and depth of linked information and available files is the key strength of this site.
One of our reviewers made a list of things she would like to know if she were setting up an art curriculum for a summer camp of 10-12 year olds. She was able to find everything on her list and more. The information was there, it was complete, and it was valid and accurate. |
| Concerns: |
Since the pages under the various headings are not consistent, you have to take your time and "mine" the information and resources. The keyword search is helpful, because of the inconsistency in headings and titles, it sometimes takes patience and persistence to find everything. |
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Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty |
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| Strengths: |
The site has clear identifying category titles consistently listed across the top of all pages. Each of those category titles has a drop down menu with information to resources and links relevant to that title. The creator and manager of the site, Ken Roher, is doing a yeoman's job of maintaining the site and helping thousands of art educators in doing so. |
| Concerns: |
Several of the sections have not been updated in well over a year so there is an unevenness to the information, links, postings, and currency across the categories. The site needs to be sponsored to exist, however the number of ads, their size, and their placement is distracting throughout the site. Sometimes new information is a challenge to older headings and subdivisions, which means that new information may be stuck in less than intuitive places. |
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| Other Issues and Comments: |
User input is requested in the form of Teacher Peeves, Teacher Praises, and Student Peeves. Why is there no space for Student Praises? |
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