Peer Review

Google Arts and Culture

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Sep 30, 2014 by Teacher Education

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:: This is an excellent resource with many images from museums. The images are arranged by Collections, by Artists, by Art Works, or by User Galleries. With budget constraints causing teachers to find alternate methods for field trips and materials, this site is great for supplementing the content of any discipline specific course. Faculty or students can drag and drop works into User Gallery. Students can be assigned a topic to find and comment on the images. Faculty can use the art work to compile visual aids for their classes.
Type of Material:: A collection of art works separated by the museum the piece resides in. Fully searchable.
Recommended Uses:: This can be used as a supplement to an assignment to create a visual representation of the material, or can be used as a student project, finding artifacts to enhance their presentations. Virtual field trips are possible, art pieces cN be used to accentuate a lesson.
Technical Requirements:: Graphics card.
Identify Major Learning Goals:: Although there are no specific goals that can be considered learning, this site will help teachers to meet specific goals within their curriculum.
Target Student Population:: K-20 and beyond. Although educators might be the ones to use this site the most, anyone with an interest in art could use this site.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: Knowledge of how to drag and drop using a computer.

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:: Excellent collection of images, with the added plus of being able to develop user galleries.Art is not just for the art educator. An English teacher teaching Dante's Inferno can find artwork associated with the subject of the book to share with students. Artwork could be used to engage students interest in not just the piece of art itself, but the time period involved, the artist biography, etc. Type the artists name you want to search and their works appear on screen. Check out Abe Lincoln Jr. Yes, this is a real person and his art piece was done in 2005. To find that information you must enlarge the view of the piece and look at the right side of the figure just above the head. There is no prerequisite knowledge necessary but with prior knowledge a teacher can use this site for an unlimited amount of assignments.
Concerns:: The images in this collection are copyrighted, and should not be downloaded. Although the initial page the use of these images are free, the fine print says: Are the images on the Cultural Institute and Art Project site copyright-protected? The high-resolution imagery featured on the site is owned by their respective museums or collections, and these images may be subject to various copyright laws around the world. The Street View imagery is owned by Google. All imagery on this site is not intended for download and is provided for the sole purpose of enabling you to use and enjoy the benefit of the Cultural Institute site, in the manner permitted by Google’s Terms of Service. The normal Google Terms of Service apply to your use of the entire site. Teachers must make this very clear to students.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:
Strengths:: The images can be searched, and the drag and drop feature that allows teachers and students to create their own gallery is easy to use.
Concerns:: Many images in the gallery should not be downloaded but linked to. Teachers must share this with their students.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:
Strengths:: The material presented in this site is easily navigated and easily bookmarked for future use. A user can look directly within the holdings of a specific gallery, look for a specific artist, look for a specific art piece, or create their own gallery with pieces from other galleries throughout the world. Although learners nor teachers are able to use the images within projects without copyright issues, if a presentation is being done the site can be accessed directly and the art pieces shown on a projection screen.
Concerns:: None

Other Issues and Comments:: The only issue that is evident is that a user can get lost in the plethora of art that is available for viewing. This is a positive aspect, for sure. This is an excellent resource for teachers and learners.
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