Transforming Art History Education:
Digital Images in Instruction
Art History Department, School of Architecture and Allied Arts
and the Architecture and Allied Arts Library, University of Oregon Libraries
Dr. Sherwin Simmons, Chair, Art History Department
Edward H. Teague, Head, Architecture and Allied Arts Library
Ed Tech Proposal 2006, page 2
Transforming Art History Education: Digital Images in Instruction
I. Project Summary
The project is a collaborative endeavor between Art History and the Architecture and
Allied Arts Library (UO Libraries) to transform teaching and learning from slide-based
methods to the digital environment. The goal of this project is to enable, at a minimum,
the teaching of basic survey Art History courses with digital content
II. Project Narrative
A. Statement of Need
How art history is taught is in transformation. For decades, slides have been the primary
medium for the image-intensive instruction and research employed by art historians and
their students. At the University of Oregon, approximately 45,000 slides circulated last
year from the AAA Library’s Visual Resources Collection to support classroom
instruction. This amount complemented the personal collections of slides often used by
faculty. While the practical benefits of digital alternatives are well known to art historians
and their users, the commercial sources for digital equivalents of slides are few and costly.
The UO is now in the awkward environment of equipping classrooms to function in a
digital environment without having sufficient digital content to make this transformation
viable for a significant user population.
During Fall Quarter 2005, a Library task force worked with Dr. Sherwin Simmons to
digitize slides used in one of his courses and make that content available to students
through a library database (ContentDm software) as well as Dr. Simmons’ PowerPoint
applications. A lesson learned from that experience is that UO lacks the equipment and
staff to prepare in any expeditious way the quality resources needed for one art history
course, with approximately 1,300 images, let alone 70 courses taught by 11 faculty
members. The experience also demonstrated that it is extremely difficult to create digital
content as the course is being taught, in part because there is no access for weeks at a time
to the books with high-quality reproductions from which digital images are being scanned.
The acquisition of digital images, through image databases such as ArtStor, will go far to
support instruction and ancillary needs, but will not alone be sufficient.
Several Art History faculty members have commenced their own digitization efforts and
use of Powerpoint for instruction and are sold on the advantages of digital delivery. Dr.
Esther Jacobson (Maude I. Kerns Professor), a recent convert, provides this assessment of
her digital experience:
“The Powerpoint presentation format allows me much more flexibility in all respects. I
can compare, intersperse maps or other documents, use arrows to help the students see the
monument’s location within its geographical and physical frame. I like the fact that I can
also use texts so that students can see, right in front of their eyes, the big questions we are
addressing, or text that elaborates on what I may be lecturing about. Altogether, the format
Ed Tech Proposal 2006, page 3
allows me the varied possibilities that slides preclude. I also think that my lectures are
much more effective.” On the downside, Dr. Jacobson laments the “huge amounts of time”
required of her to prepare presentations.
Excited by the possibilities that he just glimpsed in the Fall Quarter experiment, Dr.
Simmons has devoted much of his non-administrative time since Fall Quarter to
developing a digital image collection related to the course on Russian Avant-Garde Art
that is currently teaching. All of the course readings and Powerpoints are available to
students through Blackboard. This means that students have ready access to good color
reproductions of all works shown and discussed in class, not just those that are found in a
course textbook. Those images are also accompanied by identifications and texts that the
instructor can design for the optimal transmission of knowledge and posing of critical
questions. In addition, Dr. Simmons has begun to provide large image files to students to
view in preparation for particular class discussions and to use in connection with the
students’ development of research topics. This is far more efficient and effective way for
students to engage a focused, but large body of images than asking them to explore
numerous books or do unreliable Google image searches. Through such individualized
databases, students can explore, manipulate, and expand beyond the instructor’s expertise
and knowledge. One can imagine that such databases would give rise to new types of
assignments. For instance, in Italian art of the 15th and 16th centuries there is a dynamic
tension between local painting styles and larger period style. Students could be asked to
define those differences by sorting through an image database assembled by the instructor
and then trying to articulate the similarities and differences for themselves, a unique
learning experience that could only be accomplished previously through work in a major
photo archive such as London’s Courtauld Institute or long-term research through books
and travel.
In short, a digital environment can be exploited in many ways to enrich a student’s
learning experience. However, without the prerequisite digital content, the creative
exploration of new pedagogical approaches cannot begin. Thus the pressing needs are to
create digital content and concomitantly teach faculty the skills to make effective use of
that content in the instructional environment.
B. Activities and Work Plan
(1) Personnel.
The personnel involved in this project are coordinators Dr. Sherwin Simmons, chair, Art
History Department, and Ed Teague, Head, Architecture and Allied Arts Library.
Consultants and collaborators will include Carol A. Hixson, Head, Metadata and Digital
Library Services; Lesli Larson, Image Services; J. Q. Johnson, Center for Educational
Technologies; Visual Resources Center staff; participating Art History faculty; and student
assistants. The activity will take place in the Visual Resources Center of the Architecture
and Allied Arts Library.
(2) Significant Project Activities
Ed Tech Proposal 2006, page 4
 A primary activity will be the creation of digital course content for the survey
courses ARH 204, 205, 206 (History of Western Art I, II, III); ARH 207, 208. 209
(History of Indian, Chinese, and Japanese Art); and the survey courses ARH 314, 315
(History of Western Architecture I, II). The first and third sequences reach over 200
students per course, the second between 100 and 140 per course; approximately half of
whom have majors outside AAA. The digital content developed for these ARH courses
will lay the base for use by other AAA departments, as well as for CAS and MUS
departments, whose use of the collection is constantly increasing. It will also greatly
facilitate the use of visual imagery by the growing program in Portland, use that is
presently vexed by faculty and students in different cities trying to use the same slides.
 Another activity is the digitization of slides created by faculty or received as gifts
which the university can add to its digital collections without copyright encumbrances.
 A final activity is teaching faculty and their assistants the best practices in
digitization and related courseware. The program will set standards and give guidance
to faculty members’ own digitization efforts, so that the material can eventually be
incorporated into the university collection. By giving everyone access to the products
of individual initiative, duplication will be reduced and a true collective effort will
move toward the solution of an immense task.
(3) Major Activities Timeline
Spring Quarter 2006
Planning, acquisition of equipment, identification of images to digitize or outsource,
training of personnel
Summer Quarter 2006
Hiring/training of personnel, creation of digital content
Fall Quarter 2006 and thereafter
Implementation of digital courses begins and work continues creating further course
content
Ed Tech Proposal 2006, page 5
C. Project Outcomes and Evaluation
The project outcome is measurable in terms of images produced and their application in
instruction. Special course evaluations will be used to enable students to assess this aspect
of their learning experience and identify improvements that can be made.
IV. Sustainability
After the grant has expired, the Library will absorb the service as part of its continued
operations.
V. Budget and Budget Narrative
The budget reflects a two-fold approach to the primary objective of acquiring substantial
digital content in a relatively short time at a scale that is still manageable. The project
applies the model followed by University of Washington’s Visual Resources Collection in
which an infrastructure has been created for the sustained creation of digital images while
concurrently outsourcing the digitization of some slides to jump-start the incorporation of
digital content in instruction.
Student wages
Approximately 40 hours/week the grant period.
Total: $14,000
Equipment
Two computer workstations, flatbed scanner, slide scanner, software specific to image
scanning and manipulation, and additional storage for the archive of digital images to be
created by the project.
Examples: Braun Multimag SlideScan 4000 ($1350); Epson Expression 10000XL flatbed
scanner large format ($1400).
Total: $6,000
Slide digitization outsource costs
$35,000 for approximately 10,000 slides (Source: Two Cat Digital, San Leandro, CA).
Studies done by the University of Washington Art Slide Library indicate that outsourcing
is 20-30% cheaper than in-house digital creation and is the best means to process
efficiently up to 1,000 images required per course.
Total: $55,000
Ed Tech Proposal 2006, page 6
February 28, 2006
MEMORANDUM
To:
Deb Carver, Librarian
From: Frances Bronet, Dean, School of Architecture and Allied Arts
Doug Blandy, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
Rob Thallon, Associate Dean for Administration
Re:
Support for A&AA Educational Technology Phase III Proposals
A&AA is committed to advancing the integration of educational technology into
its teaching mission. The goal is to use technology to facilitate instruction for the
purpose of improving professional preparation at the undergraduate and
graduate levels. To this end, funds available through the various Educational
Technology Initiatives at the UO have been used to upgrade teaching facilities,
provide for a student software keyserver, and invest in centralized digital Imaging
services.
Faculty representing four of seven A&AA Departments and Programs are submitting Educational Technology
Phase III proposals. All three proposals have been vetted in the Dean's office and are consistent with the
A&AA educational technology mission. Together these proposals will facilitate curricular goals and objectives
within A&AA and contribute to initiatives for achieving goals and objectives through unified efforts.
Kate Wagle and Linda Zimmer have authored the proposal "Focus on Research for
Arts + Media (FRAME). They along with seven faculty members in Art,
Architecture and Interior Architecture conceptualize the third year of the fouryear FRAME Initiative. Building on Educational Technology funding received for
Parts One and Two, this proposal expands FRAME to include significant
participation by graduate and undergraduate students from Architecture and
Interior Architecture along with students from Art. This proposal also includes
external support in the form of an equipment gift. Funding of this proposal will
contribute significantly to plans for an A&AA interdisciplinary degree program in
Product Design. This proposal also brings A&AA closer to the establishment of an
interdisciplinary research center associated with digital arts.
The emphasis on studio within the Department of Architecture is unique in the
nation. Howard Davis is requesting funding for large computer screens in studios
located in both Lawrence and Pacific Halls. The installation of these screens will
permit an estimated 600 students to have immediate group access to the web,
Ed Tech Proposal 2006, page 7
student generated projects, and faculty generated instructional materials.
Professor Davis makes a compelling case for the improvement of the studio
environment through the installation of these screens.
The digitalization of images is transforming the way in which Art History is being
taught. Art History professor Sherwin Simmons, in collaboration with A&AA
librarian Edward Teague, have conceptualized a Phase III project that addresses
this transformation at the UO. Activities associated with the proposal include the
digitization of extremely valuable faculty slide collections for the benefit of the
large numbers of UO students who participate in the Art History survey courses
and as a consequence meet UO Arts and Letters requirements. We particularly
appreciate the plans that the authors of this proposal have made in
communicating "best practices" in digitization and related courseware to teaching
faculty. We are confident that the results of this project can serve as a model for
other departments and programs within A&AA and the UO.
All are significant because they combine multiple modes of learning, visual,
hands-on, synchronous, asynchronous, allow for individual and teaming
opportunities, etc. Specifically, they generate the opportunity for leading edge
work in digital technology, moving time based explorations in art into arenas that
will include fields relating to the built environment, communications, etc; offer a
new pedagogical paradigm for the studio engaging “just in time” learning; bring
state-of-the-art technology and learning practice to the campus – all with the
potential to easily link these practices to collaborative outreach and international
learning.
CC:
Howard Davis, Architecture
Sherwin Simmons, Art History
Kate Wagle, Art
Chris Jones, AAA Computing Services
Michael Smith, AAA Facilities Services