How I Use It
I use this app as 'small group' practice workstation in my classroom. As this school year, I do not have access to a whole classroom set of tablets, I have to be creative in how I apply this. This semester I have been demonstrating to students the basics of the app then letting them explore with a specified goal set by me for their creation. Students who are digital natives have no fear of exploring new apps and often learn new tricks that they can then turn around and teach me to improve my teaching of this app. Students take pride in the work they create and even though they could do the same artwork with traditional materials, there is something about using digital painting tools that helps to hold student attention. I plan on continuing to use this throughout this semester and forsee my students becoming better and better with this app.
This app has improved my teaching this year as I can have students work creating digital art using this app as independent work while I work with other students using traditional materials. While this app does have a learning curve, I have found this semester that my students are tech savvy enough to figure out solutions and are teaching themselves. They, in turn, are teaching me even deeper aspects of this app. I forsee learning more from my students about this app this semester than they learn from me, and, in my opinion, that is a truly successful tech product.
My Take
This is a great art creation app for high school/middle school students who have access to tablets in their classroom. This is a relatively inexpensive introduction to digital painting. There are lots of great professional artists using this app that you can show their examples to students to inspire them. I have been using this with my high school advanced art students as an independent center.
