Infusing Creativity and Technology Through Repurposing Existing Digital Tools and Social Media Apps for Educational Purposes

As an emerging technological and communication form of this century, digital and social media applications are gaining acceptance as platforms for creativity and inspiration in fine arts and graphic design. However, despite the proliferation of social media platforms and digital manipulation and painting apps, repurposing them for pedagogical purposes is yet to be explored as an educational strategy in the traditional painting studio or computer graphics classroom. The essence of this paper is to employ qualitative as well as quantitative research methods to explore the capabilities of digital and social media applications as a technological apparatus for creativity and expressivity in art and design education and practice. The research involves an empirical investigation of the potential offered by digital media applications and social media platforms to enhance the creative learning experience in art and design. The methodological procedures that are discussed in this paper are the result of two experimental studies; the first study explores the use of a digital painting technique – Phone Art– in the fine arts studio, while the second study investigates the use of social media applications in the graphic design classroom. The investigation is undertaken in an experimental educational setting in an attempt to determine how technology can be utilized by educators in order to optimize the creative performance of students.