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This week our guest blogger is acclaimed Ed Tech advocate, visual arts teacher and bestselling author Cathy Hunt, from iPad Art Room. She tells us why she believes that tablets and phones are so valuable in the hands of students...

When I first began teaching Visual Art almost fifteen years ago, access to technology was limited. My class needed to move out of the studio and book into a lab to access computers. With that very separate environment for the paint and pixels, it was really during research tasks and word-processing written assignments that technology integration occurred.

Now, mobile devices permeate the art-making environment in many classrooms that deal with the tactile, the messy and the hand-made. Technology is an integral part of future-driven art education.

So what makes those tablets and phones such valuable devices in the hands of students? Here's a few ideas...

Students are able to trial processes virtually, using apps that explore techniques and skills with scaffolding and prompts, at a pace to suit the individual. As mistakes can be easily erased, confidence to take artistic risks increases for some learners. Students are free to explore new ideas and engage with the creative process deeply.

One device can service an endless exploration of techniques, ideas and creativity. Better yet, students can work at their own pace, moving through tasks as they complete them. And, digital tools can make some tasks that were previously difficult and time-consuming achievable in a classroom environment - this means that with considered lesson design, students can often cover more diversity in their explorations and in doing so, engage more deeply with the curriculum.

Students can document their processes and reflect on their learning with fluidity. Visual diaries and process journals are the mainstay of teaching and learning in the art room, but mobile devices with a connected camera give them a whole new dimension. Students can collect, write and photograph research and creation. The photo library becomes a record of decision-making and process, a valuable tool for reflection by both teacher and student. In-app or online visual diaries can allow the addition of movies that document creation, animations and interactive mind-maps to explain decision-making and direct web-links to resources, etc.

The portability of creative mobile devices allows students access to learning anywhere, anytime. This 'learning on demand' helps students to extend their knowledge and make stronger links between their experiences at school and their journey beyond the studio as a lifelong learner. Revealing and exploring the creative potential of the device in their back pocket is vital for our students, as they are more likely to access this digital tool than many other mediums for art-making.

Students can also use social media and collaborative platforms to become part of exhibitions and shared spaces that can allow their work to be seen worldwide. Peers can give feedback and parents can see their paintings even as they are drying on the rack in the art room. This amplification of student voice is at the core of an arts-education that promotes the development of visual literacy, responds to our increasingly visual modes of communication, and seeks to empower students as competent creators.

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Cathy is an experienced Visual Art teacher with a passion for using art as a vehicle for engaging with creative processes, improving visual literacy and divergent thinking skills.She is committed to sharing practices and resources freely with art educators worldwide, having developed a strong presence online in international learning networks social media. She developed ipadartroom.com, which is now a leading resource online for teachers using iPads in school-based Visual Arts classes.Cathy is an Apple Distinguished Educator, a Digital Innovation in Learning Award recipient, the Pearson/21st Century Learning 'Teacher of the Year' finalist and a member of the Gold Coast City Art Gallery Educational Reference Committee.Her popular books are on the iBookstore, including a publication for the National Gallery of Australia.

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This week our guest blogger is acclaimed Ed Tech advocate, visual arts teacher and bestselling author Cathy Hunt, from iPad Art Room. She tells us why she believes that tablets and phones are so valuable in the hands of students...When I first began teaching Visual Art almost fifteen years ago,

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