U N I V E R S I T Y  O F  P I T T S B U R G H

Volume X, Number 1

Art & Architecture Education
Using Instructional Technology

Alison Stones and Edward Galloway Photo by Mike Drazdzinski, CIDDE

In a collaborative effort, Alison Stones, History of Art and Architecture, and Edward Galloway, University Library System-Digital Research Library, will use their ACIE grant to render accessible 1,500 slides of France’s Charters Cathedral, “one of the most important monuments of our European cultural heritage.” These previously inaccessible images will then be available for educational purposes not only to students, faculty, and researchers here at the University of Pittsburgh but also to others throughout the world.

Continuing the University of Pittsburgh’s commitment to digital library projects that led to the creation of the Digital Research Library in 1998, Improving Art and Architecture Education, Faculty and Library Partnerships in Instructional Technology Development will raise the bar for the sharing of scholarly resources for educational and research purposes. Traditionally, such access to privately owned or copyrighted collections has entailed considerable fees, even for educational purposes (as is the case with the Index of Christian Art at Princeton University).

Through the facilities and expertise of the University Library System’s Digital Research Library, of which Galloway is coordinator, each image in the digitized collection will be accompanied with descriptive information and will be a searchable resource supporting dynamic interaction between viewers and images. In fact, users will be able to zoom in on details or to compare images side-by-side, among other things.

Because the “ideological aspect of sharing the arts is dear to (my) heart,” Stones sees this project serving a long term goal. Since HA&A’s site is internationally accessed—school and public networks from Europe, South Africa, South America, Central America, Hong Kong, Australia, and New Zealand have used it—placing these images online will not only benefit the international educational community; it will also raise the profile of HA&A, ULS/DRL, and the University of Pittsburgh.

Additionally, the collection will be incorporated into all HA&A survey courses (affecting more than 200 students a year) as well as higher-level HA&A courses. Ultimately it will generate the development of new art history and medieval studies courses both here at the University and elsewhere. Faculty will then be able to display, compare and manipulate images in the classroom and students will be able to revisit them independently on the Web. Successful implementation of Galloway and Stones’ project will be evaluated from student responses to a questionnaire administered at the conclusion of courses using the resource, and quantitative data will be collected from Web usage logs.

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