EDITOR’S LETTER: DECEMBER 2026

Digital literacy has an impact on how we navigate information, platforms, hardware, and software. We must consider if the information we seek is factual, biased, or misleading. We can use technology to make inferences, come to conclusions, and generate ideas. One example is the use of AI (artificial intelligence). This has been a trending topic in art education and the art world. The Sheboygan Area School District implemented an AI policy last school year that guides students in the use of AI in their coursework. In the art world, there is an ongoing debate about whether it is acceptable to use AI to make and exhibit art as original artworks.

There are various ways to introduce and implement digital strategies, applications, and tools into art-making inside the classroom. I am amazed at how proficient students are in creating digital drawings on their smartphones using their finger as a stylus. Their curiosity and proficiency stimulates their creativity, critical thinking, and visual communication.

In the early childhood lesson, “The Digitally Literate Early Learner and Me,” Kimberly Olson integrates technology into her early childhood art classroom by introducing digital tools such as Tinkercad, Do Ink, and Stop Motion Studio, while also finding ways to support young learners and connect their personal experiences to making art.

Leigh Drakeʼs “Digital Art: Creating in the World of Procreate” introduces her middle school students to a popular digital platform that opens the door to creative possibilities and explorations. Using this medium to create digital art provides another avenue for self-expression, conceptual drawing, compositional refinement, and process.

At the high school level, Brendamarie Alexander’s “From Inspiration to Digital Voice: Reimagining Self-Portraiture through Contemporary Art” explains how digital literacy is about more than learning digital tools to create art. It is about empowering students to become critical thinkers, problem-solvers, and storytellers. Through a contemporary lens, they learn how to authentically represent their creative ideas in their artworks.

Technology is great; however, it is important to find ways to coexist with it personally, professionally, and ethically. How do you implement it in your curriculum? What challenges and successes have you experienced? I would like to know.