Exploring AI & Art Through Games

 Say what you see!

    Say what you see! is an AI prompting art game created by Jack Wild on Google Arts & Culture. The game follows a simple structure with easy-to-follow gameplay and several levels of play that get progressively harder as you go on. The game begins at level 1 with the goal that you need to reach a 50% match to pass the level, and it provides an example image with keywords and a helpful hint of things to remember when making a prompt. When you start the level, you are given an AI-generated image with a blurred-out description on the left; on the right is an answer box where you are prompted to write a description of the image in 120 characters or less, which will prompt Google AI to recreate the image. The goal is to hit the correct percentage for that level. If you do not pass, you have two additional tries to modify your prompt to get to a closer match percentage. The little AI brain character will give you some feedback as you go. If you do not pass in three tries, it will result in a loss for that artwork and kick you to the next artwork. If/When you pass, the unblurred original AI description will go live. You will not be able to see the original AI description if you do not pass that particular artwork. Each level has three artworks you need to describe and try to match. At the end of the level, it will show you a review of the level, and then you can move on to the next. Whether or not you pass or fail the whole level, you can go on to the next level. As you progress, the percentage goals of each level get higher. Level 1 = 50%, Level 2 = 60%, Level 3 = 70%, Level 4 = 75%, Level 5 = 80%, Level 6 = 85%, Level 7 = 90%, etc.** The game also lets you open an explore a page where you can browse real artworks from Google Arts & Culture's digital museum collection that either visually or thematically relate to the AI artwork.  (Wild, n.d.)

**The game levels go much higher than this, but 90% appears to be the highest percentage it goes up to. I clicked through and got to Level 15 before I stopped. The only thing I noticed with the game after so many levels is that it started to repeat the same artworks. I think there is a limited data source within the game, meaning the original generated AI artworks are static, not continuously generated into new sources as you play. However, while the repetition means that you may have a repeated source, the percentage match for that level may be higher and thus the level still has a challenge to it, as you more than likely will not be able to re-use the same answer depending on what match percentage you achieved at the lower level. 

The following screenshots walk through Level 1 of the game, examples of both incorrect and correct AI prompts from the same image, and a screenshot of the explore page:

Integrating Say what you see! into the classroom:

     There are a variety of ways that I can see this game being implemented into my classroom. Many of my students are interested in AI and are very interested in using the many AI-based tools in the Adobe programs that we use in class. My personal philosophy when it comes to creating digital art is that you can use whatever tools are available to you, but that should be after you have a clear and in-depth understanding of how you achieve that particular function by your own hand. As with many other digital tools, I think users can get dependent on fancy features when they do not really understand what they are actually doing. You may be able to create a cool filter in an app where a bulk of the programming is built into the data, so you click a button and voila, but then in a program where you control everything, you may have no clue where or how to start. With this understanding of students and my philosophy in mind, I believe this game can be incredibly useful.

According to Gee and Shaffer good games can be incredibly powerful learning tools as they provide a mix of practice and guidance, and they use appropriate language and can introduce complex concepts (2010). However, Bradley and Kendall, also mention that participating in games and simulations alone are not enough to guarantee that meaningful learning will take place (2014). Rather, there should be a balance of both, presentation of content and learning goals that are reinforced by the gameplay play which is then reinforced with discussion, interactions, and assessment. 

For use in my classroom, the goal would be to use this game as a tool to understand the nuances and complexities of AI in relation to art, and why it is important to understand how the basic tools of a program work, so you can more effectively utilize AI. As an additional learning goal, this game will also help students more effectively look at, assess, and practice visually describing art.

I would integrate the game most naturally into my digital art class, but I could incorporate it into any of my classes. I would introduce the game as a two-day AI play day after we have pre-studied and practiced describing artworks and discussed AI digital manipulation versus "traditional" digital manipulation in Photoshop. Students would work in groups of two with the game and a slideshow that they both need to fill out as they play. While the game does not work exactly sequentially with the same prompts at every level, the following activity could still run smoothly. Students would open both the game and their individual slideshow, then work individually through levels 1-5 of the game. Each slideshow will be personally shared with each student as a prefilled template. There will be areas to write in their prompt guesses if they got prompts "incorrect" or too low a percentage match, and a slide for a sub-level screenshot of their game screen of the "correct" or at/above percentage match. They will fill out the prompt boxes in the slideshow as they play the game and add the screenshots at the end of play if they wish, as long as they were taken while playing. Each screenshot should include the original AI-generated image, the written prompt, the new AI-generated image, and their percentage correct, then put the photo into their slideshow. They will repeat this for all levels. When this slideshow is completed between both students, they will compare their answers for common artworks and assess the percentage they received, and if one of them received a higher percentage, assess the written language to determine why they may have received a more accurate AI generation. The students will create a shared Google Doc of their determinations and include a photo of the artwork they are referencing. I will compile all of the students' findings about the same artworks into a slideshow to be discussed in the following classes.

Talking about AI and prompting language in the way I would approach this lesson/unit would scaffold to the concept that you need to have a full understanding of what your goal is. Whether that is an AI prompt, using a digital art tool, or trying to create a specific edit or effect, and you cannot rely on AI to complete it perfectly, you need the background knowledge first. This game, the process of this lesson, and the learning goals of this lesson can be assessed formatively through self-assessment and my assessment. While playing the game, students will be working through their own version of formative self-assessment, as 'there is an iteration involved in videogame learning that includes new, revised, or repeated moves based on various forms of assessment that enable players to evaluate and reconsider positioning and progress' (Lynch, 2021). Students will be constantly assessing answers and re-evaluating their decisions to try and improve their previous goals. I will be reviewing personal slideshows and group Google Docs to check for understanding that students were able to meet the concept goals of the lesson and the game. 

As a continuation of this lesson, I would use the compiled Google Docs to make a slideshow for a discussion with the students over the various ways they created prompts for the same artworks and their effectiveness. This would eventually culminate in a project where students would create an Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator artwork by hand, then they would have to use their new AI prompting language skills along with an AI program to visually describe the artwork they created and try to get AI to replicate the artwork they made. This project would reinforce the concepts that AI is only as strong as the prompt given to it, and the prompt is only as strong as the understanding the individual writing it has of the techniques, tools, processes, and goals they are writing about.

More:

Click on the link below if you would like to check out this game:

https://artsandculture.google.com/experiment/say-what-you-see/jwG3m7wQShZngw

OR 

Use this link if you want to check out some of the other game options on Google Arts & Culture: 

https://artsandculture.google.com/play

Highly Recommend: 

    - Doodle Guide (AI based critique game, assesses your drawings, could help with

    modeling styles of speaking about art, critique and description)

    - ARTETIK (emotions, themes, connections to artwork, meaning making)

    - GeoArtwork (geogrpahy, art & art history)

    - Play a Kandinsky (music & art)

    - Learning Light (photography/lighting)

    - Sparky (art, engineering, play & research)

References:

Bradley, E. G., & Kendall, B. (2014). A review of computer simulations in teacher education. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 43(1), 3–12. https://doi.org/10.2190/et.43.1.b 

Gee, J.P. and D.W. Shaffer (2010). Looking where the light is bad: Video games and the

          future of assessment (Epistemic Games Group Working Paper No. 2010-02).

          Madison:University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Wild, J. (n.d.). Say what you see - google arts & culture. Google. https://artsandculture.google.com/experiment/say-what-you-see/jwG3m7wQShZngw 

Lynch, T. L. (Ed.). (2021). Special issues, volume 1 : Critical media literacy : bringing

          lives to texts. National Council of Teachers of English.

Case Studies: Pinterest & Google Classroom

There are a plethora of digital platforms that are used throughout education to enhance student learning. Two that I use most often in my classroom are Pinterest and Google Classroom. Below are two case studies on the impact and use of these two platforms in education.

Pinterest

Overview: Pinterest is an American-made social media app that serves as a visual search engine and allows users to collect pins and create boards of various things that inspire or interest them. The program was founded in 2010 and has amassed a huge following of users who interact with the site, sharing content, pinning content, and creating aesthetically pleasing content. In education, Pinterest can be used as a visual search engine, an inspiration-gathering resource, a planning tool, and a sharing tool.

User Engagement: 

On Pinterest, users can engage with content by pinning posts that interest them to categorized boards on their home pages. The "pins" link to websites or original posts that allow users to connect with content that inspires them. Additionally, communities can be created by mutual sharing of boards where users can communicate and interact with one another and their shared content interests.

Influence on Communication: Users can communicate through comments, messages, and group interactive boards. Additionally, users can follow one another or businesses in order to engage with consistent aesthetics or catalogue-esque pages. Through the Pinterest format, users have a balance of verbal and nonverbal communication. As the platform is built around the concept of gathering information and shared interests, by rights, the platform is built around communication. Using group boards allows multiple users to collaborate and build on similar aesthetics through invitation.

Information Consumption:

Content on Pinterest is presented based on prior, adjacent, and new interests. Users can set preferences when making an account that can influence an initial round of offerings if wanted, or you can just begin searching. On each main page, users will find an actively updating page of pins inspired by their most recent pin activities. You can also manipulate this page to show you pins related to your already established boards. The search bar at the top of the page allows users to expand into new categories by keywords. You can also dive through sub-pins by clicking on one and then scrolling to the bottom to see related. The explore page introduces you to different themed aesthetics and board ideas that may be completely unrelated or tertiarily related to your interests.

                                                       Impact on Learning:

Pinterest can be a great tool for students to use for several reasons. 1) It allows students to use a visual search engine similar to Google, but it can be easier to find results and inspiration in a creative format. 2) Students can save their inspirational ideas and other related content to organized and themed boards. 3) Students can collaborate and share their ideas with others, and actively communicate and work together. The downsides to Pinterest in school are that it is still a social media website, and so students can get distracted. Students may also spend more time scrolling and searching than working towards a determined goal. 

Privacy & Safety: The biggest issue with Pinterest in a school setting is the fact that Pinterest requires you to make an account. Most of my students already have a Pinterest account, and so they use their personal account,  but to make a new account, students do have to put in basic information like their first and last name and email. However, Pinterest does have some great privacy features, including controlling profile visibility, social permissions, notifications, privacy and data, and security.

Required Literacies: Users need to have some experience with general searching knowledge and language. Pinterest does have a suggestive prompt similar to Google once you start typing; however, you do need to understand how to utilize language to search for specific content. To collaborate with others, users have to be able to communicate effectively through messaging and connect by sharing profiles to be able to collaborate in the group boards feature. For students and educators, it is important to know how to utilize Pinterest like a visual search engine geared at specific learning and planning goals, so students do not deep dive into unrelated topics. Using group boards as a form of digital collaboration can be monitored, but there also needs to be clear communication on how the board will be used, organized, and its purpose, to be an effective tool.

Implications on K-12 Education: Pinterest is a fantastic tool in the art room. Many of us already have a Pinterest account where we save recipes, home ideas, design ideas, fashion or outfit ideas, art inspiration, etc. In school, Pinterest can be used to the same effect, almost similar to a digital sketchbook or digital planning board. Pinterest can be a great place to find ideas for projects, themes, and lessons. I use Pinterest frequently in fashion for students to pull different outfit ideas, styles, aesthetic concepts, and more, then save their collections to different inspiration boards. Using this platform allows students to engage with a very popular social media tool for educational purposes, but it can also relate to outside-of-school interests. At the high school level, Pinterest can be a highly effective learning tool for students to share their ideas and engage with others more organically.

Google Classroom

Overview: Google Classroom is one of the many education apps in the Google Suite toolbox. Classroom specifically is a platform that allows teachers to create a digital classroom space where potentially all classroom content, rules, assignments, and grades can be posted. Additionally, it allows students to interact with their school learning content and outcomes, turn in assignments, and interact with other students through the stream and messaging formats. Parents can also join the class to keep updated on assignments and classroom activities.

User Engagement: Teachers engage with this program by creating a digital classroom for their respective classes, then developing a myriad of assignments or materials for students to engage in their learning. Classroom also allows teachers to post reminders, set due dates, grade, and collect digital submissions. Students can participate in Classroom by turning in assignments, working directly through Classroom on individual assignments, utilizing the stream, answering questions, and engaging with their teacher and peers. Parents have the option to join Classrooms and can monitor students' content and due dates, as well as see grades. Communication can happen within comments, the stream through posts, and through email attached to Classroom. Additionally, clubs and extracurriculars can use Classroom as a way to structure meetings, events, and keep track of activities. 

Influence on Communication: Classroom allows students and teachers to communicate and participate with one another in a few ways. 1) Teachers create assignments and materials, or questions for students to respond to. 2) Students can ask for feedback directly through the platform, which teachers can actively respond to. 3) Students and their peers are in a controlled digital environment and can communicate with one another collaboratively or individually through Google Suite software. Communication styles are based on a message format or stream-post format, and communication can be addressed to the whole group or individually. I find that Google Classroom is much easier to use as a collection point and direct work and communication to other Google programs like Drive, Slides, or Padlet for more expansive collaborative features.

Information Consumption: Classroom is organized on a main page where all classes a person owns or is a member of are on one home menu. From here, students, parents, or educators can click into any active classroom they are a member of. On the specific classes page, the stream is right on the main menu where it has the most recent to least recent post train of assignments, reminders, deadlines, and comments. Students can click into assignments through the stream or use the upper Classwork Tab to see all posted content from the class. Information and content can be organized into subsections, which can streamline organization. Information can be tracked and turned into data for the educators, such as who has opened assignments or not, whether they have been edited or a new feature of analytics of the site including visits, interactions and data on assessment. 

                                                                                                       Impact on Learning: 

Postiive effects of Google Classroom on student learning and engagment is that all inforation is located in one contained area. It is much easier to track and see student progress if your content goes through this platform. Additionally, the ability to create individual copies of assignments for students create ease of use. Students can actively communicate with their teacher through a more private path than in class participation if needed. Both of these features allow students more avenues to successful learning. A downside to Google Classroom is that some students may not actively use it, they may also forget to turn in assignments or attach items to assignments. Classroom can also at times feel impresonal compared to a traditional classroom. but its perks outweigh its cons when it comes to a centralized and cohesive online space for content.

Privacy & Safety: Google Classroom runs through a schools purchase of Google Suites. This means that the program itself is quite safe as far as student data and security. The accounts are directly run through school emails and unless a specific code is provided, only those allowed may enter the class. 

Required Literacies: To successfully use Google Classroom, students need to be literate in the user face of the program which comes through repeititve use. Understanding where to find information within the space, and then submit information is incredibly necessary. Students have to be able to use basic computer functions like uploading and file organization as well. Depending on what features of Classroom are being used, students need to be able access different communication features to contact their teachers and peers including email, direct assignment comments, or general question or stream comments. These literacies and uses of this program will help students to engage professionally in a school based educational platform similar to a platform that could be used in a professional career.

Implications on K-12 Education: Google Classroom helps to make education easier in many ways. It creates a cohesive digital classroom that is accessible for all learners and helps teachers to organizen their content in a manageable way for students and parents. Using Google Classroom as a main information hub for assignments and materials content creates a place for students to actively find missing work, turn in assignments when they are finished and stay on top of schoolwork. Parents have the ability to keep updated on assignments and learning goals by joining their child's class and can support their children easily by being able to check grades, due dates and contact the students teacher. Google Classroom can also be used as a collection portfolio and can easily link to other Google sites like google drive for submission folders. It can also be used to create extensive learning modules with multiple attached resources for upper level classes.

References:

Google. (n.d.). Classroom Management Tools & Resources. Google for Education. https://edu.google.com/intl/ALL_ca/workspace-for-education/products/classroom/ 

Pinterest. (n.d.). https://www.pinterest.com/ 

Shen, F. (n.d.). Pinterest: Discover, share, and Pins. Digital Innovation and Transformation. https://d3.harvard.edu/platform-digit/submission/pinterest-discover-share-and-pins/ 

New Literacies & Art Literacy: Annotated Bibliographies

  In art, there are so many ways to apply different skills, ideas, techniques, and concepts creatively. The freedom to explore and make is seemingly endless, especially when there are opportunities to create artworks in various or multi-medias. I love the concept of digital art as it connects to traditional art. Teaching students how digital medias were developed to mimic traditional materials and methods is fascinating and helps students to make broader connections and understandings related to art making. Also, how artists' abilities extend far into visual literacies, apt handling of techniques, tools, and professional digital programs. However, one of the issues I face is connecting students to thinking about how art and digital art are more than just making something without intention or just making in an app; there is thought, concept, and process behind what artists do. Additionally, keeping students occupied and engaged while making digital artworks over a range of themes, visual outcomes, and designs. Many students may feel that digital art is constraining, or they have only experienced one format. I want to engage them in the ways that art, digital or not, can be used simultaneously and cohesively to create artistic solutions to any problem an artist may have. I would like to focus my research on methods of engagement and creative approaches to critical, visual, and digital literacies as they relate to learning about and creating art, including artistic process, presentation, and reflection/responses. 

The following annotated bibliographies offer a range of information regarding the topics of digital literacy, visual literacy, critical literacy, art making, design, fashion design, trend forecasting and Artificial Intelligence in art.

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Albers, P., Vasques, V. M., Harste, C., & Janks. H. (2019). Art as a Critical Response to Social

    Issues. Journal of Literacy and Technology Special Edition, 20(1), 46-80. 

    This article details the pedagogical connections between art making and critical

    literacy through a range of linguistic, cultural, communication, and technological

    perspectives focused through the lens of the relationship between maker, materials

    and process. Maker experiences at a 2017 Summer Institute associate the relationship

    between redesign as a methodology for critical literacy that opens makers to

    expansive creative opportunities. Utilizing creative play and process-based

    workshops, educators explored visual and critical literacies to converse and convey

    social issues. Goals of the Summer Institute include expanding critical literacy

    through making to inspire abductive thinking, redesign, and empathy in literacy

    curriculum. This article relates critical literacy pedagogy to creative art making 

    processes as each focuses on dynamic engagement with materials and topics,

    asserting that final projects or ideas are formulated after rigorous and intentional

    engagement with the materials.

Ballmer, A., & Tobias, J. (2017). Trend forecasting: Collecting the history of the future. Art

    Libraries Journal, 42(1), 19–25. doi:10.1017/alj.2016.40

    This article synthesizes the field of trend forecasting, plainly stated as the

    'archaeology of the future', in the context of fashion design, art, and media. Historical

    backgrounds of trend forecasting outline the consumerist and globalist diffusion of 

    marketing, manufacturing, and communications design trends. Specialized print

    and digital libraries collect and organize forecasting data used by designers to

    analyze. This article describes the literacy of the future and how artists and designers

    use data-driven analysis to influence and control cultural trends, fashion, art, and 

    products. Understanding how to read, manipulate, influence, and control outputs

    in this field is a rare and expansive literacy for designers in both art fields and beyond.

    Designers, in essence, have their own language of the future.

Boyd, V. (2012). “Whatever it means, you should have it”: Exploring digital literacies in

    arts education. Art, Design & Communication in Higher Education, 11(2), 111–125.

    https://doi-org.sunyempire.idm.oclc.org/10.1386/adch.11.2.111_1

    This article focuses on a study coordinated by Vic Boyd at a specialized art institution

    in the United Kingdom. This study assesses the constructs of 'digital natives' versus

    'digital immigrants' and the more ubiquitous transient digital user. Boyd's study

    comprises data collected from web-based surveys and focus groups assessing

    students understanding and use of digital literacies in art. Outcomes both align with

    and divert from preconceived notions regarding young individuals and technology

    uses in creative fields, noting that young individuals are not unanimously digital

    connaisseurs.  This study articulates the navigation between digital literacies

    and how technology should be used alongside traditional methods for creative

    learning in non-linear ways.

Dixon, N. (2023). Teaching Digital Literacy in the Context of Ai Text-To-Art Generators.

    Computers in Libraries, 43(1), 19–22.

    This article presents a two-part lesson on AI text-to-art generators and the impact of

    this technology on art and artists. This lesson example details the impact of AI

    technologies and how artists are both affected by and can use AI in art making.

    Elements of the lesson focus on idea generation, ownership, and creative application

    of AI. Participants' responses from the discussion and applied research are

    summarized into communication data points within the categories of evaluating

    outputs, role in the digital world, and limitations and capabilities. The author

    acknowledges the homogeneous tendencies of students in small study pools, while

    cementing the impact of AI as a positive learning tool. This article provides interesting

    applications of AI in education and the art world, and provokes discussion of art

    theory and digital literacy crossovers.

Jung, D.; Suh, S. Enhancing Soft Skills through Generative AI in Sustainable Fashion

    Textile Design Education. Sustainability 2024, 16, 6973.

    https://doi.org/10.3390/su16166973

    This article compiles research and data from a South Korean university study

    analyzing the use of AI in fashion design as a methodology for developing soft skills.

    The study formulated experiences meant to assess how soft skills are developed, their

    utilization in the workplace, how AI can develop and hone soft skills, and how AI is

    used as a collaborative design tool in fashion design. Design Sprint processes are

    utilized with collaborative design teams with a variety of fashion, design, and/or AI

    experiences to determine enhancement of process, human equivalency, and 

    collaboration of soft skills practice through AI prompts. Findings offer insight into 

    career development, the necessity of baseline technology and direct content

    knowledge, as well as that AI cannot replace the human creativity of fashion design. 

    The article addresses unique opportunities and examples of how to address AI in 

    educational design environments and how to facilitate group design processes for 

    textile designs in a modern digital industry.