The issue of ICT in education is complex and, while it is accepted that ICT is not a direct route to high educational achievement, it continues to play an important role. The upsurge of new media and technologies that learners use in their everyday lives can be exploited in creative and innovative ways and contribute to formal and informal learning. Teachers need to develop creative approaches and find new methods, solutions, and practices to capture students’ attention.  In recent times the significance of digital media and learning in education and society has grown through the use of online and blended learning due to the Covid 19 pandemic.  

While much has been written about ICT and technology in education and in the classroom, far less has been written in the visual arts classroom context. Research by Maria O’Donovan at Limerick Institute of Technology examines how technology in post primary education can be a catalyst for inculcating creativity in the curriculum and explores the extent of ICT practice in the Irish post primary visual art classrooms in comparison with a sample of its European counterparts.  

Technology is changing the way visual art is created and shared by young people, challenging school art programs to remain current and relevant. With all this technological capacity at our fingertips, how is the visual art classroom adapting to this new world? This research through the Limerick School of Art and Design at LIT sets out to analyse the extent to which new media and technology is integrated in the post primary visual art classroom.  

The study supports the exchange of good practices while encouraging training and exchange to enhance the quality of teaching, analysing teacher experience and expectation, supporting the use of digital technologies to improve pedagogies and assessment methods,  setting up transnational teacher training and strengthening cooperation between European teachers and education institutions.