Students visiting the gallery can view artworks in 2-D.

Birth of a virtual gallery

GetsmART was Ms Tan's brainchild. The idea struck her when she attended a Masters course on art and technology, where she learnt about using Second Life in the teaching of Art. She mooted the idea of creating a virtual art gallery to the school and Principal Mr Adrian Lim suggested weaving in Artful Thinking, a pedagogy developed by Project Zero, a group at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. The Artful Thinking programme aims to teach Art as well as strengthen students' thinking skills.

The various ideas blossomed into GetsmART, which is currently used in the teaching of Sec 2 students. After they log into Second Life and enter the virtual gallery, they receive a welcome note. Footprints on the ground lead them to the tutorial room where they can read about Artful Thinking.

A GetsmART user viewing the 2-D version of the artwork, Deserted.

Next, guided by several Artful Thinking routines to investigate, observe and describe what they see, students proceed to view and study five 2-D artworks - three by teachers from their school, two from Hermit Park State School in Australia. The real highlight is in the next room: the room simulates the art piece in 3-D and students feel as if they have walked right into one of the paintings they have previously seen, Deserted.

Finally, after viewing the artworks, students are led to the (virtual) atrium, where they can sit and discuss about what they have just seen. The online discussions are facilitated through text messages in a chat box.

Relating virtual art to the real thing

GetsmART has generated a lot of buzz among students. "A student who has never visited an art gallery before told her parents to bring her to one after the lesson," recounts Ms Tan. Another student Natasha Emir Bte Achmad Emir shares, "By applying the Artful Thinking routines, we were able to enhance our thinking processes while enjoying the art pieces. The questions made us more curious about the art world. It guided us through deep thinking processes to further understand and enjoy art as a subject and an interest."

Natasha also pointed out that the online interactive platform allows shy students to open up and interact more with other students. "We can express ourselves and our thoughts more freely through GetsmART." Her schoolmate Lim Yong Jia concurs, "GetsmART is a unique way of learning art because it's learning through play!"

Technology makes it possible for students to experience the artwork Deserted in 3-D.

Since its launch in 2008, this innovative cyber gallery has received numerous accolades and recognitions, both locally and abroad. Just last month, the school competed in the 2010 IMS Global Learning Impact Awards and bagged a bronze award. It was the only secondary school in this international competition, where it was pitted against universities, IT companies and government agencies. Notably, Ngee Ann Secondary School is also the second Singapore team that has ever won an award in this event.

As a Zonal Centre of Excellence for ICT, the school is also sharing GetsmART with 14 schools in Singapore and two in Australia. The application has a potential to reach over 15,000 students. The school envisions becoming a technology gateway for innovative teaching and learning, and in future, more collaboration with foreign and local schools can be expected, says Ms Tan.