ArtsEdNet: Assessing an Arts Education Web Site

How do teachers use materials from Web sites in their classrooms? How can an art-oriented Web site influence the way teachers teach? Since its debut on the World Wide Web in September 1995, ArtsEdNet, the Web site of the Getty Education Institute for the Arts, has provided an array of art education resources: art images, lesson plans, curriculum ideas, articles, excerpts and other references, as well as opportunities for educators to interact with colleagues via an online community. The Getty Education Institute has utilized a variety of means to gather information about ArtsEdNet's audience: online feedback forms, user surveys, visitor logs, telephone interviews, and focus groups. The aim has been to identify which ArtsEdNet resources educators do find valuable and which they do not and why. Additionally, we have attempted to determine whether and how educators use these resources in their classrooms.