Faculty perspective on teaching with digital images: Results of focus groups

This study examines both the obstacles to and the advantages of teaching with digital images and its impact on visual resource professionals. The primary research data was gathered from focus groups held in February 1998 at the College Art Association (CAA) Annual Conference in Toronto. The focus groups were part of a larger study funded by an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant provided to the University of California, Berkeley to study the costs and benefits of the networked distribution of digital museum information for educational use.; The focus groups revealed that visual arts faculty were enthusiastic about the potential of using digital images in teaching, but there were serious impediments to widespread faculty use of digital image technology. The dominant issues in both focus group sessions were technical support and training, tools (software and hardware), and time commitment.