Exploring collaborative creation in Art Education: From Surrealism to digital Intelligence

Abstract

The irruption of artificial intelligence (AI) into fields traditionally considered exclusive to human creativity and thought, such as education and art, is generating an intense debate about its possibilities and challenges. In particular, within the field of teacher education, AI raises fundamental questions about its ethical use, its impact on creative processes, and its role in mediating learning. The speed of technological advancement has made its evaluation a complex challenge, highlighting the need to develop didactic proposals that allow for the analysis of its implications in specific contexts (Vicente-Yagüe-Jara et al., 2023).

In this context, the didactic experience presented in this text explores the intersection of art, education, and artificial intelligence through a collaborative methodology inspired by the surrealist resource of the exquisite corpse. This initiative has been carried out within initial teacher training with two groups of students from the course “Workshop on Artistic Creation and Research,” taught in the second year of the Degree in Primary Education at the University of Murcia and in the Double Degree with a Specific Pathway in Early Childhood and Primary Education at the ISEN University Center (affiliated with the University of Murcia). The activity is part of the actions developed by the Teaching Innovation Group ArtEd (Art, Technology, and Education) at the University of Murcia.

The objective of the experience was twofold: on the one hand, to foster meaningful learning through collective artistic experimentation; on the other, to analyze the impact of AI on creative processes and students’ reception of this technology. To this end, the project combined traditional plastic techniques with AI-based image generation tools, promoting a dialogue between the manual and the digital. This approach seeks not only to stimulate creativity but also to develop a critical attitude toward new technologies and their role in art education (Flores-Vivar & García Peñalvo, 2023).

The artistic case study methodology was used to analyze the experience (Serón & Murillo, 2020; Huerta, 2021), as it makes it possible to examine the richness of the productions obtained, as well as participants’ assessment of the experience. In this sense, the results highlight the ability of collaborative work to enrich learning processes and the perception of AI as a tool with creative potential, though also with challenges that must be addressed, such as authorship of works or the influence of algorithms on visual production.

The results of this experience suggest that the introduction of AI into the artistic and educational process can act as a trigger for meaningful learning, fostering both pedagogical innovation and critical reflection on the role of technology in creativity. Therefore, collaborative work and experimentation with AI tools have been key to this didactic proposal, demonstrating that the integration of new technological intelligences into art education can open new avenues for research and teaching practice.