Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Education Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Series

Arts and Humanities

Sacred Heart University

Art & Design Faculty Publications

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Education

Making Art History Come Alive In The Online Classroom, Anahit Ter-Stepanian Jan 2011

Making Art History Come Alive In The Online Classroom, Anahit Ter-Stepanian

Art & Design Faculty Publications

Student engagement, development of critical thinking, and fostering original ideas are among the many challenges of online course design. This concern is particularly pertinent for courses in humanities, where the lack of face to face interaction and group discussions needs to be compensated with other methods resulting in similarly successful learning outcomes. Since most of the communication and exchange of ideas in the online classroom takes place in discussion threads, designing intellectually stimulating and motivating discussion topics is instrumental for fostering students’ enthusiasm for the subject. The paper discusses learner engagement strategies the author has developed, experimented with and found …


Adaptation Of Art History Courses To The Online Environment: Problems And Perspectives, Anahit Ter-Stepanian Jan 2009

Adaptation Of Art History Courses To The Online Environment: Problems And Perspectives, Anahit Ter-Stepanian

Art & Design Faculty Publications

Distance learning poses new problems for instructors and changes the traditional understanding of instructional design. The adaptation of traditional, face-to-face courses to asynchronous online format entails redefining pedagogical practices and presents new challenges for designers and instructors resulting from the lack of direct student-instructor interaction. This is particularly pertinent in art history courses, where critical thinking, group discussions, critiquing works of art as well as assessment methods heavily rely on student’s physical presence in the classroom. Faculty members are skeptical of the effectiveness of distance learning and voice their concerns. The paper questions whether it is possible to ensure students’ …