Education Commons^™

Engaging Non-Arts Students In Arts Administration, Elise L. Kieffer Phd

Faculty & Staff Research and Creative Activity

This article explores the unique challenges and opportunities experienced while teaching an Introduction to Arts Administration class with undergraduate students who are largely unfamiliar with the arts. After a review of current academic literature on the topic of student engagement and retention, the conversation will turn to specific strategies and methods utilized by one adjunct professor at a Research One university. These strategies are informed by Lev Vygotsky’s theory on the Zone of Proximal Development and the idea of student constructed scaffolding. Making arts administration relevant to this group of students requires considerable attention to learning their individual experiences and …