Learning Theories

Applying theories to course design

Course Overview

Introduction to Art is a general education course that will help learners gain appreciation into the arts by looking into the reasons we make art, how we make art, the role art plays in cultural and historical contexts, and how art can be used as a communication tool for social and political issues. The skills developed from learning the vocabulary of art and the ways of looking at art will help learners interpret works and situations beyond taste (like or dislike), consider various viewpoints before making a judgment, and analyze situations and artifacts in other disciplines. These skills will also get learners to see art all around them.

The course is designed to be a general education online program delivered through an LMS for any learner looking to familiarize herself or himself with art. While geared towards first- and second-year higher education learners, high school seniors and art lovers are welcomed to take the course.

​The course features 4 lessons to be completed over the course of 8 weeks. Through a combination of readings, videos, and studio projects, learners will apply visual language to formally and contextually analyze works of art. Activities and assignments will suit both VAK and generational learning styles. Formal and contextual analytical skills will not only help learners respond to art, but will also help across the curriculum and their careers.

Six Principles of Adult Learning

Internal motivation

Feedback will be given throughout the course, along with discussion posts focusing on analysis and reflection. The final project is an exhibition proposal where learners will put themselves into the shoes of a collector or curator. The choices they make and their rationale are all benefits in terms of decision making and critical thinking.

Life experiences

The course is set up in a scaffolded manner that start with vocabulary or language that will then be applied in learners’ analyses and reflections. The progression and activities will get learners to see what’s around them, build their “looking” or analytical skills, and help them become aware of the art, architecture and design that surround them.

Goal-oriented

Learning to “look” or “see” in art improves analytical skills, and therefore critical thinking that can be applied to everyday conversations and on-the-job functions.

Relevancy-oriented

Activities are tied to learning objectives and then to overarching learning outcomes. Many activities include hands-on studio projects and exploration in museums or art and design in everyday places.

Practical

The exhibition proposal (summative assessment) is practical in that it would be similar in nature to proposals and presentations that many learners would have to do (or are already doing) at their jobs. They need to use various aspects of critique, make judgment calls, and be able to back up or support their choices.

Respect

Discussion posts will be learner driven with instructor input where appropriate, but they are supposed to be spaces for learners to share ideas, reflect, and respectfully respond to each others analyses and build confidence in how they view art and various perspectives.

Motivation: Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and ARCS

Self-Actualization

The studio project assignments would speak to creativity, and would require problem solving when thinking and making decisions about how to approach compositions, select materials, etc.

Esteem

The discussion posts, analyses and reflection assignments are meant to build learners’ confidence in talking about art and sharing ideas, leading up the final, summative assessment of putting together an exhibition proposal.

Love/Belonging & Safety

The course is meant to provide a safe learning environment and to make art accessible to everyone through the activities (discussion posts, analyses, reflection assignments, and studio projects) and learning materials offered in the lessons that are set up in scaffolded manner.

Physiological

While not something the content and assignments will be able to address directly, I’d encourage learners to manage their time wisely especially in preparing and working toward the final project so they do not lose sleep and appetite, which would affect their emotional response and critical thinking.

ARCS and motivation activities

For attention, in a course such as this one, visuals and media will play a major role and be starting points for dialogue. The exhibit proposal put learners into the shoes of being curators or art collectors, and at the same time, shows them how proposal factor into everyday careers regardless of subject area. The scaffolded framework of the course along with constant feedback and dialogue between learners and instructors lead to confidence building, practice and reinforcement, and hopefully toward appreciation of art (which I consider to the biggest reward in this course).

Retention: Balance between Intrinsic, Germane, and Extraneous Loads

Course outcomes and learning objectives that fall under each are set at the planning stages of the course. Given that it’s a visual arts subject, learners will have to engage with images, videos, and other performance media on a regular basis, but will also have opportunities to participate in making art.

Activities, along with self-practice quizzes, are scattered throughout the lessons to build retention and allow learners to apply vocabulary and concepts so that they’re not always reading, looking at images, and watching videos. Instead, they’ll be responding to questions with feedback (that are more like hints and tips) and communicating with others about what they’re seeing and feeling and explaining why. Extraneous information such as the history of art is kept to a minimum because while such information is important for contextualize works, the bigger goal of the course is getting learners to analyze and appreciate art (whether at an introductory or deeper level).

Conclusion

An eLearning course is not just about putting in lots of visuals, videos, and interactive component (e.g., drag and drop activities) without considering good learning practice dictated by research. It’s very important to have a framework and a learning path clearly outlined from the start, and to stick to learning objectives that are measurable. Assignments need to align to the objectives--I remind myself to think about behaviors or tasks being asked in the activities and whether or not that’ll lead up the summative, performance-based assessment (tied to main goal of the course). If these considerations are not factored in constantly, then it’s very possible for learners lose interest and motivation in taking the course because relevancy gets lost. I can understand why backward design is a popular approach to take.

Learning matters and works only if learners are involved. So, information cannot be a one-way street. Instructional designers need to work on avoiding content overload and to chunk materials appropriately (sometimes too little information make very little impact or relevance). Videos should not just feature talking heads or lectures without demonstrations and examples to will show application and reinforcement of concepts that learners can then do on their own. And again, there should be a mix of various materials, not just visual and audio, to appeal to all learners (VAK, generational, and so on).