A SoTL experiment in a World Civ classroom
I would appreciate the comments and feedback of this community on my fall 06 experiment. The class and an accompanying blog are documented at
http://web.mac.com/critterdom/iWeb/Hooper%27s%20Study%20Pages/Welcome.html
I am planning another, different experiment in fall 07 (I’m currently on sabbatical and involved to my eyeteeth on yet a different project) that will integrate art into a World Civ to 1500 class. That class will have a working subtitle of History through Art, and use various visual arts to illustrate and explore the cultures and values of the societies that produced the art. At least, that’s the plan. If anybody knows of a good supplemental text that focuses on the arts and would generally fit this scenario, please let me know.
SoTL will play a key role in the development and implementation of this (and all of my future) classes. I am delighted that this society has been created!
Marie Hooper
Oklahoma City University
February 18th, 2007 at 3:42 am
Marie,
Welcome to HistSOTL. Your project sounds a great one. Alas I can’t offer too much advice on it from a SOTL point of view. I do teach a upper level (third year) course on Western Engagements with Asia and have a section on the Japanese influence on French impressionists etc in the late nineteenth century. When I first started to teach this I used to use black and white overheads. These days powerpoint affords great colour images and, depending on copyright issues, I was able to secure most of the images I needed from Google scholar. Within the class I drove this section very much through class discussion via comparisons of the various works of art. It has always engaged the students and produced great discussions.
Cheers,
Seab
May 31st, 2007 at 9:39 am
Sean - Do you begin with a session to overcome students’ fears about speaking about art? I attended a workshop in Santa Fe in which the guide got us all to identify what we saw in a picture, what we felt when we looked at it, and then create a backstory. In a group of academics, it was a great exercise to break down ‘it’s not my field’ barriers. I’m considering using the same kind of approach to get students over the fear of commenting on art, and wonder if anybody out there has experience.
Marie
June 1st, 2007 at 10:49 pm
Marie,
I have not but it does sound a very wise idea to once again make explicit what is happening in the learning process.
Sean