Experiential learning by Carly Pease

 Assignment 4: Experience and Learning - Carly Pease

Project Title: Beyond the Frame: Art History 

Goal: Equip students with foundational knowledge and understanding of visual arts throughout various cultures and historical periods.

Learning Objectives: This allows learners to encounter reflective observations where they can analyze and interpret the art they encounter. This encourages students to critically think and engage in artistic expression. Students will learn:

• How to openly discuss and analyze pieces of art without knowing the actual context of the art
• Deep dive into a specific piece of art defining the many pieces of symbolism while observing the historical context.
• Further understand the different forms and styles of art from an art historian
• Take the skills they have learned and put it towards a virtually curated gallery they are in charge of 

Rationales: Experiential learning is a learning process model that consists of many forms of learning. This emphasizes the experiences that plays in the learning process like how we learn and develop. The Kolb experiential learning cycle allows learners to engage in these new experiences while reflecting on their own experiences. This brings a whole new understanding to these experiences. These observations allows learners to further engage and form abstract concepts from the experience while putting it into practice. 

There is a situated perspective that places more emphasis on authentic socio-cultural contexts (Merriam & Baumgartner, 2020) This form of experiential learning involves learning experiences that immerse the students in the socio-cultural contexts of art history. This style of learning helps actively engage students with art and their historical settings. Module 2 is specifically meant to further analyze art and its historical and cultural settings. Group discussions and projects help encourage the collaborative learning within a socio-cultural context. These modules are meant to enhance the students' connection with the material in order to foster a deeper appreciation for the cultural and historical significance of the art we study and admire.

Experiential learning contributes to the development of expertise (Merriam & Baumgartner, 2020). Repeated cycles of action and reflection contribute to the development of expertise from this style of learning. Showing students art and having them further analyze the many meanings of each piece shows the repeated cycles of reflection. Reviewing and opening forms of discussion improve the ways of learning along with retention. These modules are made to engage and fully immerse the learner in the many forms of art. The collaborative activities allows for learners to focus on what interests them. In the end, they put together everything they learned and show a thoroughly planned out project that they had to interact with over and over with the knowledge they learned. 

The final project puts together their knowledge analyzing art into an experience where they can teach others in the class about a specific theme they found the most interesting. By doing this, they feel the expertise of taking over the lesson and showing all they discovered in this learning journey. 

Design:

 

References:

Merriam, S.B., & Baumgartner, L. (2020). Learning in adulthood: A comprehensive guide (4thed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.