Course Enactment and Student Learning

One of the unique aspects of this course portfolio is the thorough documentation of my course enactment. The links below provide materials which chronicle the evolution of this course over several semesters. In the fall 1999, I had been teaching this course for two semesters and changed the theme of the course to "What is Art?". The first unit of the course and the mini-unit on the elements of art were more properly cross-disciplinary than interdisciplinary, and the course tended to most heavily emphasize the visual arts. Subsequent revisions of the course attempted to incorporate more fully interdisciplinary materials. The links below contain documentation of my course enactment, including interactive syllabi, commentaries on course structure, videotaped sessions of the course and student groups or presentations, the multimedia textbook I wrote with a team of faculty for the course, other classroom materials, and examples of student work. Finally, there is an analysis of the impact of the course and of its successive revisions on student learning.

Early Versions of the IDST 2310 Course

Although my research on this course began in the Fall 1999, users may want to explore early versions of the course to get a sense of its evolution. Viewers may also want to read more about the evolution of this course in the course design section of this portfolio.

Fall 1998 syllabus this is the version of the course that was piloted in the Fall 1998.

Spring 1999 syllabus due to lack of faculty to teach the applied units, we dropped the lengthy units on weaving and pottery; in their place, I developed new lecture/discussion units to cover this material.

Later Iterations and Revisions of the Course

My actual research into student learning began in the Fall 1999. In the links below, I discuss issues related to the interdisciplinary design of the course and its impact on student learning. Links to course sections after fall 1999 chart course modifications based on my research into student learning and their impact on student learning. In each of these sections, viewers will find the course syllabus, documentation of enactment of each unit through course chapters in the online text, handouts, assignments, and copious examples of student work. In addition, I include the results of the instruments I used, such as the Jackson Personality Inventory, the Measure of Epistemological reflection, my student surveys. Each section concludes with an attempt to triangulate these instruments and other materials, and my overall analysis of the results of each semester's work.

Fall 1999 pilot semester for "What is Art?" theme

Spring and Fall 2000 revisions to the Elements of Art, Art as Mirror of the Cosmos, and Art as Self-Expression units, examinations and self-portrait assignment; implementation of more active learning modules and discussion board projects within WEBCT; use of different survey instruments; and greater descriptive detail and problem-solving focus on the course syllabi.

Spring 2001 further revisions to "What is Art?" unit, Functionalism, and Art as Mirror of the Cosmos units, new active learning assignments and first-time use of focus groups

IDST 2310 multimedia textbook provides a quick overview of my approach to the various units of the course; includes complete course chapters on the various topics.

IDST 2310 Conclusions   | Data at a Glance  |  Project Overview  |  About the Author

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