If you found yourself unable to concentrate due to the stressors, fears, and upset of COVID-19, then you were not alone. I found my ability to focus on small tasks almost impossible at moments. I also had the hardest time retaining information. With frequent check-ins with my students, it was clear they too were struggling as well. We brainstormed at… Read more →
Category: Flipped Classroom
Reimagining Participation Points in the Classroom, Oh My!
After years of experimentation (with successes and failures), I’ve finally settled on a great way to reimagine participation in the classroom. I am fully aware that this won’t work for many people, or even most classes, but it has worked wonders for my art history classes under 30 students. Once I found the winning recipe, I realized I’d never be… Read more →
Get students to escape the art history classroom (digitally!)
I recently had to be away from my class at the College Art Association Conference. I run an in-class escape-room activity for my World Art History class, so I thought I’d see if I could create one in a digital format. While it is obviously not the same as being in person, I will say that the students enjoyed it and… Read more →
Special Collections and Practicing Art History in a World Art History survey class
Special Collections and Practicing Art History in a World Art History survey class In my world art history class (15th-century to the present, second-half of a two-semester sequence) a couple of years ago, I decided I wanted to find an alternative to the research paper. The class always fills at 25 students, and I had become tired of research papers.… Read more →
Revisiting The Carters’ “Apes**t” again and again: An activity in 5 stages
In my world art history class (15th century to the present), I’ve tried to find a number of ways to showcase for students the benefits of repeated looking, of deep observation, among other things. I also–of course–want them to realize that art can be used in a variety of ways in our contemporary moment. I’ve done this in a number… Read more →
Curatorial Acquisition Activity for the Flipped Art History Classroom
In my Latin American art class this semester (Spring 2020), I’ve created a few new in-class activities that have worked really well. One of the best has been a curatorial acquisition activity. As of late, when creating activities for a flipped classroom environment, I’ve wanted more “real world” examples for art history students. [Side note: This has been HARD!] I… Read more →
The Open-Note Final Exam in a Flipped Classroom
This past semester in my renaissance art class, students were allowed to bring their notes to the final exam. Because this class was largely flipped, I decided to run the final exam as I would for in-class activities. Students could look at their notes or refer back to readings to prepare their answers. My hope was that the quality of… Read more →
Retrieval Practice and the Flipped Classroom
“But how do you ensure that students will do the reading for a flipped classroom?” I have heard this question many, many times. The success of the flipped classroom often hinges on whether or not the students have prepared outside the classroom in their individual spaces. How else will they be able to do in-class activities or apply information without… Read more →
Outlining an Intro Essay for Smarthistory: A Flipped Classroom Activity
In my last post, I posed the question of where does one even start in flipping the classroom. I’ve read a number of blog posts about this very idea. I’ve been to workshops that address the flipped classroom. But I always want tangibles. I want people to give me specific examples so that I can see how they actually did… Read more →
Flipping the Art History Classroom: Where do you even begin? Part 1
[This is post 1 of several posts that I will write about flipping the classroom. Stay tuned!] I recently gave a presentation at our center for teaching excellence about some ways in which I’ve flipped my classes. As a long-time “user” of team-based learning (TBL), I’ve had lots of successes and failures when it comes to flipping the classroom. I… Read more →
Learning to Take Notes about Material Presented in Videos: An Activity Using Smarthistory
Note taking. We all have our own individual ways that we like to take notes. Whatever our system might be, our notes need to help us retrieve information, to organize it, to make it accessible. I often find that my students struggle with note-taking. Not all of them, but many of them. They just haven’t found their system yet. Or… Read more →
Low Tech Digital Art History: An Activity about Metadata
One of the most common things I hear from colleagues who seem terrified by DAH is that it requires too much technology, takes too much class time, or just seems too out there for them. This post is for them, or for anyone else that thinks teaching DAH always has to involve computers, the internet, coding, or complicated software. It… Read more →
