LESSONS LEARNED FROM LAUNCHING AN ONLINE MASTER IN ARTS EDUCATION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

Today digital visual experiences are inherently embedded in our physical environment, invisibly integrated into our everyday tasks, and increasingly mobile and interactive within our culture. The Horizon Project charts the landscape of emerging technologies. For example in the 2006 and 2007 Reports[1], several key trends emerge that will impact teaching, learning and creative inquiry. Specifically, the academic significance of digital work is highlighted for its impact on processes of dynamic knowledge, mobile and personal technologies as a delivery platform, personalized content and services, and collaboration. These changes due to new digital media are spawning new modes of representation and styles of discourse as technology interfaces with pedagogical methodology. The University of Florida (UF) new online Master of Arts in Art Education prepares art teachers to thrive within 21st century educational environments. Combining the flexibility of an immersive and virtual environment with rich, hands-on studio experiences, students in our program learn and collaborate with fellow teachers to apply their learning to their classrooms and community. As Latour notes, "New innovation will be absolutely necessary if we are to adequately represent the conflicting natures of all the things that are to be designed."[2] Innovation becomes essential in imagining and designing teaching and learning for the 21st century. In this session, I will present my instructional strategies and lessons learned with implementing an online program and provide examples with one course required for a Master in Art Education degree. An overarching (program) design objective was to innovatively balance interactivity and engagement in the online courses to promote a professional learning environment, and real life activities for our remote Art Education graduate students. These included one-to-one mentoring, scheduling group discussions via Elluminate r (synchronous online platform), and detailing assignment feedback to provide a more personal learning experience. Within this course, I developed the idea of [ART] iculations to build community and offer opportunities to engage students in art beyond discussion boards of the online environment. This discussion will illustrate that within an on-line environment a rich educational experience can be provided that develops higher order thinking skills, builds community, develops cooperative learning experiences, and harnesses the diversity of class research interests.