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As undergraduate education progresses, adapting to advances and pressures, the art history survey course remains rooted in a traditional pedagogical practice developed from the early twentieth century and set into a curricular routine following the publication of standardized textbooks in the middle of the twentieth century. This study sought to engage art historians interested in the study of teaching and learning, experienced practitioners, and supervisors of art history survey courses in the United States in dialogue through a Delphi study to suggest the current and future outcomes and pedagogical practices for this valuable course. The goal is to provide a springboard for future research into the discipline informed by the consensus opinion of experts in the field.

Research Questions: 

  1. What are the desired learning outcomes for students engaged in art history survey courses in the twenty-first century?

  2. What pedagogical models support these outcomes and in what contexts?

  3. What are suggestions for future research and policy in the area of teaching and learning within art history survey courses?

The site contains a copy of the informed consent and initial letter, information compiled to aid in your discussions and help define the scope of the questions being asked, and the survey itself. As the survey is conducted over several rounds, results were shared from the previous rounds in the info and reports sections and an updated survey was provided through the site as well. The survey was set up so that participants could save responses to return at a later point, Please be sure to contact Josh Yavelberg if there are any questions about this completed dissertation.

Final Dissertation(PDF)

Abstract

This dissertation utilized a Delphi methodology in discovery of the perceived outcomes and teaching strategies that are common for art history survey courses taught at higher education institutions throughout the United States. A group of art history faculty, chairs, and current researchers focused on studying teaching and learning within art history weighed in on their perspectives through three mixed method survey rounds, ranking the importance of various themes developed through the responses. The results discover that there is still a strong preference for a Socratic seminar teaching strategy, while the participants also highlighted other outcomes and strategies that are important areas for future research in the discipline.
Keywords: Study of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), Art History Survey, Delphi Methodology