In Creative Arts and Humanities: The Creative Process, Kirk Domer takes a systematic, structured approach to blending online and in-class learning. He describes IAH241E as 75% online and 25% in-class. Access to the virtual content was time-limited, and must be experienced before live class begins. The structure created a culture of preparedness. Students arrived at class discussion having completed all of the online project assignments, readings, discussions, and explorations.
The online aspects of this seven week summer course offered three to four online lectures each week, combined with discussion questions, multimedia experiences, and a sequence of diverse discussion, writing, online creative projects and online research projects. Weekly “exploration” statements were created every Friday morning before the in-class meeting which addressed the online achievements from the previous week.
A series of “What Is Creativity?” videos produce by Domer with funding from a College of Arts and Letters Undergraduate Research Initiative Grant is used to launch the weekly online sessions.
In class projects and presentations took advantage of physicality and actual classroom space in ways that complemented online activities. They were used as a time to discuss online experiences and to showcase the students’ non-digital creative work.
Two of the live classes were devoted to live student project presentations which built upon online learning, but needed to be enacted in person. For the Autobiographical Drama assignment, students researched, wrote, produced and acted in their own historical autobiographical drama from an entirely originally created character.
Unique Creations Project was another in-person presentation. Students were asked to take a “found” artistic object (i.e. a song, a poem, a dance or a painting, etc.) and RE-INTERPRET it into another creative medium (i.e. a song presented in response to a poem, a poem presented in response to a song, a painting presented in response to a dance, a performance piece presented in response to a news article etc.). Because the presentations were in person, students were not limited in their selection of what kind of artistic object to interpret. Many but not all students did use technology as part of their presentation (i.e. YouTube, iPods, Internet image searches, etc). The project worked as a perfect “blend” of research and creative output and virtual and actual.
Experientially and through lectures, journals, textbook readings, and other approaches, students gained philosophical, religious and historical foundations for understanding the process of creation in visual arts, theatre, music, and literature.
Evidence of Effectiveness
Students responded enthusiastically to the blend of virtual and in person. They appreciated the integration of online and in-person content, the instructor’s enthusiasm and perspectives, the variety of viewpoints and experiences possible via mixed modes, clear organization, and the flexibility of online work.
TeamKirk A. Domer, Asst. Professor Theater, Course Developer & Designer, eProducer & Video Editor
Bob Matson, VUDAT, Co-eProducer (Autobiographical Docu-Dramas)
Chris Irvin, VUDAT, Artist/Videographer (Autobiographical Docu-Dramas)
