南达科塔州立大学

Program Information

The Art Education Program prepares majors for careers as art educators in public and private elementary or secondary schools (K-12). The curriculum prepares students for state licensure through successful completion of the national PRAXIS competency exam. Students pursue a B.F.A. degree, including instruction in specific technical skills, application of theory and conceptual development, and Teacher Education coursework.

Student Learning Outcomes

The artist-teacher learns to connect an understanding of educational processes with an understanding of the relationship of the arts, sciences, and humanities, in order to apply art competencies in teaching situations and integrate art/design instruction into the total process of education. As defined by the National Association of the Colleges of Art and Design, upon completion of the program, majors demonstrate the following studio art outcomes:

• Understand basic expressive, technical, procedural and organizational skills and conceptual insights that can develop through art and design experiences.
• Knowledge of traditional processes as well as newer technological developments in art and design.
• Understanding how to make students emphatically aware of the all-important process of artistic creation from conceptualized image to finished work.

Graduates also demonstrate the following teaching competencies:

• Understanding of child development and the identification and understanding of principles of learning as they relate to art education.
• Understanding of the philosophical and social foundation underlying art in education and the ability to express a rationale for personal attitudes and beliefs.
• Ability to utilize aptitudes, experiential backgrounds, and interests of individuals and groups of students and to devise learning experiences to meet assessed needs.
• Ability to utilize current methods and materials available in all fields and levels of art education.
• Basic understanding of the principles and methods of developing curricula and the short- and on-term instructional units that comprise them.
• Ability to accept, amend, or reject methods and materials based on personal assessment of specific teaching situations.
• Knowledge of evaluative techniques and the ability to apply them in assessing both the progress of students and the objectives and procedures of the curriculum.