Program Description

Program purpose (for new and experimental programs):

•Employer Needs/Student Aspirations

“Caring Professional Educators for a Diverse and Democratic Society”

The College of Education has prepared this mission statement, which notes both employer needs and student aspirations.

Students graduate with the understanding of the importance of compassion, validity, resourcefulness, flexibility, classroom management, consistency, and fairness along with strong critical thinking skills. It is our understanding that employers are seeking job candidates with these traits.

•National/Statewide Needs

The Art Education Area of the Art Department at Eastern Michigan University is one of a handful of remaining programs in Art Education Certification in Southwest Michigan. The program adopted a Discipline-Based Art Education (DBAE) philosophical approach to art education in it’s re-configuration of the program in 1985. The Getty Foundation, in partnership with the National Art Education Association, has supported this academic approach to visual literacy beginning with a study called “Beyond Creating: The place for Art in America’s Schools,” published in April 1985. The faculty members at Eastern were fully aware of the studies leading up to this publication. Dr. Otto was a doctoral student at Penn State University when Brent and Marjorie Wilson were doing their initial research for the Getty Center. At this time, Art Education applicants were few because many public schools had phased out art in their curriculum. Eastern wanted to reverse this trend by presenting an exemplary academic program. The Art Department also worked with the “Our Nation at Risk”. While other institutions in the area were phasing out their Art Education programs, Eastern was building a new one.

•How many candidates do you anticipate preparing for this endorsement during each of the first three years, if this program is approved?

In the last five years, there have been eight to ten candidates per year for K-12 Art Education Certification. This includes both undergraduate and Post Baccalaureate students. From 1985 to 1995, 80% of the students seeking K-12 Art Education Certification were post Baccalaureate. Currently, there are 562 undergraduate students in the Art Department. 135 are now seeking K-12 Certification along with their baccalaureate degrees. Between 25 and 35 students enrolled as Post Baccalaureate students are currently enrolled in the program for K-12 Certification. Recent advising, both in the Art Department and the College of Education predict that this number will increase significantly.

Student Teaching

The following information is found in the Student Teaching Handbook produced by the College of Education Office of Academic Services and the Department of Teacher Education at Eastern Michigan University.

“K-12 Art Education students seeking certification must complete one semester of student teaching. Half of the semester is student teaching in the elementary, public school setting (K-6) and half of the semester is done in either middle school or high school. One semester is a 15 week capstone experience in a comprehensive program for the professional development of prospective teachers. This experience allows the student teacher an opportunity to:

•implement and evaluate methods and theories of teaching

•develop a repertoire of effective strategies

•identify teaching strengths and weaknesses

•learn to reflect on, analyze, and adapt his or her teaching

•develop a personal teaching style

The student teacher’s ability to make sound professional decisions is based on his or her ability to reflect on professional courses and to apply educational principles and techniques within the framework of a field-internship.”

Resources and Facilities: Library, Media, and Technology

•Describe library, media, and technology resources which are currently available for use in this program.

The Bruce T. Halle Library offers a full range of information and instructional services for the EMU Academic Community. Staffed by over fifty library faculty and staff, the Halle Library provides a vast array of diverse information and computing resources. Our holdings include more than five hundred thousand books, two- hundred thousand government documents and a hundred thousand bound periodicals, fifty thousand maps, and over six thousand, five hundred video tapes and music C-D’s. Computing Commons have over one hundred workstations with access to the internet.

The Art Education students have full student privileges at the Halle Library. There are approximately sixty Art Education related periodicals. There is a large collection of fine arts texts and prints for use by students. Students, with the consent of area faculty, have been able to use the electronic classroom for Power-Point presentations. However, since the Art Department now has a digital projection system, Art Education students use this equipment in the methods classroom in Ford Hall.

There is a media center n Halle Library where Art Education students are able to make their own slides using a copy stand and camera provided by the library. There are also computer scanners available for use.

Ford Hall has its own resource center available for art educators, staffed by a graduate assistant. This facility houses a small collection of art education texts, prints, and archival examples of student philosophies, units of study, graduate thesis and papers. The Art Education classroom is equipped with five computers that have access to the internet. There are two i-Macs, one with color printer, and one with laser black and white printer available for students upon request. The Art Department provides a digital projector and laptop for student presentations. The Art Education students are video taped making their presentations with a digital camcorder. Students are given the opportunity to have a VCR tape or digital tape of their presentation for personal or portfolio use. Students have access to a computer lab in the College of Education, Graphic Design Area, Sherzer Hall, and campus-wide.

•If applicable, indicate plans for acquisition of new library, media, and technology resources necessary to support and sustain this program.

The Art Education faculty continually adds resources both in the form of printed material and computer media. Grants have been written for multi-cultural materials to be added to the resource center. The department fills requests for additional resources on a regular basis.

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