A Collaborative Study Project (CSP) allows two students to work collaboratively to complete a faculty supervised project of independent study.

Usually, a CSP is supervised by two faculty members, but with approval it may be supervised by one faculty member. Its purpose is to meet individual student needs by providing an alternative to regularly offered courses, though it is not a substitute for a course if that course is regularly offered.

Permission of Instructor required

How can we add to the future enrichment of our disciplines? How do we make future collegiate teaching a more meaningful practice? This semester-long professional practice course is designed for artists, designers, architects, and educators who are considering teaching in higher education after graduation and/or those who will be teaching during Wintersession as they complete their course of study at RISD. The goal is to introduce graduate students to a reflective teaching foundation and to provide an orientation to the collegiate teaching and learning experience.

The first half of the course is composed of readings and discussions related to seven teaching portfolio assignments. The second half of the course entails Individual Teaching Practice Sessions in which students prepare a class that is observed, videotaped, and receives detailed feedback from faculty and peer observers. Major outcomes of the course are: a partial teaching portfolio including a teaching and inclusivity philosophy, course proposals and an extensive course syllabus.

This is the first course in the required sequence for the Certificate of Collegiate Teaching in Art + Design.

Graduate elective

Partial requirement for both Certificates in Collegiate Teaching in Art + Design.

This course examines the development of visual arts education in its connection to general education. At each stage of the investigation, issues are examined in terms of the relationship between, context, content, and pedagogical practice. There is a particular emphasis in this course on exploring the manner in which belief systems shape curriculum construction within elementary and secondary schools. Major topics of investigation include: varying curricular shifts in visual arts education, standards and accountability, the diverse classroom, political mandates, public school re-design, and the role of unions and professional associations.

Major requirement for MAT, MA elective; MAT & MA only

This seminar provides an opportunity to critically examine topics and issues within various arts learning contexts. The course is designed to provide students with a primer to practices and scholarship of the intersections between the arts and education. The course is grounded in types of learning that occur in a range of institutional and organizational settings that include schools, colleges and universities, museums as well as non-profit sector community-based organizations. The seminar explores the role of art and design in individuals' lives from the perspective of the past and present as well as contemporary shifts that suggest a re-examination of focus and pedagogical approach.

The course draws extensively from key documents from the arts learning literature as well as the expertise of scholars and practitioners who will join the course throughout the semester to share with students perspectives that illustrate both common ground and a diversity of thinking surrounding some of the more pressing topics and problems within the guests' respective professional fields.

Throughout the course, students are required to provide annotations of journal articles, present reaction papers, make presentations on designated topics, and at completion of the course present a proposal for a potential thesis monograph essay or thesis book.

Major requirement for MA; MA only.

The place, product and systems design problems and exercises in this fall studio-based workshop build on the documentation design tools developed during the summer design course TLAD-654G Design Education Workshop I. The sequence of courses have been developed in tandem specifically to expand the repertoire of K-12 educators' curriculum toolkits to include design. Further, this course provides educators with an invaluable foundation with which to engage in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) teaching. This course, with an emphasis on place, product and system, introduces design principles as tools for creative problem solving and making as related to the physical world we inhabit. In this course, students experiment with materials, work at the scale of the body, with spaces of enclosure and gathering, and with complex built and natural environmental systems. The goal is to work as a designer, using design principles and methodologies as a way to explore the world in which we live and to experiment with materials in ways that address everyday problems. In working through the course design problems, students are introduced to design tools and materials for observation, iteration, prototyping and documenting user experience to solve design problems. Throughout the course, students adapt newly introduced design methods to curriculum proposals for design teaching and learning elementary and secondary school settings. The combined set of design toolkits developed through the summer and fall design education studio workshops will assist educators form the foundation for a design pedagogy to be carried forward into their K-12 art and design teaching.

Major requirement for MAT

Open to non-major graduate students by permission of Instructor

The Independent Study Project (ISP) allows students to supplement the established curriculum by completing a faculty supervised project for credit in a specific area of interest. Its purpose is to meet individual student needs by providing an alternative to regularly offered courses.

Permission of Instructor and GPA of 3.0 or higher is required.

Register by completing the Independent Study Application available on the Registrar's website; the course is not available via web registration.

The Independent Study Project (ISP) allows students to supplement the established curriculum by completing a faculty supervised project for credit in a specific area of interest. Its purpose is to meet individual student needs by providing an alternative to regularly offered courses.

Permission of Instructor and GPA of 3.0 or higher is required.

Register by completing the Independent Study Application available on the Registrar's website; the course is not available via web registration.

This field-based class provides graduate students with an opportunity to experience and examine the dynamics of teaching and learning within an elementary school setting - particularly, Providence's Highlander Charter School. The course is predominantly concerned with the development of teaching and learning strategies with which to incorporate art and design into general education while at the same time maintaining both disciplines' integrity. There is a special emphasis on utilizing art and design to support any school's literacy initiative. The course is constructed with two complementary elements - a participatory component in which pairs of graduate students work collaboratively with a non-art specialist or general classroom teacher. Graduate students have the opportunity to lead small groups of children in formal teaching and learning experiences and to use these opportunities to reflect on matters of content, student understanding, and the effectiveness of communication. The second component of the course is a seminar that uses the graduate students' authentic classroom experiences as an opportunity to examine a broad range of educational issues that include: the impact of teaching and learning environments, the diversity of learners, arts integration, culturally responsive teaching, technology in the classroom, and classroom management.

Major requirement for MAT; MAT only

This course is designed to provide an overview of the educational psychological and social needs of learners with disabilities, to discuss the impact of special education law on public school programs, and to provide a background for designing appropriate interventions for students with a variety of special learning needs in the art and design classroom. The course will focus on the identification of various disabilities, their characteristics, and the legal and philosophical basis for interventions and adaptations needed in the art and design classroom.

Major requirement for MAT, MA elective; MAT & MA only

This course explores the development of a conceptual framework for studio-based teaching and learning for children and adolescents. The course introduces an approach to pedagogy for art and design that is informed by artistic practice and which revolves around meaning-making. Students examine the principles of curriculum mapping and instructional design through the development of a series of units of instruction based respectively on themes, subjects, and media - all of which are crafted to meet the cognitive, social, and personal interests of children and youth. The course explores the relationship between curriculum, instruction, and assessment and where curriculum and instruction is focused on deepening K-12 students' understandings of art and design as expressions of enduring ideas. In explorations of assessment, students consider and design various formative and summative strategies to capture and evaluate levels of student understanding. Throughout this course, there is an emphasis on the development of curriculum design and instructional strategies for elementary and secondary students that encourage discovery, creativity, innovation, personal voice, and even play!

Major requirement for MA; MA only.

This course provides MA students with the unique opportunity to complete a professional practice internship in a real world setting. The internship has a number of purposes but is particularly designed to expand the candidate's experience of arts-related programming in one of a number of venues including but not limited to: community arts centers, alternative arts spaces, foundations, museums, schools, hospitals, arts agencies, etc. An internship site is made in consultation with TLAD's Department Head who is in a particularly strong position to advise and recommend potential local and regional sites that might be an appropriate fit for a candidate. MA candidates are also encouraged to identify potential internship sites and the Department is very willing to make an institutional advance to an individual or organization in order to facilitate and establish an internship agreement. It is important for candidates to recognize that while they might wish to have a very particular internship, the ultimate placement is very much dependent upon the readiness of a particular site to accept an intern.

Major elective for MA; MA only.

This course provides students from any major with the opportunity to explore the field of teaching as a possible career option beyond graduation. The course involves completing an internship with an art teacher two days a week in either public or private schools. Students enrolled in this course will hopefully, be able to translate some of their excitement for art and design to the school setting, and in doing so, become a valuable resource to both the art teacher and his/her students. Students taking this course are also required to attend and participate in a weekly seminar to discuss their experiences and to further explore a variety of issues related to teaching art and design at the K-12 level. Selected readings, a directed reflective journal, presentations, and a leave-behind contribution to the assigned school are among the assignments for this course.

The Independent Study Project (ISP) allows students to supplement the established curriculum by completing a faculty supervised project for credit in a specific area of interest. Its purpose is to meet individual student needs by providing an alternative to regularly offered courses.

Permission of Instructor and GPA of 3.0 or higher is required.

Register by completing the Independent Study Application available on the Registrar's website; the course is not available via web registration.

This course provides MA students with the unique opportunity to complete a professional practice internship in a real world setting. The internship has a number of purposes but is particularly designed to expand the candidate's experience of arts-related programming in one of a number of venues including but not limited to: community arts centers, alternative arts spaces, foundations, museums, schools, hospitals, arts agencies, etc. An internship site is made in consultation with TLAD's Department Head who is in a particularly strong position to advise and recommend potential local and regional sites that might be an appropriate fit for a candidate. MA candidates are also encouraged to identify potential internship sites and the Department is very willing to make an institutional advance to an individual or organization in order to facilitate and establish an internship agreement. It is important for candidates to recognize that while they might wish to have a very particular internship, the ultimate placement is very much dependent upon the readiness of a particular site to accept an intern.

Major elective for MA; MA only.

Exploring art and design within the context of the non-profit sector is the goal of the seminar. We will examine the roles and responsibilities of non-profit arts organizations from both a practical and ideological perspective to relate them to one's own artistic or design practice or professional aspirations. The course will visit regional arts non-profits, examining their life cycles and the factors that shape an agency's success and/or failure. Organizations investigated may include: arts councils, service organizations, arts centers, alternative spaces, residency programs, community-based initiatives, foundations, and galleries. A deepening understanding of non-profits arts management including mission and vision, leadership, sustainability, relationships to the community and the public will occur. We will ask whom do they serve, what is their relevancy, and what qualitative results do they achieve? The off-campus visits and on-campus guests will serve as core information to researching and proposing a start-up non-profit, analyzing non-profits, or developing successful residency applications. This course will be of special interest to studio practitioners and educators whose professional lives are likely to intersect with arts organizations and agencies in the future.

MA elective

Open to non-major graduate students as an elective.

Using RISD as a site for the exploration of strategies for studio-based teaching and learning is the goal of the course. The class will draw upon the varying expertise and pedagogical practices of RISD faculty and guests from various disciplines to provide graduate students with examples of teaching that can inform their development as future faculty. It is designed for students who are interested in models of practice in an array of academic environments. The course examines teaching methodologies in graduates' respected fields through case studies, faculty interviews, curriculum comparisons and article reviews.

Learning to teach in a generative and attentive manner can bring teaching closer to one's studio practice. By enriching a partial teaching portfolio with a cover letter, an academic CV, and an artist/designer statement with images, a full professional and teaching portfolio will be completed.

>This is the second course in the required sequence for the Certificate in Collegiate Teaching in Art + Design, and is only offered to those graduates who are not teaching or co-teaching during Wintersession.

Graduate elective

Partial requirement for Certificate in Collegiate Teaching in Art + Design.

The most compelling arguments in support of the value of the arts in education and the case for arts as an agent of transformation in the lives of children and youth become most evident through the analysis of high-quality contemporary practices in arts pedagogy situated in a range of settings both in and out of schools. This seminar, in addition to students' personal case study investigations, utilizes conversations with visiting arts administrators, artists, curators, educators, and scholars as lenses to inform the analysis and discussion of models of practice that result in meaningful experience that inspire in children and youth creative thinking, making, and innovation. Key products from the course include response papers, a case study report and final presentation.

Major requirement for MA

Open to non-major graduate students as elective pending seat availability and permission of Instructor.

The Degree Project is the capstone event of an MAT student's program in which the MAT presents comprehensive documentation of their coursework and teaching to a review committee consisting of RISD faculty, clinical educators, and external critics. The work presented includes the following required components: Online Program Portfolio, Teaching Portfolio, and an Interpretive Exhibit. The Degree Project is reviewed and evaluated in the context of the assessment framework of the Rhode Island Professional Teaching Standards (RIPTS).

Major requirement for MAT; MAT only

Drawing has been called the distillation of an idea. Drawing sensibilities pervade all visual media, yet drawing can be independent of all other media. How can we make our drawing ventures resonant or challenging? Through independent studio production and focused critique, the course provides graduate students from any major the opportunity to more deeply understand the nature of drawing through a series of self-directed and self-paced experiences and investigations. Coursework may be referenced or supported by historical and contemporary contexts. Digital works, a single drawing medium or tool, phenomenal means, or other materials or mixtures of instruments can be used for mark-making. A full spectrum of drawing ways and ideas can be explored. The class is structured around cross-major conversations in small group critiques, peer-exchange critiques, larger group reviews and individual analysis. Drawings from this course may integrate or extend other areas of graduate students' study, including thesis content and personal visual inquiries.

MA elective

Open to non-major graduate students as an elective.

The Independent Study Project (ISP) allows students to supplement the established curriculum by completing a faculty supervised project for credit in a specific area of interest. Its purpose is to meet individual student needs by providing an alternative to regularly offered courses.

Permission of Instructor and GPA of 3.0 or higher is required.

Register by completing the Independent Study Application available on the Registrar's website; the course is not available via web registration.

This course provides MA students with the unique opportunity to complete a professional practice internship in a real world setting. The internship has a number of purposes but is particularly designed to expand the candidate's experience of arts-related programming in one of a number of venues including but not limited to: community arts centers, alternative arts spaces, foundations, museums, schools, hospitals, arts agencies, etc. An internship site is made in consultation with TLAD's Department Head who is in a particularly strong position to advise and recommend potential local and regional sites that might be an appropriate fit for a candidate. MA candidates are also encouraged to identify potential internship sites and the Department is very willing to make an institutional advance to an individual or organization in order to facilitate and establish an internship agreement. It is important for candidates to recognize that while they might wish to have a very particular internship, the ultimate placement is very much dependent upon the readiness of a particular site to accept an intern.

Major elective for MA; MA only.

A field-based student teaching (clinical teaching) experience at the elementary level in a public school in Rhode Island or Massachusetts, supervised by school-based clinical educators and faculty from RISD's Department of Teaching + Learning in Art + Design. A student teacher's performance during this six-week teaching assignment is assessed using the performance benchmarks of the Rhode Island Professional Teaching Standards (RIPTS).

Major requirement for MAT; MAT only

A field-based student teaching (clinical teaching) experience at the secondary level in a public school in Rhode Island or Massachusetts supervised by school-based clinical educators and faculty from RISD's Department of Teaching + Learning in Art + Design. A student teacher's performance during this six-week teaching assignment is assessed using the performance benchmarks of the Rhode Island Beginning Professional Teaching Standards (RIPTS).

Major requirement for MAT; MAT only

The Department of Teaching + Learning in Art + Design requires MA candidates submit a capstone thesis in partial fulfillment of degree requirements. Candidates are given a degree of flexibility in determining the format for this work, but typically it takes the form of either a thesis monograph essay or a thesis book. The thesis monograph essay provides candidates with the opportunity to focus on a deep investigation of a single subject framed within the context of learning and through art and design. An essential characteristic of this approach to the thesis is in how it provides evidence of the candidate's ability to move beyond description to analysis and how they are able to place the subject of investigation within the realm of scholarship. The thesis book provides a candidate with the opportunity to make sense of their journey through their program in a more autobiographical and documentary manner. The thesis book format affords candidates the opportunity to explore how form can be exploited to visualize research. Whether presented as a thesis monograph essay or thesis book, this capstone requirement provides MA candidates with a formal opportunity to make public their understanding about a specific aspect of the nature of arts learning gained through their coursework, excursions into the scholarly literature and fieldwork experiences. The purpose here, therefore, is to conceive of the thesis not merely as an academic exercise but also contributing to program development as well as providing a reservoir of understandings that will inform the candidate's future professional practice as an educator.

Major requirement for MA; MA only