Online Art School Confidential

By Sonja Albrecht
Career Colleges Columnist

Art school is a supportive environment in which your talent can flourish… at least it should be. Art School Confidential, the satire from the Ghost World creators, urges you to keep your distance from formal art learning programs. Distance may be exactly what you need--online distance learning, that is. Before you dismiss art schools altogether, consider online programs and their fresh take on art education.

Online art schools emphasize the best of design education and eliminate the worst. The distance learning classroom features online discussion groups, instructor lectures, and an opportunity for students to share and critique work online. What it doesn't have is the stereotypical personality politics of a campus school's program.

Distance learning programs structure the online interaction among students, preventing the competitive environment dramatized in Art School Confidential. The online school's discussion forum puts the focus where it should be: on developing a constructive discourse among distance learning students and the program's instructor.

Here are some ways distance learning programs use technology to create a comprehensive art education online:

Blackboard: Many distance learning programs rely on Blackboard as an online distance learning management system. This virtual classroom program hosts the school's bulletin boards, links to video and audio clips, and a discussion room interface.
Interactive Videoconferencing (ITV): Distance learning program students can view and participate in a live telecast lecture.
Virtual Field Trips: Many museums partner with online schools to offer close-range virtual access to their collections. Some of these programs offer real-time online interaction with museum curators. How else can a school's distance learning program students visit the MOMA and the Getty in one day?

As the art field goes high tech, so have art schools. Online art schools offer distance learning programs that bring unprecedented flexibility and focus to art education.

About the Author
Sonja Albrecht works as a writer and editor for an online media company. She has also taught college writing and completed a Ph.D. in English.

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