Humanities through the Arts, IDS 121 Syllabus

Course Description: 

Welcome to IDS 121 Humanities through the Arts. This course consists of four units of material, delivered over the Internet that are designed to familiarize you with values and ideas unique to the arts. While science and technology provides us with objective information about the world, the humanities raise questions about our values. We will explore the relationship of the self and world through the study of six major arts: film, drama, music, painting, sculpture and architecture. Each of these arts is considered from the perspectives of historical development, the elements used in creating works of art, meaning and form expressed, and criticism or critical evaluation. We will explore the influence of political, cultural and scientific values on art as well as learning how to understand critically the way a work of art expresses some aspect of the human condition.

Textbook Information: 

There is no required textbook for the class but there are several essays that you will find within the modules that must be read and studied.

Additional Course Information: 

Format:

This is an online course offered over the course of 8 weeks All activities and assessments are delivered online through the Canvas web site (rsccd.instructure.com). However, there is one assignment, the Art Event or Performance Critical Review Paper that requires you to attend an artistic event in your community. Also, it is important that you know that there will be work due every week in this class and that the deadlines are strict. Make sure that you are prepared to do weekly work before you sign up for this class.

Expectations:

This is a college level course. Many students expect that an online course will be easier, or entail less time. This is not true. This online class will take just as much time as a traditional classroom course. College credits are based on the Carnegie Unit, the structure of the US Education system, for a system of “units”. One semester unit represents one lecture hour of required classroom time and two hours of student preparation time. Thus, our three-unit course in a condensed eight-week format requires, 6 lecture hours and 12 hours of student preparation, or approximately 18 hours total, per week that you will need to spend on this course.

Student Learning Objectives: 

You will:

• analyze works in the major art forms of painting, sculpture, music, architecture, drama and music by subjecting them to descriptive, interpretive and evaluative criticism.
• develop specific criteria for critical analysis of a variety of art works by identifying subject matter, artistic form and content.
• express your understanding of the aesthetic issues in the relevant art forms of this class by using appropriate terminology in written reports and essays.
• express your understanding of how particular, historically important art works exhibit strong aesthetic qualities and how this has influenced specific genres through the ages.

Instructor:  Dr. Brian Kehlenbach,

 Brian Kehlenbach web site

Course Syllabus:  IDS121_syllabus_fall2017_8wks.pdf

Course Map with all Timelines: IDS 121 Humanities through the Arts Course Map fall 2017.pdf