The Bachelor of Fine Arts with a major in art education prepares students for initial art education certification (P-12). The program is designed to prepare professional art educators with the knowledge, skills, and experiences necessary to be successful in an array of potential career choices, from the art studio classroom, to a museum education setting, to graduate school.
National accrediting agencies include the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD), the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). The National Art Education Association (NAEA) provides program standards, curricular guidelines, and assessment tools that help to ensure a quality program in art education. Students in the program must meet all criteria published in the VSU Undergraduate Catalog, as established by the College of Education and Human Services and the College of the Arts. The degree program consists of 132 hours of course work and requires that the student carry 17 hours for seven of the eight semesters in school and/or take 12 hours in summer school to graduate within a four-year period.
A minimum grade point average of 2.75 must be maintained throughout the program. A grade of “C” or better must be earned in the required English courses and in all art, art education, and education courses in the professional sequence. Certification depends on passing the Georgia Assessment for the Certification of Educators exam (GACE Content Assessment), which must be taken prior to the student teaching semester. All course work must be completed before a candidate begins the student teaching semester. The Board of Regents requires 300 to 400 hours of volunteer pre-service experiences prior to student teaching.
Selected Educational Outcomes and Competencies
Students pursuing a BFA with a major in art education degree will be able to:
- exhibit the ability and desire to continually seek out, evaluate, and apply new ideas and developments in both art and education;
- demonstrate positive relationships with individuals of various social and ethnic groups, and empathize with students and colleagues of differing backgrounds;
- articulate and communicate the goals of an art program in an effective and professionally responsible manner;
- demonstrate basic expressive, technical, procedural and organizational skills, and conceptual insights which can be developed through studio art and design experiences;
- demonstrate knowledge of the major styles and periods in art history, analytical methods and theories of art criticism, the development of past and contemporary art forms, contending art philosophies, and the fundamental and integral relationships of how these concepts impact the making of art.
Examples of Outcome Assessments
Student competency will be demonstrated in the following selected ways:
- by taking the area Content Assessment exam;
- by successfully preparing an exemplary electronic portfolio as prescribed in the College of Education and Human Services initial Candidate Portfolio Assessment Instrument (edTPA);
- by successfully completing the student teaching experience as determined by meeting the criteria in the College of Education and Human Services Observation Instrument;
- by successfully demonstrating evidence of detailed lesson and unit planning prescribed in the Program Lesson Planning Assessment Instrument;
- by having professional competencies assessed through the ARED Program Disposition Evaluation Instrument;
- by submitting Candidate Survey for Program Improvement (CSPI) in edTPA.
Requirements for Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree with a Major in Art Education
| Core Curriculum | 60 | |
| Core Curriculum Areas A-E (See VSU Core Curriculum) | 42 | |
| Students are advised to take ART 1100 in Area C | ||
| Core Curriculum Area F | ||
| ART 1010 | Drawing I | 3 |
| ART 1011 | Drawing II | 3 |
| ART 1020 | Two Dimensional Design | 3 |
| ART 1030 | 3-Dimensional Design | 3 |
| ART 2030 | Computers in Art | 3 |
| ARTH 2121 | Art History Survey I | 3 |
| ARED 2999 | Entry to the Education Profession | 0 |
| Teacher Certification Health and Physical Education Requirements | 4 | |
| KSPE 2000 & KSPE 2150 | Health and Wellness for Life and First Aid - CPR | 4 |
| Major Curriculum | 68 | |
| EDUC 2110 | Investigating Critical and Contemporary Issues in Education | 3 |
| EDUC 2120 | Exploring Socio-Cultural Perspectives on Diversity | 3 |
| EDUC 2130 | Exploring Learning and Teaching | 3 |
| SPEC 3000 | Serving Students with Diverse Needs | 3 |
| ART 3051 | Printmaking I | 3 |
| ART 3041 | Painting I | 3 |
| or ART 3111 | Aqueous Media I | |
| ART 3061 | Ceramics I | 3 |
| ART 3071 | Black and White Photography | 3 |
| or ART 3072 | Digital Photography | |
| ART 3081 | Sculpture I | 3 |
| ARTH 2122 | Art History Suvery II | 3 |
| ARTH 4120 | Issues in Art Criticism (ARTH elective) | 3 |
| ARTH elective | 3 | |
| Guided Electives in ART or ARTH | 11 | |
| ARED 3000 | Issues and Trends in Contemporary Art Education | 3 |
| ARED 3010 | Elementary Art Methods | 3 |
| ARED 3012 | Secondary Art Methods | 3 |
| ARED 4070 & ARED 4090 | Seminar in Art Education (P-12) and Student Teaching in Art Education | 12 |
| Total hours required for the degree | 132 | |
