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- Genre: Art--Study and teaching--Study and teaching (Higher)
- Genre: Music--Social aspects--Arizona--Flagstaff--History--19th century.
- Creators: Arizona State University
Description
We live in a world of rapidly changing technologies that bathe us in visual images and information, not only challenging us to find connections and make sense of what we are learning, but also allowing us to learn and to collaborate in new ways. Art educators are using one of these new technologies, virtual worlds, to create educational environments and curricula. This study looks at how post-secondary art educators are using Second Life in their undergraduate and graduate level curricula and what perceived benefits, challenges, and unique learning experiences they feel this new educational venue offers. This study uses qualitative and participant observation methodologies, including qualitative interviews, observations, and collection of generated works, to look at the practices of six art educators teaching university level undergraduate and graduate courses. Data are compared internally between the participants and externally by correlating to current research. Art education in Second Life includes many curricula activities and strategies often seen in face-to-face classes, including writing reflections, essays, and papers, creating presentations and Power Points, conducting research, and creating art. Challenges include expense, student frustration and anxiety issues, and the transience of Second Life sites. Among the unique learning experiences are increased opportunities for field trips, student collaboration, access to guest speakers, and the ability to set up experiences not practical or possible in the real world. The experiences of these six art educators can be used as a guide for art educators just beginning exploration of virtual world education and encouragement when looking for new ways to teach that may increase our students' understanding and knowledge and their access and connections to others.
ContributorsSchlegel, Deborah (Author) / Stokrocki, Mary (Thesis advisor) / Erickson, Mary (Committee member) / Young, Bernard (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
Although one finds much scholarship on nineteenth-century music in America, one finds relatively little about music in the post-Civil-War frontier west. Generalities concerning small frontier towns of regional importance remain to be discovered. This paper aims to contribute to scholarship by chronicling musical life in the early years of two such towns in northern Arizona territory: Prescott and Flagstaff. Prescott, adjacent to Fort Whipple, was founded in 1864 to serve as capital of the new territory. Primarily home to soldiers and miners, the town was subject to many challenges of frontier life. Flagstaff, ninety miles to the north-northwest, was founded about two decades later in 1883 during the building of the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad, which connected the town to Albuquerque, New Mexico in the east and southern California in the west. Although the particular resources of each town provided many different musical opportunities, extant newspaper articles from Prescott's Arizona Miner and Flagstaff's Arizona Champion describe communities in which musical concerts, dances and theatrical performances provided entertainment and socializing for its citizens. Furthermore, music was an important part of developing institutions such as the church, schools, and fraternal lodges, and the newspapers of both towns advertised musical instruments and sheet music. Both towns were home to amateur musicians, and both offered the occasional opportunity to learn to dance or play an instrument. Although territorial Arizona was sometimes harsh and resources were limited, music was valued in these communities and was a consistent presence in frontier life.
ContributorsJohnson, Amber V (Author) / Oldani, Robert W. (Thesis advisor) / Holbrook, Amy (Committee member) / Saucier, Catherine (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011