If you are interested in engaging with more substantial ‘learning at home’ then you might want to consider online courses. In the digital age new styles of learning were developed to replace correspondence courses. Known as MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) and beginning in 2008, these have become increasingly popular – the New York Times dubbed 2012 “the year of the MOOC”. MOOCs are usually provided by universities or other institutions and offer unlimited participation and open access via the internet. In addition to traditional course materials, such as filmed lectures, and readings, many MOOCs provide interactive courses with user forums or social media discussions to support community interactions among students and educators as well as immediate feedback to quick quizzes and assignments. Courses typically run for a few weeks with a clearly delineated course structure and syllabus. Most are free although for an added cost, it is possible to obtain a certificate of completion.
The MOOCs website offers the opportunity to explore courses by categories and providers. For example, looking for current courses on ‘art history’, the website suggests: ‘The Modern Genius: Art and Culture in the 19th Century’ a self-paced course from the Otis College of Art and Design; ‘The Age of Cathedrals’ from Yale University; ‘Ideas from the History of Graphic Design’ form the California Institute of the Arts; or ‘Western and Chinese Art: Master and Classics’ from Tsinghua University’. The website can be found at: https://www.mooc-list.com/
One version of a MOOC, suggested by Susan Lowe, is ‘Coursera’. This website currently has nine art courses that can be accessed and is the preferred website for courses from the Museum of Modern Art in New York. MoMA courses on offer include: ‘Modern Art & Ideas’; ‘What is Contemporary Art?’; ‘In the Studio: Postwar Abstract Painting’; and ‘Art & Ideas: Teaching with Themes’. Coursera also has courses from the University of Florida – ‘Healing with the Arts’ – and from the University of Melbourne – ‘Sexing the Canvas: Art and Gender’ which includes discussion about works in the NGV collection. Information can be found at: https://www.coursera.org/search?query=art&
As well as these open courses, other E-learning platforms have emerged including the Khan Academy, The Great Courses and Udemy. The Khan Academy is a non-profit educational organization created in 2008 by Salman Khan with the goal of creating a set of free online tools that help educate students. The organization produces short lessons in the form of videos. There is a wealth of information on this website and it is possible to complete an entire course on the history of art or to dip into particular topics for example: ‘How to do visual (formal) analysis in art history using Giovanni Bellini’s ‘Madonna of the Meadow, c. 1500’ from The National Gallery in London. Art history at The Khan Academy can be found at: https://www.khanacademy.org/search?page_search_query=art%20history
The Great Courses is probably most similar to attending a semester at university and is a series of college-level audio and video courses covering a wide range of subjects produced and distributed by The Teaching Company. Typically, a course will consist of between 12 and 36 half hour lectures given by a particular expert (often a professor or senior lecturer) which provides an in depth understanding of a particular subject. There are currently 30 fine art subjects ranging from ‘How to Look at and Understand Great Art’ to ‘Art of the Northern Renaissance’. The courses can be purchased in a number of formats ranging from audio to video (DVD or online) and while they are not inexpensive, they are often on sale. The Great Courses website is: https://www.thegreatcourses.com.au/
Finally, Udemy claims to have the largest selection of courses available outside the university system and allows individuals to construct courses based on topics of their own choosing. The courses are of varying lengths, are more likely to be skills based and typically cost from about $15-$24 to access. Current art topics include: ‘The Ultimate Drawing Course’ or ‘The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Digital Art’. See: https://www.udemy.com/courses/search/?q=art&src=sac&kw=art
Happy learning!