College of Visual and Performing Arts 266

CVPA 266 Travel Study in Visual and Performing Arts

Catalog Entry

CVPA 266 Travel Study in Visual and Performing Arts
Three credit hours (3).

Prerequisites: Permission of Instructor

Academic study involving international travel. Locations and study focus vary with each section but may include Greece (for art), Italy (for music), England (for theater) and so on.  May be used to meet the core requirements in Fine Arts or Global Perspectives. 

Description of the Content of the Course

All topic areas in the visual and performing arts are eligible for study through foreign travel experiences. Each section generally focuses on a specific geographic locale with site visits to  locations relevant to the media being studied. As an example, an art trip to Greece might include visits to the Parthenon and a music department’s trip to Italy might include opera performances in Venice. When the native language is not English, translators accompany the group. Learning activities in travel study range from museum visits with observation and analysis of major art works to lectures by artists, musicians, or actors and group discussion of experiences. In addition to specific media-related activities, students explore and analyze similarities between daily life in their U.S. home and the foreign country they are visiting. Most of the travel study programs require students to keep a log of observations and reactions.

Description of the Conduct of the Course

Classroom, lab, field, studio and performance study in the visual and performing arts supervised by Radford University faculty or designated surrogate.   In situ visits to study art works in the context in which they were made or performed is a considerable portion of the travel class. The classes are structured with pre-travel orientation workshops and lectures and post-travel discussion/presentation sections with an emphasis on using the students’ experiences to make comparisons across other cultures, thus synthesizing and conceptualizing what has been learned in the travel study in terms of broader global/cultural issues. 

Goals and Objectives of the Course

The student will meet the objectives in Goal 8: Radford University students will experience and analyze ways in which the visual and performing arts reflect and communicate aspects of the human experience.

Radford University students will be able to:

a.     Analyze works of art in terms of the medium’s distinctive language and syntax

b.     Indentify and explain how works of art express human values and experiences within specific historical, cultural and social contexts

c.     Identify and explain how the visual and performing arts have been used as vehicles for influencing culture

d.     Evaluate works of art from the perspectives of aesthetic or critical criteria

(note: “Art” in this context refers to all the visual and performing arts disciplines including visual art, architecture & design, music, dance, and theatre)

OR

Goal 11: Radford University students will understand how social and cultural (for example, political, historical, economic, environmental, religious, or geographic) forces shape experiences in the global setting.

Radford University students will be able to:

a.     Compare and contrast different perspectives used to explain the world and international issues

b.     Use materials studied to explain cross-cultural issues in the world

c.     Evaluate similarities and differences among world cultures that effect perceptions, beliefs, or behaviors, and thus relationships between those cultures

Assessment Measures

Assessment of learning will be conducted through written papers, presentations, performances, exhibits, and/or portfolios (may be electronic).  Other forms may include proof of attendance at events, lectures, performances, exhibits, shows, etc.

Other Course Information

The CVPA 266 courses will require pre-and post-travel sessions with required relevant reading and written assignments addressing cross-cultural characteristics of the visual and performing arts and that emphasize the synthesis of the current travel study experience to broader world and cultural conditions, issues, events, etc.

Review and Approval

DATE ACTION APPROVED BY
New Course April, 2009