Each course is formatted a little bit differently (see my course summaries for some details on that), but here is what you can generally expect in my classes when it comes to the work you will need to complete:
There will be reading ! ππ(but it will be free π°π)
Every class includes readings and videos each week that you will need to watch/read carefully and take notes on. I never include textbooks or other published materials that you will have to pay for: all of your course reading materials will be provided for free through my Canvas course. I write or record a lot of these materials, and you'll also be reading and watching high-quality free content provided by SmartHistory, PBS, and various art museums.
You will have multi-option assignments βοΈ π¨π₯
I believe that students do best when they can choose how to show what they've learned, so all of my classes include multi-option assignments in which you can choose to explore the themes we study in written, visual, or spoken (recorded) formats. If you are interested in learning more about my multi-option philosophy when it comes to assignments, check out this short article I wrote about it back in 2018: One Objective, Four Ways to Meet it. You can also hear what some of my past students have to say about my assignments in this short video.
There will be quizzes or tests (but they will be open-note) ποΈπ
Art history requires that you learn about specific artists, trends, and styles, and then apply what you learn to your interpretations of artworks. For that reason, every class I teach has some sort of quiz or test after each section of reading. I don't believe that memorization is particularly important for learning, and I don't ask questions that are about recalling exact names and dates. Instead, I work to create test questions where you have to apply what you learned during the lesson and show that you truly engaged with the examples and ideas in your readings. All of my quizzes and tests include a mix of free-writing and multiple choice questions. They are also all open-note. They are not the types of quizzes that you can (or would want to) cheat on, so aside from monitoring for plagiarism, I don't use any sort of proctoring or surveillance software.