A collaborative class between Michigan State University, the University of Michigan and Bard College recently explored how art and architecture produce and reveal race, gender and class.
The course, “Contested Spaces: Art, Architecture, Politics,” offered last semester for the first time, was taught simultaneously by professors from the three institutions.
“You don’t usually see this inter-university interaction unless it’s at football games or rivalries,” said Daena Faustino, a junior graphic design major who took the class last semester. “Being able to work together to find a common goal, different solutions or different ways that we see the world from three different university standpoints is really interesting, and it was fun to have Internet pen pals to bounce ideas off of and hear new sides of an argument.”
With the help of Elizabeth Fomin at U-M and Leslie Melvin at Bard College, a website was created for the course to serve as the main hub of interaction between the students on the three campuses.
“It has been really incredible to see how students respond to this model of teaching,” said Paneth-Pollak, assistant professor in MSU’s Department of Art, Art History and Design. “The most striking thing has been the way the website allows us to have a kind of expanded classroom. The students have a natural curiosity about what they call their ‘virtual classmates’ and the differences between their college experiences. Their curiosity about the other students and how they approach a certain topic enhances their curiosity about the course material.”
Having a larger pool of students taking the same class has helped to enrich the overall learning experience.
“A small class size is not unusual for an art history course but having this class taught simultaneously on different campuses with different students makes the scope of participation a lot bigger and we were so involved with each other over the class website,” said Morgan Sego, who took the class in the fall and graduated in December with a bachelor’s degree in art history, visual culture and museum studies.
At the end of last semester, the MSU and U-M students had the opportunity to meet in person. In early December, U-M hosted a “Contested Spaces” workshop that MSU students attended, and Bard students participated virtually through video chat.
The Contested Spaces: Art, Architecture, Politics course will be offered again in Spring 2018.