Abstract:
It can be hypothesized that the degree to which students value
learning in the visual arts influences the amount of involvement in
art oriented activities that will be pursued in later years. This
investigation has compared former college students° valuations of the
Basic Design course with levels of art interest five years later as
measured by frequency of participation in ten selected art activities.
Basic Design students of 1968-69 were surveyed at three Oregon institutions
of post-secondary education: Linn-Benton Community College,
Oregon State University and the University of Oregon.
The objectives were: 1) the design of a survey instrument;
2) measurement of 1973-74 art interest levels based upon frequency of
performance in ten selected art activities; 3) respondent evaluation
of Basic Design and comparison of valuations of the course with current
art interest levels.
Conclusions were: 1) students who took collegiate art courses
participated more frequently in performance indicators of art interest
than did non-art respondents; 2) active involvement in job-related design efforts, creation of art objects, reading articles, visiting
exhibits and discussing about art were identified as common post-collegiate
activities in the visual arts among respondents who took
Basic Design; 3) high appreciation of the teaching methods and
teacher effectiveness encountered in Basic Design was reported more
often by respondents with high post-collegiate interest levels than
by medium or low interest groups; 4) Basic Design was rated from average
to good by most respondents; 5) teaching methods were the most
heavily criticized element of the Basic Design experience; 6) overall
ratings of course quality were closely related to respondents' feelings
about the helpfulness of the teaching methods, effectiveness of
instructors and the degree to which the course stimulated interest in
art activities; 7) the amount of collegiate art credits earned by
respondents was closely related to the level of post-collegiate art
activity reported; 8) respondents taking only Basic Design reported
little stimulation to become involved in art and subsequently reported
low to medium post-collegiate art interest levels; 9) art majors, in
retrospection, indicated that their Basic Design courses tended to
reduce their interest in art rather than increase it; 10) Basic Design
courses at LBCC appeared to have been the most successful of all three
institutions in increasing student interest and activity in the visual
arts; 11) the U of 0 group reported less satisfaction than the OSU and
LBCC groups with every aspect of the Basic Design course and less subsequent
application of course content in other courses.
Implications emphasized the responsibility of the Basic Design
course to foster student success with the fundamentals of the visual
arts as a means to affective learning.
