Page 127 - Razvoj kompetenc prihodnosti v pedagoških študijskih programih

Reconsidering Contemporary Approaches to Teaching Art History

Turning to the next pedagogical approach, authentic learning emerges
as an effective strategy, as it situates students within real-life contexts and
problem-solving scenarios, generating outcomes that extend beyond the
classroom. Most scholars addressing the topic (Kolb, 2015; Brodnik, 2019; Mar-
entičPožarnik et al.,2021) adopt thedefinition formulatedbyKeeton andTate
(1978, p. 2) as ‘learning in which the learner is directly in touch with the re-
alities being studied. It is contrasted with the learner who only reads about,
hears about, talks about, or writes about these realities but never meets them
as part of the learning process.’ With that in mind, art history offers many
opportunities for authentic learning, such as curating exhibitions or guid-
ing tours of local architectural heritage. One of them is authentic learning,
in this case about local cultural heritage through which high school stu-
dent discuss monuments from various perspectives: they prepare short ar-
ticles on monuments they are especially interested in, present them visually,
and produce their own visual reinterpretations.¹¹ All outcomes are then pub-
lished on a website, making them accessible to a wider audience beyond the
school environment. In didactically unclear or uncertain situations, students
encounter challenges closely resembling real-life conditions, using all their
knowledge, skills, and competences (Marentič Požarnik et al., 2021), rather
than relying solely on those acquired at an art history class.

Harnessing the Potential of the Digital Realm
Wandering in a digital realm may still seem only a welcome alternative to tra-
ditionalin-person teaching,but asHarari (2024) states,in acoupleofdecades,
we may transfer much of our social and professional activities to virtual en-
vironments. With such a transformation, the physical classroom itself would
evolve into a space in which the traditional projector is replaced by digital
surfaces, allowing text and images to appear all around us (Witcombe, 2008).
An ever-expanding array of digital tools is already used by our students with
a level of skill that surpasses that of their teachers. Accordingly, the right
task is not to instruct them how to function in a digital world but rather to
guide them toward using these tools rationally, critically, and economically –
in other words, wisely. Applications, platforms, and other software ought to
serve as mere instruments for achieving art-history learning objectives and
should not become objectives in themselves nor a new ideological appara-
tus of an instant, consumption-driven society.

¹¹ Such project was carried out by an author when teaching at Gimnazija in srednja šola
Kočevje/High School Kočevje in 2019/2020 and is described in Dolšina Delač (2022).

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