Our pedagogical approach is three-tiered:

 

1. Tenure-track Faculty who are actively engaged in their own studio practice as well as community engagement and social practice research and dialogue.

 

2. Adjunct Faculty with an establish history of teaching, an active exhibition record, and project based community engagement and social practice.

 

3. Faculty in Training that are brought on as first-time teachers to gain valuable experience in communicating pedagogy specific to community- based art and social practice. 

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The VPA course framework is outlined as follows:

1. Studio Practice

2. Analysis and Critical Thinking

3. Professional Practice & Portfolio Building 

4. Student mentorship & Professional Application

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Along with our MLO's, our scaffolded curriculum includes Creative and Artistic Expression Outcomes: 

1. Content

2. Context

3. Competence of Craft/Technique

4. Production & Communication

5. Reflection

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At VPA, we believe that quality teaching is the use of pedagogical techniques to produce learning outcomes for students. It involves several dimensions, including the effective design of curriculum and course content, a variety of learning contexts (including guided independent study, project-based learning, collaborative learning, experimentation, etc.), soliciting and using feedback, and effective assessment of learning outcomes. It also involves well-adapted learning environments and student support services.

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We are committed to fostering quality teaching as a multi-level endeavor. Support for quality teaching takes place at three inter-dependent levels:

• At the institution-wide level: Shared Governance and Curricular Assessment

• Program level: comprising actions to measure and enhance the design, content, and delivery of our program mission 

• Individual level: including initiatives that help teachers achieve their mission, encouraging them to innovate and to support improvements to student learning and adopt a learner- oriented focus

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Meet our faculty.

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