For high school graduates looking to bring a touch of tech to their fine arts higher education, CalArts is inviting visitors to the campus this spring to observe the latest arts-based techniques for teaching computer science and explore the leading-edge work created in response.

CalArts will launch three new classes in its Fall 2013 quarter: Introduction to Programming for Digital Artists, Creating Site-Specific Dance and Performance Works, and Live!: A History of Art for Artists, Animators and Gamers.

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CalArts is among the newly announced group of Coursera partners—29 universities from around the world, including Northwestern University in the U.S., Leiden University in the Netherlands and Switzerland’s University of Geneva—that have agreed to offer courses online and available to anyone, for free.  With this new roster of partners, CalArts will join Princeton, Stanford and Columbia University, along with 30 other institutions, currently offering courses on Coursera.

“We are deeply gratified to be the first arts institution included in Coursera’s selection of top universities,” said CalArts President Steven Lavine. “As an internationally renowned school of the visual and performing arts, developing the creativity of individual students is a key to the CalArts education—and Coursera, the premiere innovator in its field, is the ideal partner for extending our reach to students around the globe. Creativity is a key to success in today’s world and we can now offer students far beyond our campus the ability to hone and develop their own creative problem-framing and problem-solving skills.”

Since Coursera launched in April 2012, the company has registered a total of almost 2.8 million users, and is seeing approximately 1.45 million course enrollments per month. Additionally, Coursera has recently begun offering students opportunities to receive credit and recognition for their work, whether through Signature Track, which offers verified certificates and shareable course records, or through Credit Recommendations from the American Council of Education (ACE), which offer the potential for students to receive transfer credit to college degree programs for select courses.

“We view this partnership with Coursera as a unique opportunity for research in leveraging new technology and the power of social media in the service of creative pedagogy. How might the arts flourish in the age of algorithms? We’re aiming to find out,” said Dr. Jeannene Przyblyski, CalArts’ Provost and Faculty in the School of Art.

Fall 2013 also brings a free online music-based computer science class to students around the world, as Maverick educators have created CalArts’ N2N (many-to-many) wired classroom and an accelerated curriculum for teaching computer science to nontraditional students—including those with no previous programming experience.  In May, the DigitalArts and Technology Expo rolls out its latest projects integrating cutting-edge engineering and computer science with visual and performing arts.  

Also in the fall of 2013, students around the world will experience CalArts’ innovative methods through online classes offered by online education leader Coursera—including Introduction to Programming for Digital Artists.

To register for classes, go to Coursera.org. Students who successfully complete CalArts’ Coursera offerings will receive a Statement of Accomplishment signed by the instructor. Coursera classes are open to all students and free of charge.

Best Date to visit CalArts:
May 9th – The campuswide Digital Arts and Technology Expo will feature new work by students and faculty, demos, immersive audio visual installations, and multimedia performances.

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• Article: CalArts Brings Technology, Programs To Fine Arts
• Source: Santa Clarita News
• Author: Newsroom