Art & Activity: Interactive Strategies for Engaging with Art (Coursera)

Art & Activity: Interactive Strategies for Engaging with Art (Coursera)

Art can be a powerful catalyst for building skills and understanding a range of subjects. Intended for primary and secondary teachers of all disciplines, Art & Activity builds upon the inquiry-based approaches of Art and Inquiry: Museum Teaching Strategies for Your Classroom, while delving into activity-based strategies that will make your students empowered participants.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see Coursera's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

Syllabus

WEEK 1
Introduction to Art and Activity
Welcome to Art and Activity: Interactive Strategies for Teaching with Art. Art can be a powerful catalyst for building skills and understanding across a wide range of subjects. Establish your foundation by watching each module's video lectures and reviewing the required readings, artworks, and additional resources. Then, test your knowledge with the quizzes and be sure to comment on videos and post in the discussion forums to share your thoughts.

WEEK 2
Activities for Analyzing and Reflecting
In this module, we’re moving from theory to practice, with videos that discuss drawing, sound, movement, writing, and game-based activities that build skills for analyzing and reflecting about art. Most videos touch upon a variety of methods, while the Take Action segments are in-depth demonstrations of specific activities. You’ll get the most out of these videos by actually doing the activities yourself. We encourage you to snap a photo of something you’ve made in response to a Take Action prompt, and then share it in the discussion forums.

WEEK 3
Activities for Creating, Imagining & Connecting
In this module, we’ll stay active by covering activities that involve drawing, writing, discussion, sound, and movement. We’ll also put on our designer hats, with a Take Action video that presents a cosmic design challenge. You’ll have a chance to test your knowledge with the third and final quiz of the course. Finally, we want you to put all that you’ve learned into practice by using one of the activities with family, friends, or students, and then reflecting on the experience in the discussion forums.

WEEK 4
Assessment Strategies
In this module, we shift the focus from activities to assessment. There are two videos; one that emphasizes self-assessment for you as the facilitator, and a second on assessing student work. Additionally, we have assigned two readings that support the video lectures, which you should complete before stating the final project.

Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Collaborative Foresight: How to Game the Future (Coursera) Coursera
Institute for the Future

Collaborative Foresight: How to Game the Future (Coursera)

You’ll never have a complete picture of what's possible in the future if you look at it from just one point of view. The best way to expand your vision? Engage as many people as you can, and “game out” the possibilities together. In this course, you’ll learn how to use collaborative gaming techniques to go beyond your own thinking and see many, many different sides of the same future.

Jun 15th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Reimagining Blackness and Architecture (Coursera) Coursera
The Museum of Modern Art

Reimagining Blackness and Architecture (Coursera)

Architecture structures our daily lives. It shapes our homes, streets, neighborhoods, cities and more. But who gets to create and occupy these spaces? In the United States, a long history of anti-Black racism has created spatial inequalities that are built into the physical environment and erased the stories of Black architects and communities. Reimagining Blackness and Architecture explores the relationship between architecture and Blackness as an identity and a lived experience.

Jun 15th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Introduction to Creative Thinking: Tools for Success (Coursera) Coursera
Imperial College London

Introduction to Creative Thinking: Tools for Success (Coursera)

Creativity concerns the development of new ideas. Throughout human history, the application of ideas has led to transformations of our daily lives and society. Modern business activity thrives on recently developed ideas, and it is through creativity that we address both challenges and opportunities. In this module, we will help you develop your implicit understanding and skills in creativity.

Jun 15th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Systematic Creative Thinking: Tools for Success (Coursera) Coursera
Imperial College London

Systematic Creative Thinking: Tools for Success (Coursera)

Creativity is a widely acclaimed attribute. A range of creativity tools are available that rely on creativity principles to enable systematic idea generation. This module builds on the first module where various types of brainstorming were introduced along with the creativity diamond framework which provides a guide to which type of creative approach to use. Here we will introduce systematic creativity tools that can be used to provoke a wide range of ideas that might not normally arise and can be used to augment your innate creativity.

Jun 15th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Photography Techniques: Light, Content, and Sharing (Coursera) Coursera
Michigan State University

Photography Techniques: Light, Content, and Sharing (Coursera)

Welcome to Course FOUR! In Modules 1-4 you will cover the final elements of the Specialization necessary to round out this introduction to the fundamentals of Photography, and prepare you for creating your own exciting project in the Capstone! You have come a long way since the beginning of this journey from Smartphone Basics to DSLR and Beyond. Just think of all the information you have absorbed and put to use in your assignments and quizzes, and the confidence you have gained that you CAN control the camera to make pictures you are proud to share.

Jun 15th 2026
4 Weeks
Creativity Toolkit I: Changing Perspectives (Coursera) Coursera
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Creativity Toolkit I: Changing Perspectives (Coursera)

Thinking and doing the same things faster and better is not enough; we need creativity. Fortunately, creativity is a skill you can learn. This course will examine when, why, and how we can be creative. It examines the cues that trigger us to consider being creative. It provides a road map of the creative process – the process of changing our perspectives – and the kinds of outcomes that result from creativity.

Jun 17th 2026
4 Weeks
World Design for Video Games (Coursera) Coursera
California Institute of the Arts

World Design for Video Games (Coursera)

Start creating your world. A game world is not just a backdrop for your game—be it minimal or detailed, contained or part of a much bigger universe, it provides the context for your player. Ultimately, a game world should feel alive and wholly unique to any player who will experience it. In this course, we will explore game worlds in existing games and study the art and influences that inform their themes and styles. We will also investigate key components of environment and level design as well as strategies designers use to define gameplay or advance it. We’ll also look at navigation and the elements that make your world as real (or unreal) as you want it to be.

Jun 15th 2026
4 Weeks
Applied Public History: Places, People, Stories (Coursera) Coursera
University of London

Applied Public History: Places, People, Stories (Coursera)

This course introduces learners to applied public history: understanding and interpreting the past today, and engaging diverse communities in the practice of making and sharing histories. The course draws on project case studies, expert insights and diverse perspectives to model exciting approaches to researching and sharing the history of places and people. Learners will develop a toolkit to apply in their own practice, by participating in discussion, quizzes, creative activities and mini masterclasses. What kinds of stories can we discover through research into the history of places and people?

Jun 15th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Forecasting Skills: See the Future Before it Happens (Coursera) Coursera
Institute for the Future

Forecasting Skills: See the Future Before it Happens (Coursera)

For many people, the future comes as a surprise – or even a shock. But with strong forecasting skills, YOU can avoid future shock. You can adapt faster, and become better prepared to benefit from change. In this course, you’ll build your future forecasting skills. You'll learn how to turn groups of "signals" (clues about the future) and "drivers" (global forces that influence the direction of change) into compelling future forecasts. Forecasts help you discover new possibilities and opportunities for yourself, your company, or any community you want to inspire to make a better future.

Jun 15th 2026
4 Weeks
The Cycle: Management of Successful Arts and Cultural Organizations (Coursera) Coursera
University of Maryland, College Park

The Cycle: Management of Successful Arts and Cultural Organizations (Coursera)

What makes a successful arts and cultural organization? Led by DeVos Institute Chairman Michael M. Kaiser and President Brett Egan, this course will introduce you to a management theory called the Cycle which supports thriving arts and cultural organizations. Learning from our work with managers from over 80 countries around the world, the DeVos Institute developed the Cycle as a simple, but powerful tool to assist managers in their effort to respond to an increasingly complex environment and propel their institutions to excellence.

Jun 15th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Google Docs (Coursera) Coursera
Google Cloud

Google Docs (Coursera)

With Google Docs, your documents are stored in the cloud, and you can access them from any computer or device. You create and edit documents right in your web browser; no special software is required. Even better, multiple people can work at the same time, you can see people’s changes as they make them, and every change is saved automatically. In this course, you will learn how to open Google Docs, create and format a new document, and apply a template to a new document.

Jun 15th 2026
1 Week