How the Art Education Institute helps South Dakota teachers earn graduate credits
South Dakota has just held its 24th annual Art Education Institute this week, Monday through Wednesday, on the premises of Northern State University in Aberdeen.
Program and Communications Director with Arts South Dakota Shari Kosel said the aim of the event, which she called an adult art park, is to gather the art educators together to allow them a space to network and learn new art and teaching techniques they can bring to their classrooms.
“They get to make art, they get to learn new techniques to bring back to their students, and they just network with each other to provide those opportunities for their students in their classrooms," Kosel said.
The participants of the program are adult teachers teaching pre-K through K-12 courses, said Kosel. This year the program offered 25 workshops, and each individual could pick three to participate.
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Each of the workshops lasted for a whole day and was worth a graduate credit, thus making the total number of credits teachers could earn through the three-day program equal to three. The teachers can use those credits either toward working on their graduate degrees or for renewing teaching certificates.
With six credits required for the teacher’s certificate renewal, the three credits that can be earned through the Art Education Institute would give half of what's needed. Alternative ways for the teachers to earn their credits are a book study, participating in conferences or taking college classes.
“This is a great opportunity to find three credits in three days while also making art,” said Maddy DeWitt, 7-12 grades art teacher with Tri-Valley School District, who was a workshop instructor at the program this year.
This year, 36 of the participating teachers signed up for the graduate credits. Each workshop had a cap of 10 participants to keep the event in the spirit of an intimate learning experience.
“You get to collaborate, you get to learn new techniques that you can bring back," DeWitt said. "It is a really fast easy way to earn credits and to facilitate your knowledge that you can bring back to your classroom for your students."
If the participants chose to work toward earning their graduate credits through the program, they were charged $40 for a credit workshop, Kosel said, “which is an awesome deal.” While other campuses might offer credit opportunities as well, they might not be art focused, she added.
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All in all, 67 teachers participated in the program this year, and together with educators, the total number of participants amounted to about 80 people, Kosel said. The program still hopes to get back up to about the 100 participants it used to attract throughout its 24-year history, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Workshops offered this year focused on subjects varying from oil painting and ceramics to printmaking and embroidery. DeWitt said she offered two workshops this year, one on photoshop and one on choice-based learning.
DeWitt said she hoped her skills, knowledge and experience could help other art teachers to achieve better learning outcomes, get students to be more involved with the class, provide new ideas, and help navigate different ways to communicate art.
“It’s a win-win for everybody,” DeWitt said about the program.
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: How this art program is helping South Dakota teachers stay ahead
