Program Total Credits: 42
The Master of Arts in Teaching in Visual Arts is a professional degree program incorporating preparation for the Pennsylvania Instructional I Certificate to teach Art K-12, including a student teaching practicum. Additional coursework includes the history, theory, and practice of art education. Students most often require four semesters of study to complete the 42 credit program because will be required to complete specific prerequisite or corequisite courses to build on or supplement their prior undergraduate or graduate study.
These prerequisite/corequisite courses may include specific courses like AEDU 201 Introduction to Visual Arts (2 cr), AEDU 200 Presentation Skills (1 cr), AEDU 509 Professional Writing Intensive (2 cr), and AEDU 543 Aesthetics and Art Criticism (3 cr). Other courses may be required to fill needs in Psychology or Sociology/Anthropology, in non-Western Art History, or in Studio areas.
A thorough evaluation of each entering student’s background takes place before enrollment for the first semester of work in the program. At that time, the Director of the MAT in Visual Arts will define a specific program of courses leading to both the degree and the Instructional I Certificate from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The requirement grid that follows extends over four semesters of study because most students will remain enrolled full-time for that period.
Admission to the Practicum. Admission to the student teaching practicum depends on demonstration of appropriate knowledge, aptitude and sense of vocation, and teaching skills, not simply on courses completed and grades earned. In some cases, a student will be asked to delay the practicum by one semester and asked to do further work designed to ensure success. In rare instances, the Director of the MAT in Visual Arts may counsel a student not to seek the license. Additional credits of electives may then be substituted for the practicum credits.
