'The Boundless Art History textbook is a college-level, introductory textbook that provides an overview of the culturally rich subject of Art History from pre-history through to modern global art. Boundless works with subject matter experts to select the best open educational resources available on the web, review the content for quality, and create introductory, college-level textbooks designed to meet the study needs of university students. Table of contents • Thinking and Talking About Art • Prehistoric Art • Art of the Ancient Near East • Ancient Egyptian Art • Aegean Civilizations • Ancient Greece • The Etruscans • The Romans • Late Antiquity • The Byzantines • Islamic Art • Art of South and Southeast Asia Before 1200 • Deities and Places of Worship • Chinese and Korean Art Before 1279 • Japan Before 1333 • Native American Art Before 1300 • Africa Before 1800 • Early Medieval Europe • Romanesque Art • Gothic Art • Europe from 1200-1400 • Northern Europe from 1400-1500 • Italy's Renaissance in the 1400s • Art in Commercial and Market Contexts • Italy in the 1500s • Northern Europe and the Iberian Peninsula in the 1500s • Europe in the 1600s • South and Southeast Asia After 1200 • China and Korea After 1279 • Japan After 1333 • The Americas After 1300 • Oceania • Africa in the Modern Period • Europe and America in the 1700s and Early 1800s • Europe and America in the 1800s • Europe and America, 1900-1950 • Global Art Since 1950
Type of Material:
Open (Access) Textbook
Recommended Uses:
homework, independent study, lecture, self-paced
Technical Requirements:
Internet access and a browser--this OER text is presented online
Available as an ePub for offline use
Identify Major Learning Goals:
This introductory art appreciation OER textbook provides an overview of the culturally rich subject of Art History from pre-history through to modern global art. It was designed and curated by Boundless Courses in 2014. In collaboration with the Boundless team, Lumen Learning imported these OER courses to the Lumen Platform, to ensure they remain freely available to the education community after Boundless ceased operations. Lumen maintains "the Boundless content in the same condition it was provided to us."
Target Student Population:
College General Ed, College Lower Division
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:
Not essential but an understanding of art concepts, terminology and movements would be beneficial. Limited ICT skills needed
Content Quality
Rating:
Strengths:
High quality - each section contains clear Learning Objectives and Key TakeawaysMaterial is thorough, appropriately licensed.
Pre-populated quizzes (in the shape of a CSV for importing into LMS) enhance the depth and breadth of materials covered.
These could be used to either be foundation material to a topic as an intro, a starting point to a new topic or a revision exercise.
Material appropriate for the intended audience - it appears to be very high quality.
The content presented online via a huge list of links highlights valid and appropriate concepts for understanding art history. It is core curriculum information that is typically presented in college-level art appreciation survey courses. The content covers prehistory to global art since 1950. The format is presented as a series of links with headers for the specific art period and sublinks beneath the headers.
Concerns:
None.
Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool
Rating:
Strengths:
Several learning objectives, followed by key points, and key terms with definitions are included in each section. There are sets of slides and quizzes to support each section that can be downloaded at the top of the list of links. For instructors who know their art history, these art appreciation OER resources are openly licensed. Users may use them as is or adapt them as needed.
Concerns:
Limited - terminology is the main challenge but it's to be expected in an academic text book.
THe only downside is that the materials are no hugely detailled (again not in the brief) so it is more of an overview (thin and wide) rather than a deep insight into specific topics.
Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty
Rating:
Strengths:
Easy to navigate the web pages; the EPUB can be downloaded for free, along with the presentations. The site is very straightforward to navigate with multimedia (Text and pictures) all linked to a simple contents page. No technical issues were experienced, it appears to comply with most standards.
The OER material presented online via links and available for download is rich and organized. When it was developed in 2014 the presentation of the information was current. The content is clearly labeled and can be downloaded by topic or section. It was good of Lumens to keep the Boundless Art History course available as is online.
Concerns:
Newer technologies, including pdfs that hold rich media make this OER textbook a bit dated in its presentation and viewing.
Pictures (whilst being labelled correctly) would benefit from a text description of the image rather than information below it.
Creative Commons:
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