Peer Review

The Art History Archive

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Dec 17, 2020 by Teacher Education

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:

The Art History Archive is an Educational Database Library (EDL) providing educators and students with more comprehensive information about artistic movements, art groups, and specific artists.

Type of Material:

Learning Object Repository

Recommended Uses:

Material is best used as a springboard for in-class comparison-contrast discussions, reviews of styles and movements, flipped-classroom background reading, and individual research. It may be used for self-paced instruction or whole class investigation.

Technical Requirements:

Best if viewed using 64-bit Firefox 72 or Chrome

Identify Major Learning Goals:

The intent of the this compiled archive is to serve as a library of information about different artistic movements, art groups and specific artists. Its purpose is to educate people about the different movements and show people that there are other movements worth looking at, and specific artists that users may never have heard of.

Through sample artworks and bibliographic entries, the references on this site will introduce the learner to artists who may have been censored. Mainstream and alternative artistic movements and manifestos can also be explored.

Target Student Population:

High School, College General Ed, College Lower Division, College Upper Division, Graduate School, Professional

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

No prerequisite knowledge is needed.

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:: The site provides a range of artists, many underrespresented, that are included art history compilations. The material raises awareness of these underrepresented artists and movements.
Concerns:: The information on this site is crowd-sourced. Although there are directions for submitting content to the site, there is not a systematic or organized structure for the posted information from one artist or movement to another so it is difficult to compare or scaffold content. Furthermore, it is not clear how the content for the site is reviewed or verified.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:

Strengths:

The information that is available can certainly be used in a variety of ways--curriculum development, integration with other areas of the curriculum, personal research, and sequencing of art styles, movements, and trends. The material can be used to discuss the guiding sociopolitical tenets of the arts industry (e.g. What is good art? Who decides what styles and artists become mainstream entities?, etc.)

Concerns:

There are not discernable learning objectives for the entire site so the independent submissions of content from one submitter to another are somewhat uneven in content, written presentation, and quality.

Aside from raising awareness of artists and movements, the material does not boast a discernable objective that integrates art and history (i.e., a comparison-contrast of styles, sociopolitical impacts seen in the work, etc.).

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:
Strengths:: The content presented on the site is vast and listed on the page in logical and clear way. The labels for each section are clear and in bold typeface.
Concerns:: The organization of the site is all on one, long, page. Users must scroll way down and way up to cover all the information. There is no built-in search option or back button to any of the specific links listed within the actual site. Users must be dependent on the browser they are using. The font size for the hundreds ofindividual artists at the bottom of the long page is very tiny. The art ads with images on the site may confuse those who think they are part of the content.

Other Issues and Comments:: The comment about fair use (on the home page) is not completely aligned with the guidelines for visual images that is outline by this doctrine.
Creative Commons: