There doesn't seem to be a lot of these floating around, but does anyone have any clue about distance doctoral degrees in art education or something related? I actually would prefer to find an Ed.D., but it's not like I can be choosy.
I guess I could further broaden (even though the topic doesn't allow much of that) to include Art History. I don't really think many of these degrees exist by distance, though. Art Education and/or Art History. Any thoughts?
Based upon my rudimentary knowledge of the principle of supply and demand I'd say that you're out of luck. Apparently, there is an insifficient amount of demand for any US school to have a DL doctoral degree in Art Education. Now, with that being said, can you take a plain old regular DL EdD program and tweak it toward Art? Probably. So look at this: http://www.waldenu.edu/Degree-Programs/Doctorate/EdD-in-Education.htm
That's kinda what I figured, but I thought I'd throw it out there anyway. Thanks for the link. I'll take a look. ;-)
Okay, so it's pretty clear about the doctoral arts programs. What about MFA in some various types of art? Painting, Digital Media, etc.? Prefer something that isn't Academy of Art University or something similar. I don't mind some on-campus visits (which is going to probably be necessary), but would prefer something relatively reputable and RA. Further thoughts?
Ow, Ow, aren't you confusing Academy of Art University with the Art Institutes (some of those are RA, some are not)? The Academy of Art IS Regionally Accredited since 2007 and NASAD (the accreditation of art schools) and a bunch of other stuff. I can't really tell you anything about the online programs, because I'm taking on-campus (I've taken only one on-line class), but I can tell you the school is really good and real. Yes, it has it's problems, but overall I'm very happy with it. It's really an ART school first, University second, but that's what I was looking for. About being "reputable" let me just see: 1) It's the only school in the USA that has it's own show in the NY Fashion Week, where the graduates are able to show their work. Just for that you could argue it's one of the most prestigious fashion schools in the world. 2) The Animation department is highly regarded, with teachers that had worked for (or are working at) Lucasfilm, Pixar, Dreamworks, etc... The school has a good relationship with Pixar (arguably the best animation studio in the world), including some special "Pixar classes" taught by Pixar animators (those classes were "on hold" some years ago but they will be back this semester). Every semester almost every big game and animation studio (Lucasfilm, Sony, Dreamworks, Disney, Blizzard, etc...) make exclusive on-campus presentation about their internship opportunities for the AAU students. it seems they think the school is reputable enough. 3) The advertising department (the original department of the school) is well regarded too, with graduates winning various well known competitions. 4) The Motion Pictures and TV department it's actually not as well known and big as the other departments, but we also have top notch teachers (the school actually flies teachers from LA every week for a good number of classes!), top of the line equipment and facilities (and unlike a lot of schools, you can actually check the equipment out to shoot very easily. ) and a lot of flexibility (if you ask, they let you take classes in almost any of the departments in the school - in my case I took a good number of classes in the Animation department). In comparison to other Film MFAs, the AAU MFA is way more hands-on - way less history and theory classes, more studio classes. Some stuff they have or do at AAU it's unlike any other school. Like in our DIrecting 1 and 2 class, we have a whole TV sound stage (with different scenarios and backgrounds) and a professional crew (not just the teacher, but the whole crew: DP, Sound, Gaffer, etc...)) for every class, so we can concentrate on directing. Almost no school offers this - and the rare ones that do are way more expansive. 5) Although the school it's a for-profit, the AAU it's actually one of the cheapest ones for it's kind. The tuition is about half of the tuition in other RA Art centric schools like SVA, SCAD, CalArts, Pratt, etc... In sum, its a really good school, with good reputation in the industry (if not in the Academy) and, again, IT IS Regionally Accredited. Some people have a really strong problem with the open enrollment policy of the school - but they fail to notice that this never affects the quality out put of the graduates. Why? Because they school weeds out the student during the program. Most slackers quit in the end.
Actually, I wasn't confusing AAU and the AI schools. I had just heard some bad things about AAU, but since you're going there, and I've looked at them before, perhaps I will take a second look. I mean, I can say that their programs definitely look really good on paper. I suppose, more than anything, I'm concerned about how an MFA from AAU will look on a resume, especially if I decide to teach. I truly do not doubt the quality of art education received there, I just want to make sure whatever I choose is going to be thought of highly throughout the art community.
That's a worthy question to ask - being a for-profit school, AAU is obviously looked down by more traditional schools. CalArts students love to bash the school in internet forums for example. Also, the open policy for the undergrads plus the tough grading and classes create a situation where the school has a very high number of students drop-outs that love to bash the school. I'd try to get opinions from students that did finish the school, not the ones that dropped out complaining about very hard 6 hours foundation classes. But you have to think what you mean by art community. If you mean commercial art (film, game, animation, advertising, etc...) community? Yes, AAU is well regarded and people don't really thinks twice about the school being for-profit (some of the best art schools in the country are for-profit, like Gnomon in LA). But in the other hand, that's a community that normally don't give a shit if you have a degree or not, they just wanna see you're portfolio, period. If you mean Fine Art community, Gallery Exhibition, etc... then AAU is still a good school, but not the best for that. You'd probably be better served going to the SF Art Institute, as Fine Art is more a reputation game than technique and art in itself. If you mean by art school community, then it depends. I think AAU would be considered fine for other specialized art schools but I'm not sure if people from Ivy league schools would give the same weight to it. (Having said that, I have as my close friends in the AAU, undergrads from Columbia, Stanford, UC Berkeley and a bunch of other schools. It seems they don't think AAU will look bad on them). I don't thing any AAU MFA would look bad in your resume at all, but if your only objective is a academic job in a traditional school (not a art school), maybe you should try look at the top traditional schools (UCLA, UCS, CalArts). But would the extra cost be worth it? I'm not sure. But if you really want to work as a artist, have contacts in the industry and a middle ground between a academic experience and a immersive studio experience, AAU is the place to go. Just another fact: the AAU is one of the rare schools that kept the original concept of the MFA as a terminal degree, with a recommended completion time of 3 years, maybe 4. I think that is a good think and shows that they are serious. A lot of MFAs nowadays are just glorified MAs. I understand you're reluctance about AAU, because there are some very negative reviews about it online - I thought about it a lot before enrolling, specially because I was accepted in SVA and some other schools. But I don't regret at all my decision.
