Aging and the Arts Online: Lessons Learned From Course Development and Implementation

With the recent move toward competency-based gerontology education, incorporating humanities and arts will be necessary for accreditation. This article describes the pedagogical approaches and lessons learned during 5 years of development and implementation of an asynchronous online course in Aging and the Arts. Fifty graduate and undergraduate students participated in the course over five semesters. Discipline diversity increased subsequent to designation as a fine arts general education course. Students expressed appreciation for multimedia resources, an initial fear of creating a wiki, and online redundancy was reduced through increased community engagement that also augmented application in real-world settings. The visual nature of arts and aging lends itself to a compelling and interactive online course experience that can be adapted to synchronous, hybrid, and face-to-face formats. Opportunities for community engaged learning will increase as art programs for older adults become more prevalent.