From Idea to Hyperlink

In the Fall of 2020 when we were all hunkering down at home during COVID quarantine, I was in the midst of my one-semester sabbatical from Manchester Community College (MCC). My proposal to develop an OER “textbook” for art history had been approved the previous academic year. The work would be largely authored by scholars of color to present alternative perspectives to those in canonical textbooks. As I began the semester, it quickly became apparent that the scope and scale of a project like this could not be completed in a few short months, and that I wanted to be able to compensate the authors who contributed to the project.

The goal of my sabbatical then shifted to exploring what OER resources were currently available for art history. I came across Smarthistory, a non-profit open-access platform which is the exclusive art history provider of the Khan Academy. Their strengths lay in the accessibility of their materials for my students (short essays with jargon explained or clearly defined, vivid maps, brief videos, and an all-digital format), as well as the way that history was framed and explored globally. This was refreshing to me as an instructor who had moved away from standard art historical textbooks due to their limitations (heavy, expensive, and heavily weighted towards Western European/white American perspectives).

After receiving a one-year Adoption Grant by the Connecticut Open Educational Resources Coordinating Council to integrate Smarthistory’s existing materials into all of my introductory art history survey courses (ART 101 and 102) during the 2021/2022 academic year, I reached out to Smarthistory to see if they would like to collaborate on a project. By May of 2021 an application was sent to the National Endowment for the Humanities for possible funding through their Humanities Initiatives at Community Colleges Grant for a collaboration between MCC and Smarthistory. The application was accepted, and the project, titled “Not your grandfather’s art history: a BIPOC Reader,” is an OER anthology of essays authored largely by scholars of color on topics that seek to expand and add nuance to traditional textbook presentations of art history. Contributors include art historians and artists based both in the US and internationally from Yale, Princeton, the University of New Mexico, the Denver Art Museum, Tulane University, Grinnell College, and many others. Topics range from the ancient to contemporary periods and are designed to be easily integrated into existing survey curricula. In fact, the essay topics are designed to support the newly revised curricula of the introductory art history survey courses at CT State Community College. While the essays are available to the public, they were integrated directly into readings and assignments for all my sections of ARTH 1001 and ARTH 1002, Global Art History: Prehistory to 1500 CE and Global Art History: 1500 CE to the Present (formerly ART 101 and ART 102) in the 2023-2024 academic year.

Gathering Data

One of the 6 major goals of this project was to assess the impact of the project on students in terms of engagement, enhancement, performance, satisfaction, and relevance through surveys distributed at the beginning, middle and end of the semester.

Survey I Data:

What was telling in the data from the student surveys administered and collected was that in Survey I, only 45% of student respondents (215 total) Agreed or Strongly Agreed that they felt represented by the material and perspectives in art museums, but 95% Agreed or Strongly Agreed that they believed it is important to feature the artwork and perspectives of individuals and communities of color in academic courses. 89% of all respondents to Survey I also Agreed or Strongly Agreed that they felt more engaged with class material when they had a personal connection to it. 77% of all respondents (215 total) Agreed or Strongly Agreed on Survey I that they thought that the study of Art History could be or is relevant to their lives. 82% Agreed or Strongly Agreed that they thought that the study of art history could be or is relevant to their communities. Also, only 25% of respondents reported regularly visiting museums with family, friends or by themselves.

Survey data collected from students enrolled in either ARTH 1001 or 1002 from the 2023-2024 academic year semester indicated that roughly half (47%) of respondents identified as students of color and/or a person from a traditionally marginalized community. This sample percentage is slightly lower than the overall percentage of students at CT State Manchester who identify as a person of color, which is 52% of 4134 students total as of Fall of 2023. The majority of students (68%) also either agreed or strongly agreed that it is important to them that courses do not require materials for purchase.

Below is a selection of student responses to the Open Comments question of Survey I: “Is there anything else you'd like to share about the BIPOC Reader Project or your experience with museums, textbooks, and/or representation?”

• “I am very excited to learn new perspectives in this class as I believe certain ones have been overshadowed throughout my academic career.”
• “I just wanted to say I think this is a great way of gauging how students relate to this course and the importance/impact it has on them if they are BIPOC. I can’t wait to see if my responses will either stay the same or change over the duration of this course!”
• “I am a minority and I have never seen a representation of my culture in an art museum in the US.”
• “Thank you for this survey! It appears none of these topics are regularly discussed within a classroom setting, and I feel as if it is very important to!”
• “Thank you for doing this survey AND for making the initiative to teach about BIPOC in history.”
• “I think this is quite amazing of a survey to have students take. As a black man, I have seen that a lot of history when it comes to African American/Black People is usually told from the perspective of people who are not from that group. I think it is amazing to bring to light the truth about what has happened to BI-POC history.”
• “I have taken your class in the previous summer sessions I just want to say thank you so much for putting the effort in to make sure we learn from different people’s perspectives. Not only people from different ethnicities but also different genders which is very refreshing to see. Like you mentioned before, I’ve only seen published work from men, particularly men in power, telling history lessons.”
• “Having representation in any aspect of life is important. When we don't see ourselves in things it is harder to have a personal connection or interest in it.”
• “I feel that with textbooks it's very bias when it comes to art. Art is something very personal, and open to conversations, and with textbooks its really challenging different perspectives.” 
• “Just to give a little more input on how I feel as a woman of color. I feel in most art pieces I don't see myself being represented in a positive way. In a lot of art woman is represented negatively and this is because women as a whole are very oppressed.”
• “The more representation and perspectives from different groups and demographics the more we can all understand each other, and this is crucial to education.”
• “My father is partly Choctaw indigenous, through his father. Unfortunately his father was not present in his life and my family have no cultural connection to our indigenous heritage. I am white passing and was raised in an Irish American household by my mother alone. Despite this, I cannot understate how important it is to me that POC/marginalized communities be represented in academics and beyond. The BIPOC Reader Project is a most wonderful undertaking, and I am truly excited to interact with material from primarily underrepresented scholars. I am unfortunately aware that their works are not likely to be something I'd stumble upon in any random class.”
• “I believe that BIPOC Reader Project should be represented in High School curriculum.”

Survey II and III Data:

Based on data collected from Surveys II and III, collected at the midpoint and end of the semester, respectively, the BIPOC Reader had significant and positive impact on student engagement, course enhancement, course performance, student satisfaction, and relevance of the material to students.

In terms of "Engagement," according to the final survey (Survey III) taken by students, 93% of all student respondents (222 student respondents total) Agreed or Strongly Agreed that they felt engaged the material in the course (either ART 101 or ART 102). On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the most impactful, 77% of all student respondents scored the BIPOC Reader as having an impact of 7 or higher on their engagement in the course.

The data reveals similar impacts on the other key assessment factors. For example, in terms of enhancement, 89% of all student respondents (224 total) of Survey II (taken mid-way through the semester) Agreed or Strongly Agreed that the BIPOC Reader articles enhanced their class. As a corollary, by the end of the semester, 88% of students (220 total) Agreed or Strongly Agreed that they felt curious to learn more about art and history because of their class, with 77% of all student respondents scoring a 7 or above on a scale of 1-10 attributing the BIPOC Reader with their interest in the course and its material. This was an increase from Survey II, when only 61% of students (223 total) Agreed or Strongly Agreed that the BIPOC Reader articles inspired them to take more art history classes and to learn more about global history. Thus, as the semester progressed and more articles from the BIPOC Reader were integrated into the course, students reported a higher degree of interest in learning more about art history and the humanities going forward.

Related to course performance, 82% (221 total) of all student respondents Agreed or Strongly Agreed that they felt empowered to interpret and analyze a work of art of their own because of this class, with 78% of all respondents (220 total), scoring the BIPOC Reader a 7 or above on a scale of 1-10 in terms of contributing to their feeling empowered to analyze and interpret art. More specifically, 84% of all student respondents (216 total) Agreed or Strongly Agreed that they felt prepared to write the Formal Analysis Paper at the end of this class, with 72% of all students (218 total) scoring the BIPOC Reader essays a 7 or above on a scale of 10 with contributing to students feeling prepared to write the Formal Analysis Paper.

In terms of Satisfaction, 88% of all student respondents (223 total) in Survey II Agreed or Strongly Agreed that the BIPOC Reader articles presented a more nuanced and complex presentation of history. In Survey III at the end of the semester 90% of students (220 total) Agreed or Strongly Agreed that they felt interested in the material in the course, with 77% scoring a 7 or higher on a 10-point scale that the BIPOC Reader essays contributed to their interest in the course.

90% of all student respondents (199 total) also Agreed or Strongly Agreed that it was beneficial that this course only utilized Open Educational Resources and not a standard textbook. This was a key component of the BIPOC Reader project, that all of the essays be openly accessible to all students, instructors and the public.

Lastly, in terms of relevance to students, 54% of students (223 total) Agreed or Strongly Agreed in the mid-semester Survey II that they found the BIPOC Reader articles spoke more to their personal interests in art and history than the standard class presentations. Similarly, 57% of students Agreed or Strongly Agreed that they found the BIPOC Reader articles made the class feel more relevant to their lives. In Survey III at the end of the semester, 70% of student respondents Agreed or Strongly Agreed that they felt represented by the subjects (regions, works of art, cultures) covered in their course and 71% scored a 7 or higher on a 10-point scale that the BIPOC Reader essays contributed to their feeling represented in the course.

A separate measure that did not appear to be impacted by the integration of the BIPOC Reader in ART 101 and 102 classes at Manchester Community College during the assessment period was the overall distribution of final letter grades. The percentage of students receiving a grade of A (90-100) remained nearly the same between 2022 and 2023 (assessment year), as did the percentage of students receiving a B (80-89) and a D (60-69). The number of students receiving a C lower slightly between 2022 and 2023, with the number of student receiving an F (below 60) slightly increased. Thus, overall, there was a consistency of grades from 2022 to 2023 and many external circumstances can have an impact on whether a student passes or fails a class, particularly at a community college, that are unrelated to this project.

While only 18% of student respondents (208 total) Agreed or Strongly Agreed that the BIPOC Reader articles inspired them to think about pursuing a career in art history, that was not a stated goal of the project at the outset.

Below is a selection of student responses to the Open Comments section of Surveys II & III:

• “I really enjoyed this course. Reading essays from POC who were directly affected/connected to the artwork discussed added a very personal connection that aided in my understanding and appreciation. Additionally, I truly appreciated the attention this course gave to traditionally marginalized groups. It was a challenging but highly enjoyable course!”
• “I really like this class, compared to a regular history class that only really talks about European history. I like the diversity in the things we learn.”
• “Since I’m white, the BIPOC readers weren’t really made to represent me and that’s a good thing. My low ratings about my representation in the BIPOC reader are because of that. Do not take that as a negative comment – I think this is a great thing.”
• “The essays provided helpful background information on subjects that we later discussed in class. Because of that pre-established knowledge I was better able to understand the content being examined. On top of that, the essays provided me with the structure I needed to work on my final object analysis. With an idea of what an analysis should look like the process of starting my paper seemed less overwhelming.”
• “The inclusivity of this course made it far more interesting. Thank you!”
• “This class helped me build skills like, analysis, evaluation and critical judgment. It was fun analyzing art and taking deep dives into topics that I’ve never thought about. This class helped me get in touch with other forms of cultural expression. I have a new appreciation for art now that I’m more familiar with it.”
• “Thank you for curating a curriculum with inclusive values, it really means a lot to me.”

Conclusion:

This project produced novel and unique teaching resources, including 19 new content essays (largely authored by scholars of color) focused on objects and narratives that are not included in traditional academic textbooks. The topics of these essays were specifically chosen to address absences in the art historical canon and/or to provide specific material for ART 101 and/or ART 102 that was not available elsewhere, particularly for community college audiences or in an accessible format.

These content essays are supplemented by a teaching resource essay, specifically designed to provide a pedagogical framework for the Reader as well as for providing instructors looking to use the essays with a background for why this compilation is needed, how is can be utilized, and how it can be impactful. The essay collection also includes a foreword that introduces the project to new audiences and provides an overview for its necessity as well as its content.

The entire BIPOC Reader is and remains freely and fully accessible online at: https://smarthistory.org/bipoc-reader/.

Professor Olivia Chiang has taught art history at Manchester Community College since 2011. Since 2014, she has focused on increasing the diversity of artists, cultures, and works represented in introductory art history courses, as well as on ensuring the accessibility of art history courses and materials to all students.