Student identity in college general education art courses

Art courses are an important component of the general education (GE) program but the importance they serve is often overlooked. GE art courses can help college students understand many aspects of student diversity, including increased awareness of personal and social identity development. This research aims to provide a basis for understanding if students may gain an understanding of personal and social identity through a college GE arts course and in which ways a GE arts course may impact a students’ identity, if any. Using Social Identity Theory (SIT) and Self-Categorization Theory (SCT), as well as the theory of Einfühlung as foundational theories for this research, this study first examines the history of the GE program in higher education in the United States and the importance of art courses within the GE program, various identities of college students, and the role of GE art courses on student identity development. Using the Social and Personal Identities (SIPI) scale, the study examines two groups of GE students (Art GE; non-art GE) over a one-semester period to assess changes related to social identity (SI) and personal identity (PI) factors. The changes in mean scores across the semester are calculated according to the SIPI scale, and additional testing through Paired Samples T-Tests is conducted. The findings indicate that a GE arts course may potentially have an impact on students’ overall SI identity factors over the course of the semester. There is no impact on the students’ overall PI factors as a result of taking an arts GE course. Additional testing found that in comparing individual SI and PI factors, taking a GE arts course was found to potentially increase three (3) of the SI factors, and two (2) of the PI factors over the course of the semester.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ed.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2021

Author dc:creator

• Aziz, Allison

Contributors dc:contributor

• Hood, Denice Ward
• Pak, Yoon
• Huang, Wenhao David
• Dhillon, Pradeep

• art education
• identity
• general education

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2021 Allison Aziz

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/110656

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/110656