Assessments

This course includes several kinds of activities, each designed to help you engage with the arts in a different way. All of them are for your own learning: there are no deadlines, no point values, and nothing to submit.

📝 Quizzes

Each of the thirteen units ends with a ten-question multiple-choice quiz that tests your understanding of the lesson and the works in it. These are self-study tools: you get instant feedback on every answer, so you can see what you have grasped and where to look again. Your answers are not recorded.

What each quiz covers

  • Quiz 1: The Humanities: An Introduction
  • Quiz 2: What Is a Work of Art?
  • Quiz 3: Being a Critic of the Arts
  • Quiz 4: Painting
  • Quiz 5: Sculpture
  • Quiz 6: Architecture
  • Quiz 7: Literature
  • Quiz 8: Theater
  • Quiz 9: Music
  • Quiz 10: Dance
  • Quiz 11: Photography
  • Quiz 12: Cinema
  • Quiz 13: Television and Video Art

Tip: Take each quiz after you have worked through the whole unit. Use Start Over as often as you like.

👁️ Experience It

Every lesson ends with an Experience It activity: one work to look at or listen to closely, and three prompts that ask you to notice something specific. These are practice for the kind of attention the whole course depends on.

  • Spend a few quiet minutes with the work before you read the prompts
  • Jot your answers down; a sentence or two each is plenty
  • Come back to the work after the unit and see what has changed in how you look

💬 Reflection Prompts

Each unit includes a reflection prompt: a question about a work, an art form, or an idea from the unit that asks you to form a reasoned response of your own. They take the place of traditional discussion boards.

How to approach them

  • Read the prompt carefully and make sure you understand what is being asked
  • Look at or listen to the work again before you write
  • Support your response with specific details from the work, not just your general reaction
  • Aim for clarity over length; a focused paragraph or two is worth more than a rambling page

These are for your benefit. Your reflection is a space to practice thinking and writing about the arts. Nothing you type on the page is saved, so copy your work if you want to keep it.

🔍 Critic's Practice

Three units (Being a Critic of the Arts, Literature, and Photography) include a Critic's Practice exercise. Each gives you one work and walks you through writing about it in three steps: describe what is there, interpret what it means, and evaluate how well it succeeds. They prepare you for the Final Paper.

✍️ Final Paper

The course ends with a Final Paper: a critical analysis of one work of art of your choice from any unit. You will describe it, interpret it, and evaluate it, using what you have learned about form, subject matter, and the values a work reveals. The assignment page explains the requirements.