I started at OCAD not too long after they made the switch from being a Diploma granting College to a Degree granting University. One thing that changed was the requirement for students to take more academic based classes. This was one thing I really loved about my time at OCAD, we got to sample knowledge from all different fields (Social Sciences, English, Humanities, Math and Science) and since these subjects were being taught at an art school I feel like the teachers catered towards our learning style.
I took some really incredible courses of my own choosing- Children's Literature with Lynn Crosbie, Existentialism with Archie Graham, among others. There were also Math and science classes for artists- a friend of mine took the math course and the textbook came with 3-D glasses, which may seem silly and counter-productive but I think when you are dealing with people who are maybe unconventional learners you have to adopt some unconventional teaching methods.
But I disgress- what I miss about being in school is choosing from a list of interesting topics something to learn about for a time period. I had been looking for a way to learn for free at the university level things that were interesting to me that was beyond merely checking out book after book from the libray and reading it cover to cover. There is of course this practice of auditing classes, sitting in on a class lecture without paying for the class or getting marks- purely just for absorbing the knowledge. Being a relatively self-conscious person I found this a difficult bridge to cross. A lot of universities now have course information online and some, like Berkley, even have audio and video of lectures available for the public to stream,
Here's the link
There are, like at any school, good courses and bad courses, but for someone like me (I work in my studio at home and instead of music which can irritate me while I work, I devour podcasts and audiobooks) this format is easy enough to sample and is such a blessing!
I have been listening to Introduction to Visual Thinking and really enjoying it, and there are a few literature courses I want to investigate. Or perhaps introduction to Astrophysics?
Happy Learning!
Stacey
UPDATE: I just found an extensive list with links to podcasts from several universities- so many interesting things to hear!
See the list here
