Many Bard Graduate Center students work as educators in the BGC Gallery, developing tours for guests and programming to enhance the exhibitions. Rachael Schwabe (MA ’20) was one such student, and she parlayed her experience at BGC into a position as assistant educator, Massive Open Online Learning Courses—sometimes known as MOOCs—in the department of learning and engagement at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).
MoMA has a number of MOOCs available on Coursera, a global online learning platform where anyone, anywhere can access online courses and degrees from world-class universities and companies. Many are available to audit for free, as is the case with Schwabe’s new course, Artful Practices for Well-Being. It joins a growing library of courses that MoMA provides on the platform, with titles like Modern Art and Ideas, Seeing Through Photographs, and What Is Contemporary Art?
Schwabe’s course cultivates connections between art and well-being and uses MoMA’s collection as a springboard for ideas, practices, and activities that can become part of daily life. She noted that the course is not intended as therapy. “While it may feel therapeutic and includes the perspectives of therapists and practitioners in adjacent fields, it is not clinical.”
The course takes the view that engaging with art can support well-being by helping us deepen awareness, consider new perspectives, and spark ideas or inspiration. According to the course description, “Art offers one approach to the difficulty of slowing down, noticing what’s happening inside ourselves, and feeling present and attuned as we move through the world. In this course you will explore different ways art can support well-being using a wide range of practices and approaches. … Along the way, we hope that you’ll discover how art can serve as inspiration for routines and activities that you can bring into your life.”
Schwabe worked with colleagues within and outside of the Museum to produce the live videos that are an essential part of the course. There are twenty image-based videos, and others that feature psychotherapist Jennifer Sterling and information designer Giorgia Lupi. Schwabe also cowrote and edited the written materials for all eight modules of the course. She reported that developing the course “was a lot of work, and there is a lot of wonderful content on offer, but in the spirit of the course, people should not feel pressured to engage in every module or even take the course in order.” Schwabe hopes the course will appeal to anyone who is interested in art and increased well-being.
MoMA has a number of MOOCs available on Coursera, a global online learning platform where anyone, anywhere can access online courses and degrees from world-class universities and companies. Many are available to audit for free, as is the case with Schwabe’s new course, Artful Practices for Well-Being. It joins a growing library of courses that MoMA provides on the platform, with titles like Modern Art and Ideas, Seeing Through Photographs, and What Is Contemporary Art?
Schwabe’s course cultivates connections between art and well-being and uses MoMA’s collection as a springboard for ideas, practices, and activities that can become part of daily life. She noted that the course is not intended as therapy. “While it may feel therapeutic and includes the perspectives of therapists and practitioners in adjacent fields, it is not clinical.”
The course takes the view that engaging with art can support well-being by helping us deepen awareness, consider new perspectives, and spark ideas or inspiration. According to the course description, “Art offers one approach to the difficulty of slowing down, noticing what’s happening inside ourselves, and feeling present and attuned as we move through the world. In this course you will explore different ways art can support well-being using a wide range of practices and approaches. … Along the way, we hope that you’ll discover how art can serve as inspiration for routines and activities that you can bring into your life.”
Schwabe worked with colleagues within and outside of the Museum to produce the live videos that are an essential part of the course. There are twenty image-based videos, and others that feature psychotherapist Jennifer Sterling and information designer Giorgia Lupi. Schwabe also cowrote and edited the written materials for all eight modules of the course. She reported that developing the course “was a lot of work, and there is a lot of wonderful content on offer, but in the spirit of the course, people should not feel pressured to engage in every module or even take the course in order.” Schwabe hopes the course will appeal to anyone who is interested in art and increased well-being.
