Spring 2026
Art Appreciation
Art Appreciation (ARTS 1301 9S1 – 9S4) CREDIT 3 Semester Credit Hours (3 hours lecture, 0 hours lab) MODE OF INSTRUCTION Face-to-Face PREREQUISITE/CO-REQUISITE: None COURSE DESCRIPTION A general introduction to the visual arts designed to create an appreciation of the vocabulary, media, techniques, and purposes of the creative process. Students will critically interpret and evaluate works of art within formal, cultural, and historical contexts. COURSE OBJECTIVES Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to: • Apply art terminology as it specifically relates to works of art. • Demonstrate knowledge of art elements and principles of design. • Differentiate between the processes and materials used in the production of various works of art. • Critically interpret and evaluate works of art. • Demonstrate an understanding of the impact of arts on culture. • Demonstrate Critical Thinking Skills - creative thinking, innovation, inquiry and analysis, evaluation and synthesis of information • Demonstrate Communication Skills - effective development, interpretation and expressions of ideas through written, oral, and visual communication. • Demonstrate Teamwork - ability to consider different points of view and to work effectively with others to support a shared purpose or goal. • Demonstrate Social Responsibility - intercultural competence, knowledge of civic responsibility, and the ability to engage effectively in regional, national, and global communities. INSTRUCTOR CONTACT INFORMATION Instructor: Clinton Rawls Email: jcrawls@lit.edu Office Phone: (409) 247-5415 Google Voice: (346) 291-7537 (for emergency texts only) Office Location: Technology Center Room 227 Office Hours: MWF 11:30 – 12, 3:30 – 4; TR 9 – 12:30 REQUIRED TEXTBOOK AND MATERIALS None ATTENDANCE POLICY Regular attendance and meaningful engagement are necessary for successful completion of this course. Students are expected to attend all scheduled class meetings, arrive on time, and remain for the duration of each class period. Repeated tardiness, early departures, or failure to remain meaningfully engaged may be recorded as absences at the instructor’s discretion. Absences may negatively affect daily work, assignment completion, and overall course performance. After five unexcused absences, students may be subject to academic penalties, which may include point deductions on assignments and a reduction in the maximum possible final course grade. Continued unexcused absences beyond this threshold may significantly limit a student’s ability to successfully complete the course and may result in automatic failure. Attendance requires both physical presence and meaningful engagement. Students who are present but not meaningfully engaged, including sleeping, persistent non-course-related use of electronic devices, or disruptive behavior, may be marked absent. Absences due to documented medical or personal emergencies will be excused and will not count toward the absence total. Absences for religious observances will be respected in accordance with college policy. Students are responsible for notifying the instructor in advance whenever possible and for submitting required documentation within a reasonable timeframe. The instructor reserves the right to evaluate attendance-related concerns on a case-by-case basis in accordance with institutional policy. DROP POLICY If you wish to drop a course, you are responsible for initiating and completing the drop process by the specified date as listed in the College Calendar on the Student Success web page. If you stop coming to class and fail to drop the course, you will earn an “F” in the course. COURSE CALENDAR (Due Dates Subject to Change) DATE TOPIC READINGS (Due on this Date) ASSIGNMENTS (Due on this Date) 1-30-26 Plagiarism Lesson Avoiding Plagiarism Lesson Slides Plagiarism Quiz 1-30-26 Unit One Tests Unit One Lesson Slides Exam – Purpose and Function of Art 1-30-26 Unit One Assignment N/A The Six Purposes of Art in My Life - Presentation 2-27-26 Unit Two Tests Unit Two Lesson Slides Exams – Earliest Art to the Bronze Age; Classical and Medieval West; Renaissance and Baroque 2-27-26 Unit Two Assignment TED Talk – Inside Out Can Art Change the World? – Response Paper 3-27-26 Unit Three Tests Unit Three Lesson Slides Exams – Traditional Asian Art; The Islamic World; Africa, Oceania, and the Americas 3-27-26 Unit Three Assignment N/A Art & Identity - Presentation 5-8-26 Unit Four Tests Unit Four Lesson Slides Exams – Late 18th and 19th Centuries; Early 20th Century, Between World Wars, Postwar Movements, Postmodern and Global Art 5-8-26 Final Project (Core Assessment) N/A Art & Artist - Presentation 5-8-26 Extra Credit TBD TBD COURSE EVALUATION Final grades will be calculated according to the following criteria: •Daily Grades - 15% •Midterm Project - 15% •Exams - 50% •Final Project (Core Assessment) - 20% GRADE SCALE • 90-100 A • 80-89 B • 70-79 C • 60-69 D • 0-59 F TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS For the latest technical requirements, including hardware, compatible browsers, operating systems, etc., review the Minimum Computer and Equipment Requirements on the LIT Online Experience page. A functional broadband internet connection, such as DSL, cable, or WiFi is necessary to maximize the use of online technology and resources. DISABILITIES STATEMENT The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 are federal anti-discrimination statutes that provide comprehensive civil rights for persons with disabilities. LIT provides reasonable accommodations as defined in the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, to students with a diagnosed disability. The Special Populations Office is located in the Eagles’ Nest Room 129 and helps foster a supportive and inclusive educational environment by maintaining partnerships with faculty and staff, as well as promoting awareness among all members of the Lamar Institute of Technology community. If you believe you have a disability requiring an accommodation, please contact the Special Populations Coordinator at (409)-951-5708 or email specialpopulations@lit.edu. You may also visit the online resource at Special Populations - Lamar Institute of Technology (lit.edu). STUDENT CODE OF CONDUCT STATEMENT It is the responsibility of all registered Lamar Institute of Technology students to access, read, understand and abide by all published policies, regulations, and procedures listed in the LIT Catalog and Student Handbook. The LIT Catalog and Student Handbook may be accessed at www.lit.edu. Please note that the online version of the LIT Catalog and Student Handbook supersedes all other versions of the same document. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE STATEMENT Lamar Institute of Technology (LIT) recognizes the recent advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI), such as ChatGPT, have changed the landscape of many career disciplines and will impact many students in and out of the classroom. To prepare students for their selected careers, LIT desires to guide students in the ethical use of these technologies and incorporate AI into classroom instruction and assignments appropriately. Appropriate use of these technologies is at the discretion of the instructor. Students are reminded that all submitted work must be their own original work unless otherwise specified. Students should contact their instructor with any questions as to the acceptable use of AI/ChatGPT in their courses. STARFISH LIT utilizes an early alert system called Starfish. Throughout the semester, you may receive emails from Starfish regarding your course grades, attendance, or academic performance. Faculty members record student attendance, raise flags and kudos to express concern or give praise, and you can make an appointment with faculty and staff all through the Starfish home page. You can also login to Blackboard or MyLIT and click on the Starfish link to view academic alerts and detailed information. It is the responsibility of the student to pay attention to these emails and information in Starfish and consider taking the recommended actions. Starfish is used to help you be a successful student at LIT. CONTACT PROCEDURES The best way to contact your professor is either through Blackboard Messages, or by LIT email. Blackboard Messages are direct and have the added benefit of keeping your information and questions within the class itself, so this is recommended. If you choose to email, when emailing your professor, include your name, course section number, and a detailed message so that questions and concerns may be addressed properly. Be specific and detailed and make no assumptions. Please be respectful and informative in all correspondence. The more information you provide, the more quickly your issues can be resolved. Please allow up to 24 hours for a response or 48 hours on a weekend. If you do not receive a response in time, please contact me again. At times, when a deadline is of the essence or an emergency message needs to be communicated, I may choose to contact you via Google Text. This is done to ensure you receive the message quickly. My Google Text number is (346) 291-7537. Only contact me this way if it’s a response to a message, or if you have an emergency and need to speak to me immediately. Otherwise, stick with Blackboard Messages and LIT email for most all class related business. ACADEMIC DISHONESTY Students found to be committing academic dishonesty (cheating, plagiarism, AI, or collusion) may receive disciplinary action. Students need to familiarize themselves with the institution’s Academic Dishonesty Policy available in the Student Catalog & Handbook at http://catalog.lit.edu/content.php?catoid=3&navoid=80#academic-dishonesty. Plagiarism includes both a failure to cite sources/quotations and passing another’s words off as your own. Using AI to wholly or near wholly write assignments in this course is unacceptable and may result in a zero for an assignment. Assignments in this class are about you and are graded on the strength of your own ideas and response, so the work must be original and unique. If AI abuse is suspected on an assignment, this will be investigated thoroughly. Students will be required to submit a link to their original files with full editor access for analysis. The student will also be contacted for a face-to-face or virtual (camera on, hands visible) meeting to discuss the assignment and the student’s methodology. If a student does not grant file access or does not attend the required meeting, a zero may be automatically rendered on the assignment. If a student commits academic dishonesty, namely plagiarism or AI abuse, then restrictions and special conditions may be placed on a student’s later assignments. These conditions may include further documentation at the time of submission, hand-written and proctored assignments, oral defenses, collaborative writing sessions with the professor, restrictions on topics and subject matter, etc. Students are expected to meet these conditions or they may receive a zero automatically on the assignment in question. GRADING For all assignments, rubrics are provided as well as “How To” videos to demonstrate examples of how best to succeed. The most important thing to me is your ideas and response. If your work is honest, you can and should succeed, and I will work with you to ensure that happens. I encourage all students to show me their work early before the deadline to look it over for pre-grading. This is to help the student earn the best grade possible, strengthen their voice, and ensure success. Due to the volume of students, I may only have time to review your work once before the deadline. Be respectful of your professor’s time and the needs of other students. Unless otherwise specified, each assignment must be uploaded to the appropriate Blackboard link by 11:59 pm on the due date. Assignments turned in after the due date will be considered late. Please allow up to one to two weeks after the deadline for assignments to be graded. If an assignment is accepted late or a redo is allowed, this will be graded at the professor’s nearest convenience after all outstanding grades are completed. LATE WORK AND GRADE REDO POLICY Automatic zeroes are rendered for missed assignments. If you miss a deadline, contact me immediately and I will work with you to turn the grade around. Preferably, contact me and send your work in the same message. If a deadline is missed, the student will have one week to submit the assignment which will be accepted with a small point penalty. Late work submitted after this window will only be accepted at the instructor’s discretion and may receive a larger point penalty. If a student fails or misses a major assignment with the exception of the final project, the student will have one week to contact the professor and request a redo. This redo will incur a small point penalty and will only be accepted at the instructor’s discretion. Repeated offenses such as frequent late work or multiple cases of academic dishonesty may render this privilege null and void. When calculating final grades, if a point penalty keeps a student from achieving a higher letter grade, all or some of the penalty may be rescinded to round up the student’s grade.