Pedagogical Artistic strategies at the Miguel Hernández University of Elche: an analysis of grounded theory

Abstract

There is a considerable amount of international and national research on the didactics of visual arts in early childhood, primary, and secondary education. However, references to the teaching of arts in Higher Education are not as abundant. This research is conducted with the participation of 22 teachers from the Department of Art of the Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche. The study involves observing sessions of the Degree in Fine Arts, Degree in Audiovisual Communication, as well as several postgraduate courses, over a period of 9 months during the 2022-23 academic year. The aim is to identify the pedagogical strategies that have been consolidated among university-level arts faculty. For this case study, a qualitative methodology based on grounded theory is employed. Sixteen learning methods and their differences are identified for four areas of knowledge and for theoretical or practical subjects. Among the conclusions, it is noteworthy that the predominance of the traditional academic approach is inherited, characterized by master class mainly through the demonstrative expository method, teaching through fragmentation into phases, reliance on tips and recipes, and individual autonomous learning. Some important contributions from the didactics of visual arts are highlighted: the personalized learning tailored to the educational needs of students and the pedagogy of error.