Understanding Great Art (The Great Courses Series)

4/27/2026

State:

This has been the most enriching and practically valuable course I have taken at this university. The depth of the lecture content combined with the hands-on, community-focused assignments left me a more informed educator and I will carry what I learned here directly into my classroom for years to come.

12/2/2025

State: OHIO

This course took me longer to complete than expected, but it was very impactful for my teaching. The art history content helped strengthen my curriculum and expanded my knowledge in areas I wasn’t as familiar with. The forums, workshops, and interviews also added meaningful insight and gave me new ideas for classroom application.

10/31/2025

State: CALIFORNIA

Some assignments take a long time to complete, but the information in this course is extremely interesting and highly useful. Definitely recommend.

8/27/2025

State: CALIFORNIA

This was a tough class but extremely valuable. Not only to me as a teacher but as a students as well. I learned how to appreciate art so much more. As a teacher I came away with very practical and useful tools I used immediately after creating them. As far as the lectures and articles, they were very informative and useful as well. I learned so much!

5/2/2025

State: OHIO

Great class! It pushed me to get back out into the art world.

4/27/2025

State: PENNSYLVANIA

I enjoyed the class and watching the videos. I believe the assignments were relevant to being a high school art teacher. I liked that I was able to choose the videos that were most useful to my curriculum.

1/27/2025

State: PENNSYLVANIA

I really enjoyed the videos by Dr. Hirsch; she is absolutely fantastic. The videos rekindled my love of art history and inspired me to try some new directions with my art classes. However, for me, I would have enjoyed this class more if the videos were more of the focus; taking a deep dive into the content of the videos, and then going to museums/galleries to focus on Understanding Great Works of Art, and applying this knowledge in the classroom. That was what I was expecting, but that was only about half of the content of the class. Other assignments included interviewing peers and industry professionals, creating networking databases and attending art workshops (to name a few). I thought the scope was very broad in this course, and it was much more than I realized I had signed up for based on what is listed on the course description. As a full time educator and parent, I found it challenging to keep up with the requirements for this class, and I didn't understand how all of it related to Understanding Great Works of Art.

7/15/2024

State: PENNSYLVANIA

I really enjoyed Dr. Hirsch's lectures. Some of the assignments did not connect to the lectures like I hoped they would.

5/27/2024

State: PENNSYLVANIA

I liked this course a lot. I enjoyed how it forced me to get out and immerse myself in art through gallery showings, museums, exhibitions, and speaking with creatives in the field. The overall work took more time than I had anticipated. Between the visits, the lectures, assignments, and lesson plans, I spent much more than the anticipated 135 hours. However, I did enjoy the course and learned a lot.

5/5/2024

State: OHIO

4/10/2024

State:

Great course and instructor!

3/4/2024

State: NEVADA

This is a great class for anyone who teaches art to students!

10/5/2023

State: Armed Forces AE

Good course. Would have liked to have the option to choose to use the information from the historical text/lectures to complete a bigger percentage of the assignments.

10/4/2023

State: Armed Forces AE

Really wonderful course of study.

7/19/2023

State: INDIANA

This course was extremely helpful and interesting. I enjoyed getting to know more about artists, movements and methods over time. I would highly recommend this course for anyone interested in furthering their art education.