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March 2, 1995

Teaching the history of art on the Internet

Professor of the history of art and architecture Alison Stones and graduate student Jane Vadnal were sitting around the office one day last year complaining about the problems they faced in teaching the history of art.

Specifically, they were wondering how to give students a better feel for both the grandeur and detail of medieval architecture and art. They felt there had to be something better than textbooks with a scattering of photographs and drawings surrounded by columns of droning text, and supplemented by lectures with slides.

"We knew about some of the promise of the Internet," Vadnal told the audience at the Founders Day Symposium. "So, we decided we were going to do a project." "A New Tool for Teaching History of Art on the Internet: A Pilot Project" by Stones and Vadnal centers on Chartres Cathedral in France.

Stones and Vadnal chose the cathedral just south of Paris because it is a treasure trove of stained glass, sculpture and wall paintings from the 11th through the 13th century. Another reason for the cathedral's selection is that there are numerous documents explaining how the building was constructed and used.

"To fully understand a place like Chartres, a student must first read and study the many primary and secondary texts relating to it, and then go and see it in person," said Vadnal. "But just seeing the original in a vacuum is not enough. The monument must be compared to other medieval monuments and placed in a framework of the social, political, artistic and intellectual trends of the time." To accomplish those goals in a streamlined manner that replaces cumbersome textbooks, Stones and Vadnal employed a mix of 600 photographs, drawings, floor and architectural plans, and text in their pilot project on World Wide Web.

The format gives instructors the ability to customize how the visual and informational material on the cathedral is presented to different levels of students.

It also gives each student the ability to quickly call up specific information related to the cathedral and so customize their study methods.

In the pilot project, images and information on Chartres Cathedral can be studied on their own, as well as compared with other monuments to gain an overview of the art and architecture of the medieval period.

Currently still in the pilot stage, the program on Chartres Cathedral eventually will be accessible on World Wide Web from any computing laboratory or from a home computer with the proper equipment and software.

–Mike Sajna


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