The art of self-regulated learning: Teaching the visual arts

Abstract

Secondary visual arts students are faced with many challenges in learning how to be creative and innovative while being self-directed, self-reflective, and genuine. While there is extensive research on how self-regulation skills can promote independent learning in various academic content areas, there is little on how self-regulated learning can promote creativity in the visual arts. The current chapter presents two visual arts lessons (photography and a collaborative drawing exercise) and discusses the nature of creativity and how students engage in the three cyclical phases and the psychological dimensions of self-regulated learning. The analysis presented describes how Rhodes’s theory of creativity and Bandura’s social cognitive theory lay the foundation for art instruction using a self-regulated learning framework, and concludes with recommendations for future research.