Educator Online Course: Art and SEL

The North Carolina Museum of Art is running an online course for educators on art and social-emotional learning, running from Tuesday, Oct 6, through Tuesday, Dec 8. It's a self-paced, 15-hour program developed in collaboration with the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation, and it frames art as a gateway to social-emotional learning.

The course works through five themes: Mindfulness, Identity, Perspective Sharing, Community Building, and Agency. It draws on experiences that model the growth and development of justice-oriented, global citizens, so it's as much about the classroom environment as it is about the art itself. Because it's self-paced, you can work through the material on your own schedule over the two months rather than following a fixed weekly calendar.

When you finish, you get a certificate of participation for 15 hours, which translates to 1.5 CEU with approval from your local school system. That's a nice practical win to walk away with alongside the actual content.

It's $20 for general admission and $18 for museum members. The NC Art Museum welcomes more than 1.1 million visitors to its campus each year and supports arts programming across all 100 counties in North Carolina, and they describe themselves as more than a museum: admission to the People's Collection and Museum Park is free, and the Ann and Jim Goodnight Museum Park has 4.7 miles of trails, public art, and gardens.