Use of visual culture in visual arts courses: Opinions of participating teachers after TUBITAK-4005 Project

The objective of this research is to evaluate the process and school applicability of teacher training program designed and applied on Visual Culture Theory in visual arts courses in line with opinions of project participant teachers. In this research, we used the “holistic multi-stage” sampling since we examined visual culture studies in visual arts courses in line with the opinions of classroom teachers and visual arts teachers. The study group in this research consisted of a total of 508 teachers who participated in the teacher training workshop organized under TÜBİTAK 4005 Science and Society Innovative Education Practices. We collected data using participant diaries and focus group interviews. The data were analyzed by content analysis and presented under five main themes formed by visual culture theory; “Learning Experiences”, “Inquiries”, “Concerns”, “Needs” and “New Ideas for Learning and Teaching”. Suggestions were presented on extending pre-service and in-service training programs to teach new approaches such as visual culture theory in art education and on increasing number of practices involving student-teacher and parent interaction taking such approaches in the scope of lifelong learning.