CONT936: Supporting Student Communication Through Expressive Arts

Course Schedule

Course Description

Educators play a vital role in shaping inclusive, imaginative, and emotionally supportive learning environments. By harnessing the transformative power of the expressive arts you’ll foster creativity, communication, and well-being among diverse learners. In this course you’ll gain the skills to nurture students’ creativity, establish safe and inclusive learning environments, and make opportunities available for artistic expression for all learners.

The course covers a range of topics, including the role of the creative educator, identity and belonging, cultivating inclusive environments for creativity, curriculum integration, and the enduring influence of the expressive arts in addressing the complexities of our world. You’ll examine how to use the expressive arts through various modalities, pedagogies, and practices, integrating the arts across grade levels and disciplines. You will see how the expressive arts are a foundational tool for supporting learners with diverse needs, overcoming language barriers, and contributing to a greater sense of belonging.

As an educational leader, you will be equipped with the knowledge and tools to integrate the expressive arts into teaching practices to create engaging and inclusive learning environments that allow all learners to be their authentic, creative selves.

What You Will Learn and Do

In this course you’ll have the opportunity to

• analyze how personal, cultural, and systemic influences, values, and constraints shape engagement with the expressive arts in educational contexts
• identify the qualities, mindsets, skills, and environmental factors that contribute to creating safe and inclusive spaces for creative expression
• explore how the arts support the development of identity and a sense of belonging among diverse learners
• integrate expressive arts across the BC curriculum in ways that are meaningful and developmentally appropriate
• apply a range of pedagogical approaches to embed expressive arts in subject areas
• design strategies for engaging students in learning environments
• foster a classroom culture that nurtures creativity and supports inclusive artistic expression
• evaluate arts-based teaching practices through an anti-bias, anti-racist lens
• develop strategies that use expressive arts to enhance student communication across disciplines
• implement inclusive and creative teaching practices that weave the expressive arts into everyday learning experiences

Application Requirements

Courses and Post-Graduate Certificates are approved by TQS for Category Upgrade. If you would like these courses to be used towards Category Upgrading, you must have a valid BC Teacher Certificate.

ECEs, EAs, and other education professionals are welcome to take the courses without Certification.

Course Materials

Accommodations

Applicants who require accommodations for a specific learning need (e.g., learning disability) within their AQ/ABQ course, should click here for further information and support.

Have a question? Contact us!

Refund Schedule

If you drop a course:

1. by the midpoint of the course, you will receive 100% of your course fee.
2. after the midpoint, before the end of the course, you will receive 50% of your course fee.

For more about our refund policies, visit our Fees & Refunds page.