High-Impact Practices (HIPs) engage students in a transformative undergraduate experience within and beyond the classroom. Our goal is to ensure that all Otis College students have access to and engage in multiple high-impact practices in their academic career and to gain the relevant academic knowledge, skills, and dispositions they need to be career-ready and engaged citizens upon graduation. These evidence-based practices are proven to be effective in enhancing the learning outcomes for all students.
- As a first-year student, you will be immersed in our Foundation Studio program where you will join your peers in a community of learners. In your first semester Foundation Studio section, students will establish an immediate sense of community with your faculty and fellow classmates.
- The first-year Foundation curriculum includes studio courses that teach the universal vocabulary, skills and concepts of all art and design disciplines.
- Our interdisciplinary first-year curriculum offers opportunities to create works with your hands, on the computer, drawn from form and observation, to prepare students to pursue any major. Foundation aims to develop your skills for the future, wherever your careers take you.
- The Curriculum in your Liberal Arts and Sciences courses places a strong emphasis on shared learning in Common Intellectual Experiences (CIEs) in art history, critical inquiry, diversity, writing, information literacy and collaborative learning. You will always be in close dialogue with faculty members who will help you to discover working methods that will carry you into a major, serve you through college, and last a lifetime.
- O-Week
- O-Week is a series of programs and events welcoming new students to Otis. Students here are enjoying conversation with new friends and classmates.
- Collaboration with Student Affairs
- First year modules on Time Management & Health and Wellness are embedded within the first-year curriculum
- Otis College students follow several tracks that guarantee guide common intellectual experiences.
- All Liberal Arts and Sciences courses address one or more common department themes (Creativity, Identity, Diversity, Sustainability and Social Responsibility) that encourage the application of course material beyond the classroom and connects to real world experience.
- Foundation, sophomores, and juniors also take Creative Action courses that focus on pressing environmental and social issues. Finally, all seniors take a Capstone course and participate in the annual Senior Show.
- Foundation sections are semester-long learning communities where students work closely as a group with their studio faculty in courses created around broadly transferable making and thinking skills.
- Honors Program
- Students who participate in the Honors program take their Liberal Arts and Sciences coursework at an accelerated pace and in an academically challenging environment. Through participation in humanities and social sciences courses, students synthesize theory and practice in order to understand the evolution of art and culture across time and space.
- IMPACT
- Student Affairs hosts IMPACT, A special interest housing experience open to all residential students and focused on wellness, inclusion, and leadership.
- Successful artists and designers need well-developed writing skills to communicate in a global world and Otis College fosters this in a variety of ways. In Liberal Arts and Sciences courses, you will learn different kinds of writing, including narrative and research essay writing. These courses scaffold writing instruction at all levels with a strong emphasis on practice, instructor feedback, and revision. Many studio courses also require students to write about their creative process, the value of their studio projects, and their developing positions on issues within their discipline. Finally, all students critically reflect and write about their coursework and their college experience, which increases metacognition and helps students connect the dots between what they are learning and how they will apply that learning in their professional and personal lives.
- Small classes and a high faculty/student ratio mean that students get continual feedback through the writing process, opportunities to revise, and reflect on what they are thinking and writing.
- Peer review is an important part of the writing and revision process where students apply their critical thinking skills to helping each other improve writing.
- There are also co-curricular opportunities for students to work in a variety of clubs and campus organizations.
- The key is helping students from diverse backgrounds and experiences learn to listen to each other and to work and solve problems together.
- Past Examples Include:
- Sophomore Creative Action students in Human Ecology working with community members at Venice High School to make a chalk mandala for the campus Learning Garden.
- In Made for Kids, a Creative Action course, juniors work with students from Westside Global Awareness. They are making stencils for the school entry to serve as educational tools to help students learn about the environment and sustainability.
- Students collaborate with Homeboy Industries in a Creative Action course to develop products.
- Many courses require students to practice teamwork and collaboration for projects.
- Collaboration is a key factor in every professional area of art and design
- At Otis College, collaborative learning assignments and projects are integrated into many studio and Liberal Arts and Sciences courses beginning with Foundation classes. Collaborative learning begins with group homework projects and assignments, in-class presentations, and simulations and leads up to Creative Action Integrated Learning courses that offer semester long projects with community partners.
- Successful, creative artists and designers engage in many kinds of research beyond a traditional bibliographic approach commonly associated with the arts and humanities. As part of a creative team one may frequently collaborate with professionals from different fields and disciplines, including science, business, and technology. As a result, it is essential to have a familiarity and understanding of empirical and market research, quantitative and qualitative research approaches. These approaches are key to design research, which often means combining a variety of research and methodological approaches in innovative ways to identify and solve complex design problems.
- Deeply committed to developing and sustaining a diverse campus community in the broadest sense, Otis College of Art and Design is the only art and design college in the nation to rank in the top 1% for diversity. The campus environment welcomes and supports active student discussion and engagement and encourages tolerance and respect within the Otis College community, preparing students to become leaders in a global world.
- Field-based "experiential learning" with community partners is an important way to directly connect and integrate studio, research, and collaboration skills, within real world settings. In Creative Action (Integrated Learning) courses, multidisciplinary student teams work on environmental and social issues. Collaborating in community partnerships with nonprofit organizations and public agencies, Otis College students focus their creativity and efforts on real-world problems and make a positive difference in their local community.
- Internships are a key component at Otis College since they offer important experiential learning in fields that are closely related to students' career interests. Career Services works closely with students to help them locate, identify, and effectively prepare for internships. Many students finding that internships can lead to permanent positions after graduation. Otis College holds an annual Internship and Recruitment Day in Spring semester that attracts companies from a variety of the creative professions to meet with the students and explore internship opportunities.
- The Career Services department helps prepare students for internships and future employment.
- Embedded within program curriculum, upper-division students receive personalized feedback
and mentorship from faculty within their academic programs. Many programs further
support professional preparation through structured portfolio reviews, instruction
in industry best practices, interview coaching, and dedicated internship preparation
courses.
- Seniors at Otis College participate in two major culminating experiences that demonstrate their ability to integrate and apply what they have learned during their college career. In Capstone, seniors produce a paper or project that shows their ability to identify, research, and argue a compelling position on an issue that dovetails with their art and design field. O-Launch is Otis’ annual public exhibition held on campus in conjunction with Commencement. This is where seniors curate and present original and innovative work that demonstrates their abilities as professional artists and designers.