What Does Online Learning Look Like?

Push your ideas, visions, and skillsets to new heights! Join students from around the country and right here in Chicago for courses taught online by our renowned faculty. Experience dynamic virtual demos, engage with peers during group work, critiques, and activities, and receive a blend of time for independent exploration and making and time to check-in with faculty.

Noncredit courses for high school students, ages 14-18

Our 5-week, online noncredit courses are held on Saturdays or Sundays and are open to students in grades 9-12. 5-week noncredit courses are ideal for beginners looking to explore a new medium and those wanting to hone their skills.

  • Offered in a predominantly synchronous format, these classes meet live at a designated time of day, Central Time, on the video conferencing platform Zoom.
  • Live lectures and demonstrations will be combined with virtual visits to museums, independent studio work, and group critique.
  • Many class activities will take place as a class, with opportunities to meet one-on-one with your instructor and teaching assistant or in small groups with peers from time to time.
  • You will have access to course materials outside of scheduled class sessions in Canvas, SAIC’s learning management system.

For-Credit courses for high school students, ages 15-18

Our 10-week, online credit-bearing courses are held on Saturday afternoons. Students seeking to expand their understanding of contemporary art making while developing portfolio-quality work can enroll in one of our 10-week online courses.

  • Open to those who have completed their sophomore year in high school.
  • In-depth, one-on-one faculty mentoring is at the core of this experience, augmented by live presentations, opportunities to engage with peers, and group critiques and workshares through Zoom.
  • You will have access to course materials outside of scheduled class sessions in Canvas, SAIC’s learning management system.
  • Students enrolled in 10-week online courses will have the option to earn 1.0 college credit.

Learn more about online learning

Common Questions:

Supplies are the responsibility of the student. Instructors will prepare a supply list and students are responsible for obtaining the items on it. The cost of supplies varies by course, and can range between $50 and $200. Students may need to purchase additional supplies for specific projects as needed.

Supply lists for courses can be found at the link below one week prior to the first meeting or sooner. 

Course Supply Lists

Canvas is SAIC’s online learning platform and will be the central resource for all of your course materials and communication with instructors and peers. Visit Canvas or download the app for Android or Apple and login using your SAIC username and password.

The Dashboard is the first thing you will see when you log into Canvas. The Dashboard helps you to see what is happening in your current courses. For more information, visit How do I use the Dashboard as a student?

If you are not familiar with Canvas, it will be important to do at least one of the following.

For additional resources, review the information available online about Canvas at SAIC. You may also contact our Canvas support team at canvas-help@saic.edu.

Not necessarily. Course participation and activities will be structured in a way that best suits the course content and students enrolled. In addition to demonstrations, presentations, and group discussions, instructors may provide independent or small group sessions during the scheduled class meeting.

Students enrolled in 10-week credit-bearing courses can expect to meet with their instructors at the beginning of each session, followed by independent work time and 1:1 advising sessions. The group will reconvene at the close of each session to recap the day’s activity and prepare for the following class meeting.