A Web-based course on African and African-American art, culture and history is now being developed by Penn State and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Ghana and eventually will be accessible to students worldwide.

"Art is the perfect vehicle for communicating the history, culture and values of a people," said Grace Hampton, professor of art and art education at Penn State.

"The overall goal of the course is to increase the ability of students in Ghana, at Penn State and other institutions, to understand and appreciate their cultural differences and similarities through an examination of West African and African-American arts," she added.

Hampton, who currently teaches Art 297A, a course on the African-American legacy and traditions in the visual arts, was on sabbatical leave at KNUST last year, researching how the African university was preserving the traditional arts and culture of Ghana. This study generated Hampton's collaborative approach to teaching students of both countries that will participate in the program.

"Twentieth century African-American art has its roots in West African visual traditions," she said.

"We want our students to understand the social, political and cultural environment that gave rise to African-American artistic expression and for Ghanian students to make the link between their art forms and ours," he added.

There is still a rich tradition left from the Harlem Renaissance to be explored, Hampton said.

The class is currently being developed under the tentative name Branches of the Same Tree, based upon African baobob roots that extend across the land and sprout new life.

"This title shows how there are people of African decent all over the world," Hampton said.

Branches of the Same Tree will first be offered primarily to students of Kwame Nkrumah University and Penn State, but eventually aims to be available to students worldwide.

"It will be distance education," Hampton said.

"Through videos, selective reading materials, and one or two sessions of live transmission from Ghana for communication, in addition to Web and collaborative research programs," she added.

This course is also expected to open doors for more Web-based courses.

"One of the key problems that we all face is that certain subject areas don't always reach large audiences, due to either a small pocket of expertise or conflict with fitting such courses into one's schedule," said Bill Kelly, head of integrative arts department. "Distance solves such content issues and online makes them more available, so I hope that there will be more on-line courses in the future."

Hampton plans to return to Africa this summer to film segments for the course. She said she planned for the Web classes to provide individuals in different regions with the similar educations at a simultaneous time.

"The major benefits of this course are definitely cross-cultural exposure and learning about arts from other countries and peoples, which is the key to the future," Hampton said.