UT-Austin will be offering courses that focus on art and technology on an online platform developed to make these classes more available to students. 

Kadenze is an online platform for arts and technology education. Successful courses delivered to students in-person at UT and other universities will be translated to the online platform, CEO and co-founder Ajay Kapur said. 

“Kadenze focuses on courses that can be taught well online,” Kapur said. “We take courses that generally have hundreds of students on campus and create a very personal experience that students can move at their own pace, where they can personalize their schedule based on their busy lifestyle and specific academic needs.”

Students can purchase a membership for $7 per month or purchase classes for credit. Courses from UT-Austin will be available by the beginning of the fall semester, but students can start enrolling now, Kapur said. 

“Students currently enrolled at UT-Austin have the ability to take the course online for college credit, which is merely facilitated on the Kadenze platform,” Kapur said. 

UT lecturer Jack Stamps of the Center for Arts and Entertainment Technologies will film and distribute a course through the platform this fall. 

“The need for online coursework that is compelling and uses the online experience as an asset rather than a liability is essential,” Stamps said. “Today’s digitally savvy student is really who creates the demand.” 

According to Stamps, there are a variety of different options for interactive content.

“A student might create a recursive animated GIF in Photoshop and get peer evaluation, or a student might be able to collaborate on a music project that incorporates various pooled music file contributions from classmates,” Stamps said.

Kapur said Kadenze is unique in its ability to asses student work beyond text and computer codes.

“[This] platform goes beyond [engineering and math assessments] and assesses music files, images, movies and more,” Kapur said.

The monthly membership includes features such as submitting assignments for review and even building a portfolio.

“Online arts education will certainly broaden the scope of how, when and where people can learn about the arts,” said Saniya Walawalkar, design and art history sophomore. “But as far as I’ve seen, people tend to take online courses to ‘get things out of the way.’ So in that sense, it is devaluing the arts because certain people will use it as an easy opt-out of actually sitting through a lecture or a studio.”