In my experience, it depends a lot on the course and the instructor. I've had art history classes that were literally just "memorize the artist, title, and year for the test". And I've had drawing and painting classes with instructors that were absolutely convinced that the best way was to force not just fundamental techniques but subject and theme - like "do a version of Magritte's Lovers". These all sucked, and I love Magritte.
On the other hand, I've had courses where the instructors were focused on the bigger picture as it were - art history through the lens of local context in time and place, drawing and painting classes where it didn't matter so much what came out, as long as the fundamentals were there. These were much more informative and useful - discussions were much more lively in the history classes, and the critique sessions in the skills courses tended to have more eager participation and more opportunities to be inspired by other students.
This was actually an assignment I had in a computer graphics course back in '06 or so. I think I wound up making like six or seven album covers in different styles to suit the band/EP/single.
Sadly, these have all been lost to time, but I guess you can imagine what a 19 year old with a limited grasp of Photoshop can do with Daft Punk's Technologic back in them days.